Two Infielders

"Two outs!"

The others all responded to Su Qing, while Maruse finally relaxed completely, making Yamagami breathe a sigh of relief.

That's right, it was Yamagami. Today's starting catcher was Yamagami rather than Harada, and this was also an important reason why Su Qing believed Coach Kunimoto had truly given up on this game.

Su Qing chewed the gum in his mouth. Before taking the field, he had quietly slipped a piece of gum into his mouth. He didn't know whether chewing gum on the field was allowed in Japan, but even if it wasn't, he would still sneak one in like this. An infielder who didn't chew gum had no soul!

Yamamori's third batter quickly stepped up. The batter was their ace pitcher, Ogata Kazuhiko, a left-handed pitcher and left-handed batter. At 185 centimeters tall, he made Su Qing shed tears of envy.

Ogata swung at the very first pitch. Su Qing was clearly powerless against where the ball landed. It was hit into left field and dropped before Yoshizawa could get there. Ogata reached first base, and cheers instantly erupted from Yamamori's Rest Area. Ogata, removing his protective gear at first base, grinned happily as well.

Did everyone swing at the first pitch?

After observing three plate appearances, Su Qing found it wasn't hard to see that every spot in Yamamori's lineup had swung at the first pitch. To build Maruse's confidence early on, Yamagami had called strikes for the first pitch of every at-bat. So were they carefully selecting pitches and hitting strikes, or were they swinging aggressively regardless of whether the pitch was good or bad?

As Su Qing pondered this, Yamamori's cleanup hitter stepped into the batter's box.

So fat~

Yamamori's cleanup hitter was a burly man, his enormous build radiating an intimidating aura. But people like that generally weren't fast runners. As long as they could make him hit an infield grounder, they could definitely force him out.

Just as Maruse set himself and prepared to pitch, the runner suddenly strayed far from the bag. Yamaoka hurriedly shouted. But by the time Maruse turned around, Ogata had already returned to the base, a bright smile still on his face.

A provocation! This was a provocation! Even Su Qing was getting angry. If he were on the mound, would Ogata dare take such a lead? He'd get him out in minutes!

But Maruse was the one on the mound. He clearly had no good way to deal with it and could only throw pickoff attempts, making Ogata dive back to the bag again and again.

Seeing that it was about enough, Yamagami quickly called time. Getting the batter out was the priority right now; he would handle the runner.

Seeing Yamagami's signal, Maruse nodded and quickly threw the ball. Yamagami also shifted rapidly toward the outside, clearly setting up a pitch far out of the zone to catch the runner off second. Unfortunately, Ogata didn't take the bait. The moment he saw Yamagami move to the right, he promptly returned to the bag.

Once the runner took off, everyone's attention shifted to him. Only Su Qing kept his focus on the batter.

The batter had moved his bat on that previous pitch far out of the zone, only pulling it back after confirming that it was completely unhittable. In other words, Yamamori's strategy was hit-and-run. They used the runner's attempted steal to draw attention away first. At that point, as long as the batter didn't hit a high fly ball for an easy catch, he could potentially reach base.

They were overthinking it!

Yamagami called another ball for the second pitch, but this one wasn't far from the strike zone. Facing it, the batter swung immediately and sharply pulled it into the gap between third base and shortstop.

To prevent the runner from stealing, Inashiro's entire defense had shifted to the right. That meant there was currently a huge opening between third base and shortstop.

Shirakawa dove for it, but he still couldn't stop the baseball. Just when everyone thought it was over, Su Qing suddenly appeared behind Shirakawa, fielded the ball after it bounced, adjusted himself, and threw it to first base.

Just as Su Qing had expected, Yamamori's cleanup hitter wasn't an agile big man. Ogata was already nearly past second base, while he was still halfway to first. Su Qing easily forced him out at first.

Su Qing pulled Shirakawa to his feet. After tapping gloves with the outfielders as they ran back in, everyone returned to the Rest Area.

"Thanks." The words of gratitude came from Maruse.

"What are you thanking us for, Senpai? We're teammates! Pitch with confidence! Even if they hit the ball, it's okay. You've got us behind you!"

"Yeah, Maruse-senpai, you've got us behind you!"

Maruse smiled shyly.

After the sides changed in the first inning, the game did not immediately resume. Yamamori's players were still doing their final warm-ups.

The pitcher's velocity during warm-up throws was now displayed on the big screen.

"His warm-up velocity is already 138 km/h. Yamamori's ace can't be underestimated."

"Yeah. Yamamori did make the Koshien top sixteen, after all. Their ace wouldn't have gotten them this far without some real ability."

Leaning over the railing, Su Qing now had plenty of time to think.

If Yamamori really was a team that had appeared in Ace of Diamond, then they definitely had some distinctive trait. So what exactly was Yamamori's specialty?

"Senpai, is there anything special about Yamamori?"

Su Qing asked Yamaoka Riku, who was leaning over the railing beside him.

"Special? I don't think there's anything particularly special about them. They're just a standard team with strong pitching and powerful batting. The only thing that might count is their starting catcher, Kamitari Mototsugu. He's a second-year player. Among their reserves, there's someone named Kamitari Shuji, who seems to be his twin younger brother. The key is that Kamitari Shuji seems to be a pitcher. Brothers as pitcher and catcher—that's pretty interesting."

With Yamaoka Riku's words, Su Qing finally remembered. There really was such a team in Ace of Diamond, but when they appeared, Sawamura was already a second-year. By then, Yamamori's ace was Kamitari Shuji, and the twin pitcher-catcher duo was precisely Yamamori's defining trait.

But right now, the younger brother, Kamitari Shuji, was not yet the ace. Yamamori's ace was the third-year Ogata Kazuhiko, while the older brother, Kamitari Mototsugu, had already risen above the others to become the starting catcher.

Even so, there was still no useful information. Forget it. He would just treat them as an unfamiliar team.

Carlos had already stepped into the batter's box. Unlike Yamamori's players, Carlos did not rashly swing at the first pitch and instead chose to observe.

On the first pitch, Yamamori's catcher boldly called for an inside pitch. A 145 km/h fastball came screaming toward the inside corner, directly forcing Carlos back.

"Strike!"

Carlos glanced at the seemingly honest-looking Kamitari Mototsugu. His pitch calling was pretty bold, huh? Then Carlos couldn't be too polite either!

Carlos stepped back into the batter's box and raised his bat high. Ogata quickly threw the second pitch. Carlos swung directly at it, but unfortunately, he didn't hit it well. It became a foul ball, smashing into the wire netting behind home plate.

Kamizu couldn't help glancing at Carlos. He had caught up to Ogata-senpai's velocity on his very first swing. He looked difficult to deal with. In that case, they would do this.

Kamizu gave the signal, and Ogata immediately nodded when he saw it. What kind of pitch would the third one be, with two strikes on the batter?