4 - Clean-Up

"What a great single by infielder Mihasa!" The announcer called over the sound system. The crowd in the stadium cheered, and Nishiura's cheer squad began to play music again.

The player on deck practiced a few more swings before stepping to he plate.

Nishiura's male hardball team cheered loudly from the stands opposite of the dug out.

Abe crossed his arms and pondered, humming to himself. Mihashi gapped at him, asking him what was up.

"Well that was the third batter in the line up. Bases are loaded so that's lucky on our part. So it's time for the clean up hitt-"

Abe's eyes widened in surprise.

"Wait."

"Now batting fourth for Nishiura-clean up and third baseman; Shura."

The Nishiura crowd roared, a few girls called from behind the hardball team.

"Get 'em, Shura-chan!"

"Yeah! Shura!"

Mihashi stood, grasping the fence with Tajima, Hanai, and Izumi calling beside him.

"You can do it, Aki!" The pitcher shouted, hesitating to make another call.

The brunette girl on the plate nodded to the catcher, hearing the calls from her high school. She heard the voice of Ren and his teammates, and smiled slightly to herself.

Abe turned to Mihashi and the team once they sat down-though they were all on edge.

"So Akiko-chan bats clean up? What a position for a captain."

"Yeah, she's something else! You haven't seen her bat yet, Abe?" Tajima leaned forward, grinning at Abe's confused but otherwise neutral expression.
The catcher shook his head, turning to face the game once more.

"Well, you're in for something else!"

"Here we go." Izumi nodded, shifting off the bench and sitting in front of the fence. Tajima eagerly lunged to join Izumi...and sure enough the rest of the boys who were fairly close to the captain of the softball team were all on edge. Mihashi shifted his bottom slowly off the bench, glancing nervously at Abe. When

Abe's eyes shifted to Mihashi, the boys eyes darted away as he squirmed to sit beside Izumi.

Akiko adjusted her shoulder, strengthening her stance and crouching.

"Alright. This chick's famous for her screwball and sinker. But really I should watch out for a curve as well." The captain furrowed her eyebrows, remembering the info she had learned from Takaya-kun and Ren-kun before the game. The rest of their team seemed to support the softball team completely, and it was quite refreshing to have some supporters from the game with them.

"But...I'm sure she'll try to exploit my weakness to the sinker right away. I mean, she won't send me a screwball, that's my specialty."

The catcher gazed up at the batter. 'Huh, so this is Shura. Look at the build on this one...she's gonna be a tough one. But I'm sure we can psych her out easy. She might be the clean up, but we're gonna clean her right up. Let's start with a sinker or two, shake her up a little.'

The opposing pitcher wound up, just about to launch the ball. There was a collective silence. The ball left her hand with incredible speed.

"Here we go...curve ball-no!"

Her eyebrows lifted in surprise as she swung the bat to catch the ball's velocity.

Instead, the ball dropped incredibly low and slammed into the catcher's mitt, narrowly missing the captain's bat.

The umpire was silent for a moment as Akiko brought the bat back up again, focused once more.

"Ball!"

'Damn it...sinker.' Akiko scoffed in her head, readjusting. 'But I think I've got a good look at it. Even if I don't get it this round, I'll be good for the next at bat.'

"Sinker? Wow...a big breaker so early on in the count!" Hanai scoffed, scratching his neck. Abe nodded, slipping to sit beside Hanai and Tajima. "That's how Shigame usually pitches, especially to their bigger threats. I'm sure they've done their homework on Akiko-chan and the rest of the team."

The team watched as the pitcher, Junei, sent a fastball in the highest corner and earning a strike on Akiko. The brunette girl brought the back up for a third time and sighed, bracing herself.

'Fastball, high inside. They're trying to psych me out. But they're not going to get me worked up so easily. C'mon...screwball, center.'

"They're trying to psych her out. Bet you they're going to throw a screwball down the center." Abe said, leaning forward as the pitcher prepared the third pitch. "Bases loaded, c'mon Akiko-chan..."

"Ah-ki-ko! Ah-ki-ko!" Hamada edged the crowd on, playing music with the band.

The catcher adjusted, her eyes wandering to the crowd and scoffing. 'Jeez, they're really rallied up for this girl. Well, now that we've tripped her up-let's give her a screwball and catch her off guard. Down the center."

The pitcher nodded back at the catcher's signal and wound up. The softball slid of her fingers gracefully, and Akiko saw the motion of the ball immediately.

'Screwball! Center!'

Abe clenched his jaw and grabbed at the fence. 'Screwball, center!'

Mihashi clutched at the fencing as well with both hands. His eyes screwed shut as he shouted across the stadium, "You've got this, Aki! I believe in you!"

Her swing motion began, right on target.

The catcher's eyes widened. "She's gonna make contact!"

The bat got right under the ball, making a loud 'crack!' as the ball flew right through the infield's defence and falling to the ground. The bat fell to the ground as the crowd created an uproar. The Nishuira hardball team screeched at the girls, offering their advice though no one on the team could clearly hear them. They were filled with excitement as the captain dropped the bat and made for the first plate.

"Take 'em all! Carefully of the double play!" she shouted, rushing by first plate and rounding onto second. The runner on third made her way passed the home plate, as did the runner previously on second. However, Shigame's team failed to get the second runner out but managed to tag the runner from first base when she tried to catch third.

"Out! She's out of here! Nishiura, two runs!"

Another roar from the crowd, and another cheer for Shura sounded from the stands. The hardball boys cheered from their positions on the stand floor.

Abe blinked in surprise for a few moments, but smirked and hit his fist off the fence in a light, sportsmanship way.

"Way to go!"

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Mihashi's sparkling eyes as he called out to the previous batter.

"I knew you could do it!"