Diamond Ace: Another Story of Sawamura

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The game advanced to the bottom of the second inning...

The first batter to step into the batter's box in this inning was Inami's fourth batter... Harada Masamiya.

For the first pitch, although Harada immediately followed the path of the ball, he swung the bat too slowly and could only forcefully hit the first high inside corner ball out of bounds.

For the second ball, Chris used the same ball path, but shifted one ball position outward.

After seeing the signal, Rongchun nodded to show that he understood, and then threw the ball in his hand in one breath.

After seeing the pitcher swing his hands, Harada estimated the time and swung the bat again.

"Qiang!"

However, this ball still did not hit the center, because the ball arrived at home plate a little earlier than Harada expected.

"Bang!" The ball hit the third base line with a dull thud.

"Foul ball!"

"It's harder than I thought..." Two pitches were enough for Harada to have a clearer understanding of Sawamura's pitching.

Just the unpredictable timing of his weird pitching posture is enough to explain why others are at a loss as to what to do with his pitches.

"This guy is really amazing..." While sighing, Harada readjusted his swing posture and prepared to hit again.

"Hold the short stick..." Chris looked at Harada's stick grip and had some more thoughts.

The same thing happened to the previous batter, which was a reasonable decision, but the fact that the fourth batter also did the same thing further proves that they will not easily miss.

"What a troublesome bunch..."

Harada clenched his bat and thought of the information about Sawamura given by the informant before. It said...

"He is the reliever who is responsible for handing the game over to the closer Kawakami... He also sometimes pitches in important situations..."

This shows that his psychological quality is good enough to let him handle the crisis, so instead of trying to exert his own hitting, Harada chose to prioritize getting on base and create opportunities for the next batter.

So facing the next ball, Harada still looked for the right opportunity to swing the bat.

"Qiang!"

"The outside world!"

"That was a fast forkball..." Harada took a deep breath and looked back at the pitcher's mound. There was no such pitch in the data...

"..." After Chris passed the ball to Rongchun, he immediately gave the signal for the next ball, 'It doesn't matter if he gets hit. As long as he can't play well, the initiative of the game is still on our side.'

Upon receiving the signal, Rongchun immediately responded, raising his legs and stepping on his feet, swinging his arms with all his strength.

After seeing the ball coming out, Harada swung the bat a little faster, combining the idea of ​​'waiting until the ball gets close to home plate before swinging'.

What he didn't expect was that it was a slow ball that came right to the home plate as he was swinging the bat.

"The timing of my swing has been disrupted!" By the time Harada realized this, he could no longer retract the bat, so he could only swing hard.

"Qiang..."

As the ball was hit, Harada dropped the bat and ran to first base, his eyes never leaving the baseball, but...

Before that, the ground ball that was hit towards first base was blocked by a glove the next moment after it jumped up.

Then, in a series of smooth defensive movements, it was quickly passed to first base and fell into the glove of first baseman Yuki.

"Oh...Ohhhhh!"

"The four sticks have been dealt with!"

"Good pass, Sawamura!"

"Eijun! Good shot!" Chris smiled relaxedly and passed the ball to Eijun.

"Yes!" After Eijun caught the pass on the pitcher's mound, he seemed to have ignored the cheers from the stadium and held the ball in preparation for the next at-bat.

At this time, Harada, who had quietly returned to the rest area, also ran into Narimiya who was walking towards home plate.

"Fourth stick! What the hell are you doing!"

"I'm so sorry!" Harada knew that he didn't perform well, so he could only endure the guy's angry and disrespectful questioning.

"Fifth batter, pitcher Cheng Gong."

Previously, Maruse Ichitaro's conclusion about Sawamura was, "...he has gradually become a person that cannot be underestimated in the pitching lineup of Seidou..."

After seeing Sawamura's performance, Narimiya was puzzled. Why did it gradually become...

After standing in the batter's box, Narimiya met the calm gaze of Eijun on the pitcher's mound and raised his chin unconsciously.

"So, are you really good... or not?"

While Narimiya was looking over Eijun from head to toe again, Chris and Eijun had already decided on the type of ball they were going to throw.

'If it's an easy-to-hit ball...' No matter what, as long as the ball is easy to hit, Cheng Gong will hit it without mercy.

'First pitch, throw your four-seam over here!'

Eijun nodded to Chris-senpai to show that he had received it, and then he held the baseball for a moment and quickly raised his leg...

At the same time, Cheng Gong in the batter's box also tightened his grip on the bat, ready to swing at any time...

Until Eijun on the pitcher's mound stretched out his body completely, stepped on his feet, and swung his arms out in one breath.

"Snapped!"

In an instant, a white light flashed before my eyes, and then the sound of a baseball falling into a glove was heard.

"nice shot!"

"...What..." Cheng Gong, who didn't even swing the bat and subconsciously leaned back to avoid the ball, was shocked at first.

"This guy's pitching posture is ridiculous..."

Narimiya looked at the pitcher's mound in disbelief. How on earth did he manage to do that? 'It's so hard to get the timing right...'

"Pretty!"

"Well done! Sawamura!"

"This way, even the outside corner kick can be used effectively..." Most people would think so. Chris moved his fingers slightly to give a signal, and then put his gloves in place.

"Snapped!"

"nice shot!"

"Damn it... again..." It was the same pitch path, just moved a little. But he hadn't swung the bat yet, and Cheng Gong couldn't help but feel a jolt in his temple.

"Wow..."

"This pitcher-catcher duo is really brave in attacking..."

"..." Hearing the discussion of the audience next to him, Yang Shunchen frowned slightly, "This is the same for two strong hitters in a row. This kind of strong pitching... is not like the style of that catcher..."

'The last ball will be a corner kick...'

I believe most people would think so. Chris quickly gave the next signal and changed his squatting posture.

Although his ball speed is not as fast as Furuya's, he has good ball control and tricky ball paths, and is very aggressive from every angle...

Even though the impression that Eijun left on others was more of a pitcher who threw the ball to the batters and relied on defense to win innings, these were the definitions given to him by others.

"Given your personality, you'll probably hate it... You're a true offensive pitcher, you don't need to be bound by those definitions!"

"Three balls in a row..." Eijun was surprised for a moment, but after just a moment he changed his grip and wrapped the baseball with his five fingers.

'Inside corner! '

Facing this ball, after judging that it was another inside corner kick, Cheng Gong frowned and swung the bat hard.

"You... stop making trouble..."

As the bat was swung, the baseball came towards him and accelerated as it entered the base, getting into Chris's glove first.

"Snapped!"

"nice shot!"

"strike out!"

In the shocked atmosphere of the whole stadium, Narimiya looked at the pitcher's mound with some shock, "Was that just now... a changeup? But it was accelerated again?"

"Damn it!" Cheng Gong, who was still angry, stomped his feet and returned to the rest area, "That kid! I'm so mad at him!"

"Sixth batter, first baseman Yamaoka."

The sixth batter, Yamaoka, was a big guy, and at first glance he was a power hitter, the kind that would fly very far when hit.

"Snapped!"

"nice shot!"

For the first pitch, due to the special nature of Eijun's pitch, Yamaoka missed it.

On the second ball, Chris asked for a diagonal outside corner quirk ball...

"Qiang!"

The baseball was hit and flew high...

"..." Rongchun didn't even look up at the ball, he just turned his head slightly to look towards third base.

The next second, under everyone's gaze, the baseball fell into the hands of Masuko who was already waiting outside third base.

"Snapped..."

"Out! Attackers and defenders switch!"

"Oh oh oh oh!"

"The batter is three up and three down again!"

"The opponent is the champion candidate Daocheng Industry!"

"That guy doesn't act like a first-year pitcher at all!"

"Amazing!"

"Sawamura!"

Sawamura's beautiful performance in suppressing Inami's batting line drew warm applause and overwhelming cheers from the audience.

Cheng Gong, who was already very angry, was now even more furious, so he expressed his dissatisfaction in a very rude manner.

"What the hell! Our batting line-up needs to cheer up! We can't score points just by pitching!"

"..." Looking at Narimiya who was just struck out but was still so self-assured, Harada who was implied, Carlos and Shirakawa were all silent.

"I'm so sorry!"

But they really didn't perform well, so I can't refute it...

At this time, Director Hayashida had a serious expression. He had also read Sawamura's information. "He is even better than expected... I didn't expect that our batters would be helpless..."

"When you go up to hit the ball, is it true that the ball you see is completely different from what you heard..."

"..." In response to Minister Hayashida's speculation, Coach Kunitomo simply maintained a serious expression and remained silent, his deep gaze directed towards Qingdao.

The second game has ended, but there are still many spectators outside the stadium who come one after another just to witness the final showdown.

“It’s so hot…”

"What round are we in now?"

"What? Cheng Gong lost points?"

"Is Tamba the starting pitcher for Seidou?"

"No...it doesn't seem to be him..."

"I heard it was Sawamura Eijun..."

"Sawamura Eijun?"

"It is said that he is a weird first-year pitcher..."

"Eh... weird?"

Because the number of spectators continued to increase, the open stands were full, so Jingu Stadium also opened the outfield stands that had not been open before.

"It's been several years since the outfield stands at Jingu Stadium were opened to the public for high school baseball games."

The commentator's excited voice lingered over the stadium and was also conveyed through radio and live broadcast to those who were not there to watch.

"That means this game is getting a lot of attention!"

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