The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 84

84. Turning Point (5)

Sometimes, you have days like that.

Days when the ball just goes in perfectly.

Of course, I’m not saying that *my* ball was going in perfectly. There was no need for my ball to be perfect when facing mere high schoolers, especially against Cheongam IT Internet High School, which wasn’t quite national-level material.

Naturally, it was Yoo-joon’s ball that was on fire today. It was almost as if he’d drawn a horizontal line at the center of the strike zone, and the ball barely strayed above it.

-Clang!!

Of course, that doesn’t mean we weren’t getting hit at all. However, with the downswing [a type of batting swing] that many Cheongam High batters exhibited, it wasn’t easy to generate enough power to turn such perfectly low-controlled pitches into long hits.

In the end, even if they managed to get on base with a single, double plays were frequently turned on ground balls to the infield.

“How many pitches is that?”

“44 pitches. What should we do?”

“What do you mean, what should we do with a kid who’s throwing like that?”

Park Yoo-joon’s expression remained expressionless.

But somehow, I felt like I knew. That guy is pretty smug right now.

Semi-finals.

We crushed Cheongam High without much difficulty. They were muttering about jinxes with their rotten, dead-fish eyes, but it wasn’t really important.

And so, finally, just one step away from winning the national tournament that Jin-woo hyung [older brother or male friend] had spoken about so solemnly. It was easier than I thought—no, easier than I could have imagined. So it was a little funny. When I think about it, it’s just a high school baseball national tournament win, not even a World Series win or even a KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] win, so what was with all the solemnity?

But I wasn’t ashamed of that solemn moment.

At that moment, the national tournament win that Jin-woo hyung spoke of clearly contained something equivalent to a World Series win, regardless of the difficulty. The lifelong wish of an eighteen-year-old boy cannot have the same weight as the lifelong wish of an eighty-year-old man. But how can the entire lifetime of an eighteen-year-old be so light?

I returned to the dorm, ate dinner, and sat on the bleachers, blankly staring at the field.

The kids, excited by the words ‘national tournament finals,’ which might be a first in their lives, were voluntarily taking extra batting practice.

And next to me, Jo Yoo-jin came with two cans of soda, handed me one, and plopped down.

“Just one game left now, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“Honestly, I’ve often imagined it since I was a freshman. Going to the national tournament finals and hitting the game-winning hit, and making all the high schools that didn’t recruit me, including Cheonnam High, regret it. But I never thought it would actually happen like this.”

“Game-winning hit? Reality? Hmm… It still feels like an unimaginable fantasy, except for going to the finals?”

“Well, then, let’s make the game-winning hit your job, and I’ll just be the runner who scores on that hit, like a leadoff hitter should.”

“I don’t know about that. Shouldn’t you be out there swinging your bat instead of drinking this next to me?”

“I was catching your pitches all game today, you know? That’s why pitchers are like this… They don’t know how hard it is for the person catching their pitches.”

“Hey, logically, is it harder to throw or harder to catch? Don’t you know that even in the pros, catchers play every day, but pitchers only play once every five days?”

“Well, that’s…”

We exchanged silly stories for quite a long time. It would have been better if we had a can of beer instead of soda, but it wasn’t a bad time.

***

Finals day.

For other high school tournaments, the finals are always held in Mokdong. But the New World Big Mart Cup was a little different. In 2021, when the New World Group acquired a baseball team and changed the name from the Chairman’s Cup to the New World Big Mart Cup, this tournament is held at the New World Group’s home stadium in Incheon, Big Mart Field. Thanks to that, we took the bus to Incheon a little earlier than usual.

Jae-cheol’s expression looked a little complicated as he looked at Yoo-joon on the moving bus, but he didn’t say anything in particular. It was an expression you often see when playing sports.

Not just in high school baseball. Even in the pros. No, even if you go to the big leagues, there are plenty of people who make that kind of expression. Maybe even I’ve shown that expression to someone.

“How are the freshmen and sophomores getting along these days?”

“It’s difficult. The freshmen who came in this year are a bit more skilled, after all.”

High school baseball is different from professional baseball, which has a draft system.

The school that is more likely to achieve better results and can provide more support attracts better talent. In that sense, the level of kids who came to our school last year and the kids who came this year are bound to be different. If we were just a mediocre team aiming to break through the second round of the national tournament the year before last, we were a team that seriously aimed to win last year.

“Still, Se-jin and Jae-cheol are doing okay, right?”

“Se-jin is fine, but Jae-cheol doesn’t seem to be doing so well. He seemed a bit shocked after seeing Yoo-joon pitch in the game the day before yesterday.”

“Really? Is it that bad? You see me pitch every day anyway.”

“That’s a bit different. Honestly, Byung-young hyung, who was burning with rivalry against you, was a bit strange, and to the kids, you’re kind of an anomaly. On the other hand, Yoo-joon is a junior, and his velocity isn’t that much different from his, but he’s getting such good results. It’s like he’s thinking that even if you graduate next year, there’s no hope for the ace position? Something like that?”

Well, it does feel a bit different to be worse than a senior and worse than a junior, especially at this time when you can still see yourself growing a lot.

“I see. Jo Yoo, then take good care of him.”

“Huh? It’s a problem between pitchers. Weren’t you going to manage it?”

“You’re the captain and the catcher. Besides, I’d rather go up against the seniors, but encouraging a kid who’s feeling frustrated by the wall of talent is a bit… It’s hard to form a consensus on something like this. It’s better for you to do it since you’ve experienced something similar, right?”

“Wow… This bastard. You’re so annoying, but I can’t say anything.”

Today’s finals opponent is Daeil High School.

A high school that is classified as a powerhouse among the teams in the Gyeonggi area, and also the school that Yang Him-chan, who caused an incident on Instagram after the U-18 tournament, graduated from. However, if you think about whether they have the power to reach the finals, you would tilt your head slightly.

“Alright, let’s go get the trophy we left behind.”

Top of the 1st inning.

Kang Joo-hyun, a sophomore pitcher, came up to the mound for Daeil High. If you ask if he is Daeil High’s ace, the answer is no. He was definitely a good pitcher. He’s a talent who will go to the pros in the 2nd round of the draft next year, go through a year of tempering in the 2nd team, and then make quite a sensational performance the following year, even taking 2nd place for Rookie of the Year.

But that’s only three years from now. Right now, he’s just the most promising pitcher among the sophomores. The reason he’s on the mound now is similar to the reason we repeatedly had a Slam Dunk ending in last year’s tournament [referencing a common trope where a team’s best player is sidelined during a crucial game].

In the semi-finals, Daeil High’s ace threw a total of 105 pitches with a storm-like pitching, and as a result, he succeeded in sending the team to the finals, but now he has no choice but to sit on the bench and watch the game with anxious eyes. Just like me last year.

Jo Yoo-jin went up to bat.

His unique, bizarre batting form is still the same. It recently went up as a meme on the internet, and he chuckled and liked even that meme, which was clearly a mockery when I saw it. He said that bad comments are better than no comments? From my experience, no comments were better than bad comments, but he certainly had the extraordinary mentality of a catcher who survived in the pros for 10 years with a batting average in the .100s.

Kang Joo-hyun on the mound wound up greatly.

National tournament finals. The team’s ace watching him from the seat.

Jo Yoo-jin did not miss that moment when even the most strong-hearted person could not help but be nervous.

-Clang!!

First pitch hit!!

It’s a form that would normally be difficult to put power into, but since the form itself was so abnormal, the power was put into the hit, which is an irony.

The hit, powered by the speed at which the upper and lower body separated, pierced between 1st and 2nd base.

Jo Yoo-jin ran towards 1st base with a speed that was hard to believe for a catcher. It was a relaxed timing that didn’t even require him to hear the umpire’s shout.

“Safe!!”

Daeil High pitcher Kang Joo-hyun’s pupils shook greatly.

Big Mart Field. About 6,000 spectators gathered in the 23,000-seat stadium all looked at him at once. Perhaps this is the moment in his 17-year life when the most people’s attention is focused on him?

I can say with certainty that there is no one who can be completely the same as usual in such a moment. Something is bound to change. It’s just that the difference in the range depends on how much you’ve engraved your movements into your body.

Will Kang Joo-hyun get better from there? Or will he get worse?

-Thwack!!!

The ball that left his fingertips pierced the mitt.

144.7km/h

His face on the mound was a little flushed.

Considering that the ball he had been throwing until just now was only around 141km/h, it was clearly the fastest ball he had thrown. Should we call it a miracle of the finals?

But not everything can be perfect. Unfortunately, the umpire’s hand did not go up. That’s because the ball he threw was a ball that completely deviated from the strike zone on the outside course.

He threw the ball.

And threw it again.

Three balls.

The catcher went up to the mound.

“…”

“…”

The two batteries [pitcher and catcher], covering their faces with gloves and mitts, had a short conversation. And the catcher patted the pitcher’s shoulder a few times and returned to his position.

Did that have an effect? The ball was sucked into a place that was a little more watchable.

-Thwack!!!

Of course, even so, it was still not enough to receive a strike call.

Straight walk.

The runner walked to 1st base.

I grabbed my bat and stood in the waiting batter’s box.

Leaving the bat ring [a weight added to a bat for practice] in the waiting batter’s box, I swung the bat once in time with the pitcher’s swing.

-Whoosh

There were many guys who said that the bat speed felt faster if you swung the bat with the bat ring on and then just turned the bat in the batter’s box, but in my case, I prefer to just match the timing in this state.

About two swings.

I slowly got a feel for it.

And then

-Whoosh!!!

“Strike! Out!!!”

The kid on the mound smiled with a flushed face.

It’s natural. How could he not be happy when the ball, which was extending much more powerfully than when he usually threw, was slowly starting to enter the zone? At least he made a good impression on the scouts gathered here today.

1 out, runners on 1st and 2nd.

I stepped into the batter’s box.

***

The atmosphere of the stadium changed the moment Choi Soo-won stood in the batter’s box.

Kang Joo-hyun on the mound clearly felt it.

Then the choice was obvious.

Intentional walk.

The batter in the batter’s box also seemed to be in an atmosphere where he naturally thought that would come.

‘Hey, let’s stick one as close to this side as possible.’

‘Yes?’

But the dugout ordered a tricky match, not an intentional walk. Is it because Park Kyung-seok, the 5th hitter of Joongang High, scored 5 RBIs in yesterday’s game? But…

I tried to suppress my anxiety.

The ball I’m throwing today is the best ball I’ve ever thrown.

I didn’t care about the runners. Only control.

A big windup. And the ball flew.

-Clang!!

Towards that distant sky.