Bats and Brooms- The Luna Nova Fast Pitch Witches
Chapter 1
It is day one of tryouts for the Luna Nova Witches softball team. To achieve her dream of being like ex-pro ball player, Chariot DuNord, Atsuko Kagari pushes herself to her limits and works to keep her eyes on the prize.
Tryouts - Do Your Base-t!
"Let's go ladies! Three more minutes!"
The slap and squeak of sneakers on lacquered wood flooring rings throughout the gymnasium.
"Remember! Pace yourself! This is an exercise in stamina!" Coach Meridies, the head of the Luna Nova Witches High School JV softball team yells out as she looks at the current leader of the group of girls: one red-faced, wind-sucking, Atsuko Kagari.
Despite the reminder of the purpose of the run and the dark fuzz slowly creeping from the borders of her vision, she pumps her legs pushing herself just a little further. That is until her right foot makes contact with the rogue shoelace that had been slowly escaping its knot on her left foot. The resulting sound of the Japanese girl falling face first into the floor echoes through the room and is soon followed by the rhythmic jog of the rest of the team catching up then passing her. The first time JV assistant coach and Akko's English teacher, Ursula Callistis, looks at her fallen pupil with a worried expression.
"You alright Akko?" She calls out across the gym.
The girl in question begins pushing herself up as her two friends, Lotte and Sucy, who had been trailing at the end of the pack, help pull her back on to her feet.
"I-I'm good!" Akko calls back a little dizzy.
Once she regains her footing, Akko looks abashedly towards her friends. "Thanks, you guys."
"It's fine, you falling on your face more than makes up for forcing us to try out for this team with you." Sucy, the pink haired chemistry extraordinaire says as she removes Akko's arm from her shoulder.
"Sucy!" Lotte, the sweetheart redhead with glasses that take up most of her face, chides as she attempts to catch her breath from the run. "You sure you're okay Akko? Do you need a second?"
The brunette girl shakes her head violently, getting back in the zone. Her eyes once again igniting with determination.
"No way! We gotta catch up!" Akko bends down rushing to tie her shoelace before taking off, dragging her friends beside her.
A sharp sizzling pain greets her at every pump of her legs and as she looks down past her Luna Nova High School navy shorts she sees red scrapes painted across her knees.
Ah man.
She looks back up just in time to bump into a blonde and tea-green ponytail and to step on the heel of it's wearer's shoe.
"Woah woah I'm sorry! I -"
"Watch where you're going!" The dark-haired girl next to the stumbling blonde sneers.
The blonde turns around with a neutral expression as she adjusts her shoe.
"It's fine Barbara, it was an accident." Her blue eyes glance up towards the brunette's red ones. "Though I do hope you usually have more awareness on the field."
Akko puffs her cheeks, unsure of how to follow suit.
This was... Diana... right? We have...maaaa- bio together? She's like, super smart. I didn't really see her as a sports person.
Her attempt at recognition, despite successful, is interrupted as the blonde turns away and begins jogging off after the rest of the group.
"You should get to the coach and get your knees cleaned up." She calls over her shoulder before refocusing in front of her.
"See ya, bench." The dark-haired girl, Barbara, says as she follows after Diana.
With a roll of her eyes, Akko huffs and continues jogging alongside Lotte and Sucy.
"I'll show them who's benched..." she mumbles under her breath.
A whistle rings through the gym.
"Two minutes ladies!" Coach Meridies cries out.
Akko then audibly groans as she attempts to wipe away the sweat from her stinging knees.
"Akko, c'mon, let's get over to Coach C. to look at your knees. "Lotte says motioning over to the two coaches.
"No, I'm fine. Really. I'm gonna prove I can do it!" Akko says through ragged breaths.
Can't stop now. Two minutes. Two. Minutes. Then I'll ask Professor Callistis for a band-aid.
She looks down at her knees once more.
Maybe more than one band-aid.
She looks back up at the group of girls running in front of her, her eyes follow Diana as she weaves her way back towards the center with Barbara close behind. Barbara, however, veers away from her course and aggressively bumps into Amanda, (by far, the most outspoken member of Akko's friend group), pushing her away from the auburn-haired girl she always spends her time with, Hannah. Amanda catches herself from the shove and laughs as she begins running backwards saying something to the two. Akko is unable hear what was said, but she sees Barbara's hand ball into a fist before Amanda winks, turns, and runs to the front of the group.
The stinging in her legs fade as she begins focusing on counting her breaths to the pounding of feet. Distractions are good.
She looks over to Lotte and Sucy. Lotte was wiping her glasses on her shirt between strides after they had fogged up. Her askew headband, heaving breaths, beet red face, and sweat drenched t-shirt gives Akko the idea that maybe Lotte actually needed the moment to rest that she had offered to her. Akko guiltily slows her pace, much to the redhead's relief.
Sucy on the other hand, shows no sign of fatigue. Straight faced, not a bead of sweat, and the most controlled breathing Akko swears she has ever seen. She wonders if it has anything to do with conditioning from the masks she wears in chem lab. Is there conditioning to wear those things? She doubts it but can't imagine what else it could be.
"Thanks... for doing this with me." She huffs through a smile. "It really means a lot."
"Of course, Akko." Lotte smiles up at her as she breathes heavy, glasses already refilling with a foggy mist. "You know we're here for you."
"Mhm." Sucy nods. "Even though your dream to be like a college softball player is pretty dumb."
"Excuse you. Chariot DuNord was the greatest shortstop to have EVER. LIVED."
"I seriously doubt that."
"Humph!" Akko begins running a little faster, out of the immediate presence of the Chariot DuNaysayer.
Ever since the six-year-old version of herself hit her first wiffle ball with the handle of her mother's broom, Akko Kagari had fallen in love with the sport of softball. She and her father would watch professional ball games on television together, but little Akko had always preferred to watch college games.
While she couldn't truly decide which league she found more impressive; the plays, hits, and unlikely comebacks challenging each other in an unending, unintentional rivalry; Akko feels, and maybe it's just her imagination, that minor league and college teams play with a little more risk and creativity.
She is awed by the players that are still learning, still challenging their newly discovered limits, and she loves seeing the feats built from their hard work on their journey to prove themselves among both a team and as individual athletes. They still have dreams of making it to major league teams, and this dream is reflected in every play, be it ending in success or failure. They lay out their hopes and push to raise their potential on the field.
Watching major league games reminds her of how amazing the best of the best are, but watching college games remind her that no matter how good she is, (which for her may be a debatable term at the moment) that she is still learning and more than willing to put her all into every play. Even if she may not make it to any major league softball team (hey it could happen!) her dream to inspire others to do their best, to surprise even themselves, will drive her forward.
In her younger years, Akko had played on recreational softball teams. She was, for arguments sake, not the best player on the team. Though she did hold the self-proclaimed record for most ripped pant knees (which she somehow associated with dedication), the coach and rest of the team held her to relatively low standards. But still she tried! She had fun! And she learned how to throw pretty darn okay! But most of all, she wanted nothing more than to get better.
After yet another discouragingly rough day at the batting cages, (where the cages got a better workout hitting balls than Akko's bat did) she came home to her father watching a college softball game. The Polaris University Bears vs. The Rastavan University Dragons. Bottom of the seventh, Bears up by one and the Dragons up at bat, one out, players on first and third. The batter had been lucky, or maybe the Dragons had some connection to the umpire, whichever it was, they had one foul and two balls, at least one of which that should have been a strike. The pitcher wound up and threw one of the most perfect pitches Akko had ever seen. The batter swung (if they hadn't, Akko would have screamed), and halted to a bunt causing the ball to jump in a low arc. Suddenly a blur of red shot from behind the pitcher- Number 7, Chariot DuNord, second year shortstop, dove to catch the ball mere inches from the ground.
She catches it as she curls her body, falling into a forward roll, comes out of it up on one knee, and throws the ball to get the third out on first base. ALL IN A SINGLE MOTION. As the team swarmed her the camera passed over Chariot's face as she goes from disbelief to the full realization of the wild play she just made. Akko watched the television slack-jawed. On the screen, though impossible to hear over the crowd and announcer, she could see Chariot yelling through a huge smile. That day had been the first day Akko had sworn in front of her father.
From then on she had become an avid fan of the Bears, but more so of Chariot. She would watch every game on television and for her birthday, her parents took a road trip to Polaris University to take her to a home game. Akko had been so excited, she doesn't remember sitting once through the entirety of the game. Watching Chariot play live made her want to work as hard as she could to better herself as a softball player. Her dream is to be a great enough player to inspire others to to work hard to strive for their best, just as Chariot had inspired her.
She had followed Chariot's athletic career through the rest of her time in Polaris University, still pulling off amazing plays, though none quite as impressive as her DuNord "Dive-roll" (as Akko affectionately coined it).
Once she graduated, Chariot had been scouted for a major league team. Unfortunately, two games into the season there was a horrible accident. She had slid into third incorrectly due to a divot on the field and was violently jerked off course, coupled with the third baseman being knocked off balance and falling onto her legs. She had torn her ACL, shattered her left kneecap and had a spiral fracture of the tibia on the same leg. She was rushed out of the stadium unconscious and was never seen on the field again.
Rumors flew about her departure, from her dying from a botched surgery to fix her leg, to doctors finding traces of performance enhancement in her blood work and the team owner making a deal to cover it up, and the most outrageous she heard was that she was seen moving away to some country farm raising alpacas. Akko didn't believe any of the rumors, she's not sure where Chariot had gone to, but she knows she couldn't be dead, or a cheater, or raising alpacas. She couldn't be.
"Thirty seconds!" Coach Meridies calls out, eyes on her stopwatch.
Akko suddenly snaps out of her thoughts of Chariot, and with a renewed vigor, tries to re-focus on the task at hand.
Almost there! Just a little longer! This is the first step!
She looks towards the group of her potential teammates and starts pushing her legs just a little bit harder.
As she tries to control her breathing from the increased pace, she finds herself unintentionally focusing on the slight dampness on the back of Diana's t-shirt causing the light fabric to stick to her mid back. Each pump of her arms tug the shirt in such a way stretching the fabric taut against her sides. Akko's eyes then trailed a little lower...
Dear God. How many squats does she do? I have got to start doing more squats. Note to me. Do more squats.
She is thrown back into reality by the blow of the whistle. With her focus on, uh… glistening sweat dripping down toned legs broken (yeah), the pain of the sweaty, stingy, bloody mess that are her own legs floods back to the forefront of her mind.
She, Lotte, and Sucy make their way towards Coach Callistis, who had been waiting with a wet towel and first aid kit on hand.
As Akko wipes the blood and sweat from the scrapes with the help of Coach Callistis, Coach Meridies directs the rest of the girls to stretch out before moving forward.
"Here, put this on before placing the bandages." The older woman says as she hands the brunette a packet of pain-relief ointment.
"Thank you, Professor." Akko says taking and opening the packet.
"Of course!" She smiles before looking up towards Lotte and Sucy standing by. "Why don't you girls grab yourselves a drink before continuing. It's important to stay hydrated."
"Yes Coach." Lotte nods, still slightly winded from the run. She jogs over to the bleachers, grabs her water bottle, and quickly returns to Akko and Sucy's sides. After taking a swig, she shoots a stream of water into Akko's open, waiting mouth, and then offers the bottle to Sucy.
"I'm fine." She insists.
"Impressive dive, Kagari. However, it's a little silly to dive for a ball on a wood floor… when there is no ball." The head coach says with a cheeky smile, heading over to the girl beginning to place her bandages.
Ursula rolls her eyes. "C'mon Croix, knock it off."
The woman raises her hands in surrender before stopping in front of them. "Seriously though, you okay kid? You got up alright, but that was a nasty fall."
"I'm fine," Akko says wincing as she shapes the last bandage to her knee. "I just tripped. No way that'll stop me!" She looks up smiling confidently.
"Well that's good. I hope it doesn't become a habit."
"No promises." Lotte and Sucy say in unison as they pull Akko up onto her feet.
"Hey!" Akko pouts.
Coach Meridies shakes her head with a slight smile. "Go on and stretch for a few minutes. Be careful, we don't want anyone getting seriously hurt." She says dismissing the girls as she extends a hand to help Coach Callistis off the ground.
"And do something about those shoelaces! Tuck them in your shoes." The assistant coach calls out, taking the offered hand and rising to her feet.
"We'll make sure she wears her velcro sneakers when she tries out next year." Sucy says over her shoulder before heading off with Akko and Lotte to stretch with the rest of the team.
"Sucy!" Akko whines.
By the time the girls finish their stretches, the coaches had set up multiple stations around the gym and told them to break into groups of three. The coaches walk around, helping with stance and offering tips as the groups rotate from station to station showcasing their proficiencies.
The first exercise Akko, Lotte, and Sucy are stationed at is a simple toss and catch station. The girls start close, flicking the ball from the wrist then move further away from each other and graduate to underhand tossing.
Akko looks around at the rest of the stations throughout the room. She sees Amanda and two other friends, Constanze and Jasminka, hitting softballs off tees into a net.
"Beautiful pivot, Antonenko. Try not to drag that elbow so much though." Coach Meridies says as Jasminka begins to lower the tee for a helmeted Constanze. "O'Neill, you and I both know that bat is not a light saber, quit goofing around. Look into color guard if you can't help yourself."
Amanda twirls the bat around her hand once more before dinging it against her helmet in a mock salute. "Yes ma'am."
The other stations consist of footwork obstacles, batting sticks, overhand throwing, and several pitching machines with different instructions.
"Akko! Heads up!"
Akko turns to Lotte, quickly raising her glove just in time to catch the ball.
"Sorry! Heh. I'm just checking out the other stations." She explains taking the ball from her glove and tossing it to Sucy.
Sucy hums as she catches the ball and turns to Lotte.
"How fast do you think the machine is over at the bunting station?" Lotte asks readying herself for Sucy's throw.
Akko turns her head looking for said station before noticing the dark-haired girl, Barbara, getting into bunting position across the room. The ball launches from the pitching machine towards the girl backed by a net. She pushes forward just before the ball reaches her bat, knocking the ball to the ground towards her auburn-haired friend feeding the machine. She turns with a satisfied smile and begins collecting the few balls she had missed from the net before handing the bat off to Diana.
The blonde waits until Barbara joins Hannah behind the machine, before getting into position at the plate. From a traditional batting stance Diana quickly slides into a bunt just as the ball shoots from the machine.
Ting
The ball deflects off the bat towards the ground with barely a roll. She steps off the plate and nudges the ball out of the way towards her teammates.
When she heads back to the plate she situates herself on the opposite side as though she were batting lefty.
Akko watches closely as Hannah lowers the ball into the mouth of the machine. The ball launches and Diana begins moving off the bag holding the bat out, making one of the most graceful drag bunts Akko had ever seen.
Ting
The ball jumps off the bat and rolls down what would be the third base line.
Woah, she's really good! Akko raises her eyebrows before turning back to Lotte.
"Did you see that?" Akko says excitedly as she holds her glove up to catch Lotte's incoming ball.
"Isn't that the girl you flat-tired before?" the pink haired girl asks with the shadow of a laugh.
"Diana?" Lotte questions as she tries to look around Akko in time to see and hear another perfect bunt from the blonde's bat. "Wow. She never said anything about playing softball in any of our classes."
"How is she that good?!" Akko turns again at the sound of ball meeting aluminum bat only to find herself face to chest with Coach Meridies.
"She probably practices instead of chatting." She says calmly as Akko looks up to meet her eyes. She then turns away from the girls and blows her whistle. "ONE MORE MINUTE! THEN MOVE TO THE NEXT STATION!" She looks back to Akko's group as she continues her way around the room. "Less talking, more tossing."
"Yes Coach." The three say in unison before resuming their game of catch.
I bet the machine's not that fast. I can probably do just as good! Especially after how much I've been practicing! Akko narrows her eyes in determination as Lotte's next throw meets her glove.
Oh was Akko mistaken.
If the amount of times she had knocked over the tee-ball stand was any indicator for how ready she would be for the pitching machine, it was pretty clear she was going to have a hard time.
No one could say Akko Kagari wasn't fast, and despite her tendency to lose her attention to even the smallest of distractions, 8 out of 10 times she was there for a catch. Even her throw and aim was skilled; countless days playing catch with her Mom, Dad, and friends from rec teams had most certainly paid off. The only thing she had a very very difficult time with was arguably one of the more important things. Batting.
She knew how to swing the bat. She knew to pivot and to lead with her elbow. She knew where on the bat she wanted the ball to meet and she knew where not to put her fingers during a bunt. She knew all of these things and more, however, the moment she steps into a batter's box or squares up to anything resembling a plate, she loses all sense of what she knows. The pool of anxiety bubbles up into her chest and head, filling her mind with doubts and near impossible expectations effectively psyching herself out.
So there she waits down at the business end of the pitching machine, watching closely as Sucy loads the ball in the machine's nozzle. She gets into position standing low with her bat forward. As the ball shoots towards her, Akko lurches backwards with an "eep!", narrowly avoiding the yellow mass of plastic sailing by her face.
"Don't stand so low." Lotte calls out.
"Your best bet might be to try thinking of using the bat as a shield from the ball." Sucy says as she shakes the now empty ball bag.
Akko groans as she turns to collect the last eight missed pitches from the net behind her.
"If I may make a suggestion?" Coach Callistis chimes in as she walks towards their station from the safe distance she had previously occupied. "First, try not to hover over the base. That is just asking to get hit. Second, try thinking of it more as you trying to catch the ball with the bat. You're reaching the bat to meet it as it comes in. Here I'll show you." She holds out her hand which prompts Akko to surrender her bat. The brunette scurries to the pitching machine dropping armfuls of machine balls into the ball bag before turning to her coach attentively.
"Make sure you give yourself a wide enough stance so you can move without losing your balance. See how far apart my feet are?" The blue haired woman demonstrates to her interested audience. Akko mimics the stance pretending to hold a bat.
"Next, hold the bat like this, making sure to block your fingers from the ball. Then hold it out about here, allowing you to reach just outside the box." She looks up at a waiting Sucy and nods her head. Sucy lowers the ball into the mouth of the machine. As the ball sails towards her, Ursula moves the bat to meet the ball.
"And now, you try to..."
Ting. The ball bounces back towards the machine.
"... catch it. See?" Akko looks at her as she tries slowly copying the movements demonstrated.
"Here," she motions the brunette back to the base, returning the bat to her. "Fix your stance, there ya go. Now hold it out like this. Keep it just below eye level. Perfect. Okay, hold on."
Ursula moves a safe distance away from the batter's box and motions to Sucy.
"Ready, set..." Sucy inserts the ball with a thwump.
The ball soars towards her, but she holds her stance watching closely.
Catch it, catch it.
Ting
I DID IT!
"Oh yeah! I hit it!" The girl cheers, blind to the ball (having just chipped the top of the bat and flying up and out of her view) falling down directly towards bill of her helmet.
Bang
"Ah!"
"Careful!" The woman tenses up, until seeing the startled girl begin laughing as she re-adjusts her helmet. "Good start, just keep practicing! But try moving the bat a little higher next time." She smiles as she picks up the ball and tosses it back to the redhead holding out her glove.
"Okay!" Akko beams up at her. "Thank you so much Professor!"
The rest of the tryouts, thankfully, went by without any additional injury. The girls sit on the floor doing their final stretches as Coach Meridies and Callistis stand before them.
"Great job today ladies," Coach Meridies begins, "We were impressed by the skill and potential we saw in you all today. I would like to remind you that tomorrow's tryouts will be taken place outside on the field forty minutes after the end of last period. So be sure to meet here first to help carry gear out."
"Coach Meridies?" a redhead girl named Sarah calls out with a raised hand.
"Yes Bernhardt?"
"When will we hear back on whether we've made the team or not?"
"After tomorrow, Coach Callistis, myself, and Varsity Coach Nelson will take the two days in account and discuss your performances. Expect to see the list posted in the auditorium by Friday. So nobody better think they can slack off tomorrow." She dramatically turns her head looking towards Amanda O'Neill who just as dramatically avoids eye contact while stretching her leg around the back of her head.
"Any other questions?" She asks scanning the room of girls finishing their stretches.
"If you have any personal matter to discuss," Coach Callistis steps forward, "we will be outside the locker room for the next twenty minutes."
"Otherwise," Coach Maridies picks up her sentence, "we will see you ladies tomorrow. Remember to bring your cleats and water."
Authors note:
First off, thank you for reading! This is my first attempt at a multi-chapter fic based off an idea I had doodled a couple months back. My intent for this story is to be a slow burn, slice of life, coming out, and blossoming romance story. With softball. Obviously.
Critique is welcome. I do not consider myself a writer by trade, so if you have any tips to share I would love to learn!
I hope you enjoy the story, but most of all, I hope I can make you cringe at the horrible puns I've decided to use as chapter names.
If you want to check out the pictures you can find them on my tumblr account! - My username is ' superevilbadguy ' and type in "softball au" in the search bar on my page.