"Boom--" The baseball broke through the curtain formed by fine raindrops and came to the home base with the sound of howling wind.
Although the first batter was instructed to watch the ball a few more times and ignore the high pitch, it is difficult not to feel pressure after seeing such a pitch.
'This is a real, 150-kilometer pitch thrown by a human being! '
In the rain, the catcher's mitt was stained with water, and the sound became louder when he caught the ball.
"Good shot!"
"Batter's out!"
In this way, the first batter will be easily out soon.
"One out!"
Lang Zhi began to speak out actively.
The hitter just now was a left-handed batter, so as third base was the easiest place for the ball to come, he kept his whole body tense and stared at the batter's bat.
At this moment, the court under your feet is still in the first stage of rain, and the sand that has absorbed water will become more solid at this time.
But if the rain continues, it will soon enter the second stage. After absorbing too much water, the sand will become soft and the foot will feel different from usual.
"Bump--" Tachikawa's second stick hit two Foul Ball balls in succession after reaching the full count. He looked extremely embarrassed. He had just hit one Foul Ball ball, which was his limit.
Lang Zhi stood forward twice. If forced into this situation, maybe the hitter would choose to take the risk Sacrifice Bunt.
Miyuki saw the third baseman taking a few steps forward from the corner of his eye, and fist bumped Lang Zhi in his heart. It just so happened that he thought so too.
So the next ball is a Outside Low Corner straight ball.
"Bump -" Sure enough, as soon as the ball was thrown, the second stick crossed the bat, resisted the force on the ball, and reluctantly hit the front of Pitcher's Mound.
"I'll do it!" Miyuki flipped off his mask, picked up the ball behind the batter and passed it to first base.
Seeing that it was too late, Tachikawa's First Base Coach could only send out a signal, "Push the base!"
"Pa", the ball entered Maezono's glove.
"Out!"
There was no smoke and dust at first base, only sand that gradually became muddy, dyeing all the clothes in front of the second base black.
"Two out!"
The infield partners all made two-out gestures. Miyuki picked up the mask from the ground. Before putting it on, he smiled and pointed at Lang Zhi, who had already returned to his original position.
'You are worthy of being in the same dormitory with me. '
Lang Zhi always wanted to forget it, but the fact of 'the first official competition after joining First String' made his fingers tremble slightly. During the gap of defense, whenever he thought about it, the excitement in his body spread from his abdomen to his chest.
"Third base!"
Suddenly, Miyuki shouted, and everyone in the infield turned their attention to this side, and what they saw was a figure falling to the ground.
The first ball heading toward third base in the first game did not reach the back of Lang Zhi.
He quickly climbed up from the ground and passed toward first base as usual.
"Out!"
"Three out! Change sides!"
"Yo blind!" The Seido players on the field immediately ran away.
Kuramochi had just gotten closest, and he clearly heard the sound of flesh hitting the ground.
"Hey, are you okay?"
In order to block this powerful ball, Lang Zhi threw his body directly to the ground. After first confirming that his gloves had caught the ball, he only had a few milliseconds to prepare for touching the ground.
Of course, it was definitely too late, so Lang Zhi fell solidly.
"It's okay." The two touched shoulders and returned to Dugout.
Kōshū was waiting at the entrance. As soon as Lang Zhi came in, he took off his hat and covered it with a towel.
"Don't be too desperate."
Eijun held a bunch of water cups in his arms, "Sa, come and drink water!"
"Huh——" Lang Zhi's heart was beating loudly, and the first round was passed smoothly.
Next is Seido's attack round. This time the attack went smoothly, and he ranked seventh.
The reason why Lang Zhi, who became a monk halfway, was selected as the third baseman of Regulars was that his better hitting ability than Higasa was the biggest help.
Seido, who couldn't attack in series, made Kataoka Manager willing to bear some defensive instability in order to gain that little improvement in attack.
Lang Zhi certainly understands this, so he pays special attention to his fielding in the first game. If this game can prove his fielding ability at third base and his ability to cooperate with everyone in the infield, then the third baseman's position will be considered secure.
Higasa, Kanemaru and others all noticed the competition for this position. Lang Zhi, who moved from the shortstop position to the third baseman, found that the competition has not weakened at all.
"What are you thinking about? Your face is so solemn." Kōshū dispersed Lang Zhi's thoughts with a hand knife, "Why don't you look up and take a look? You will be on the scene to attack soon."
Now standing on Tachikawa's Pitcher's Mound is not the number 1 Nozawa, but the number 11.
"It's already two outs after a while. This No. 11 might be a pitch like Eijun that makes people hit hard."
While talking, Minato hit the bat decisively, but missed the center of the ball and was out at first base.
"That pitcher keeps throwing Two-Seam Fastball." This was the first thing Kominato said when he returned to the dugout.
This is a pitcher who takes the exact opposite route to Kōshū. Instead of making the straight ball straighter, this No. 11 makes the straight ball less straight. The ball speed in the second half of 130 and the changing ball path at hand sounds very much like Eijun when he first entered school, but Tachikawa's No. 11 can obviously control the power of his pitching.
'This game may be as long and boring as this rain', Kōshū immediately had this thought in his heart. Of course, Seido would have a greater chance of winning, but he didn't know how many problems this game would expose Seido. In the second game, Koshien of East Tokyo was on the field.
The temperature around him disappeared again, and Kōshū's eyes followed the figure running onto the field, 'Unknowingly, this person has also grown up. If I told everyone now that Lang Zhi was once very shaken about playing baseball, they would probably not believe it. '
As a player who was destined not to compete today, Kōshū observed the game from the perspective of a bystander from Dugout.
Such a perspective is really rare. Ever since he started playing baseball, he has lived a smooth life. After joining Seido, because of training together one month in advance, I gained a lot of advantages compared to others. Then, not long after enrolling, I emerged from the newbie Red and White Game and joined First String to train together.
So he rarely has this kind of Dugout player's side view. Looking at the players on the court like this, 'They are all very nervous, especially Lang Zhi. Won't their muscles become stiff? '
Before he finished speaking, a ball passed in front of Lang Zhi. He fell to the ground, but the ball passed over his head.
"Ah ha!" Fortunately, Kuramochi filled in and secured the out number.
"Hey, you're so nervous that your movements are stiff. Relax, relax."
"Huh——" Lang Zhi's body was already in a mess. He took two deep breaths, and the second batter was already standing on Batter's Box.
But the most vigilant person on the court at the moment is Miyuki, with his fingers hanging down, "Don't hit high balls or bad balls all the way, and even let go of some ambiguous low balls, but once Strike Zone enters, they will take decisive action. The style of this team really beats Furuya." '
The result of not having an outline this week is that I can't control the number of chapters. There are too many daily chapters and the pace is a bit slow.
I still have to sort out the details for next week over the weekend.