The Man Meets the Ace (3)
Watching the ball I'd squared up on rocket toward left-center, I sprinted for first base with everything I had.
Is it going over? Please, let it clear the fence.
If I wanted to flip this game around, pulling a high four-seam riding at the top of the zone had been my only option — because I knew that if I made an out here, my at-bat would never come around again in the ninth. I had no way of knowing who would take the mound in the ninth, but with the score separated by a single run, Myeongjin would almost certainly send out the most trustworthy arm they had.
At the very least, an extra-base hit.
With two outs and the fleet-footed Min Do-hee on the basepaths, a double alone would be plenty to take the lead. I was still turning that over in my head when, just before my foot came down on first base, another roar erupted from the dugout.
"Second! Second!"
Hearing the coach's signal, I threw myself toward second base for all I was worth, while down the line the third-base coach flashed the order to hold up there.
Shraaak!
By the time I'd settled safely onto second and turned to look toward home, the throw headed that way had apparently finished its duel with the runner from first — the opposing catcher and Min Do-hee were both sprawled across the dirt.
"Safe!"
The instant the umpire spread his arms wide to either side, a fresh roar burst from the Chaewon University dugout.
"WHOOOAAAAH!!"
"MIN DO-HEE!! She's so fucking fast, that crazy girl!!"
"Kang Tae-oh! Kang Tae-oh! Kang Tae-oh!"
Watching me run my little celebration on second base, the players in the dugout bounced up and down like maniacs, chanting my name on repeat.
Anyone watching would think we'd just won some king-of-kings championship.
Director Yoon Gaeul had to rein in the players as they leapt around with that much wild excitement, and in the meantime, Oh Yu-ra stepped into the batter's box.
It was a shame the ball hadn't gone over, but a go-ahead RBI double that smacked off the wall was nothing to sneeze at. That electric feeling of a game-winning hit — one I hadn't tasted in far too long — made both my fists clench tight.
CRACK!!
Ah.
The moment the bat connected with the pitch she'd thrown, Yoon Se-ah froze on the mound, unable to move a muscle.
The ball sailed toward left-center with a crisp, ringing sound — the kind of clean contact that left no room to hope for anything but extra bases. By some mercy it didn't clear the fence, kicking away after smashing into it, but that one swing had already flipped the outcome of the game on its head.
Shraaak!
"Safe!"
The runner from first came all the way home on top of it — a go-ahead, two-RBI double.
It wasn't just any pitch, either. The one she trusted most in her entire arsenal had been turned into the game-winning hit, and it left a bitter taste in her mouth. Of course she couldn't deny that, with her strength steadily draining away, that was the only pitch she had left to throw at that point.
...And of course, that pitch — thrown on dead arms — had caught just a hair too much of the middle of the plate.
So this is what it feels like. Having your most trusted pitch read, and punished for it.
Would it have stung a little less if she'd been beaten with some other pitch? Should she have buried one decisively below the zone at least once, even if it meant running the count to three balls?
But the regret was meaningless now. The fact remained: she had failed to protect the lead she'd carried through two outs of the eighth, and she had handed them the lead instead.
"...Mmph."
As she stood on the mound desperately trying to hide the tears welling in her eyes, the pitching coach and the catcher climbed up to her.
"...You okay?"
"......Yeah."
"You did well out there, Se-ah."
"......Yes."
Bowing her head to hide the brimming tears as she walked back to the dugout, Yoon Se-ah made a vow in the depths of her heart.
That next time, she would never again let herself be beaten like this by that man — Kang Tae-oh.
Oh Yu-ra grounded out to second against the new pitcher, and the top of the eighth came to an end.
Still, with the comeback already completed in my at-bat, there was no real trace of disappointment in the dugout.
Pop!
"Damn, Home Run King! Went deep again today, huh?!"
"Tell me about it. Would've been even better if it had cleared the wall, though."
"Fuck, look at Mr. Greedy over here. It was a shame, though, I'll give you that. If you'd gone deep today, that'd be four homers in four games, no?"
"Honestly, just having you hitting second sets my mind at ease, Tae-oh. Na-hyun and Do-hee played great too, but still."
Being passed back and forth between Cha Seo-rin's and Kang Ra-hee's praise didn't feel bad at all.
Of course, with defense waiting for us right away, I couldn't exactly sit back and savor the feeling of my go-ahead hit.
And the pitcher who took the mound for the bottom of the eighth was still Han Yu-seul.
"Out!"
"Out!"
"Strike three! Out!"
Han Yu-seul dispatched three straight batters on a groundout, a flyout, and a strikeout, polishing off eight innings in what felt like a blink.
"Whoa, sunbae. That last pitch was straight-up filthy."
"...Well, you handed me a lead, so the least I could do was hold it. You did promise you'd get me the winning pitcher if I ate up eight innings, remember?"
"We already took the lead in the top of the eighth, sunbae. You were in line for the win even without coming back out."
"Ah, damn it — when a woman gives her word, she keeps it. Anyway. Thanks for the comeback, Tae-oh."
With a grin, Han Yu-seul stuck her fist out at me, and I met it with my own, giving it a light tap.
Eight innings pitched, two runs allowed — to her, who had done more than enough to earn herself the win.
The top of the ninth was over in a flash — a flyout to right from the cleanup hitter Kang Ra-hee, a groundout to short from Cha Seo-rin, and a swinging strikeout from the pinch hitter Han Ji-woo.
We'd failed to add an insurance run, but even so, not once did it feel like we might lose.
It was only a one-run lead, but Song Ji-an, Chaewon's closer, was the most reliable arm on the staff after Baek Ha-rin and Han Yu-seul.
"Out!"
"Out!"
"Out! That's the ballgame!"
Song Ji-an slammed the door with a perfect one-two-three — the leadoff hitter popped up to center, and the next two grounded out to third and short.
It had been a genuinely hard-fought game, but we'd scraped out the nail-biter of a win one way or another. And no matter what anyone said, today's game was one Han Yu-seul and I had built together — me, going 2-for-4 with three RBIs and sweeping up every last run the team scored, and her, shackling Myeongjin's lineup for eight straight innings with two runs allowed and seven strikeouts.
WHAM!!
"Agh!"
"You brat! Congrats on the W!!"
"Hey, fuck you! Get over here, Cha Seo-rin, you crazy bitch!"
I was staring, utterly dumbfounded, at Cha Seo-rin and Han Yu-seul trading blows yet again the second the game ended when Kang Ra-hee stepped up beside me and tapped my shoulder.
Tap.
"Great work out there today, Tae-oh."
"It was nothing. Han Yu-seul sunbae over there had the harder day, honestly."
"Oh, she pitched well enough, but let's be straight — today's game was all yours. However many innings a pitcher throws, eight or nine, you can't win if nobody scores."
"Then maybe our captain should've driven in a few runs herself, don't you think?"
"......"
"...That was a joke. A joke."
Kang Ra-hee's face clouded over just slightly at my quip, so I hurried to walk it back.
"I know you said it as a joke, Tae-oh, but still — watch yourself around the others. There are girls who don't like you for one reason alone: that a man made the starting lineup."
"...Isn't my average sitting around .600, maybe .700 right now?"
"People simply aren't wired to think that rationally. No matter how well you hit as a starter, some of them will hate your guts without giving it a second thought."
"...Understood. I'll keep it in mind."
...Well, every group comes with its share of lunatics.
If anything, the truly impressive one was somebody like Kwon Ye-rim, who had handed over her starting job without a flicker of resentment, relaxed and completely at ease about the whole thing.
If Kang Ra-hee is warning me this seriously, I'd better watch my step for a while.
Then again, I couldn't really picture some grand catastrophe breaking out over a single starting spot in college baseball.
Mokdong Stadium's greatest virtue was its location — right inside Seoul, which made the ride back to Chaewon University refreshingly short. The trip home from Icheon Stadium usually ate up a good two hours, so after an afternoon game we'd often arrive under a fully dark sky, but from Mokdong the bus to campus barely took thirty minutes.
We pulled into the school right around dinnertime, and as the team gathered in front of the bus, Director Yoon Gaeul laid out the schedule for the next day.
"You've all worked hard today, so there will be no practice tomorrow. Rest properly — starting the day after tomorrow, we prepare for the games coming up over the next ten days. Bear that in mind."
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Dismissed."
"Dismissed!"
Perhaps because the winning streak had run four straight games dating back to opening day, there was a real looseness in everyone's voices — the director's and the players' alike.
"The baseball club's showers will be open as well, so wash up there if you like — anyone heading back to the dorms can wash there on your own schedule..."
At the coaches' words, players split off toward the team showers or simply drifted away — and just as I moved to start walking toward my own dorm—
Thump.
"Hey, Tae-oh."
I turned my head at the familiar voice hooking me from behind.
"Yes, Yu-seul sunbae?"
"Once you're done washing up, wanna grab dinner together? Noona's buying."
"Huh? Out of nowhere?"
"What do you mean, 'out of nowhere,' you dummy. I told you before — wipe that loss away for me, and dinner's on me."
"...When exactly was that?"
It had come up in passing during Game 2, and I'd brushed it off as banter — but judging by the fact that she still remembered it, it clearly hadn't been an empty promise.
"Then should I call Seo-rin sunbae to join us, too?"
"Why the hell would I invite Cha Seo-rin? I'm treating you."
"Still, back in Game 2, Seo-rin sunbae did more than I—"
"She's out eating with somebody every other day anyway, she's fine. So? What's it gonna be."
So this was, more or less, an invitation to dinner for two. But with Han Yu-seul as the other party, I honestly couldn't tell what she was after.
If it had been Cha Seo-rin or Kim Na-hyun, I'd have chalked it up as a date invitation and followed along without a second thought.
Be careful around the others. There are girls who don't like you for one reason alone: that a man made the starting lineup.
Well, there was that warning from Kang Ra-hee. And even setting it aside, slinking out of it awkwardly at this point simply wasn't in my nature.
"Sure, why not. Shall we meet in front of the main gate around seven thirty, once I've washed up?"
"...Since when do guys shower that fast? Thirty minutes from now?"
"Huh? I thought I was padding it generously. If you take forever in the showers, sunbae, should we just make it a nice roomy eight o'clock?"
"Forget it, I don't take long either. Seven thirty, in front of the main gate."
And that was how Han Yu-seul and I ended up with a somewhat sudden dinner date on our hands.