Diamond Ace: Another Story of Sawamura

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"..." Looking at Senior Chris who was confused, Rong Chun smiled, "What is Senior Chris thinking about?"

"Ah..." Chris realized that he was distracted just now and felt a little annoyed, "The ball should have hit the center of the ball just now..."

"I did hit the center of the ball, but it wasn't hit well," Eijun replied.

"Because the ball was thrown to a difficult place...Chris's swing was not smooth and he was not able to hit the ball completely."

"Is that really the case..." Chris suddenly felt relieved when he heard it, but then he became cautious again.

"I just felt that the attack just now had a strange sense of disharmony, but I couldn't figure out exactly where it was..."

"..." Upon hearing this, Rong Chun looked at the confrontation on the court.

The position of the catcher is unique, so as a catcher, he will be more sensitive to the ball path, which is why most catchers are good at hitting.

"Even Chris-senpai feels a strange sense of disharmony in his pitching, but I can't find the reason..." Miyuki couldn't help but frowned.

"Either the defensive position was planned in advance and the batter hit it intentionally, or there is something else about the pitcher that we haven't discovered..."

"Well... in the last ball just now, the infield defensive position also moved a little..." Chris thought about it and realized that it might be one of these two problems.

Chris was thinking while watching the confrontation on the field, and sure enough, Sakai's situation was the same.

The third batter after two outs was Hakusu, who had the most average overall strength among the players in Seidou.

On the third pitch after the count reached a strike and a ball, Hakushu spotted a low inside corner straight ball and swung.

"Qiang!"

"Foul ball!"

“……” Seeing him expressionlessly adjust his batting stance, Zi moved his position expressionlessly and gave the signal for the next ball.

'That's enough for now.'

"..." After seeing the secret signal, Niwa nodded in understanding, then changed his ball holding posture, raised his leg and took a step forward in one go.

"Snapped!"

"nice shot!"

"!" Baizhou missed the last swing, with shock on his face that he couldn't hide. He actually threw a changing ball here.

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

"Well done, Niwa!"

"Good shot!"

"..." Baizhou almost returned to the dugout facing the catchers' enthusiastic gazes, and for a moment he didn't know how to react.

"Hakushu!"

"Did you see anything?"

"..." Shirasu frowned and thought about the problem, while Chris and Miyuki were quietly waiting for his summary.

After a moment, he shook his head, indicating that he didn't see anything wrong.

"Go on the field and defend first!"

At this time, it was coach Kataoka who reminded the players of the most important thing to do next, after all, the next batter was the most dangerous.

"Focus on defense. The initiative will definitely go to the side that scores first. Xibang is very powerful now. We must stop them!"

"Yes!"

At this time, in front of the Xibang rest area, the Xisixiang supervisor did not do much to encourage the players.

He just watched the players from Seidou go on the field to defend, and then looked at his own players.

"Fight it out!"

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"Fourth batter, first baseman Sano!"

"Sano!"

"Sano! Hit the big one!"

"I came here for your swing!"

"Go! Xibang!"

"..." Looking at the batter who walked into the batter's box, Chris looked at Danbo seriously, 'This opponent is not simple...'

"..." Tanba also looked at Chris seriously. This was a hitter that even the Osaka Kiryu team was afraid of...

As soon as he stepped into the batter's box, Sano exuded the aura of a strong man, making it impossible to ignore his presence.

Danbo on the pitcher's mound and Chris at home plate are facing this pressure head-on.

but...

"You want to fight him, right?"

'I want to fight him!'

This pitching and catching duo, at this moment, are in sync...

Although I know it's too risky, I don't want to destroy my own prestige...

As a relatively talented pitcher trained by Qingdao during its poor pitching period, Tamba has become an indispensable pitcher for Qingdao.

Although he originally had a weak character, he gradually developed the ambition and pride of an ace pitcher after taking over the ace position.

With the addition of two first-year pitchers, Danbo was inspired, became more mature, and achieved considerable growth.

Starting from the preliminaries, Danbo has performed well in all the games he played, which further strengthened his self-confidence and pride.

Chris was of course happy for Danbo, but he also had some concerns...

But now, Chris has this bad feeling...

Because they couldn't determine the ball path...

This was the first time that Danbo insisted on his request in the face of Chris's passing.

"As long as we suppress him, we will have the upper hand in the game!"

“……”Chris was silent.

It is now the bottom of the second inning, both teams have zero scores and no one on base, and the batter is Nishiho's main batter Shuzo Sano.

"Huh..." After letting out a long breath, Chris decisively gave Danbo a secret signal.

'First ball, a fork ball into the inside corner!'

Facing Shuzo Sano, Chris's pitching was very strong. After the first batter hit a curveball, he never asked for a breaking ball again.

Now, Chris decisively hit a changeup ball to the inside corner.

"Hu..." After taking a long breath, Danbo's eyes became firm and he raised his gloves.

Now that Chris chose to believe him, he couldn't afford to make half-hearted shots like the first one.

"call out!"

In the batter's box, Sano's eyes were filled with confidence, as if he could hit any ball the pitcher threw.

Chris, who was at the catcher position, never took his eyes off Sano. After seeing his swinging posture, Chris's eyes flashed slightly.

"Whoosh!"

The little white ball flashed like a flash and appeared in front of home plate in the blink of an eye.

Sano's pupils widened, and he swung the bat decisively without any hesitation.

"Bin!"

As the bat was swung, there was a low muffled sound, which made people clearly feel the terrifying power brought by the bat.

The ball flew out so fast that it hit the third base line in less than a blink of an eye.

"The outside world!"

After a brief silence, shocked cheers broke out from the stands of Koshien.

"As expected of a monster hitter!"

"so amazing!"

"Sano! Hit him out!"

Unlike the excited spectators, Sano in the batter's box was rather dissatisfied. The ball just now was in the strike zone, but it fell and became a ball.

'The second pitch, a curveball to the outside corner!'

A curveball thrown by a right-handed pitcher will deviate to the left, while a curveball thrown on the outside corner will initially appear to be right in the middle of the field to a right-handed hitter.

But Danbo's curveball is a straight-down arc...

"Bin!"

For Sano, there was no reason for him to miss such an obvious curveball, so he swung at it cleanly.

"The outside world!"

But this time the ball was hit out of bounds again, but in a different direction, landing outside the first base sideline.

Although both balls were hit, Sano frowned unhappily.

"Both of Seidou's catchers are excellent, but the one you need to be most wary of is third-year player Chris. If you meet him, it's best not to be blindly confident."

Thinking of Zi's warning before, Sano didn't take it seriously at first, but now, he looked at Chris at the catcher position vigilantly.

I feel like I'm being led by the nose...

The expression on Chris's face remained unchanged as he calmly gave the signal for the third goal.

"call out!"

The white ball was heading straight for the batter, but Sano was not fooled by appearances. He stepped back with his left foot and hit the flying baseball.

"Qiang!"

"The outside world!"

"Great shot, Tamba-senpai!"

"Two strikes! Two strikes!"

"Another bad pitch. Will it be a straight ball next?"

Because of Chris's pass, Sano's brain started working quickly.

'Or a continuous changeup...'

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"..." Eijun lay on the fence, looking at Sano who was adjusting his bat grip in the batting box, and then moved to Chris-senpai, 'As expected of Chris-senpai...'

"..." At this time, the fifth purple sergeant who was waiting in the waiting area frowned, "Did he fall into the trap..."

Sano is a typical power hitter. He is not the type to guess the ball, but the type to bite the ball instinctively based on his own strength and deliver a fatal blow.

Even if he thinks, he can't compare with the brains of those who are called "coaches on the field".

If you hesitate because of this, it will affect the attack.

The fourth ball...

"Qiang!"

“A straight ball outside the strike zone at the outside corner got bitten!”

"Left field!" Chris quickly directed the defense to move.

"The speed, power and quality of the hit were impressive, and the ball flew very deep! Far away from the outfielder!"

The ball finally landed in front of the fence. Sakai was a few steps slow, and although he quickly caught the ball, when he passed it back, Sano had already reached second base.

"It's amazing..." Yukichi, who was in the rest area, couldn't help but sigh.

"If I could have thrown the ball lower..."

Although Sano was allowed to reach second base, anyone with a discerning eye could still see that the ball was not completely lost.

Facing Sano's swing, there is little other way unless the pitcher's pitching can deal with him toughly.

Therefore, all the balls Chris throws are very clever and test the pitcher's skills.

Being able to hit that tricky outside corner ball so far can only be said to be a sign of the batter's superior skills.

"Haru..." Eijun, who was lying on the fence, stood up and looked at Haruichi and whispered, "Can you help me catch the ball?"

"...Okay!" Chun Shi responded, loosened his hands that were tightly gripping the railing, and turned back to get his gloves.

"..." Eijun looked back at Haruichi who was getting his gloves, 'Your intention to go out and bat is clearly exposed...'

"Miyuki, I want to warm up too." Hearing that Sawamura was going to warm up, Kawakami also called Miyuki.

"I want to pitch too." As soon as he heard that the two were going to the bullpen, Fūya appeared behind Eijun.

"You don't have a chance to play today..."

"Mmmmm..."

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