บท 72: 72. Team Practice

Iwata gestured towards Akira and introduced him as the captain of the team to Rei. Akira was 167cm tall and it was the average height for a guy of his age. Rei stood 164cm as he grew 4cm in the summer.

Akira had a fit body that wasn't buff like Sora. He had brown cult hair which complemented his dark brown eyes. His skin was tanned and an average face. He had a smile on his face as he reached his hand out.

"Nice to meet you, Rei. I am Ito Akira and I am the present captain of the team. I play as the shortstop in the team."

"My name is Toujou Rei. I resumed playing baseball again 2 months back and I play as the catcher," replied Rei as he shook his hands.

Iwata clapped his hands, gaining both their attention and said, "Ok now Akira, take him to the team and introduce him to everyone."

Akira nodded and took Rei towards the field. Iwata looked at Rei as he followed Akira out, 'The kid is a diamond. I have never seen anyone like him in my whole life. He is the definition of genius. He was made to be a great catcher.' with a smile on his face.

Rei followed Akira out, taking his helmet in his gear towards the field everyone was practicing at.the field. Everything was very hectic in the practice. The players were running around the whole field doing some drills with one man hitting the ball from the box.

Rei was very confused seeing everyone running around at the same time. He continued to look at them until he heard Akira, "This is our cutoff and relay practice. We do this type of practice to build and solidify the communication between the players. I thought you knew it." sounding confused at the end.

Rei got embarrassed listening to him and scratched the back of his head, "Honestly this is the first time I am going to play in a team. As I said before it was only this summer I took up baseball again after a very long time."

Akira nodded and didn't continue on the topic he continued to explain, "So as I said this is a drill we do for Fielding coordination. The batsman hits the ball to the outfield and a shortstop or a second baseman acts as the cutoff man and relays it to the players who cover the bases depending on the runners."

Rei listened carefully to all this as it was something new for him. Akira took him towards the home plate and called the catcher who was behind the batter. The catcher jogged near them and asked with respect, "Yes, Ito-senpai."

Akira introduced him to Rei, "This is Watanabe Daichi, a second-year like you. He is our temporary catcher till now as he was the only one who had at least an idea of the position. His main position is the first base in the team. Daichi, this is Toujou Rei, our new member and is also a catcher."

Daichi let out a smile as he extended his hand, "Finally man, someone who is a catcher in the team. After the senpai left last year, this year was looking tough and I had to take the position. I am glad you are here Toujou-san, I can finally go back to my position."

Rei nodded as he shook Daichi's hand, "My please Watanabe-san. I will try my best to help the team."

"Ok then Daichi, go to your position now, Rei will take over. You can do it right." Akira gave out orders and asked Rei at the end.

Daichi nodded, took off his gear, and ran off towards the line near the first base, and Rei took his spot behind the batter. Akira took the bat from the batter and turned towards the players, "OK GUYS LET US DO IT FOR REAL BE FAST ON YOUR FEET."

By this time both Konda and Iwata came to the field to look over the practice. Akira took out a ball from the basket and told again, "OK GUYS LET'S GO, HIT TOWARDS THE LEFT FIELD WITH A RUNNER ON FIRST." and hit the ball to the left-field.

The first person in the line near the left-field ran towards the ball and caught it with one bounce and threw it to the shortstop who was the cutoff man. He turned around as quickly as possible and threw it to the second baseman.

"MAKE IT QUICK GUYS UMASHI YOU COULD HAVE CAUGHT THE BALL AND THREW IT QUICKER AND TANAKA CATCH THE BALL AND TURN AROUND QUICK IF YOU DO IT SLOW THE RUNNER WOULD ALREADY BE AT THE BASE. THROW IT AT THE THIRD IF YOU THINK YOU CAN'T MAKE IT." said Akira continuously giving out orders and correcting the players.

Akira continued to hit many balls towards various places in the field, giving out orders and correcting the players. Rei looked up at him in awe as he saw Akira giving out instructions and hitting the balls. Akira's aim and shot selection was definitely not the best but were good enough for the practice. One thing Rei noticed while the players were practicing was their fielding was not good and at best average except a few people who could cut it. He understood that the team was severely lacking in this department.

The practice continued until the sun started setting. Seeing the sun Iwata clapped his hands and stopped the training, "Ok guys let's stop it here for today. Come here, I need to make an announcement."

All the players stopped the training for the day and jogged back slowly towards Iwata. After everyone circled around him and Iwata nodded after noticing everyone and introduced Rei gesturing at him, "This is Toujou Rei. He will now be our new catcher. Help him around as he never played for a team."

Everyone looked at Rei hearing him, some looked with expectation while others with doubt. Rei bowed a bit and introduced himself again, "Nice to meet everyone, my name is Toujou Rei and I am a catcher. I hope everyone can teach me."

"Ok now everyone, pack up and go home," Iwata said and walked away.

Everyone dispersed immediately except for four people, Akira, Daichi, Umashi, Tanaka.

Umashi was the first to come ahead and introduce himself, "Hey there my name is Umashi Shiro and I play in the left-field as you probably noticed. I am also a third-year hope we can be good teammates."

Rei nodded and before he could reply, Tanaka introduced himself, "My name is Nakamura Tanaka, I also play as the shortstop and am a second year." with a stoic expression.

Rei nodded and replied, "Hope we can be good teammates Umashi-senpai and Nakamura-kun."