The Master Challenge (2)
“Strike, out!”
The batter, furious at the umpire’s strikeout call, threw the strikeout pitch to the catcher Pi Anta at first base.
“Argh, damn!! Stop talking already!”
Then Pi Anta, who had been watching the infielders turning the ball, suddenly took off her catcher mask with a big smile, as if she had been waiting for it.
“You seem really angry. But in situations like this, you have to stay calm. Baseball is a mental sport, after all. When I get into a mental state, I remember an anecdote that comes to mind….”
“Damn it, shut up!!”
The batting order circled once, and every batter from one to nine struggled with Pi Anta’s endless talking.
Because BoL was overly realistic in these details, you couldn’t mute voices in real baseball, so even though chats could be muted in-game, voices themselves couldn’t be muted.
Thanks to that, the opposing team’s batters were suffering from Pi Anta’s infinite talking hell, feeling nauseous even in virtual reality.
“How can you talk without stopping even once?!”
“You want to know the secret? Let me tell you about how I started talking so much….”
“Shut up already!!”
And because she was kind, it only made it more annoying.
The opposing batters keenly realized that even with a smiling face, you could spit out venom.
It was true that this talking was an enormous weapon, but the person herself didn’t seem to think of it as one.
Listening to the content, it wasn’t at the level of the trash talk you usually imagined.
[Top of the 4th inning. 1st batter, center fielder GranSeason.]
“Ah, we meet again. The 1st batter guy. You struggled with the outside fastball earlier, right? I hope you have a good at-bat this time too. I have a pretty good mind control method to overcome after striking out in the first at-bat….”
It was simply pouring out words unilaterally every at-bat because of the joy of meeting someone.
If I had to judge the character of the conversation, it was closer to the 1st baseman who asked about well-being out of friendliness rather than the catcher who intentionally scratched the players’ tempers.
The problem was that she was too friendly.
‘Again, huh, that catcher.’
The 1st batter who had been struck out with three strikes on the outside fastball earlier stood at the plate with firm resolve.
The method he chose to deal with the infinite talking hell was simply not to respond at all.
The first pitch was the same outside fastball as before. It seemed like he chose it to test the opponent’s intentions, but luckily it went outside the strike zone.
“Ah, too bad. The first pitch battle is always important, but even if you don’t catch the first pitch strike….”
Ignored.
The next pitch, he focused only on the pitcher’s left hand.
The pitcher’s changes were slider and curve. The curve’s trajectory was similar to a fastball, so it might be a ball, but it wasn’t good enough to use as a winning shot.
The slider was even worse. Plus, it didn’t have the precision to come in sharply from outside, so he wouldn’t throw a slider to himself, the right-handed batter.
Fastball or curve.
It seemed like an easy choice, but actually pitchers preferred to throw changes when they had no confidence in their fastball, and the current game was in Iron tier.
‘Only aiming for curve…!’
Actually, the second pitch was an outside curve. The batter was waiting for it, but he deliberately didn’t swing and watched calmly.
The third pitch followed.
He didn’t miss the slight movement of the curve and turned the bat concisely.
Thud!
With a light sound, it flew lightly over the infield, a hit.
“Nice!”
Thinking he had won the battle against that annoying catcher, he stepped on first base and clenched his fist.
And informed the other batters in chat mode so they wouldn’t hear it.
It was a very natural thing for a batter who had tried to attack the battery once to share strategy with the following batters. It was also a necessary quality for a competent pitcher to quickly notice when the strategy was exposed and change the pitch mix.
However, catcher Pi Anta didn’t modify the strategy and kept pushing forward.
As a result, the 2nd right-handed batter, who had prepared for the outside curve, hit a single in front of the right fielder.
The 3rd right-handed batter, because he couldn’t control the pitch and swung at the curve that was coming out, flew out to right field, but in the meantime the runner from second base, who had been the 1st batter, used his speed to reach third base.
With one out in the top of the 4th, runners on first and third.
The batter was the 4th left-handed batter.
From the attacking side, there were plenty of strategies to try. The runner on first could keep annoying the pitcher’s nerves while facing the 4th batter.
If necessary, when the catcher threw the ball, the runner could quickly aim for home to stop the runner on second.
It was a bit unfortunate that the 4th batter was left-handed against the left-handed pitcher, but conversely, since he was a lefty, he could be a bit safer from the risk of double play.
Conversely, from the defensive side, it was a difficult situation where you had to play considering various variables from the attacking side.
You had to consider every possibility, but if you really considered every possibility, you might get hit by the straight strategy.
‘Well, what will you do, you talkative one?’
The 1st batter, who had reached third base with his own legs last fly ball time, was eyeing home and widening the base from the base.
Although baseball’s meta changed often, the 1st batter was always the fastest and smartest in the team. Since he had been placed as 1st in the batting order, he liked to show nimble baserunning to rattle the pitcher’s mind in such situations.
The runner on first would soon steal second. Since it was a lefty pitcher, stealing might not be easy, but in amateur baseball runners had the advantage in steal battles. Since they could foolishly give up points by walking or balk, it was a favorable fight for the runner in many ways.
Before the battle with the 4th batter.
Suddenly catcher Pi Anta stood up and sent signs around. Tapping left arm and shoulder with right hand. Tapping right arm and shoulder with left hand wearing mitt. Then tapping head and both shoulders with right hand, and left shoulder three times.
All infielders on the ground moved slightly to the right.
‘Shift…?’
Moreover, the third baseman was close to the line, almost stepping on the base.
This was a shift to prevent line drives by attacking the outside of left-handed batters.
A shift in Iron tier! Not even from the same team, and applying it so seamlessly!
‘…No, I could have sent a chat.’
He almost got deceived, but the runner quickly noticed Pi Anta’s trick.
As he guessed. In fact, the grand-looking signs were all meaningless.
It was instructed via chat.
Then I could respond with a strategy too.
If it was upper tier, you had to consider pitch out or cut play by the pitcher, but it was also a tactic that had to be pre-agreed. In Iron tier, it was basically no such cases.
‘Baseball isn’t just about talking. Watch this, newbie.’
Thinking to show a mind-blowing baserunning play, the runner’s heart was already pounding.
The batter lifted his leg.
The runner on first waited.
First pitch.
Boom!
“Ball!”
The first pitch was a fastball going outside.
Whether he was conscious of the steal or not, the quick pitch went outside.
There was a reason he said to run on the third.
Usually, if conscious of the runner, you played with fast pitches, but if you kept throwing only fast pitches you’d be easy to attack, so sometimes you mixed in a change.
And an important element in stealing was the ‘sense’ to predict the pitcher’s timing for throwing a somewhat slow pitch and running.
Surely the second or third would have a curve.
And if the second was a fast pitch.
The third was almost 100% curve.
Of course, even so, there was no law against throwing a fast pitch on the third. Then the catcher’s time to throw to second would be shorter and the runner on second would have a higher chance of being caught.
However, by inverting that probability, if it was a fast pitch, the runner on third ran home when the catcher threw.
‘If’ possibility considered, a double trap.
And the second pitch met.
Boom!
“Strike!”
Again, a fastball going outside. It seemed like a calculation to set the count to one strike one ball.
Clearly, he couldn’t think about the runner on third at all.
‘This is really pitiful.’
The runner felt a bit sorry that the strategy seemed too easy to succeed.
And the third pitch.
The runner ran.
Contrary to expectation, the catcher who ordered a fast pitch quickly pulled the ball from the glove.
‘Got it!’
Seeing the catcher trying to throw to second, the runner on third slammed the ground.
Pi Anta, who was about to throw the ball to second,
Suddenly twisted her body and threw to third.
“Caught.”
When she and the eyes met.
He felt something was wrong, but it was already too late.
He hoped the third baseman wouldn’t react to this sudden play.
‘Is it possible that the shift I moved earlier was for this strategy…?!’
The third baseman, who had moved the position in advance, was waiting by stepping on the third base as if to show off.
The third baseman’s glove, which received the accurate throw, tagged the runner’s hand before it touched the base.
“Out!”
With one out, the runners on first and third instantly became two outs on second.
The atmosphere suddenly cooled as if cold water had been poured on it.
The 4th batter hit a quick ground ball to the outside curve, but was out at first base because he was blocked by the third baseman who had moved the position in advance.
Three outs.
The field commander, Pi Anta who had taken off her mask, smiled faintly and left only two short words.
“Really, just moving as I thought.”
“Everything is in my palm.”
To that, the runner, GranSeason,
Despaired at the feeling of encountering a huge wall that he hadn’t felt even once in several years of playing BoL.
Class…
Class is different!