Second Baseman

"Two outs!"

The others echoed Su Qing, and Maruse completely relaxed, which relieved Yamagami.

That's right, it was Yamagami. Today's starting catcher was Yamagami, not Harada. This was also an important reason why Su Qing believed that Coach Kunimoto had truly given up on this game.

Su Qing chewed the gum in his mouth. Before going on the field, Su Qing had secretly put a piece of gum in his mouth. Because Su Qing didn't know if chewing gum was allowed on the field in Japan. Even if it wasn't, Su Qing would still secretly put one in like this, because an infielder without chewing gum has no soul!

Yamamori's third batter quickly came to the plate. The batter was their Ace pitcher, Ogata Kazuhiko, a left-handed pitcher and batter. His height of one meter eighty-five made Su Qing shed tears of envy.

On the first pitch, Ogata swung. Su Qing was obviously powerless to do anything about the landing point of this ball. The ball was hit to left field and landed before Yoshizawa could reach it. Ogata reached first base, and cheers instantly erupted from Yamamori's dugout. Ogata, who was removing his protective gear at first base, also smiled happily.

Are they all swinging on the first pitch?

Su Qing observed three at-bats and it wasn't hard to discover that every batter for Yamamori was swinging on the first pitch. And at the start, in order to increase Maruse's confidence, Yamagami was calling strikes for the first pitch of every at-bat. So, were they seriously selecting pitches, swinging if it was a good pitch, or swinging aggressively regardless of whether it was good or bad?

Just as Su Qing was thinking, Yamamori's fourth batter stepped into the batter's box.

So fat~

Yamamori's fourth batter was a strong man, his massive size exuding an aura that he was not to be trifled with. However, people like this generally aren't fast runners. As long as he can hit an infield ground ball, it can definitely be an out.

Just as Maruse stood ready to pitch, the runner suddenly moved far away from the base. Yamaoka shouted loudly. By the time Maruse turned around, Ogata had already returned to the base, with a bright smile on his face.

Provocation! This is provocation! For a moment, Su Qing felt a little indignant. If he were standing on the pitcher's mound, would he dare to lead off like that? He'd get him out in minutes!

But it was Maruse standing on the pitcher's mound. Maruse obviously didn't have a good way to deal with it and could only throw pickoff throws, making Ogata dive back to the base again and again.

Seeing that it was about time, Yamagami quickly called a timeout. Right now, the most important thing was to deal with the batter first, and he would handle the runner.

Seeing the signal Yamagami gave, Maruse nodded and quickly threw the ball. Yamagami also quickly moved to the outside corner. Obviously, this was a big bad ball, meant to check the runner at second base. Unfortunately, Ogata wasn't fooled and quickly returned to the base after seeing Yamagami move to the right.

After the runner started running, everyone's attention shifted to the runner, but Su Qing was the only one who kept his focus on the batter.

Facing the big bad ball just now, the batter's bat moved. After confirming that it was a complete bad ball, he retracted the bat. In other words, Yamamori's tactic is to use a pinch runner. First, use the runner to try to steal a base and absorb attention. At this time, as long as the batter doesn't hit a fly ball that can be caught, they might get on base.

They're really thinking too much!

Yamagami called for another bad ball on the second pitch, but this ball wasn't far from the strike zone. Facing this bad ball, the batter swung directly, accurately pulling the ball into the gap between third base and shortstop.

In order to prevent the runner from stealing, Inajitsu's entire defense was shifting to the right, which meant that there was currently a large gap between third base and shortstop.

Shirakawa dove directly, but still didn't stop the baseball. Just when everyone thought it was over, Su Qing's figure suddenly appeared behind Shirakawa, catching the bouncing baseball with his glove. After adjusting, he threw the baseball to first base.

Just as Su Qing had imagined, Yamamori's fourth batter wasn't an agile fat man. Ogata was already past second base, and he was still halfway to first base. He was easily forced out at first base by Su Qing.

Su Qing pulled Shirakawa up, bumped gloves with the outfielders who had run back, and then everyone ran back to the dugout.

"Thank you." The voice of gratitude came from Maruse.

"What's with the thank yous? Senior, we're teammates! Pitch with confidence! Even if you get hit, it doesn't matter, we're behind you!"

"Yeah, Maruse (Senior), we're behind you!"

Maruse smiled shyly.

After the first inning's change of sides, the game didn't start immediately. Yamamori's players were still doing their final warm-up.

And the ball speed of the pitcher warming up was now displayed on the big screen.

"The warm-up pitches already have a speed of 138km/h, Yamamori's Ace is not to be underestimated."

"Ah, Yamamori is, after all, a team that reached the top sixteen in Koshien. If their main Ace didn't have some skill, they wouldn't have made it this far."

Su Qing, leaning on the railing, now had plenty of time to think.

If Yamamori is really a team with a name in Ace of Diamond, then it must have its own characteristics. So, what exactly are Yamamori's characteristics?

"Senior, does the Yamamori team have anything special about it?"

Su Qing asked Yamaoka Riku, who was leaning next to him.

"Special? It doesn't seem to have anything special. It's just a normal heavy-hitting team. The only thing that could be considered special might be their main catcher, named Kamitari Mototsugu, who is a second-year player. And among their substitutes, there is one named Kamitari Shuji, who seems to be his twin brother. The key is that this Kamitari Shuji seems to be a pitcher. Twin brothers as pitcher and catcher, that's quite interesting."

Yamaoka Riku said this, and Su Qing finally remembered. There is indeed such a team in Ace of Diamond, but when they appeared, Sawamura was already a second-year. At that time, Yamamori's Ace was already Kamitari Shuji, and the twin brothers as pitcher and catcher were Yamamori's characteristic.

But now the younger brother, Kamitari Shuji, is not yet the Ace. Yamamori's Ace is the third-year Ogata Kazuhiko, and the older brother, Kamitari Mototsugu, has already risen to become the main catcher.

It seems that there is still no useful information. Oh well, just treat it as a game against an unfamiliar team.

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

On the first pitch, the Yamamori catcher boldly called for an inside pitch. A fastball of up to 145km/h came straight to the inside corner, scaring Carlos back.

"Strike!"

Carlos looked at the seemingly honest Kamitari Mototsugu. He calls the pitches very boldly. Then he can't be too polite!

Carlos returned to the batter's box and raised his bat high. The second pitch was quickly thrown from Ogata's hand. Carlos swung directly at this pitch, but unfortunately, he didn't hit it well and it became a foul ball, hitting the wire mesh behind home plate.

Kamitari couldn't help but glance at Carlos. He kept up with Ogata's senior's pitch speed on his first hit. He seems difficult to deal with. In that case, let's do this.

Kamitari signaled, and Ogata nodded directly after seeing it. What kind of pitch will the third ball be after two strikes?