Tight Offensive Rhythm

On the other side, Miyuki, who was jogging, heard his phone ring.

'Who could it be?'

He opened it and saw it was Kōshū.

"Miyuki-senpai, I'm at the stadium." Followed by a photo of the baseball field.

"Snap—" Miyuki gripped his phone tightly. "This brat, he only calls me 'senpai' properly at times like these."

A mischievous grin tugged at the corner of his lips as he thought of a way to retaliate.

Kōshū looked at the message from Miyuki, a little puzzled.

"Congratulations, I hope you guys win today. I'm so envious, we've already been eliminated. But even though I'm not training with the team anymore, I still stick to my own daily menu. I'm jogging right now, but it's so strange, I feel like someone's been following me today." Immediately following was a selfie of Miyuki, with a narrow street in the background.

Kōshū felt a chill in his heart. He zoomed in on the corner of the street in the photo and saw a semi-transparent figure peeking out.

"Ah—" Kōshū immediately covered his mouth, but luckily, it was the moment when both sides were lining up to salute, and everyone was starting to cheer, so Kōshū didn't embarrass himself.

However, the people sitting next to Kōshū suffered. Hayakawa Aki and Lang Zhi's ears were ringing. Hayakawa Aki probably understood that Miyuki was teasing Kōshū again, but the simple-minded Lang Zhi thought his stepbrother was excited about appearing in the First String.

"It's okay, once the third-years in the First String leave, you'll be able to play soon," Lang Zhi patted his stepbrother's shoulder.

Hayakawa Aki then snatched the phone from the listless Kōshū, "Pfft—".

He replied to Miyuki Kazuya.

"Miyuki-kun, this is Hayakawa. Please don't scare Kōshū like that, it's best not to download these strange apps."

"Eh, is that Hayakawa? How is he, how is he, what's Kōshū's expression?"

"Not good. By the way, how did you find Kōshū's weakness?"

"Hehe, secret. You should advise him to watch more Japanese variety shows. If he watches more, he won't be scared by such clumsy photos."

Their exchange was forcibly interrupted by Kōshū, who deleted all the text messages with Miyuki.

Under Hayakawa Aki's pitying gaze, Kōshū barely calmed down. At this moment, the air raid siren sounded, and the match officially began.

The Jonan Little League was batting first, and their batting order was indeed the same as Coach Ninomiya predicted.

The leadoff hitter was Carlos. The starting pitcher, Heishi-senpai, went over his data in his mind. The first pitch was a high inside Straight Ball, but it deviated from the strike zone, heading straight for the batter's face.

Carlos quickly dodged. Heishi took off his hat, and although he was apologizing, his eyes were fixed on the opponent.

'Was that intentional? Seems like they're very wary of me.' Carlos regained his stance, seemingly unaffected by what just happened.

The second pitch, Captain Ito moved to the outside corner.

Outside Corner Ball, with a speed of over 130, Carlos swung directly.

"Bang—" The ball was hit and landed in Right Field. Without anyone noticing, the Right Fielder had already taken two steps forward, and at this moment, he caught the bouncing ball perfectly. Carlos was forced out, unable to utilize his speed.

"That ball was heavy," he told the second batter.

The second batter was Kimura, a player with a high batting average who the Kinoshita Little League was wary of. His batting strategy was to get on base between First and Second Base or Second and Third Base, generally assisting Carlos in advancing.

The first pitch was an Outside Corner Ball, controlled just right on the edge, Kimura held back his bat, but the umpire called a strike.

Kimura was a little surprised. The pitcher's information didn't mention such good control. Could it be due to his condition today?

The second pitch, high inside, Kimura swung hastily. The baseball soared into the sky. Ido tossed off his mask, adjusted his position in the glaring sunlight, and just as he was about to walk towards the dugout, the baseball was caught in his glove. Ido raised his glove, and the umpire called him out.

"This pitcher is in good form today, throwing the corner balls very well." Third batter Hirosue nodded.

The third batter's hitting technique was excellent, adept at hitting the ball into various gaps in the defense. He was a left-handed batter, aiming for left field. The third baseman moved forward slightly, the shortstop moved closer to second base, and the left fielder played deep, leaving a small gap in the middle. He was a little doubtful, but the ball had already flown over, an inside pitch, a bit sweet, landing in the number 2 spot of the Nine-section Grid.

Did he miss? Didn't they say he was in good form?

But the next second, just as the third batter threw down his bat, he saw that gap instantly filled. The shortstop had run to the vicinity of the landing point as soon as he released the ball, and after catching it, made a beautiful turn and side throw. In the first inning, Kinoshita Little League went three up, three down, and with very few pitches.

"Tch, I've been outsmarted." At this point, the third batter understood that the opponent had taken aim at his characteristic of liking to hit into gaps, and deliberately created a gap as a trap.

"Coach, it seems they've studied us very thoroughly." He returned to the dugout, and the coach, with an expressionless face, said.

"Well, there's no way to avoid being studied, but there are many unexpected things on the field. You can't rely on prior calculations. Believe in your hitting ability, and gradually tear through their defense."

"Yes—"

It was Kinoshita Little League's turn to attack. For the first three batters, Coach Ninomiya stacked the players with the highest batting averages in the team. If any of them got on base, when it was the fourth batter, the power hitter Ido's turn, they could score quickly. Even if Ido was not in good condition, they would use a bunt or a fly ball to advance the runner, and the batting line could be connected.

Kinoshita Little League's arrangement had achieved good results in many teams, and today's Jonan Little League was no exception. Although everyone already knew the characteristics of Kinoshita Little League's batting line, it was always unavoidable to give up points.

In the bottom of the first inning, Kinoshita Little League scored first with a double by fourth batter Ido.

By the end of this inning, Kinoshita Little League's batters had already reached the fifth batter, with the score 1:0, Kinoshita Little League leading.

"The old guys are amazing," Kōshū breathed a sigh of relief. Taking a one-point lead at the start was secondary. More importantly, he could feel from outside the field that Jonan Little League's batters were having a very hard time, and they were all quickly out before they could show their characteristics. They would probably need at least two innings to adapt, and by then, Kinoshita would not know how many points they would be leading by.

As Kōshū expected, Kinoshita Little League's Heishi-senpai used three innings to make Jonan Little League go three up, three down.

By the fourth inning, the gnashing Carlos was back on the field, but the pitcher on the field had been changed to Nozawa, and their early adaptation had to start all over again.

"Heishi-senpai is in very good condition, why not let him face the next wave of batters?" Kōshū couldn't see the dugout, so he couldn't see Coach Ninomiya's expression, and felt that this arrangement was very unreasonable. "Although this will prevent the opponent's batters from finding their rhythm, we have taken off a pitcher who was in good condition and put on a new pitcher."

"There's no way," Hayakawa Aki pretended to cover Kōshū's mouth, but fortunately Kōshū wisely shut up himself. "Coach Ninomiya is not someone who relies on one ace pitcher to win. He believes that the team's victory should be achieved through the cooperation of many parties and detailed preparation, so for him, the pitcher is just a piece in the victory map."

The newly entered Nozawa-senpai, with a serious face, threw the first pitch low outside, but deviated from the strike zone. Carlos adjusted his hat.

What a good plan, but will you overlook the pitcher link? Is this bad ball the catcher's call, or is the pitcher in very bad condition?

The second pitch, Carlos didn't plan to swing, wanting to take a closer look.

As a result, the second pitch was a straight ball that was biased towards the middle.

Giving the catcher a subtle glare, Carlos got back into his batting stance, now one ball and one strike.

The third pitch, Carlos didn't plan to wait, guessing that the pitcher was in bad condition, and swung at the inside pitch.

"Didn't hit it well, quick to first base." After a crisp sound of the bat hitting the ball, the stadium became noisy.

It was just an Infield Ground Ball, the third baseman stepped forward to handle it, and the captain's roar came from his ear, "Quick to first base!"

In the midst of the noise, Carlos, like a black panther, rushed towards first base quickly, while the third baseman had just picked up the ball.

Looking up and quickly side throwing, in the third baseman's eyes, Carlos's speed was almost as fast as the ball. They both arrived at first base together, and the first base umpire hesitated for a moment, then spread his hands flat.

"Safe!" The Jonan Little League's dugout and stands cheered.

"No way," Lang Zhi said, even though he had seen the data, the actual game was still shocking.

Kōshū rarely agreed with Lang Zhi, "Yeah, their offense is so aggressive, I've got goosebumps."

With Carlos on base and constantly harassing, Nozawa, who was not in good shape, threw two more balls to the second batter.

"Time out," Hayakawa Aki's heart, which had been in his throat, finally settled. As a fellow catcher and a motherly type, Hayakawa started thinking of words to say when the pitcher threw a bad ball, and was ready to go up and comfort the pitcher when he threw the second ball.

"Pitchers are such sensitive guys."

The timeout ended, and it seemed that Nozawa had relaxed after resting for a while. He then quickly took care of the next three batters, ending the fourth inning with one hit and zero runs.

At this point, it was basically certain that Kinoshita Little League would win. Nozawa quickly regained his form after the two bad balls, so it was unlikely that Jonan Little League's lead-off hitters would have another chance.

"Tch," Carlos played particularly frustratedly today. Either he couldn't hit the ball, or if he did, his flying legs were useless and he couldn't score.

The game ended, 2:0, with Kinoshita Little League winning. The Jonan Little League players, swallowing the bitter pill of defeat, were as frustrated as Carlos.

"Damn it, they've researched us too much, it feels too difficult to play."

"Yeah."

"I didn't expect the last big game of our third year to end like this."

"I kind of want to see their research data..."

In contrast to the somber atmosphere of Jonan Little League, the Kinoshita Little League's dugout and stands were very relaxed.

"Kōshū, stop looking, we need to gather outside the stadium in a bit."

"Okay," Kōshū replied, withdrawing his gaze as his phone vibrated.

It was Miyuki again. Kōshū originally planned to delete it directly, but the message contained Miyuki's first sentence.

"Congratulations on your victory—" The rest was not displayed due to the character limit.

Although he was annoyed by Miyuki Kazuya, Kōshū would not refuse someone's congratulations, so he opened it.

"Congratulations on your victory, haha, but it's none of your business, anyway, you're sitting in the stands. Are you guys finishing training early tomorrow? Come out and meet someone with me."

I spent a week last week reporting on my work, and this week I'm spending a week setting up a Q3 project team. I don't understand, where do we have time to work?