Diamond Ace: Another Story of Sawamura

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"Sawamura, I heard it and saw it!"

"!" When Rong Chun straightened his back, he heard a sentence and his pupils suddenly dilated at that moment.

He maintained the bowing posture, and after a while he slowly raised his head to look at the person who said this.

However, the calmness he tried to maintain failed when he opened his mouth, "What did you hear...what did you see..."

"I heard you yell to Sakurazawa's ace, 'Sakurazawa's ace, pitch calmly!' Like this..." Narimiya exaggeratedly imitated Sawamura's tone, "You just sit on Sakurazawa's rest area!"

"..." Eijun's heart seemed to relax as if it was being strangled, "Narimiya-senpai's hearing and vision are really good..."

"I'm telling you, even if you cheer for them, it's all in vain. We're the ones who win in the end! You must be cheering for them because you think they can't beat us, right?"

"……"The two teams looked at their own ace/opposing ace who was obviously having a quarrel, and rolled their eyes at him in unison.

"We will definitely win this game!"

Although Cheng Gong seemed to be just being sulky, the people of Qingdao were not going to pretend they didn't hear his declaration, and their momentum suddenly became intense and ready to attack.

"Ming... don't act weird in a place like this..." Harada stopped Ming from speaking, holding back the throbbing veins in his temples.

"..." Among the crowd, only Rong Chun, one of the parties involved, remained silent...

"Sawamura, let's go!" Kuramochi, who was standing nearby, didn't bother to pay attention to the childish ace. He pulled Eijun towards the rest area and asked in a low voice, "What's wrong?"

"It's okay..." Eijun looked up at Kuramochi-senpai and smiled, "It seems that Narimiya-senpai is really amazing..."

"..." Kuramochi didn't know why Sawamura suddenly became like this because of a sentence, but he didn't look like he was nervous...

"Idiot... your voice was shaking just now..."

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In the top of the first inning, Daocheng Industry was the first to take the field to defend.

After everyone else retreated to the dugout, Inashi’s starters gathered on the mound to cheer themselves up.

The starting pitcher today is, of course, the one who has not conceded a point in this tournament so far...

Inami's second-year ace pitcher, Narimiya Mei, who was just in a bad mood!

On the other hand, the starting players of Seidou gathered in front of the rest area with Supervisor Kataoka to discuss the tactics of the game.

"Until you are ahead in pitch speed, don't hit anything except very sweet balls! Don't be afraid of getting struck out, decide what kind of ball you want to hit!"

"It's so hot today... If we let Narimiya shoot more, the chances of him missing will probably go up."

The contestants all looked at Supervisor Kataoka seriously and nodded to show that they understood his instructions.

“Come on, ahhhh!”

On the other side of the court, Fujio Mine and Yamato were in the press box, discussing the current situation.

"How Seidou will attack the ace pitcher Narimiya Ming who has not lost any points yet... This should be the key to this game."

"Yeah..." Fujio looked at Narimiya Ming who was pitching on the pitcher's mound with a serious expression, "Compared to Inami, who has a great ace pitcher, Qingdao has always relied on the strategy of changing pitchers to advance."

"Although I don't know what kind of game this will be, the strength of the pitchers on both sides will definitely be the key to this game..."

After Inami finished his warm-up defensive drills, the defense was in position and the batter came on the field, and the stadium's broadcast sounded at the right time.

"In the top of the first inning, Seidou High School will attack. The first batter is shortstop Kuramochi."

"Kuramochi, be more active!"

"Watch the ball carefully, Kuramochi!"

Kuramochi first greeted the referee and then stepped into the batter's box.

"Eh? Left-handed..." Ming was slightly confused when he saw Kuramochi standing at the left-handed seat.

Harada, who was squatting at home plate, also glanced at Kuramochi, "Isn't this guy able to hit the ball with both hands? He didn't stand at the right batting plate where he could see the ball clearly... but deliberately stood at the left batting plate..."

"Game start!"

Following the referee's announcement, both the pitcher and the batter get ready at the same time.

"You want to get as close to first base as possible..." Cheng Gongming raised his glove and raised his mouth, then raised his leg and swung his arm to throw the ball in one breath, "I can tell at a glance that you want to hit a bunt..."

As Narimiya threw the ball, Kuramochi shortened his bat, and the defending side saw it and quickly stepped forward to defend.

"Snapped!"

"Bad ball!"

"Huh?" Ming Bude screamed as he ran down the pitcher's mound. There was no hit.

When Harada got the ball and stood up, he glanced at Kuramochi who was taking a long breath, took out the ball and passed it back to Ming, "Although it was a bad ball, it was very subtle...Was there another purpose for him to let it go...?"

Next, Kuramochi pretended to hit a bunt, tricking Yoshizawa and Narimiya on third base into running up and down, back and forth, but in the end, neither of them swung the bat cleanly.

"Asshole... do you want to play short or not..." Cheng Gong said, getting angry, and his mood became irritable, "Hurry up and decide!"

"Bad ball!"

"Four balls and a walk!"

"In the end, there was no bunt!" He actually gave away the first batter, and Cheng Gong was so angry that he gritted his teeth.

cheated!

"What a waste! Why did you give him a free throw?" Harada was so angry that he passed the ball back with all his strength, and the pitch went off target.

At this time, because of Cheng Gong's stupid performance at the beginning, the Daoshi rest area also caused the blizzard in the east to arrive early.

"Great!" Kuramochi, who had successfully drawn a ball, shouted excitedly and ran to first base happily. The next thing was...

"The second batter is Kominato, the second baseman."

"Narimiya was too wary of him..." Yamato in the press box also realized that this opening situation was very unfavorable for Inami.

"Yeah, after all, he's a troublesome hitter once he gets on base." Fujio agreed.

"A runner with fast feet is on first base, and it's the second batter's turn... Seidou has a lot of tactics to use."

This time, Fujio did not directly agree with Yamatoda's opinion on the second batter, but remained silent.

"Even though there are runners on base with no outs, but our opponent is Narimiya, they will probably use sacrifice bunts to advance the game..."

"..." Narimiya was ready to focus on the difficult senior from Seidou, but Kuramochi, who was on base, would not stay at first base...

"Damn it, you're so far away from the base..." Narimiya was very concerned about his bold move away from the base, and he kept stealing glances at Kuramochi.

Narimiya pretended not to care and prepared to pitch, then quickly turned around and threw a diversionary ball to first base.

"go to hell!"

However, Kuramochi touched the first base before the first baseman's tag out. When he stood up, he gave Narimiya a provocative look, and then left the base again with a big move.

"Asshole!" Ming Duoduo, who was so angry that he gritted his teeth and smoke came out of his head, got angry and kept throwing the ball to first base.

But he just couldn't do anything about that bastard, and he kept stamping his feet in anger.

Harada at home plate looked at his own ace, then at Kominato who was ready to bunt from the start in the batter's box, "I think he will definitely push the runner forward..."

'But it's also possible that he was deliberately trying to get Ming to pay attention to the runner, and then attack him in a normal way...'

Thinking of this, Harada tapped his glove to signal, "It's only the first inning, focus on the batter!"

"..." Seeing Senior Aya's signal, Ming also restrained himself a little and nodded to show his understanding, "What a trouble... these two guys!"

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"You must be bold while being cautious. You cannot defeat your opponent if you are afraid of taking risks..."

"Huh..." After being distracted by Narimiya's gaze, Kuramochi let out a long, nervous breath, staring closely at all of Narimiya's movements, looking for the opportunity to start.

Cheng Gong's fixed-style shooting is very fast, but it is not impossible to run.

The moment he saw Narimiya kick the ball, his body and mind reacted instantly.

"Stealing a base!"

Hearing Yamaoka's reminder, Narimiya gritted his teeth and threw the ball quickly, then bent down and stepped down from the pitcher's mound, making way for the pass to second base.

"Snapped!"

"Don't underestimate me!" The baseball came into his hand, and Harada quickly stood up, grabbed the ball and passed it to Hirai at second base.

"I didn't expect to steal the base on the first pitch!" As Kuramochi was running against the clock, the broadcasting voice rang loudly, "But the catcher threw a ball that was as fast as an arrow!"

"This is basically suicide!" Fujio in the press box was also shocked and couldn't help shouting, "It's such a hard-earned opportunity..."

With just a little time left to go, Kuramochi slid and the baseball fell into the second baseman's glove.

After receiving the ball, Hirai made no unnecessary movements and his glove touched Kuramochi, but Kuramochi leaned back using the inertia of stepping on the base and narrowly avoided being tagged out.

The referee was as shocked as everyone else, but the outcome was clearly in favor of the runner.

"Safety on base!"

"Successful stolen base!"

"What a fast pace!"

Even when the pitcher and catcher were wary of him, he was able to successfully steal bases, which instantly increased the temperature of the stadium.

"How daring..." Yamato was also shocked. The game had just begun and they were making such a risky attempt. "If they are eliminated, it will cause great harm!"

"A big gamble in the first game...?" Fujio heaved a sigh of relief but was still a little shocked. But then he thought about it and understood.

This positive style is the baseball style of Seidou...

Regardless of whether it is the final or not, regardless of whether the opponent is Inami or not, they intend to stick to their style of play...

Now there's nobody out and a runner on second base...

On the second pitch, when the baseball was approaching home plate, Ryosuke judged the general path of the ball and was about to hit the bat, but the ball turned downward from the outside corner to the inside corner.

At that moment, relying on his extraordinary batting skills, he quickly changed to holding the bat with his right hand, and held the bat with his left hand to hit the ball downwards.

"bunt?"

"He's basically holding the bat with one hand!" Ming never expected that he could still hit it, and he quickly ran forward.

"A Ming! Pass to first base!"

Because Kuramochi started running towards third base the moment Kominato hit the ball, it was too late to stop him. Harada quickly judged the situation and instructed Ming to pass the ball to first base.

"I...get it!" The moment he intercepted the ball, Ming quickly turned around and threw to first base.

Inami's defense blocked Kominato at first base just in time...

It also forced Kuramochi to third base...

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