Diamond Ace: Another Story of Sawamura

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Until the third batter hit a single, a ball to first base that was a direct out.

"Amazing! Three goals and the third graders went up and down three times!"

"Although he slowed down the pitch to match the catcher's speed and didn't use that special pitching posture, he should be able to last for a few innings." Looking at the lively atmosphere in the first-year rest area, Yuuki stared at Eijun, "A changeup that starts changing only when it reaches the batter's hand is inherently difficult to deal with."

“……” Yuki looked at one of the people who was treated specially last year and smiled.

In this match, it’s not the catcher who’s guiding the pitcher, but the pitcher who’s guiding the catcher. “Wait a minute, it’s going to be even scarier! That kid’s pitching.”

"Haha...the first-year students have a good momentum!" Director Ota was very happy with this development.

"It was completely different from the beginning of the game, and it was also different from the overwhelming force in the third and fourth rounds."

"Once the defense has a place to use its skills, the team will start to warm up."

In the following offense, although it was still three ups and three downs, the first graders were gradually able to hit the ball. Everyone was able to swing the bat freely, and their base-hunting movements became faster.

"Keep working hard." Eijun said calmly, looking at Masuko-senpai who walked into the batter's box.

He was demoted to the bench because of a mistake. In order to return to the first team, he is very motivated and has already had 3 hits and 5 RBIs today.

"Sawamura-chan...I will definitely make it back to the first team, please throw your best effort at me!"

"Yes." Facing Zengzi-senpai, Eijun responded seriously.

Kariba looked up at the tall man next to him, "This guy hit a lot of hits today, can Sawamura handle him?"

Eijun looked at Kariba and gestured to the inside corner high pitch, ready to pitch, "I didn't realize before that Kariba is also a catcher who never gives up."

"Well, in response, I'll throw a faster ball and you can catch it."

Boom——

The moment the ball hit the glove, even if the catcher didn't catch it, it still shocked everyone on the field.

"Oh my god! His pitch was so fast! It bounced right out of the catcher's mitt!"

"The ball speed in the last round was only about 130, but this time it soared to over 140!"

"No, that pitcher sounds similar to the last one! And this ball is in the corner of the strike zone, so it looks like he has good ball control."

"It's just the first ball, so it's hard to say."

"..." The coach reacted to Rongchun's goal and pursed his lips.

"I'm sorry!" Kariba hurried back to his position after getting the ball back and threw it back to Eijun, "What happened to that ball just now? The ball actually started to run around after I caught it! And the speed of the ball suddenly increased so much..."

"..." Eijun shook his head to indicate that it was okay, and looked at Senior Masuko, who also stood at the front of the batter's box with his bat held short from the start, and smiled.

The seniors had planned from the beginning to use the broken bat lead to shorten the swing range and hit it out before the ball changes to deal with his quirks.

Therefore, the corner ball will become the catcher's first choice. According to common people's thinking, Kariba got a low ball on the outside corner as he wished.

"..." At this time, the speed of the ball became Rongjun's biggest weapon.

The ball went out of his hand, and the bat followed.

Zengzi swung the bat hard, but the ball came too late, so he had to stop the bat midway and hit the ball away.

"The outside world!"

"The speed of the ball suddenly slowed down again!" Masuko prepared to hit again and stared at Eijun with a serious face, "Will the next ball be a fast ball or a slow ball..."

Eijun didn't give Zengzi-senpai any extra time to think before throwing the next pitch. Zengzi subconsciously swung the bat, but her thinking was disrupted by the slow pitch.

"Shortstop!" Kariba hurriedly reminded the shortstop to catch the ball, but the shortstop retreated too far and had no time to catch the ball.

At this moment, a figure flashed by and caught the bouncing ball.

"What! Why is the second baseman there?!"

Amid the exclamations of others, Xiaochun quickly passed the ball to first base.

"Out!"

"Good catch." Rongjun also breathed a sigh of relief. After all, the next batter was not an easy target either.

"That second baseman did a great job!" Isashiki put his hands on his hips and looked at the boy whose face turned red from being praised, then looked at Kominato next to him, "His moves are quite similar to yours."

"..." Xiao Minato, who had been smiling all the time, smiled meaningfully, "He is my brother."

"what!"

"..." Looking at Chris standing in the batter's box, Rongchun's eyes sparkled, "Chris-senpai! I will do my best to deal with you!"

"Hahaha... Is it necessary to say such a thing?"

"This kid is quite interesting!"

"..." Chris looked at the twinkling Rongchun with amusement and responded softly, "Yeah."

Rongchun did not disappoint Chris. He struck out Chris with two high-speed balls and the last low-speed ball, and then eliminated the next batter with one ball.

Although neither team scored in the next two innings, they cooperated well and scored another point in the ninth inning.

Then, Eijun was hit with a double by senior Masuko, and then senior Chris and the next batter cooperated to score a point.

The final score ended the game with 1:23 remaining.

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In the evening, Rongchun and Chris had a comprehensive discussion about today's game while eating in the cafeteria. Those who were dissatisfied with their performance today also stretched their necks to hear their analysis.

Chris also found it funny. He looked at the hungry-looking Shouchang and waved to him, "Come and sit over here."

"Ah... yes!" Kariba stared at the empty seat next to Eijun from the beginning, stood up suddenly, and ran over with the plate in his hand.

"..." Eijun nodded to Kariba who came over to sit down, swallowed his rice and continued, "The pitching of Furuya in the third and fourth innings was completely caused by the seniors getting anxious, which led to the outs."

"In fact, if you can hold back from hitting, you can basically get a walk. So I can't say that I was matching the ball, it was just that guy's blocking net."

"What's more..." Rong Chun said vaguely while chewing his rice, "How can a guy who doesn't have any ball control skills make a good shot?"

'How strict!'

"Compared to him, Tamba-senpai is much better, his pitching is very powerful."

"Yeah." Chris nodded to show that he had no objection. "The first-year catcher's ability needs to be improved. Although his pitching ideas are reasonable, he uses the same pitches every inning, which makes it easy to be seen through. His catching ability also needs to be improved. If he can't even catch the pitcher's ball, how can he catch the ball? You can come and talk to me later when you have time."

"Oh! Chris's baseball knowledge is the best in the team. You are so lucky."

"...Yes!" Kariba didn't expect that he would be mentioned and get guidance from Senior Chris. He responded loudly and excitedly.

"Yeah." Chris nodded, looking at Kawakami and pointed out the problem mercilessly, "As for Kawakami, he was a little worse. He was affected by the batter's momentum, which led to a missed pitch. Although he adjusted his mentality in the subsequent pitches and did not lose points, he still needs to reflect on himself."

"..." Looking at the depressed senior Kawakami, Eijun pointed the finger at the others, "The batter's skills need to be improved. He can't even hit a 130-speed slow ball. How can he deal with a stronger pitcher? But his defensive skills are really proficient!"

"Yeah." Chris nodded again to show that he had no opinion. "The first-year player performed very well in the second half. He swung the bat actively and ran the bases very quickly..."

"..." Rongchun took a big mouthful of rice and looked at Chris while chewing.

Chris had some ideas at first, but seeing the expression on Eijun's face that said "What about me? You don't want to praise me? Praise me now.", Chris didn't know what to say.

"Although you conceded two runs, your pitching performance was also very good, and you coordinated well with the defense. Just the fact that you can control the speed of the ball freely is enough to make the batter play with you..."

Seeing Rongchun so happy because of the praise, Chris took back the second half of his sentence. What's more, his pitching postures for fastball and slowball were the same, and with the changeup, he was already far ahead among the first graders.

"What? So Sawamura also wants to be praised!" Isashiki, who was sitting next to him, saw how happy he was and grabbed his head and started rubbing it with amusement.

"Well, you did perform well today, even though you only got two points, hahaha..."

"Yes." With the special praise from Kuramochi-senpai, Eijun was so happy that he was glowing. "Masuko-senpai is amazing. As long as he can hit the center of the ball, a home run will be no problem. Chris-senpai is so smart, he will definitely be able to guess the pitch..."

"If I do this to every familiar opponent in the future, will it be easy for them to reveal information..." Chris continued speaking while thinking this.

The meal took a particularly long time as Rongchun and Chris discussed the matter in a mixed bag of praise and criticism.

After taking a walk after dinner, Rong Chun calculated that everyone would have finished taking a shower by now, so he walked back slowly.

On the way to the bathhouse, I saw the Kominato brothers talking next to the vending machine. Although I couldn't hear what they were saying, it seemed like they were parting on bad terms.

I saw Furuya and Miyuki again, pitching and catching at the indoor practice range, and I was thinking of watching them for a while, but then I received a message that I liked.

Rongchun ran to the bathhouse, took a bath and ran out.

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"Listen carefully, there are still two months until the summer Koshien. Practicing without a goal is just a waste of time!"

The next morning, before practice began, Director Kataoka decided to announce the list of promoted players.

“The first step to climb a small mountain... the first step to climb Mount Fuji... they are the same step, but the awareness required is completely different!”

"Which mountain are we going to climb?"

"Only goals can give you life! Raise your fighting spirit and practice, and don't be lazy!"

"Yes!"

"Hahaha...you're late."

"Still laughing! It's all your fault!"

At this moment, two sudden voices suddenly popped out, attracting everyone's attention.

"Oh! Those two foreign beauties who came to see Sawamura last time!"

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