Diamond Ace: Another Story of Sawamura

Chapter 154: The Battle of Xibang

It was Hakusu's turn as the eighth batter. Although he wanted to send Masuko on third base back to home plate, Sato's pitch suddenly exploded and he was unable to seize any opportunity.

"strike out!"

"Good shot, Sato!"

"Two out!"

"Kill him!"

"Ninth batter, pitcher Sawamura."

After the announcement, Eijun stepped into the batter's box.

Eijun cleaned up the dirt on the batter's box a bit, then looked up at the pitcher's mound.

In the last at-bat, he didn't dwell too much on the issue, but he saw the path of the ball very clearly.

So, he started out in a striking stance.

"..." Zi glanced at Sawamura and exhaled slowly, 'It doesn't matter, there is still an attack opportunity in the second half of the inning, so let's win this inning first.'

'Kill him with your pitch!'

As Zi's secret signal was given, the guards became fully focused, watching with eager eyes.

First ball...

"!" An inside corner ball hit his head quickly, Rong Chun's pupils shrank, he retracted the bat, and quickly stood up to avoid it.

"Snapped!"

"Bad ball!"

"How dangerous!" Isashiki was startled in the rest area, stepping on the railing as if he was going to rush up and fight, "Where is that guy throwing it!"

"Jun, calm down!" Yuki stopped him calmly.

"Ugga!"

"We're changing our strategy right away..." Ryosuke said with a smile.

"They want to end this game in a tough way." Chris frowned and said in an unhappy tone.

After replacing the ace, the ball distribution will change completely, and once there is a change, the strategy will be changed immediately.

"..." Rongchun just glanced at the catcher's glove calmly, and then got into batting stance again.

The second ball was another fastball on the inside corner, but Rongchun just retracted the bat and stood up to avoid it.

"nice shot!"

'What ball will be played next...' He thought while observing the defensive movements.

The moment the pitcher took a step to throw the ball, Eijun adjusted his stance and the defense was ready to act at any time.

"Qiang!"

"Foul ball!"

"Ah..." Rongchun sighed helplessly.

Because of the consecutive hits, Xibang's defense became extremely tense and could not find any gaps, so they could only sweep the ball out of bounds.

But we can't miss this excellent opportunity.

"What should I do..."

"Qiang!"

"Foul ball!"

The fifth ball...

'Bad ball?!'

Rongjun's dynamic vision has always been good, and he usually wouldn't make mistakes, so he abruptly stopped swinging the bat.

However, after being hit with two Carter balls, Eijun still thought that he would not shoot this ball again. This ball was completely unexpected.

"Clap!"

"?" What reached my ears was not the sound of being out, but the sound of the ball hitting something.

"Missed the call!"

The nervous shouts from the dugout spurred the runners to move forward. Haruichi on first base immediately strode away from the base, and Masuko on third base also took action.

After the ball entered the home plate, it underwent changes that the catcher could not control. It not only suddenly turned inward, but also fell downward.

Zi urgently adjusted the position of his gloves, but failed to catch the ball and it bounced onto the protective gear on his chest.

"Snapped!"

As the ball bounced out again due to the impact, a glove rushed over and blocked the ball to the ground.

"!" The catcher's gaze shot straight at him like a sharp arrow. Zengzi stopped and immediately turned around and rushed back to the third base.

"Ouch! Even though the catcher missed the ball, he didn't let it run away and forced the runner back to third base!"

"But this means there are people on second and third base!"

“…” It wasn’t until the catcher missed the ball that Eijun suddenly had a sense of enlightenment.

The pitchers and catchers in Xibang cooperate with each other, forming a wonderful triangular relationship.

Niwa's strength is not enough to support the pressure of being the main pitcher, so he mostly pitches in coordination with the catcher's skills.

Sato is a real ace pitcher, his strong pitching skills even overwhelm the catcher, so it becomes the catcher who cooperates with him to get the ball.

On one hand, the pitcher is weaker than the catcher and cannot throw the ball beyond the catcher's expectations. On the other hand, the pitcher is stronger than the catcher and throws the ball beyond the catcher's reach.

"So you've already figured it out..." Eijun couldn't help but look at Haruichi at second base with admiration.

Most of the balls Carter throws are inside corner balls, because there is a risk of missing the ball if he throws it to other positions.

"It's impossible for an easy shot to appear again..."

"Sorry!" Zi passed the ball to Sato, but this time he made another mistake in passing the ball, as he could clearly have taken him down.

"Sawamura, you can see clearly!"

"Good job!"

"Sato, last ball!"

"Kill him!"

"..." Eijun looked at Senior Sato on the pitcher's mound, raised his chin after a moment, and then got into batting stance again.

"Even if we go into overtime, we'll definitely win, but I don't want to extend it..."

"..." Masuko on third base and Haruichi on second base were both stunned when they saw the secret signal, and responded immediately.

"You want to use a forced scoring tactic...?" Zi saw the batter's movements and the runner's stride off the base.

After thinking for a moment, Zi gave a secret signal to instruct the infield defense to move forward a little and also to ask the outfield to pay more attention.

As long as the runner starts early, even if the ball fails to pass through the infield, he can still run back to home base as long as it is a hit.

Besides, the pitcher-catcher duo also has to be careful about missing the ball...

The atmosphere became more tense...

After all, if you miss a call in this situation, it will cost you more than just one point...

The moment the pitcher raised his glove and stepped on his foot, Masuko and Haruichi launched their attack at the same time.

"Steal a base!"

There was a burst of exclamations, but Sato didn't care and threw the ball with all his strength.

'Throw a pitch that makes it hard for the batter to hit!'

Rongchun frowned and retracted the bat, turning the striking action into a normal swing, hitting the incoming ball.

The ball fell at an unusual angle toward the outside corner, turning into a completely bad ball.

However, the bat did not fall behind, but was accompanied by the hitter's strange forward posture, blocking the ball's path.

"Varied...!"

"Qiang!"

Not only the players on the field, but also the players in the rest area and the spectators in the stands were all shocked when they saw the ball being hit.

"Center field!" Zi pointed at the ball and shouted almost loudly!

"Ishida!"

No one expected that a bad ball from the outside corner would be hit in this way. Not to the infield, but to the deeper outfield.

"Masuko!"

"Run!"

Rongchun, who fell to the ground due to losing balance, quickly got up and ran quickly to first base.

The ball flew very high and far, and only after it passed the outfield did it begin to slide downward, finally hitting the ground in front of the center fielder near the wall.

"Bah!"

"Damn it!" The baseball jumped onto the fence and flew into the sky again. Ishida widened his eyes and raised his glove.

'hurry up!'

I have never felt the ball falling so slowly as it does now.

Ishida took a step back and stretched out his gloves...

"Pass home plate!"

The moment the ball went into the glove, the voices of his teammates hit his eardrums, and Ishida quickly turned around and grabbed the baseball.

"Pass to first base!"

At this time, another voice sounded. From Ishida's position, he saw the runner only one meter away from home base, pointing at the catcher on first base, and the runner who ran between home base and first base.

"Damn it!" He threw the ball with all his strength without hesitation.

"Runner on third base is safe!"

"Snapped!"

The baseball went into Sano's glove, and he turned around and tagged the runner as he had done many times before.

"Three people are out!"

"Switch attack and defense!"

"The ninth batter, Sawamura, hit a timely hit to center field, and Seidou High School caught up with the score in the last inning!"

"what!!!"

"Are you still sure you can get points?"

Although it is a pity that the great advantage of Xisi Township Supervision has been lost, there is nothing that can be done about it.

After hearing the question from their supervisor, the contestants hesitated for a moment and then nodded slowly.

"Have!"

“It’s not about whether or not, but we have to score!”

"Very good!" Looking at the eager eyes of the players, coach Nishiji nodded with satisfaction, "Yamashita, Takagi and Ishida."

"Yes!"

"You don't need to hit like Shuzou, who made a decisive swing. Instead, you need to get the hits and tear through their defense!"

"Yes!"

However...

Looking at the pitcher running up the pitcher's mound, Zi felt a strong sense of powerlessness that he had never felt before.

"If you have already given up in your heart, then the game has already been lost."

"..." The supervisor suddenly spoke while Zi was lost, and looked at the supervisor's back.

He just put his hands behind his back, as if talking to himself...

"That's how baseball games are. No one knows what the outcome will be until the very last moment. That's why it's worth the challenge."

"It's so hot..." As soon as Eijun walked out of the dugout, he started sweating. Now that he was standing on the pitcher's mound, it was even more exaggerated. "Summer... How long will it last..."

Looking at the sixth batter coming up, Eijun then looked at Senior Chris...

Yamashita held the bat tightly and looked intently at the person on the pitcher's mound.

Throw the ball...

"Snapped!"

"nice shot!"

Compared to the shouts from the audience in the stands, the cheers of the contestants.

"If you don't even have the mentality to challenge your limits..."

"Snapped!"

"nice shot!"

The supervisor of Xisi Township still said calmly...

“How can players surpass themselves in the future...”

"Snapped!"