Diamond Ace: Another Story of Sawamura

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On July 13th, at the Fuzhong Citizens' Stadium.

The second round of the West Tokyo preliminaries, the match between Seidou High School and Mimon West High School officially began.

"Seidou's summer has finally begun... It's an important first match, I hope they don't have to fight too hard."

"Those guys are going to do really well!"

The spectators who came specially to watch Qingdao's first game were full of expectations for this match, and they paid special attention to Kuramochi, who was the first to bat.

"Hey, hey... How come it's the guy with number 10? He's not the starting ace left-handed pitcher at all..." Kuramochi was also surprised to see the pitcher trying to throw on the mound, "And he's a pitcher who throws sideways with his shoulders down..."

"Nan Shouping is a third-year player. He played as a pitcher in his first year, but he has no record of pitching in official games since then. Although I think it's unlikely..."

This was the only possibility Chris could think of from what he had learned about this hidden pitcher from the scouts yesterday.

"I guess he's injured..." Rongchun leaned over to Chris with a lollipop in his mouth and pointed out Chris's guess, "He spent two years practicing low-shoulder side shots for this summer."

"How did Rongchun know that he was injured?" Chris asked. After all, there was no information pointing to the pitcher being injured.

"Hee..." Rongchun grinned and said proudly, "I am going to be an excellent doctor. I can tell at a glance that the man's arm can no longer be lifted."

At this time, Mimenxi's Chiba supervisor seemed to have seen the gloomy face of the opposite supervisor and grinned complacently.

"Game start!"

The game started at the referee's command, and the first batter Kuramochi walked into the batting box.

"Kuramochi, get out!"

"Use your pace to disrupt their rhythm!"

"How should I deal with him next... The first batter's job is to get on base first, but against an opponent I've never met before, it won't help even if I hit the ball rashly..."

After thinking about it, Kuramochi calmly observed the first ball, and then came to the first conclusion, "The ball speed is too slow... The side throw posture is lower than Kawakami, it is a ball path that floats up and then sinks down, the ball speed is not fast... It is more difficult to handle..."

"Hahaha... look at their expressions. Those guys from Qingdao can only stare blankly at this pitcher who has no information about him." Coach Chiba saw Kuramochi who was obviously observing and laughed out loud without any hesitation.

"The first formula for the success of Chiba Style is to strike first, no matter what method you use. A team that is in a difficult situation in the first battle will be easily defeated if they waver for a moment."

Looking at the ambiguous second ball, Kuramochi chose to let it go, but he didn't expect the referee to call it a good ball. 'It's... we're being chased. In this case, we can't let any more balls go. We must provide some information to the rest area.'

The pitcher did not give Kuramochi any time to think and quickly threw the next pitch. Facing the expected low ball, Kuramochi swung at the ball, but the ball suddenly fell in front of home plate and avoided the bat.

Fortunately, the catcher missed the ball, and Kuramochi ran to first base, "Tsk... the ball is too slow, I can't tell if it's a curveball or a slider!"

Although he missed the catch, the catcher still blocked the ball in front of him and quickly passed the ball to first base, blocking Kuramochi.

“Even if it bounced once, it was handled very well.”

"Ah... these two are not a temporary pitcher-catcher duo..."

While Isashiki and Yuki were discussing, Kuramochi came back from the fort and said, "Ryo, I'm sorry, I didn't find out any information."

"It's enough to see the changeup."

Before stepping into the batter's box, Ryosuke looked at the dugout and received instructions from the coach, "Aim at the ball and swing aggressively."

"..." Looking at Rongchun who was reading a book and listening to headphones while holding a lollipop next to him, Chris held his leg and said, "Don't warm up in there. What if you get hurt?"

"Oh..."

"Hmm..." Seeing that Rongchun immediately sat down obediently, Chris nodded with satisfaction, stood up and called Furiya, "Furiya, let's practice passing and receiving the ball for a while."

"Hey! I want one too!"

"Fouya needs to warm up..." Chris cruelly rejected Eijun and took away Furuya who had an expressionless face, not knowing whether he was nervous or calm.

At this time, Ryosuke aimed at a missed ball, but because he hit the bat too late, it was a fly ball towards third base and he was caught and out.

Then, Isashiki, who came on as the third batter, saluted the umpire politely and was very calm when he stepped into the batter's box.

Then, after some encouragement from the audience...

"Isashiki, hit the ball!"

"Bark! The golden retriever of Qingdao!"

"Who is the golden retriever?" Isashiki instantly lost his mind and swung the bat widely, giving the opponent a strike.

"Calm down! Isashiki!"

"He was hit!"

“Hehehe…” Looking at Isashiki-senpai who was squatting there and shaking with anger, Eijun smiled and gave him a new nickname, “Beard-senpai! Choose the ball carefully!”

In the next pitch, Isashiki hit the ball to right field with anger, but he didn't expect that the outfielder of Mimenshi was not far away and easily caught the ball.

"Qingdao actually went up and down three times!"

"Outno is defending so deeply, it seems that he has studied Qingdao very thoroughly!"

"Go on the court!" Chris called out to Fūya. Looking at Fūya who didn't change at all, he couldn't tell whether these few balls made him more natural.

However, considering his desire to pitch, he probably didn't think about anything else except pitching. "Furuya, it's okay to throw as hard as you can. You want to strike out all the batters, right?"

"Yeah!" Jyoutani nodded affirmatively. This was what he had planned from the beginning.

"Ah! Furuya is on the pitcher's mound!" Seeing Furuya on the pitcher's mound and then looking at senior Chris at home plate, Eijun put down his book and ran to the barrier, blurting out the words he used to say often.

"Fūya! It doesn't matter if I get beaten up. I'm ready! We can exchange right away!"

"Eijun!"

"Sawamura!"

Everyone was surprised to hear Eijun's challenge of wanting to play for the first time, and their eyes compared between Chris and Miyuki, "Is it really Chris's catcher charm!"

"Hey! What are you thinking about?" Miyuki said that he seemed to feel some rude comparison.

"I won't let anyone hit my ball!" Kouya muttered unconvinced.

"Hehe..." Chris couldn't help but laugh and threw the ball to Fūya.

Facing the ball thrown by senior Chris, the cool and handsome Jyoutani stretched out his hand, but instead of catching the ball, he touched the ball out.

Fūtani's expression changed and he hurried to chase the ball, but he kicked the ball far away again. He hurriedly chased after it and finally picked up the ball.

This scene shocked the audience and they began to question it.

"Where's the ace Danbo? This kid is only a first grader!"

"This is an important first battle! If we lose, it's over. Are we making such a big bet right from the start?!"

On the contrary, this scene amused Eijun, "Hahaha... no matter how many times I watch it, it's still funny..."

"Eijun..." Xiaochun said that if you are watching your own family's fun, you should stop laughing so loudly...

Director Chiba was also amused, "Hahaha... he couldn't even catch the pass! That first-year must be so nervous that his whole body is stiff!"

'He might not even be able to throw a strike and end up destroying himself...' Thinking of this, Coach Chiba signaled to the batters on the field, 'Don't swing at anything except missed pitches.'

The batter saw the supervisor's signal and pinched the brim of his hat to show that he understood.

“Start pitching!”

"Come on!" After the referee's whistle, the batter prepared to hit with great momentum.

“…” Seeing the batter’s unexpectedly forward stance, Chris smiled lightly and adjusted his gloves.

Whether Fūdani's starting lineup will be a good omen or a bad result depends on now.

Looking at the catcher's glove at home plate, Furuya blew away the anti-slip powder on his hands. Then he raised the glove high, raised his leg, stepped, swung his hand, and threw the ball.

Just like when he was at Guanda, he shocked everyone with the power of one ball and stirred up a strong wind.

"A good shot!"

"Wow! What happened to that ball just now!"

"Is this a shot from a first-year player?"

"Did you hear that loud bang? Did you hear it?"

"What's the speed of the ball? Doesn't anyone have a speed gun?"

"You..." Coach Chiba knocked on the microphone angrily, "Why are you swinging at such a high pitch!"

"What on earth is this? I've never hit a ball like this before even when I was practicing with a pitching machine..." The batter was completely suppressed by Furuya's pitch at this moment, "Standing in the batter's box... It's so scary..."

"Don't hit that high pitch!"

The batters were completely immersed in the suppression from the pitcher's mound, and no matter how loudly coach Chiba yelled, it was of no avail. In the blink of an eye, three people were struck out in succession.

"That kid used all his strength in the first round!"

"The opponents were all stunned!"

After switching between offense and defense and returning to the rest area, Kouya naturally received encouragement from his seniors.

"Good shot!"

"Furiya! Good pitch! Although most of them were bad balls..."

"Good throw!" Chris encouraged, looking at Fūdani who was not nervous at all and threw more vigorously than usual. He thought that what the coach said last night must have worked.

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After Eijun's request to pitch last night was not fulfilled, not only the two catchers were left behind, but also Furutani.

"Furiya, do you know why Kawakami is considered a reliever?"

'Even if you are the starting pitcher, you don't need to shoulder all the responsibility of the team. You just need to do what you can do.'

'You are now capable of pitching this important first game, so I hope you can hold your head high and pitch! '

"Don't get so intoxicated over there..." Eijun said with a smile as he looked at Fūya who was already intoxicated and unable to extricate himself.

Maybe it was because he was kept by the supervisor last night and fed with some inspirational quotes. It’s so nice to have innocent children!

'For a floating ball like this to work today...it's really worrying for the future.'

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