Akira was dead tired as he took his position on the mound.
He did his best to catch his breath as he rolled the rosin bag around in his hand and looked at the jumbo screen behind him. The count was currently 2-2 with 2 outs and 1 runner on base.
Unlike Ken, he was not able to limit his pitches by blowing through the strike zone. He needed to use every trick in the book in order to get outs, sometimes by wasting pitches.
He had already thrown 125 pitches by now and he was feeling his muscles fatigue, particularly in his thin legs.
However, the only thing driving him forward at this moment was his sheer willpower.
'I'm a member of this team too.' He thought inwardly, taking in deep breaths of air.
'I want to win…'
'Win with everyone.'
"You can do it Akira!"
"Just one more out!"