Diamond Ace: Another Story of Sawamura

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At the beginning of the second game, it was Qingdao's turn to defend.

The consequence of Fūtani always focusing too much on pitching with all his strength is that he keeps throwing bad balls and walking the ball one after another.

This situation continued until the fourth game, when Qingdao had lost eleven points and scored only two points.

"What kind of game is this? That pitcher totally messed it up!"

"The opponent is Kiryu High School. I came to watch it thinking it would be an exciting game..."

With such a result, the audience on the sidelines were so patient that they were too lazy to even boo, which showed that they were quite dissatisfied.

"go home!"

"We don't want to see Qingdao lose like this..."

The commotion outside the stadium spread directly to the stadium, and whether it would affect the players was probably only known to them.

Chris just calmly commented, "As expected of Kiryu's batting line... He didn't hit the ball until two strikes against Furuya, who had unstable ball control."

"..." Kataoka next to him also agreed with Chris's conclusion, "How many pitches did Furuya throw?"

"The fourth inning isn't even over yet..." Although he wasn't the recorder, Chris still kept track of the game's results, "One hundred balls have been thrown."

Kataoka did not make any comment on the result and just watched in silence.

In the Kiryu rest area on the other side, Coach Matsumoto rubbed his chin and smiled kindly, "Kataoka is really too cruel... I don't know what his plan is, but if he continues like this, that pitcher will be ruined..."

And no fielder went to comfort the pitcher. The pitcher was so pitiful that he would not show mercy.

"..." Looking at the strong back of the man on the pitcher's mound, Rongjun couldn't help but moisten his eyes.

I was in the same situation at the beginning. To be honest, the feeling of being alone and helpless on the pitcher's mound is not pleasant at all.

He was not as strong as Fūtani. Even though he had already thrown so many walks, he would not be timid in throwing the ball just for the sake of a strike count.

But I developed a fear of pitching just because of a hit ball.

If it weren't for his naturally flexible body and the colorful changing ball, as well as the help of Senior Chris, he would have probably faded away by then.

Even though he was given the coveted ace number when Fūtani was injured, he still failed to gain everyone's trust in the end.

"..." Looking at the pitcher and catcher talking on the pitcher's mound, tears flowed out uncontrollably. In order to cover up his miserable appearance, Rongjun lowered his hat, lifted his mask and wiped away his tears.

"Hahahahaha!"

For some reason, Miyuki on the pitcher's mound suddenly burst into laughter, attracting everyone's attention.

Standing opposite to Miyuki, Furuya was also puzzled. What was he laughing at? He seriously admitted that he couldn't throw the ball as well as he should have today, and he was seriously seeking advice.

"Listen, calm down and think about the seven hits you've had so far. All the runs you lost were caused by your four walks. Even so, do you know why no one came forward to comfort you?"

"Because they all believe in you!"

It was rare for Miyuki to say something so serious that could shock Furutani, although he didn't know that this was something the seniors had decided together yesterday.

"It's not just the pitcher's job to deal with the hitters. Trust the defense behind you when pitching. That's my advice."

After saying that, Miyuki turned and ran down the pitcher's mound, "Next, look carefully at my glove as you pitch!"

Thinking back to the days when no one wanted to play basketball with him and he practiced shooting alone against a wall by the river, just believing these two words was enough to make him happy.

'This place...is completely different from the previous place...'

"..." The atmosphere on the pitcher's mound changed, and even Fūtani's momentum changed. Rong Chun adjusted his mask and stepped back a little.

'Yes... This place is completely different from the previous one... I just need to trust the catcher's mitt to throw the ball, trust the catcher's mitt!'

Looking at the glove, Fūya threw the ball in his hand.

Faced with the pitch that suddenly changed in momentum, Kiryu's batter swung hastily. Although he hit the ball, it missed the center of the ball and became an obvious outfield fly ball.

"..." It looked like a particularly exciting attack, but Rongjun was distracted in the middle and wondered why it ended so quickly.

"Center and outfield!"

Although it was a long hit route that could be caught, the distance of the ball was enough for the third baseman to run back to home plate. After seeing it clearly, Kiryu's third base instructor gave advice, "After the ball is caught, run to home plate!"

The runner on third base nodded in response, while keeping an eye on the falling ball. Sure enough, the ball was caught by Isashiki while falling.

"GO——"

As the instructor announced the bases to run, the runners rushed out at the same time.

"Go to hell!" But what Kiryu didn't expect was that Isashiki threw the ball to home base with an exaggeratedly fast return pass.

A beam of white light passed through the field, was caught by the glove at home plate, and then tagged the runner. The two touched and instantly stirred up dust, followed by the umpire raising his fist to make the announcement.

"Out! Attackers and defenders switch!"

"Oh oh oh!"

"Xiaochun! Good shot!"

"I thought your ball would hit the ground once first..."

"Shut up!" Being praised by his teammates, Isashiki felt a little embarrassed and pointed at Furuya, "Hey! Furuya, you forgot to go back to home base to make up for it! What if my pass just now wasn't caught!"

"Don't play baseball over there, you idiot..."

“……” As if being hit deep in his heart by Senior Isashiki’s fist, Fūya felt that he had learned a lot from this game.

The first batter, Miyuki, hit a ground ball to the pitcher and was out.

As for Rongchun, he sat obediently next to Chris after he came off the court, listening to them talking and nodding in agreement, even though he didn't hear what they were saying.

It seemed like he was saying something about there being a runner on base, it was like a divine assist, and even though he was within arm's reach, he didn't hear a single complete word of what he said.

He felt really strange today and was distracted a lot. To be honest, he was somewhat glad that the ball did not fly towards him.

"..." In order to concentrate, Rongchun habitually grabbed the baseball in his pocket so that he would not lose his mind completely.

Shirasu hit a fly ball in front of the pitcher and was out...

"Eijun, it's your turn to hit."

"Yeah!" Rong Chun finally came back to his senses after being reminded by Chris. He nodded naturally and acted as if he was ready to go on stage.

As the third batter to step into the batter's box in this inning, to be honest, Rongjun had forgotten how many times he had been in the batter's box. He had entered the game in a daze and reached base in a daze before.

"..." But at least this was the first time in this match that he took Kiryu's ace player Kan Hiromi seriously. That smirk on her face, as her teammates described her as being in great form, was indeed a little unfriendly.

Regardless, Rong Chun breathed a sigh of relief, hoping to concentrate a little and use his excellent dynamic vision to capture the ball's path.

The ball changed slightly in front of home plate, and when it was about to enter the glove, the bat blocked its path and knocked the ball out.

"state!"

'not good! '

The ball flew past the net with unstoppable momentum and out of the court amid the incredulous expressions of the Kiryu players.

“Out…out!”

"No way! How did he do that with that body shape?!"

Even the audience looked in disbelief. No one expected that the first home run of the game would be hit by the left outfielder, who had not had any outstanding performance until now.

After the ball was hit, Rongjun instinctively ran to the next base, and only slowed down when he knew the ball had flown out.

His scattered consciousness has now fully awakened. The moment he hit the ball, Rong Chun felt uneasy. It was not that the feel of the ball was wrong, but that the swing of the bat felt wrong, and his body felt wrong...

"Sawamura! You did a great job, kid!!"

"sure!"

"Eijun, good fight!"

The seniors in the rest area were also shocked and gathered around Eijun. Senior Isashiki even touched his head directly, while Kuramochi patted his shoulder encouragingly.

"Yes..." Pain...

As soon as Rongchun entered the rest area, he saw Chris looking at him with a pleased smile, so he put on his hat and sat next to Chris, "Chris-senpai! How did I perform?"

"Yeah! Good job!"

"Yes!"

Looking at Eijun who was happy about being praised, Chris was still worried that Eijun would be demoted because he was not in good shape today.

Even though Eijun hid it very well, he himself could see it, let alone the supervisor.

But the fact that he finally got serious made Chris feel relieved. It would be great if he could perform like this next time.

"..." Thinking of this, Chris leaned close to Rongchun's ear and whispered, "You've been distracted today. Are you feeling unwell?"

"..." Rongchun paused as he prepared to go on stage for the substitution. He looked at Chris's worried face and whispered in Chris's ear, "I really want some candy!"

"..." Chris couldn't help but hold his forehead as he watched Rongchun stand up and run to the left outfield. If he could just devote a little bit of this desire that valued sugar as his life to baseball, it would be enough.

"Tsk..." Standing in the left outfield, Rongjun couldn't help but smack his lips and rub his uncomfortable neck. Seeing that Furuya was preparing to pitch on the pitcher's mound, he became a little more serious.

Then, in full view of everyone, Fūtani gently threw a super slow ball.

Tong Guangmei, who was preparing to hit a big ball with full confidence, was shocked at the slowly approaching ball. She even lost her batting posture and watched the ball go away.

"nice shot!"

"Hey! Hey!" Tong Guangmei asked in disbelief: "Although he can't throw into the strike zone, throwing this kind of ball is too lame!"

"Anyway...you won't swing the bat before two strikes..." Miyuki responded to the question with a smile.

Kiri Hiromi was stunned for a moment and looked at the coach in the rest area. Coach Matsumoto was also angry about this ball, and he smiled very restrainedly and signaled to Kiri Hiromi.

"Don't show any mercy, just beat him up."

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