Tool Man

After finishing his pitching practice, Su Qing wanted to pull the still-angry Narumiya Mei to train and calm him down, but Coach Kunimoto stopped him and took him to his office.

"I wanted to talk to you yesterday, but you were tired after the game, so I didn't bother you."

"What do you want to talk to me about?" Su Qing could sense Coach Kunimoto's politeness in his words, but he was still a little scared. Could it be that his previous slacking off had been discovered?

"In this competition, I found that your batting is also excellent. So I want to send you directly to the field as a starter. Do you have a position you want to play?"

So that's what it is, Su Qing breathed a sigh of relief. But he quickly fell into a dilemma, what position should I play? He had struggled with this issue when he first came to Inajitsu.

Coach Kunimoto saw Su Qing's hesitation and took the initiative to speak:

"How about an outfielder? The left field is relatively easier."

As soon as Su Qing heard this, he quickly shook his head. He didn't want to be an outfielder. The hottest and sunniest position in summer was the outfield. He would have to look up at the sun to catch the ball. And it was very likely that he would be tricked by the ball and couldn't pick it up. He would be extremely embarrassed.

Most importantly, Su Qing didn't have much experience as an outfielder. He played mostly as an infielder in high school and college, and after turning into a pitcher in his professional career, he had no chance to play in the outfield.

"I can play infield. I used to play shortstop before I switched to pitcher."

"Oh?" Coach Kunimoto became interested when he heard this. With Su Qing's pitching completion, he didn't seem like a player who had played other positions.

"Then why did you switch to pitcher?"

Su Qing looked embarrassed.

"Because I was too tall, and the coach thought it would be better for me to be a pitcher."

Su Qing wasn't lying, it was the truth. When he entered the professional league, his height had grown to 198cm. If he still played shortstop, the team wouldn't agree!

Coach Kunimoto sized up Su Qing's height, which was only a little taller than Narumiya Mei. This height was only slightly taller for a middle school pitcher.

But then he thought that Su Qing used to play baseball abroad, so maybe he was indeed tall there. And he had to thank the coach who advised Su Qing to switch positions! Without the switch, there wouldn't be such an excellent pitcher!

"You really don't want to play outfield?"

"No."

"Alright, go train."

A few days later, at a baseball field in Saitama.

A handsome guy wearing sunglasses appeared on third base.

Su Qing picked up a baseball from the ground and casually threw it to first base. Su Qing originally thought that Coach Kunimoto would ignore his choice and put him in the outfield. After all, Coach Kunimoto didn't know how good his defense was, and putting him in the infield rashly would definitely cause big problems.

But he still underestimated Coach Kunimoto's courage. Coach Kunimoto not only put him in the infield, but also in such an important position as third base!

And Yoshizawa Hideaki, who originally played third base, replaced Fujikawa and went to play right field.

Today, Inajitsu's starting pitcher is Maruse Ichitaro, and the relief pitcher is Kuwahara Shuto. From the content of yesterday's pre-match meeting, it can be known that unless these two really can't pitch anymore, he and Narumiya Mei will not be sent on the field.

In Su Qing's view, Coach Kunimoto obviously strategically gave up this game. The main purpose was not to win, but to test three people. That is, Maruse, Kuwahara, and him.

This game determines the fate of Maruse and Kuwahara. After all, Inajitsu now has Su Qing, which means that there is no shortage of pitchers for the time being. In that case, why not leave more positions for newcomers? You must know that Inajitsu's catchers are now in short supply. Both catchers in the first team will graduate this year. If they don't train catchers, Inajitsu will have no main catcher available this fall!

And Maruse and Kuwahara also know this in their hearts, and they will definitely try their best to perform today.

The last test subject is Su Qing. If Su Qing makes any mistakes in today's game, Coach Kunimoto will definitely replace Su Qing to the outfield without hesitation and let Yoshizawa return to third base.

And Coach Kunimoto has no other chance to test Su Qing's situation in other positions in the infield. If Inajitsu wins this game, they will enter the semi-finals. It would be unreasonable not to play well in the semi-finals.

In other words, today's game also determines whether Su Qing will play in the outfield or the infield this summer.

For Su Qing, Maruse, and Kuwahara, there is a reason why they can't afford to make mistakes in today's game!

"Woo~"

"Please give me your guidance!"

This time, Inajitsu's opponent is Yamamori Academy from Yamanashi. Su Qing always feels that this name is familiar, but he can't remember where he saw it. He can only guess that it is a school that appeared in Ace of Diamond.

This time, Inajitsu is in the script position and takes the field to defend first, with Yamamori taking the first attack.

Maruse is a right-handed pitcher, and Su Qing, standing on third base, can clearly see his nervous expression.

Maruse took a deep breath and threw his first pitch, an outside fastball. The batter swung and missed, which greatly enhanced Maruse's confidence.

Maruse is nervous, and Su Qing is also nervous. After all, he hasn't played in the infield for a long time. Standing in the infield defense area again really feels like a lifetime ago. Well, it really is a lifetime ago.

Yamamori's first batter is a right-handed batter, and the probability of hitting towards the third base side is higher, so Su Qing is not too far from third base.

However, in the end, Su Qing's preparation was useless. The batter hit a high fly ball to the left outfield, which was easily caught by Van Masami.

The second batter is a left-handed batter. According to the information, this batter prefers to hit inside pitches.

As soon as he said it, the batter swung at the first pitch. However, Su Qing clearly saw that the ball was not well hit. The bat was biased upwards, and the point of force was to the left, that is, towards him.

Su Qing quickly moved, ran forward, picked up the weak ground ball that couldn't even roll to third base, grabbed it, and threw it to first base.

Yamaoka Riku, who was standing on first base, was still a little scared when he saw the ball going towards third base. After all, Su Qing is a rookie, and it is really scary to defend the infield as soon as he comes up.

However, Su Qing's reaction was beyond his expectations. As soon as the ball was hit, Su Qing moved, quickly picked up the baseball that rolled out of bounds, and directly sent the ball into his glove.

The whole process was smooth and flowing, and Yamaoka was stunned. If Su Qing hadn't brought a flashy pair of sunglasses today, he would have really thought that Yoshizawa was still at third base.

"Two outs!"

Su Qing stretched out his index finger and ring finger and shouted to Maruse, superficially understated, but inwardly very excited.

It's good that he hasn't forgotten how to defend the infield. Just now, Su Qing was completely acting on instinct, from predicting the direction in which the ball was hit to sending the ball to first base. The whole set of movements was very smooth.

The only flaw is that he overestimated the base-running speed of high school batters. He could have adjusted a little more. Fortunately, there was no wild throw, otherwise he would have been replaced in the first inning.