Ace of Diamonds: The Last Piece of the Puzzle

Late at night, everyone in Qingdao finally finished a long day of tiring training. Everyone took the time to wash up and get ready for a good sleep. Tomorrow I have to get up early for morning training and classes, so getting a good rest is very important!

However, there are always some people who stay up late at night. For example, the two people who should have slept but couldn't, accidentally discovered that they really didn't need to sleep!

It was past one o'clock in the morning, but Kudo couldn't sleep, so he came to the door of the training room alone. He sat on the team's bench, staring at the dark sky in a daze.

After a while, the sound of a door opening suddenly came to my ears. He heard the sound and went, oh! It turned out to be Touo. Could it be that he couldn't sleep just like me? !

"Kudo, what are you doing here?" Touo turned around and spotted him and asked.

Kudo smiled bitterly and shook his head and explained: "I can't seem to sleep well."

As second-year students, they cannot enter the first or second army at this time. Their future in the team can be imagined. They are all very anxious now and confused about their future.

I don’t know whether I should choose to give up baseball or stay on the team. But even if they stay on the team, they can't find their clear position here.

Dongwei nodded in understanding and said: "So it's you too!" So why isn't he the same!

The two of them sat dejectedly on the chairs, looking at somewhere aimlessly, in a daze.

"What??" Kudo asked, raising his head slightly.

"At this time, Maezono would probably run to swing the bat." Higashio said lonelyly, lowering his head.

"That's right, I'll go to the indoor practice field!" As he said this, Kudo looked over there and said in shock: "By the way, the lights over there at the indoor practice field are really bright!!"

what?

Dongwei also looked over there and found that it was true. He couldn't help but exclaimed: "It's really fake! Maezono actually practiced so late?!"

It's already past one o'clock. No matter how hard you work, you still have to get up early to practice tomorrow!

who is it? !

Who is so desperate and still training now? The two of them rushed to the indoor practice field out of curiosity.

Inside the indoor training ground, it was not Maezono they thought, but Sawamura that neither of them had expected. At this time, he was doing pitching training alone against the net.

"Relax~"

"Relax~" Sawamura smiled like a fool before throwing the ball.

Then his shoulders, muscles, and even every cell in his body relaxed. Wrap your fingers around the baseball and throw the ball with your full arm swing.

"Phew!" The speed of the ball has obviously slowed down, and it is now just over a hundred.

It's a changeup ball! Success!

Then Sawamura kept changing his gestures and continued practicing. The next thing to practice is one of the three variations of pitches that he can almost throw into the strike zone.

Carter Ball - Change!

Carter ball --- modified, as the name suggests, it is extended from Carter ball. We call this kind of ball a disappearing magic ball. Strictly speaking, it belongs to the category of sliding ball.

The ball initially appeared to be pitched to the outside corner, but after entering the batter's hand, it quickly turned to the inside of the batter. The batter seemed to have a blind spot in his sight, and it looked like the baseball had disappeared midway.

Sawamura allocates some time every day to become familiar with these ball types, striving to put them to use as early as possible. Even if no one comes to catch the ball for him, he will consciously practice controlling the ball in front of the net.

Kudo and Higashio secretly watched Sawamura at the door, and he was concentrating on throwing the ball.

Unfortunately, it was an obvious bad ball. In the end, he made almost twenty shots, but only succeeded in six.

Sawamura secretly said angrily: Am I still too anxious?

Carter ball-change, I'm afraid it can only be used as a bluff at the moment. This ball Sawamura is not yet proficient in throwing the ball into the strike zone.

The feel in his fingertips is also not sharp enough to control the ball accurately. Of course, this ball also has another fatal weakness, that is, it is ineffective for left-handed hitters.

Sawamura is a left-hander, and he can throw a valuable left-hander with different pitches by changing his grip. Unfortunately, this kind of ball has to change rapidly from the outside corner to the inside corner, so it can only be used by right-handed hitters.

"Damn it!" Sawamura stared at his fingers unwillingly. He finally knew that he had a trick that could steadily strike out, which was originally a very exciting thing.

Unfortunately, most of these tricks are still in the undeveloped and primary stages and cannot be reused. If used improperly, the situation on the field may become even worse.

When will he evolve to the point where he can shoot the entire field like Kurosawa-senpai! Sawamura thought unhappily.

Kudo and Higashio looked at Sawamura in disbelief, who was still training alone. It was so late and he hadn't rested yet? Doesn't he even need to sleep? !

As good students, the two of them probably couldn't imagine that there was another kind of person who could completely use class as sleep time!

They lamented that Sawamura and Fangtani, who seemed to have unlimited glory, did not have such strong strength out of thin air. They also sweated more than others behind their backs.

"I really can't stand him. This guy is the one who stays last every time." The two people who were peeping looked towards the place where the sound came from.

It turned out to be Maezono and Kominato who came back after their swing! There was a hint of admiration on Maezono's face. Sometimes, even I can't compare to this kid!

Sawamura is the last one to sleep every day, and Maezono is the second to last one. Because there are classes during the day, this guy can take advantage of the class, so the two cannot be compared.

Maezono said bluntly: "I really admire him, even though he has this monster Fukiya beside him. But he never gives up his desire to be an ace pitcher, and he never gives up any opportunity to improve."

When Haruichi heard this, he thought to himself that he must have admired Eijun-kun before, Maezono-senpai!

After hearing what Maezono said, the two looked at each other in bewilderment.

Maezono shouted: "Sawamura, go and take a rest! Otherwise, you will fall asleep in class again, and these things will be reported to the coach!"

"Yes~"

Ten more balls to go! This is the practice he has been practicing since the end of Koshien. First, inside corner kicks, then outside corner kicks, and finally three types of changes.

He takes time every day to familiarize himself with the balls and practice handling them. Impress your body with muscle memory.

On the other side, even though his body was exhausted, his spirit was still high, and Fang Gu was lying on the bed thinking about life. He kept the baseball in his hand, holding the ball in his hand and playing with it, thinking about the scene against Didong that day.

Even if I play, I can't contribute to the team, whether it's pitching or hitting, I won't admit defeat. Thinking this, he couldn't help but throw the ball upward.

"Boom~"

"Boom~"

"Boom~"

It woke up the sleeping people in the surrounding dormitories, and everyone exclaimed: "Jiang Gu, stop it! Are you trying to break the ceiling again?!"