Batting came down to three things: using your eyes to track the ball's path, using your brain to predict its path, and using your body to keep up with its path.
Shuichiro had barely managed all of them.
And given Narumiya Mei's pride, Shuichiro bet that he would definitely choose a head-on confrontation with this pitch! If he wanted to put him away with a fastball, it would have to be right down the middle to achieve the dramatic effect Narumiya Mei wanted. So he bet that this pitch would definitely be a breaking ball!
Like a patient hunter, Shuichiro began waiting for his prey to enter his range. At first, though, the prey's shape fooled him. Why did this pitch look so much like a fastball?
Yet Shuichiro remained resolute. He did not swing until the ball was completely upon him. That was right! It really was a breaking ball!
But the slider's break and the speed of its movement were somewhat beyond Shuichiro's expectations. Even though he had been prepared, his body still had trouble keeping up with the pitch's movement. In the end, he barely got a piece of it, unable to significantly alter its trajectory. But the ball had still been deflected!
Harada, however, was not Yamagami, whose fundamentals were shaky. He swiftly shifted his mitt and caught the tipped ball.
Foul tip caught!
"Strike out!"
Shuichiro did not immediately step out of the batter's box. The trajectory of that slider still lingered in his mind. Tch, so this is the pitching of Kanto's Number One Left-Handed Pitcher? I got a good look at it. Next time—next time, I'll definitely hit it.
Harada silently watched Shuichiro leave the batter's box. To keep up with Mei's slider on his very first at-bat... Shuichiro, you really have become