In the bottom of the first, the third-years, who had finally begun to feel that Tanba, their ace, was about to stand tall again, poured everything into scoring for him. Isashiki smashed one straight off the outfield wall, bringing Kuramochi home and giving Seido its first run. Yuki Captain punched one through the gap between second and third, allowing Isashiki to advance to third. With one out and runners on the corners, Masuko hit a Home Run, and Seido took three runs in one burst. Then came the sixth batter, Miyuki, but with no runners on base, he sent the ball straight into the pitcher's glove.
"You really suck, Senior Miyuki." Kōshū deliberately said it as he passed by with his bat.
Seido's lineup batted all the way around in the first inning and racked up four runs, making Coach Todoroki of Yakushi High School break out in a cold sweat. We got sent home before we could even show our offense. Maybe I should find a proper job tomorrow.
"Hey, Sanada, hurry up and start warming up. Looks like—" Coach Todoroki tilted his head up and asked the coach beside him, "Where's Sanada?"
"He went out to warm up from the start."
"Ah, our ace is so reliable. What's with Seido's lineup? They're way scarier than they looked on video." So he really had stayed up all night watching footage yesterday.
Top of the second, Yakushi's turn at bat. The order started from the cleanup hitter. According to the original plan, Miyuki intended to make full use of Tanba's excellent low pitches today, but this team that always did things recklessly pulled off something unexpected again.
"Ball!"
"Hey, hey, that cleanup hitter just showed bunt, didn't he?"
"No way, the cleanup hitter is bunting right from the start?"
Out