The Kanto Tournament Continues

When Fujita prematurely swung at the low inside pitch, Su Qing realized that Fujita might have seen through Harada's pitch selection. Fortunately, although he swung early, it was a forced swing, and Su Qing felt that he couldn't fully apply his power to the bat.

Plus, he knew his own pitches inside and out; there was no way such a casual swing could hit it. A Major League hitter would definitely be in trouble, but this was just a kid.

Judging from the angle of the swing and the hitter's leverage point, the ball would likely go towards the center, which was why he had called Carlos and Shirakawa over.

He didn't know how much power Fujita could generate, but this ball was definitely a fly ball, the only question was how far it would fly. If this swing could send it out, Su Qing would admit his bad luck.

But if Shin Kō really had such a strong hitter, wouldn't they put him in the cleanup spot?

The ball was hit, and the Inajitsu defense, which had been watching the show, immediately sprang into action. The first baseman quickly ran to the base, braced it with one foot, extended the other, and waited to catch the ball.

And as Su Qing had predicted, the ball flew towards the center, so the most focused and fastest to move were undoubtedly the shortstop Shirakawa, the second baseman Hirai, and the center fielder Carlos.

The ball flew quite high, and Carlos was facing the sun, which made him a bit dizzy, but he still quickly ran to the spot where he thought the ball might land, and waved his arms to signal others not to approach, that he would catch it. In the end, Carlos steadily caught the ball.

The ball landed between second base and center field. If it had flown faster and lower, it might have landed. But there were no ifs.

After seeing the ball caught, Fujita also returned from first base to home plate and picked up the bat he had thrown down, while shaking his hand.

Damn it, what a monster! Not only was the ball fast, but it also had a lot of weight behind it. He couldn't put any strength into that last ball and could only squeeze it out with force. The idea of hitting the ball to left field, because left field was closer to the inside, was completely overturned the moment he made contact with the ball.

Forget pulling the ball; he was just thankful he could hit it at all.

As Fujita walked off the batter's box, he gave Su Qing a complicated look. Even though he had guessed the pitch, he was still completely defeated. Did such a pitcher really exist?!

After Fujita left the field, Harada called a timeout and went to the pitcher's mound again. It was another infield conference, but this time Carlos also joined in.

"Sorry, it was my fault. My pitch selection was guessed, which led to the ball being hit," Harada said with an apologetic look.

He had truly never partnered with such a worry-free pitcher as Su Qing. Except for the surprise in the second at-bat of the last inning, Su Qing hadn't shaken his head once. He pitched whatever he called, and he threw it very accurately to the spot he wanted. It made him wonder if Su Qing was a pitching machine.

And was Su Qing really satisfied with Harada's pitch selection? Not really. Su Qing wasn't very happy with Harada always calling for low pitches.

But he was used to listening to the catcher's calls. In his previous life, Su Qing rarely shook his head. What a joke, could you understand the hitter's batting habits better than the catcher?

Moreover, most of the catchers Su Qing partnered with were experienced veterans. If he dared to show his teeth, he would definitely be lectured off the field.

Towards the end of his career, he partnered with some rising stars, but bullying juniors was too boring. After all, he was a famous pitcher; it would be embarrassing if word got out that he was bullying juniors.

But that didn't mean Su Qing wouldn't shake his head, he just wasn't used to it. Another reason Su Qing hadn't shaken his head once in this game was that they simply couldn't hit his ball; their swing speed couldn't keep up.

A strong swing that misses is a good pitch, and not swinging is also a good pitch, so it's the same no matter where you throw it in the strike zone. Su Qing was happy to be a pitching machine, watching the kids struggle to keep up with his speed.

And Fujita had just presented another fact to Su Qing, which was that even if they kept up with the speed and changes, they still couldn't hit well. Alas, the game suddenly became uninteresting.

Su Qing suddenly thought of a song: How lonely, how lonely it is to be invincible.

But for now, he should first comfort his partner, who was feeling guilty because his pitch selection had been guessed.

"It's okay, we still have everyone here. Even if the ball is hit, with everyone's defense, the hitter won't be able to get on base."

"Yeah, Captain! We're here too!"

After Su Qing started, everyone gave encouragement.

"Everyone~ thank you!"

"Captain, you can call the pitches with confidence. Su Qing's pitches are not easy to hit. I saw the expression on the Shin Kō hitter's face just now. He did hit it, but you don't know what his expression was like at the moment he touched the ball. It was as ferocious as it could be."

First baseman Yamaoka was giving Harada his take on the Shin Kō batters' performance, with a bit of artistic license, of course. He hoped Harada wouldn't feel so much pressure.

But it felt a bit strange. It used to be them huddling together to comfort Narumiya Mei or other pitchers. How did it turn into them comforting Harada with Su Qing? It was really too weird.

"I'll work harder on my pitch calling in the next at-bat, Su Qing-kun."

"Yes."

"If you're not satisfied with my pitch calling, you can shake your head. Don't not shake your head because you think I'm scary."

Harada had seen pitchers who didn't shake their heads before, but those pitchers were all insecure because they weren't good enough, so they didn't dare to shake their heads.

But Su Qing's pitching was so amazing, and he didn't seem like the particularly introverted type. The reason he wasn't shaking his head was definitely because he was the team captain, and a third-year, and he had just joined the team, plus he had been scolded during the last timeout, so he didn't dare to shake his head. How could that be okay?

Harada was still very willing to take the pitcher's advice. After all, two people thinking together was definitely better than one person thinking alone. And he hoped Su Qing could give him some feedback, like what kind of pitches he didn't like to throw, or which location he liked to throw to. Harada really wanted to know all of these things.

After all, every pitcher has their own focus. Like Narumiya Mei, the fastball is his lifeline, but his breaking balls form another lifeline. Using them in combination is simply invincible. However, Narumiya Mei doesn't really like to throw curveballs, although his curveball is also pretty good, and when Narumiya Mei is in a bad mood, he'll throw some very hittable fastballs.

Now Harada was eager to know Su Qing's preferences in the game, or which location he was stronger in, for example, some pitchers just throw outside pitches better than inside pitches, making them harder to hit.