Diamond Ace: Another Story of Sawamura

·

"..." Looking at Ryosuke-senpai who returned to the rest area without saying a word, Eijun was the first to look away.

Because, he is not the only one looking at Ryosuke at this moment...

Not only did Kuramochi-senpai, who already knew about it, say nothing, but Haruichi, who was usually very sensitive, seemed to have noticed something unusual.

Also, after giving himself a lollipop, Chris, his senior, has been paying attention to him.

Facing Isashiki, the third batter, Harada hit a changeup at the start, and then the second pitch...

Narimiya kept throwing the same ball one after another, which made Isashiki feel underestimated. Although he was very angry, he still watched the ball seriously and did not shoot at the bad ball thrown as bait.

After the count became two strikes and two balls, the fifth pitch was another changeup...

"Don't underestimate me!!!"

Isashiki was so angry that he held his breath and pulled the ball out hard.

"I hit a changeup!"

The baseball flew high into the sky under the astonished gazes of Harada and Narimiya, and then Narimiya vented his displeasure on the pitcher's mound.

"Fly! Fly for me!" After hitting the ball, Isashiki threw away the bat and started running.

However, although the ball was hit, it did not fly far enough, and the outfielder almost stood in position and caught it easily.

"Out!"

"What! What's going on!" Amid the audience's puzzled sighs, Isashiki was also very angry, because he hit the center of the ball.

"……" Looking at the batter walking onto the field, Chris shifted his gaze to Narimiya on the pitcher's mound. He noticed that after being hit by Isashiki, Narimiya kicked the dirt on the pitcher's mound to vent his emotions.

"Is that because of the anxiety caused by being hit outfield... or...?"

The next hitter is...

"Fourth batter, first baseman Yuki!"

Amid the cheers from the stands and the band's cheering song, Seidou's fourth batter Yuki Tetsuya once again stepped into the batter's box.

"This is the third matchup between the two teams' ace pitchers and the fourth batters!"

Harada was quite afraid of Yuki. He first used a slider to the inside corner to get some foul balls, and then used a very low pitch to get some strikes.

However, it was obvious that Yuki was not so easy to deal with. He stubbornly entangled with the pitcher, and the game was reduced to two strikes and two balls.

After careful consideration, Harada gave the code for the seventh ball.

Cheng Gong nodded, his face still showing his confident and flamboyant smile, and then he made a set of smooth pitching movements.

"Qiang!"

This time the sound of the blow was quite crisp, as if it hit Cheng Gong's heart in an instant, making him panic.

"Hit! A straight ball to the outside corner! The center fielder steps back! It flies very far! Will it go out?" The excited voice of the broadcaster echoed in the stadium.

Everyone was watching the current situation intently. On one side was Yuki running quickly, and on the other side was Carlos chasing the ball quickly.

When the baseball was about to hit the guardrail, the figure chasing the ball did not stop for a moment, kicked the fence and flew into the air...

"Snapped!"

“Got it…got it…got it!”

The broadcast voice hesitated and stuttered for a moment, and then there was an unbelievable exclamation, "Center fielder Carlos performed a skill beyond ordinary beauty!"

"Three people are out! Attackers and defenders switch!"

"Ahhhh!!!"

At this moment, Inashi's side issued a deafening shout.

"Wow... so awesome... running straight to the landing point..." Yamatoda was so shocked at this time that his mouth opened wide.

Fujio Mine beside her didn't say anything, but he was just as shocked. "To be able to show such skills at a time like this... is because the Inami team is strong enough..."

"For Qingdao, the blow that could have completely taken control of the situation... was caught..."

"Huh..." Harada let out a nervous breath, 'It was a close call... I caught it...'

"And only one of the pitches was too high... But this will make them aware of the existence of the changeup..."

"let's go!"

"Son of a bitch!"

After Inami left the field, the Qingdao players were ready to make substitutions.

"Senior Aliang..."

Ryosuke, who was walking in front, suddenly heard Kuramochi calling him, so he stopped and turned around to look at Kuramochi.

But Kuramochi did not speak immediately. Instead, he raised his hand and adjusted the brim of his hat, with a determined look as if he had made a great decision.

"I still can't stop you... because you are the player this team needs... I will support you with all my strength!"

Bottom of the sixth inning...

"Bottom of the sixth inning, two outs, no one on base."

After striking out the eighth batter, Chris hit another hard ball that the batter hit into the second baseman's fly ball to kill the ninth batter.

After that, it was Inami's turn to bat in the third round, and the next to come on was Carlos, the first batter.

"Two out!"

"Sawamura! Come one by one!"

"..." Looking at the batter in the batter's box, Rongjun fell into deep thought. The best way to deal with this person is to strike out or let him hit a catch.

Once the ball hits the ground, he's likely to get on base even if it's a ground ball.

However, seeing Chris-senpai's signal, Eijun blinked and then nodded to indicate that he had received it, preparing to pitch.

"call out!"

"Qiang!"

"What..." Carlos was also surprised when he hit the first ball. He used three changeups in the last at-bat, but now he actually hit a straight ball right in the middle with the first ball.

The only thing that caught him off guard for such an easy ball to hit was that it was so light that he did not swing the bat fully and ruined his posture.

The ball went over the pitcher's mound and headed for the blind corner at second base, where, luckily, no one was there.

At this moment, a petite figure suddenly appeared, chasing the ball that was about to escape to the outfield, and leaped over it.

"Bah!"

It's the sound of a baseball hitting the glove, but not in the middle, but on the edge.

'hateful...'

The baseball escaped from its original position and headed in another direction, where another figure appeared...

"We... must make it to Koshien..." With an extremely firm belief, Kuramochi didn't care about anything else, stretched out his right hand to block the ball with his bare hands and passed it directly to first base.

"Out!"

"Three people are out! Attackers and defenders switch!"

·

"So that's how it is..." As Eijun ran down the pitcher's mound, he couldn't help but look at Chris-senpai with admiration.

When hitting a light ball, the body with unbalanced force will unconsciously lean forward slightly to find a comfortable force point, which can easily lead to posture deformation if you are not careful.

However, in Rongjun's opinion, Chris's greater purpose should be to disrupt Carlos's base running posture.

Even if it is hit out, the defense has enough time to deal with a ball that will definitely not be hit well.

I really didn't expect that Senior Chris would do such a risky thing. If he hadn't caught the ball just now...

"The tacit understanding that allowed them to resolve the situation so beautifully... this pair is really amazing..."

"That's amazing..." Chris couldn't help but praise.

"Yeah..." Kataoka looked at the players walking towards the rest area from behind and sighed, "He is such a strong man..."

"..." Chris was stunned for a moment after hearing the supervisor's sigh and didn't say anything.

And in the Daoshi rest area...

"Harada..." Coach Kunitomo called out to Harada who was walking out of the rest area, "This round is very important... Don't let their momentum get stronger!"

"Yes!"

Top of the seventh inning...

However, in just a few minutes, Narimiya used his pitching to restrain Seidou's batters.

After striking out Masuko in sixth and Chris in seventh, he hit a straight pitch from the inside corner to shut out Sawamura at first base.

"Switch attack and defense!"

The outcome seemed to be a foregone conclusion, as Narimiya displayed his unparalleled pitching skills on the pitcher's mound with his proud demeanor.

"In the last inning, he threw so many changeups...but this inning he didn't throw a single pitch..." Miyuki, who had been quiet for a rare time, frowned.

They were about to go on defense, but the atmosphere in Qingdao's rest area was visibly solemn, and there was no feeling that they were leading at all.

"It's not a good idea to go on defense like this..." He felt like he should say something, but Miyuki didn't expect that there would be times when he would be speechless.

"Is Chris-senpai nervous too?" Rongchun looked at Chris-senpai and expressed this doubt.

"No..." Chris stared at Rongchun who was close to him, and was stunned for a moment, then chuckled helplessly and said, "A little bit?"

"It's okay!" Rongchun said as he took off Chris's helmet and gently touched his head like a child...

"Everyone has done a great job, working so hard on defense and attacking. I am really proud of you. I believe you can do it..."

"Okay..." Chris stopped Rongchun from talking with a red face. He was so embarrassed that he wanted to dig a hole and crawl into it.

"Sawamura..."

"You're so disgusting!" Kuramochi was the first to turn around and grabbed Eijun's face, telling him to stop speaking in that sarcastic tone.

"We are the ones leading now! Shut up!" Izashiki stepped forward and punched Eijun, forcing him to lower his head.

"So you still remember, senior!" Rongchun looked like everyone was acting like the game was over, which made me so worried!

"Anyway, we will be the ones who win in the end!" Rong Chun said this with a golden light in his eyes.

"Tsk... do we look that depressed..." They even asked the first-year students to comfort them...

"Go ahead, ahhhh!"

“Okay!”

Following Yuki's inspiring roar, everyone went on stage again with high morale.

"Really..." Seeing the smile on Chris's face, Yuki couldn't help but smile, "What's going on? Are you feeling a little jealous?"

At this time, Sakurazawa, who was sitting in the corner of the stands, looked at Nagao Akira next to him when Qingdao came on the court.

"Qingdao should be very nervous..."

"Because we didn't think we could hit his ball until the end..."

"..." Nagao Ming looked at the pitcher who was walking up to the pitcher's mound in silence, "Once we lose points, it's all over... The pitcher will also feel the pressure..."

Inami hopes to score, and Seidou cannot lose points. This is the time to test the true strength of the two teams...

·