Diamond Ace: Another Story of Sawamura

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As the second inning began, cheering songs were heard in the cheering area of ​​Qingdao. The one who walked into the batter's box following the cheering song was Qingdao's immovable fourth batter Tetsuya Yuki.

"Blast out! Yuki!"

"Yuki!"

The catcher of Mimenshi stood up at this time and directed the defense to adjust their position to deal with the fourth batter of Seidou.

"..." When Yuuki-senpai strikes the field, Eijun will put down what he is doing and watch his strikes seriously.

"The shortstop actually guarded near the second base..."

"The entire defense is leaning to the right, are they trying to use all the balls from the outside corner to deal with the batters?"

“It also makes people feel that he is avoiding confrontation with hitters.”

In response to the team members' discussion, Kataoka simply reminded them, "Watch Yuki's attack carefully!"

Facing the pitcher's angled ball path, Yuki calmly let go of the first ball that was heading towards the bad zone.

"Bad ball!"

'The look in your eyes while waiting for the ball is really disgusting...'

The pitcher was a little afraid of Yuki who was lying motionless in the batter's box, so he threw the ball a little further inside.

This ball became Yuki's opportunity to swing the bat. He swung the bat with force without hesitation and hit the ball hard, and the ball flashed by like a ray of light.

'I was aware of the ball coming towards me, but my body couldn't keep up because it was rolling too fast...' The ball just jumped away from my glove.

"A strong hit through the right field line!"

"Great! Seidou's first hit!"

"Good fight! Azhe!"

Yuki's at-bat showed his responsibilities as a fourth batter, which aroused cheers from the audience.

With his arms folded and looking at the field, Coach Kataoka expressed his expectations through this performance, "I don't need long hits. I want you to tear apart the opponent's defense with powerful ground hits! Got it?"

"Yes!"

Like a single blow that opened a door that no intelligence had yet given them, Qingdao's subsequent attack fully demonstrated their striking power and skills, and they were like a fish in water.

The fifth batter, Masuko, hit a clever infield hit that successfully passed through the defense and rolled into the outfield, sending Yuki to third base and then first base.

"Sixth batter, catcher, Takigawa Chris Yuu!"

When it was Chris' turn, Rong Chun cheered for him, "Chris, go ahead and hit it!"

"Chris! It's up to you!"

"Chris!"

"..." The coherent hitting line has put pressure on Mimensi. The general idea here may be to implement a forced scoring tactic. In order to prevent forced scoring, 'aim for the inside corner...'

Facing the expected inside corner kick, Chris swung the bat without hesitation and hit through Mimensi's seemingly solid defense.

"Breaking through the defense line!"

The runners on first and third base also started at the same time. Yuki on third base returned to home base first and scored a point. Masuko on first base also successfully reached third base, and Chris safely reached first base. At this time, the situation was still that there was no one out and there were runners on first and third bases.

"Oh! Senior Chris is so reliable!"

"Three hits in a row!"

At this time, catcher Mimenshi was already in a state of confusion, thinking that Seidou was a strong team that was good at scoring and hitting long balls, and he failed to defend against Seidou's attack, "forcing a point on the first ball!"

Shirasu used a bunt at the right time to disrupt Mimensi's pace, causing them to hurriedly pass the ball to first base, while Masuko on third base ran back to home base.

Although Sakai, the eighth batter, hit a high fly ball to left field and was caught out, the distance was enough for Chris at third base to run back to home plate, and Seidou had already scored three points since then.

"Chris, you ran well!" Rongchun waved happily to Chris, looked around the court and exclaimed: "Runners are running back one after another..."

"Xiaochun...can you practice passing and catching with me?"

"Eh? Are you going to pitch today?" Chun Shi asked puzzledly, and then naturally took the gloves and put them on.

"I don't know either!" Rongchun put on his gloves, looked outside, and pulled up his mask out of habit. "Anyway, I won't get scolded for warming up first..."

"...Yeah." Seeing Eijun being so optimistic, Haruichi felt that he needed to learn from him and not get depressed just because he couldn't play.

Standing in the dugout, you can't see the entire court, but standing here you can look around the entire court...

"..." Rongchun looked around the audience and the outside of the stadium, looking for the person he expected to see, 'Where are you... Are you here...'

After being struck out by swinging in the air, Fūya once again used his beast-like pitching to get Mimenshi up and down three times.

After the change of game, Qingdao's batting line exploded again, hitting the bases crazily and scoring seven points, and continued this performance into the fourth inning.

"Although everyone was still holding back in the first inning, Furutani's pitching and Azhe's hitting made the batting line explode..." Director Ota was also very happy about this development, "The opposing batters still can't hit Furutani's balls, so Furutani should be able to pitch to the end."

Hearing such praise, a happy blush appeared on Fūya's face while he was resting in the back seat.

"Even if the number of innings in the game is reduced, I still plan to use rotation pitching in this summer season and ask Kawakami to warm up and be ready to play at any time."

“……”Chris, who was receiving the ball on the court, knew the coach’s plan best.

So far, Furuya has been causing his opponents to miss with relatively high pitches. If this pitch path is discovered, the number of pitches will naturally increase. This kind of pitch speed is useless for strong schools that often practice hitting at a speed of around 150 km/h.

"boom..."

At this time, a loud blast as powerful as that of Furuya's pitch came from the pitching practice area, attracting everyone's attention and directing it to the long-haired pitcher there.

"Is there any pitcher in Qingdao who can throw such a fastball?"

"The voice sounds just as good as Furuya's!"

"Long hair... that can't be a female pitcher!"

"Impossible! Judging from his figure, he must be a man!"

"..." After barely catching Eijun's ball so that it wouldn't be taken away, Koharu threw the ball back, 'It feels like his pitch today is more powerful than usual... My hand hurts...'

"You'll run out of strength if you practice throwing so hard!" Kawakami, who was standing next to him, was also startled.

"It doesn't matter!" Rongchun, who had stirred up a lot of waves, now only wanted to stand on the pitcher's mound.

'The pitcher's mound is the center of the entire baseball field and the most eye-catching place...'

"Sawamura! The supervisor is calling you!"

"Hmm..." Rongchun responded, gestured to Xiaochun and walked back to the rest area.

"Sawamura...it's your turn in the next inning!"

"As long as you stand in the most eye-catching place in the audience, you will be discovered at first sight..."

"Aren't you ready? If you are, come on!"

"Yes!"

'So, as long as I stand on the pitcher's mound, my crush will see me first...'

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At the end of the fourth inning, the difference was fifteen points, so Seidou changed the pitcher to first-year pitcher Eijun Sawamura.

"It's that first-year left-hander!"

"It's the pitcher who was practicing just now!"

After throwing a few test pitches, Eijun nodded to Chris at the home plate to indicate that he was ready.

"Just pitch calmly!" Although Yuki had never seen Eijun nervous on the pitcher's mound.

"You just need to perform at your usual level!"

"Behave well!"

Qingdao's substitution of pitchers gave coach Chiba, who had already fallen into despair, some hope. He had no chance to take advantage of the situation and it was he who underestimated the enemy.

"Hasunuma! Show your enthusiasm! Show all your efforts over the past three years! I'm sure you can get your words out!"

'Is this the difference between a team that just wants to improve quietly and a team that aims to win Koshien?'

"Supervision..."

Seeing the coach who refused to give up, the contestants of Mimenxi lowered their heads and gritted their teeth. How could they be so dejected here when the coach hadn't given up yet?

"Hasunuma! Hit it out! Hit the first pitch!"

"We have to get back at least one point!"

"Let them see the courage of the weak!"

"Throw it over here!"

"..." Basking in the cheers from Mimenshi, Eijun raised his head and looked at the batter at home plate as he prepared to pitch.

"!" Chris, who was far away at home base, couldn't help but shudder when he saw Rongjun's cold and deep gaze.

I have to admit, sometimes I can really feel Rongchun's powerful aura, a sense of oppression that I have never felt before.

"This pitcher... feels so scary!" The batter's momentum was killed in fear the moment he saw Eijun's eyes. "The pitching posture! The wrist is so slow when pitching!"

The batter, who had already lost the momentum, faced the sudden ball and swung the bat in panic, hitting the ball.

"The ball... rolled out..."

"So fast!"

As the batter started running, Eijun had already appeared in front of the ball. After catching the ball, he passed it directly to first base to block the batter.

Facing the next batter, Eijun still hit one ball after another.

"Oh! Three balls put the batter three up and three down!"

"What luck!"

In the fifth inning, Kataoka let Koharu come in as a pinch hitter to increase his practical experience, and he lived up to expectations and hit a beautiful hit.

Scoring continued in the first half, and in the second half, Eijun still defeated the batter with three balls, bringing the game to an end.

"competition is over!"

"Great! Perfect for getting the batter up and down three times!"

"Good pitch! Sawamura!"

'it's over! '

"Eijun, go up and line up." Chris gently pushed Rongchun's back.

"It's over..." Eijun stared blankly at the crying contestant Mimenshi, and just saluted like everyone else.

Honestly, he didn't feel anything...

"salute!"

"Thanks for the advice!"

Amid the long sound of air raid sirens, Qingdao and Mimensi bowed as a gesture of respect and gratitude, and shook hands with each other in encouragement.

"You guys need to work hard!"

"We must make it to Koshien!"

"We have no regrets at all after being beaten so badly by you!"

"You weird little first-year kid, try your best too!"

As his seniors greeted him, Rongchun's hand was held. He looked at his seniors, whose eyes were red but smiling, and simply nodded.

Then after greeting each other, they turned around and walked back to the rest area.

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