Chapter 795 - V3 ch30 (Challenges 3) (2/2)

I watched closely as he started his motion again. He surprised me again by speeding up his whole windup, not bothering to hold his leg up for an extra second. It threw me off as I started my swing. My thought process only got more jumbled as the ball randomly dipped as I started my swing. I brought my bat down on it, catching the top part of the ball. I fouled it back, bouncing it on home plate before it hit Oscar on his chest protector.

”Dang it.” He muttered. He looked mad.

Meanwhile, I was confused. What just happened? The ball didn't have a spin like a breaking ball. Was it a two-seamer? No way. It broke too much. I scratched my neck as I took a breather outside the batter's box.

”Shake it off, Oscar!”

”Get the next one!”

”You almost had him.”

Stunned, I slowly moved my eyes over to the pitchers that were still waiting for a turn to face me. They all seemed to be trying to cheer up the catcher..? Not Robbie, who was on the mound?

”You would have struck out if Oscar had caught that foul tip.” Coach reminded me. He waved at me. ”C'mon. Step up. You don't normally get so much time in between swings.”

”You've got this, Jake!” Alisha called out from behind me.

I relaxed my shoulders and got back in the box. Bat back, elbow up. So what if Robbie could throw a pitch that I wasn't accustomed to. I wasn't used to curves and sliders and screws before either. Pitching machines only had speed. I figured out everything else out so I can figure this out. I only had one requirement: put the ball in play.

Robbie did his quick motion again and the ball came right down the middle. It didn't stay that way, dipping again. My swing was a little awkward, but I pulled through, pushing the ball back the way it came. Somehow, I had gotten under the ball and popped it up. Right to Robbie on the mound.

I stared at my bat, unable to comprehend what just happened. Again. I thought I hit the ball solidly but...all of a sudden I was under the ball? Did I misjudge it?

”Good effort, boys.” Coach clapped his hands.

Robbie came off the mound, handing the ball off to a new pitcher while Oscar got up and let a new catcher take over. The two of them met up and walked back to their bags. Oscar was talking animatedly while Robbie just shook his head slowly.

”Jake?” Coach called out to me. I looked at him. He nodded towards my dugout. ”Want to back up and let the pitcher throw some practice pitches for a minute?”

”Oh. Yea.” I backed up, giving them space.

Coach went over to Alisha again. ”Alisha?”

”I wrote down pop up to pitcher position.” Alisha answered.

Coach nodded. ”Perfect. Also, give him and Oscar a little asterisk.” He cracked a smile. ”They almost got Jake. What an unexpected surprise.”

My face got warm as I felt embarrassed. ”Coach...do you know what those last two pitches were?”

Coach hummed and took a second to think about it. ”I have a guess, but I'm not sure that it's accurate. I was only a step behind you, but it's hard to tell with a catcher anticipating a foul.”

”What's the guess?” Alisha asked. ”Should I write it down?”

”You can.” He said. ”My guess would be a knuckleball.”