"Eh, it's fine. Just call whatever you see fit. If I think there's a problem, I'll shake my head."
A guilty catcher was pretty cute.
But Su Qing still had no intention of shaking his head. It was simply because he didn't want to play mind games with the batter. Come on, he had no scouting data at all—how was he supposed to target the batter? All he could do was throw the strongest pitches he could.
Harada could hear the perfunctory tone in Su Qing's words, but he couldn't really say anything. If it had been any other catcher, they naturally would have wanted the pitcher to be as obedient as possible.
Su Qing trusted him so much. What else could he say? Of course, he would respond with his actions!
Over the next two at-bats, Harada no longer called nothing but pitches on the corners. Instead, he mixed things up, using nearly every spot in the strike zone.
Shin Kō's second batter, Uesugi, and third batter, Morikawa, followed Fujita's advice and tried guessing the pitch. The result was naturally wild swings and strikeouts. It was another Three Up, Three Down inning.
In the top of the fifth, Inashiro's offense remained fierce, adding another two runs to bring the score to 14–0. The Shin Kō players' expressions were, naturally, as ugly as could be.
Still in the top of the fifth, Su Qing stepped into the batter's box once more. There were two outs and a runner on second. Standing on second base was Yoshizawa, who had finally gotten his first hit of the game—an RBI Double. Cleanup hitter Harada, meanwhile, had been forced out on a grounder toward third.
Shin Kō's reliever, Kobayashi, was already drenched in sweat. Every out he had recorded had come through the defense's hard work, and his pitch count had already reached eighty. He had only pitched three innings.
Facing Su Qing, Kobayashi still felt lingering fear. Though he had allowed plenty of runs over three innings, Su Qing was the only batter who had blasted one of his pitches away. There was no way he wasn't nervous.
This time, Su Qing had come fully prepared. He held a bat best suited to his current body. Everything was perfect. After lightly taking a few practice swings to test the feel, Su Qing stepped into the batter's box.
Su Qing had carefully watched Kobayashi pitch from the bench earlier. His main weapon was the Fastball, supplemented by the Curveball and Changeup. He threw more Curveballs, while the Changeup had been completely crushed, so he barely dared to use it anymore.
Kobayashi's velocity was not especially fast. His top speed was 135 km/h, which was barely decent, while his Changeup sat around 120 km/h. His Changeup still had no movement whatsoever. The first time, he could use the velocity difference to make batters miss, but after that, it was useless. Every time he threw it, it got hit. By now, even the catcher didn't dare call for Changeups. Even if he did, Kobayashi wouldn't dare throw one. He had completely lost confidence in his Changeup.
As for Kobayashi's Fastball, it was the kind Japan's pitchers threw most often, chasing a straighter line above all else. Its spin rate was average too, or Su Qing would not have scooped it out with one swing earlier.
If Kobayashi still chose to challenge Su Qing with a Fastball this time, he would most likely get beaten until he cried. Su Qing had also watched his Curveball earlier. Most of them were digging-in-the-dirt Curveballs, and the break was nothing special. They started dropping before reaching the plate. Curveballs like that were truly not hard to hit. Su Qing had hit pitches with sharper, bigger breaks than that before.
Su Qing watched Kobayashi keep shaking his head and grew bored. Once again, he fantasized about how nice it would be if he had a piece of gum in his mouth right now. At least he could chew and chew instead of being bored.
Finally, when Su Qing felt the catcher was nearly losing patience, Kobayashi nodded and entered his pitching motion. Su Qing immediately focused. He sensed the catcher shifting toward the outside corner.
So it was going to be an outside pitch. Still, Su Qing had no intention of crowding the plate. Catchers had too many tricks up their sleeves, and he wasn't falling for it. This position was just right.
More importantly, this position let him advance or retreat as needed. If the pitcher had bad intentions toward him, he could quickly jump out of the batter's box, toss aside his helmet and bat, and his teammates would all rush in. He was a pitcher himself. Protecting every part of his body was what mattered most.
For the first pitch, the catcher didn't play any tricks. It was indeed an outside pitch, but Su Qing didn't swing because it was a ball. He could have hit it, but it would definitely have been an awkward swing, since he was standing quite far away.
Su Qing spun the bat in his hands again and continued waiting for the second pitch. As for what the second pitch should be, Shin Kō's catcher once again staged a silent war. Yoshizawa, standing on base, was so bored he wanted to steal, but stealing with such a huge lead would have been somewhat unethical. Besides, the coach had not given the signal.
Yoshizawa merely edged one or two steps off the bag, saving himself a little time for a potential break.
If Yoshizawa was bored, then Su Qing in the batter's box was even more so. He directly stepped out of the box, giving Shin Kō's battery more time to communicate.
By the time Su Qing stepped back into the batter's box, Shin Kō's pitcher and catcher had finally reached an agreement. Kobayashi went back to grab the rosin bag, then finally set himself and threw his second pitch to Su Qing.
With his excellent eyesight and memory, Su Qing could say for certain that this pitch's release point was at least nearly half a fist off from the previous one.
Was his pitching really that unstable~
Mockery aside, Su Qing's eyes remained locked on the ball.
So slow~
A Changeup?
If it was a Changeup, it should be heading into the strike zone. Feeling that the timing was about right, Su Qing swung his bat toward where he predicted the ball would go.
But the moment Su Qing started his swing, the ball began to drop.
He'd been fooled.
At that moment, Su Qing still had time to alter the direction of his swing or forcibly hold the bat back.
But Su Qing did neither. He swung and missed completely.
The reason was that the former would make his batting posture look terrible, and there was a high chance he would end up kneeling on the ground and dirtying his clothes. The latter carried a small chance of straining a muscle, since he had been swinging at full power.
A missed swing only gave the other side a strike anyway. It wasn't as if he had been struck out. So Su Qing let the bat sail through in a carefree swing.
When Su Qing brought the bat back, catcher Morikawa had already jumped up excitedly and shouted, "Nice ball!" Only then did he throw the baseball back to Kobayashi.
A long-lost smile also appeared on Kobayashi's face, while many Shin Kō fielders shouted to cheer him on.
Tch, look at them getting cocky over nothing, acting like he'd already struck me out! If they dared throw another Curveball next pitch, he'd absolutely send it soaring into the sky!
"Su Qing! Can you even do this? If you can't, I'll go up there and pinch-hit for you!"
At some point, Narumiya Mei had run outside the Rest Area and shouted at Su Qing.
Narumiya Mei's shout irritated Su Qing to no end. It was just one strike, and I gave it to them on purpose! Why was everyone acting like I'd already been struck out? No, I had to send another one flying and prove my dominance!
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