Chapter 79 – Episode 78. National Team VS UG Overlords. (3)

“Are you going to do a special hit? Fierce tiger If you want to train, talk.”

“… It’s not like that.”

My grades so far are 1 hit in 3 at-bats. I hit a ball that cut through left-middle once, but the speed of the ball was so fast that I couldn’t get to second base. The defense of the UG outfielders was also very good. After all, isn’t this the winning team from last year for nothing? UG’s defense had no frills. The shoulder was good too.

“You still have one at-bat left?”

“It is.”

“If it can’t be replaced, that is.”

The current score is 3:3, and if the coach is willing to change, I will always go to the bench. Besides, it’s already the 7th inning. I was slowly starting to get scared.

‘At the end of the 7th inning, 2 companies. Our team’s 5th hitter is Jin-mo Koo. If I’m going to be at bat, I’d like at least one person out….’

“Goo Jin-mo fighting! Blow one up!”

Cheering in the dugout wasn’t my style, but I needed to get on base to avoid a special hit. I raised my voice and cheered for the 5th batsman, Gu Jin-mo.

“The youngest one has good spirits.”

“Seungcheol-ah, aren’t you cheering for me? You are the youngest too, man.”

“Senior Jinmo! Don’t look at me as a team member and blow it up!”

Right!

Jin-mo Koo made a wonderful batted ball as if he had heard us in the dugout.

“Big!”

“Please, don’t get caught.”

The batted ball that was flying with a line drive was caught by UG’s center fielder with a wonderful jump catch.

“Wow, how old is Kyungmin senior, and is he still that good at defense?”

“Catch that.”

Uh…. It’s my fault for trying to lean on others. I quietly took the glove.

“Ji Maeng-ho!”

What? Is it Kyochenga? At the sudden call of the director, I turned my head away from leaving.

“Director?”

“Work hard and come. There is no replacement today, so I will do my best until the end.”

Oh! Is this the leadership of a master? Giving a newbie like me an opportunity like this.

“All right!”

When the director asserted that there was no replacement, it seemed to give me some peace of mind. Like my calm mind, the UG Overlords’ attack in the beginning of the 8th ended with a three-way attack, and the national team’s attack began at the end of the 8th.

‘Kim Soo-ho, Lee Yong-gi, and Kim Hwan-young are at least one on base. My at-bat will be back.’

Kim Su-ho was a person who competed for the third baseman in Korea, and Lee Yong-gi was also a catcher who received three Golden Gloves in four years from 2019 to 2022. In addition, Kim Hwan-yeong was also a shortstop who won the Golden Glove for two consecutive years at the Shilla Triggers last year and the year before last.

Unlike Park Chul-young, Kim Hwan-young has a quiet personality, so we weren’t very close, but his skills were solid. To say that there is no other line to lose is probably referring to the three batters right in front of me.

‘Please, only one person leaves!’

Right!

“Light!”

However, despite my prayers, Kim Su-ho, the lead batter, hit the first pitch and entered the dugout. Ugh, should I prepare soon? I quickly found my gear.

“It was unfortunate.”

“As expected, is it Donghyun Jang? The ball is heavy Welcome, do you mind not explaining?”

“Yes. Because I’ve been through a lot.”

“Okay.”

“I…. Senior Kim Soo-ho?”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

When the next hitter, Kim Hwan-young, moved to the waiting at-bat, I approached Kim Su-ho and risked embarrassment to ask what kind of pitcher Jang Dong-hyun was. Because the power analysts were busy analyzing other national teams, they didn’t do any analysis.

“Right. Were you a rookie?”

“Yes. Please.”

“You really haven’t seen KBA, have you? Seeing that you don’t know Jang Dong-hyun.”

“What…. Because I’m busy working out….”

“About 150 for fastball? But since it’s spring, he looks like he’s in his mid-140s, and throws a forkball and slider. The slider is for counting, and the forkball is for deciding balls. Any more questions?”

“No. That’s enough.”

Restraint can be seen now and in the waiting at-bat. By the way, that explains it well. He seemed to be a blunt person because he had no interest in other people, but this level seemed to be within the acceptable range.

“Five! Big!”

While listening to Kim Hwan-yeong’s explanation, Lee Yong-gi succeeded in getting on base with a double that hit the wall directly. It’s not like I’m not a national representative for nothing.

“The great runner, Park Chul-young. Iron young. Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

As soon as Lee Yong-gi, who had a slow pace, reached second base, the manager appointed Park Cheol-young, who had fast legs, as a substitute runner. Then, shall I go to the waiting table soon?

Since the runner was on second base, there was no double play, and as long as Park Chul-young on second base didn’t make a cerebral run, he would be connected to my at-bat. Besides, since Park Cheol-yeong is a player with a good knowledge of base running, there was little chance of him running the brain.

“Hey, call home. Then I’ll make coffee OK?”

“A special ride?”

“That’s a problem you and Sangju senior will solve.”

“City….”

‘… Foot.’

“City?”

“Let me begin. From now on.”

I was about to curse It’s all because of Rossby. Rossby has made my mouth so savage. I was originally someone who didn’t know swear words.

‘What bullshit is that?’

‘You can’t blame me for that.’

‘This baby monkey… !’

‘Look, my mouth is rough because I curse often.’

‘So what?’

‘… It’s just like that.’

If Rossby gets angry here, I’m the only one who suffers. For now, just do this….

“Cheek.”

I started observing the ball of UG pitcher Jang Dong-hyun. The first pitch is a slider. The angle wasn’t too big, but the speed was similar to that of a fastball, so ordinary hitters couldn’t tell them apart.

‘Well, I’m not an ordinary hitter. By the way, I want to see even a pokeball…. How can I not make it to the full count?’

However, contrary to my wishes, Kim Hwan-young kicked Jang Dong-hyun’s second ball.

Right!

“It’s up!”

The batted ball hit by Kim Hwan-young floated high toward the right fielder. However, he seemed to have less power, and the ball that floated high began to sink.

‘Am I caught?’

The right fielder settles down and takes a step back.

‘It’s too late to pass.’

‘… I guess so?’

“Out!”

As the right fielder caught the ball, Park Chul-young on second base started tagging up.

“Third base!”

Are you also Park Cheol-young? It’s fast it’s fast Even the UG right fielder looked pretty good with his shoulder, but Park Cheol-young’s feet were faster than that. From judging to sliding, there is no superfluity in running base play.

‘It’s definitely different from you.’

‘Couldn’t that be because Mr. Rossby was running badly?’

It was my base running skills anyway, and I was confident because I added Rosby’s experience at the high school level. In fact, Rossby’s base running experience was almost non-existent, so his skills were almost the same as mine.

Hehe, a home run hitter like me doesn’t have to run hard, unlike guys like you.’

‘I’m like that, too.’

‘I want to deny it, but seeing your orangutan-like strength, I can’t deny it.’

Rossby somehow gave me my compliments and moved to the side of the now familiar pitcher.

‘Concentrate.’

“Hey. You told Jin-hyung that you messed around yesterday?”

In the first three at-bats, why are you suddenly saying something? Jinhyeong, is he the first baseman yesterday?

“Why is that all of a sudden?”

“Shit, don’t mistake it for your skills when you go to national university as a face madam.”

‘I’m trying to shake you because it’s a scoring position. Ignore it. The first pitch is a forkball.’

For some reason, I suddenly wanted to talk. I don’t want to lose even a practice game, is this? Anyway, it’s a forkball, so I’ll have to filter this at-bat.

“Cheek.”

Donghyun Jang’s forkball flew like a pitcher’s fastball and suddenly dropped. If he hadn’t known it was a forkball, he would have swung it. But there are no ifs in baseball.

“If you’re a rookie, you have to have a bit of a bold taste. I’m so scared I can’t even swing a bat, tsk. You are too late to come out.”

“Let’s keep our mouths shut.”

“Shut your mouth? Look at this stupid bastard.”

“Umpire, the catcher is cursing, so don’t you punish him?”

“Kuhm…. It’s a practice game, but let’s do it neatly. Both players.”

After hearing my appeal, the referee stopped UG’s catcher.

‘He’s doing something unreasonable.’

As the catcher became quiet, I also seemed to focus on the pitcher.

‘How is the pitcher now?’

Looking at the expression of the pitcher, Jang Dong-hyun, it was an expression that he couldn’t concentrate because of Park Chul-young on third base.

‘Is the pitcher shaking? I can’t tell from the expression alone.’

‘Looking at this guy’s face, he seems like a veteran, can he shake that much? I’m sorry. The next ball is a four-seam. The catcher’s mitt is outward.’

‘Outside, check.’

This was the most ambiguous time. High school level pitchers could tell whether a ball was a strike or a ball from the moment they threw it by bringing the catcher’s mitt inward or outward.

However, as a result of watching the balls of the pros from the finishing camp, there were few pitchers who pitched so clearly.

‘The pitchers of the AT Thunders, who have poor pitching ability, are at the same level, but the pitchers of the bullpen kingdom, UG Overlords. A pitcher who acts as a setup man right before the finish will throw the ball more vaguely, right?’

Be careful with that ball. And as a result of standing in three at-bats so far, the overall control of UG pitchers was quite good.

“Time!”

My batting form was slightly away from the home plate to aim for the inside ball. However, there was no need to aim for the inside ball unless you knew it was an outside ball, so after shouting out time and pretending to catch the timing, swing the bat around and hit the home plate.

“Ai-san, blow the dirt away. Why are you dragging your feet in?”

I did that so that you wouldn’t notice that I was stuck, you bastard! … Hiding his true intentions, he replied briefly, “Routine,” And looked at Rossby.

‘I haven’t changed.’

‘OK.’

“Huh!”

The ball left the pitcher’s hand as Jang Dong-hyun’s cheering sound was heard. I was watching closely from the bench, so the timing was… !

Ta-evil!

‘It took… !’

The moment the ball and the bat hit, I instinctively pulled the bat as soon as I could, using my wrist to put more effort into it.

The ball flies toward the left wall like a bullet. That’s right.

‘I’ll appreciate the batted ball a bit.’

After watching the batted ball, I looked at the catcher and it was quite nice to see him standing there with a shit-chewed expression.

“Downpour—!!!”

The catcher was thick, so he screamed loudly and threw the bat into the sky.

“…….”

As I slowly ran to first base, I saw the first baseman who had been arguing with me yesterday standing on first base.

“Downpour–!!!”

Ceremony for this bastard as well.

Match-!

After a big high-five with the first base coach, I slowly circled the diamond.

“Wow, how did you pull the outside ball like that?”

I hear the admiring voice of Park Chul-young, who was waiting for me behind home plate.

“Is it physical strength that is on a different level than hyung?”

“Dude, how many home runs do you have in your pro career? I have 13 brothers, dude!”

“Thirteen? I will hand it over in the first half.”

“I’m afraid that this bastard will be passed over.”

“It’s easy.”

After a short talk with Park Cheol-young, I entered the dugout, and many players from the national team were waiting for me in a line.

“Maknae, fighting is far away?! Dude, did you miss the practice session?”

“Wow, that’s fucking power. This bastard?!”

Puck! Puck!

“Five! Congratulations on your home run, Maengho!”

Puck! It hurts, shit. It hurt, but I felt good. Of course, it’s not that I’m a masochist, it’s just that the joy of hitting a home run covered the pain.

“Ah, I should have done a special hit today. Hit well Ji Maeng-ho!”

Finally, the meteorologist. After all, home runs are the best.

*

9th inning. 2 companies. A 4th year UG player who went out on a walk greeted first baseman Jin-mo Koo.

“Seniors. Hello.”

“Okay.”

“Senior, that….”

“What?”

“Senior Kyungho is a bit pissed off.”

“A senior guard? Why?”

“That…. Didn’t Ji Maeng-ho hit the home run earlier? Too much And yesterday, Jin-hyung told me that he behaved unapologetically. That….”

“Okay. I know roughly what you mean.”

Gu Jin-mo was able to know what this situation was like with her long life in the sports world.

‘Jjeok, I don’t want to crave it for nothing. Still, if Senior Kyungho said something, I’d have to make a gesture too, right? He must be a bit angry.’

It was not easy to ignore Bae Bae’s words, even if he was a veteran catcher of UG, and Gu Jin-mo, the team’s flagship hitter and franchise star. I didn’t really want to say anything to the players on the other team, but it’s the senior’s job to teach them respect.

“Then, please. In particular, senior Jin hyung was very angry.”

“I get it. Just focus on the game.”

‘I’ll just have to say sorry and finish it.’

It wasn’t his style to crave a junior, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t never been so, so Gu Jin-mo took it lightly and decided to call Ji Maeng-ho after the game.