Practice Match (4)

Sendou jogged back to the bench.

"Sendou, go all out pitching next inning! You'll be catcher for the fourth inning. One inning of watching is enough. Since this is your first game, enjoy it! Baseball isn't just about batting—defense can be fun too."

"OK!" Sendou didn't really care either way.

"Bang!" No sooner had he spoken than the sound of a bat hitting the ball rang out across the field.

Sendou turned to see the ball slice through the third-shortstop combination for a hit.

"Looks like this inning won't end anytime soon. Their third baseman is still a bit nervous; the seniors are clearly starting to target him."

"Who knows? Sendou, humans are creatures you can never predict from one second to the next." Coach Nakanishi said with a hint of meaning.

"Third baseman, don't be scared—just enjoy the game! You don't run into opponents like this every day!"

"That catcher, huh?" Sendou muttered to himself, watching Harada Masakatsu comfort his teammates on the field.

"This is getting a little interesting!"

With that, he turned and headed back to his seat without looking back.

Hearing their teammate's words on the field, the Sailors finally loosened up, forgot about the score, and started playing normally. In the end, the Wildcats' score for that inning settled at five runs, cycling through the entire batting order.

"Our turn, Sendou. Better to forget the score!" Coach Nakanishi said to Sendou as he prepared to take the field.

"No need. I never cared about it from the start!" Sendou didn't even look back. Coach Nakanishi shook his head with a wry smile.

"Since the coach told you to go all out, then come on—throw one right down the middle to get things going." The Wildcats' catcher made no attempt to hide it, placing his mitt square in the center.

"Whoosh!"

"Thud!"

"What?"

"Play!"

"What? He wasn't even going full throttle before? That pitcher! That ball was at least 30 kilometers faster than last inning!"

The Sailors' bench erupted in chaos.

Last inning, none of them could tell, and they'd been lamenting the Wildcats' supposed decline in dominance. The Sailors' coach knew Sendou hadn't used full power in the first inning, but he hadn't expected this big a gap.

"This is the Kanto Champions' ace and cleanup hitter!" The Sailors' catcher felt the pressure crash down on him again.

Their core batters might be able to handle a pitcher throwing 100 km/h by the second or third round of the lineup, but anything over 110 km/h was a struggle—especially for the lower batting order.

The second inning ended without any suspense: three straight strikeouts.

The Wildcats' second inning started with the first batter in a favorable batting order. After one full cycle of observation, the Sailors' ace had been completely figured out.

After a string of consecutive hits, the third batter was unexpectedly caught out on a fly ball, proving the Sailors had fully recovered. With one out and runners on first and second, and the fourth batter up, it was Sendou's turn.

"Honestly, every time that guy swings, I get this weird feeling, but I can't quite put it into words." Harada watched Sendou step into the batter's box for the second time, a complicated look on his face.

"Either way, this at-bat, I'm going to see whether you're truly strong or weak, and settle it here to take control. Since the goal of this game is to feel the Wildcats' strength and learn, there's no reason to pass up this chance by walking you. If you're the cleanup hitter, there must be a reason, right?"

"Senpai, please don't stare at me like that—it's kinda creepy."

"Creepy?" Harada Masakatsu was a bit exasperated dealing with such a unique rookie. Interrupted mid-thought, he didn't bother saying anything more and started giving signals.

"Whoosh!"

"Slap!"

"Strike!" For the first pitch, Harada boldly called for a low ball right down the middle of the strike zone.

"I remember their bench was yelling something about this guy not being able to tell balls from strikes, right? Let me test that." With the pressure off, Harada's leadership became more flexible.

"Whoosh!"

"Slap!"

"Ball!" This pitch was a high inside corner ball slightly off the strike zone. Sendou even had to step back to dodge it, never offering at it.

"Whoosh!"

"Bang!"

"Foul!" The third pitch was an outside corner ball, also slightly off the strike zone.

"That last ball felt a bit far, and combined with the inside one before, it felt even farther." Sendou thought to himself, his eyes continuing to wander around—his habit of losing focus wasn't easy to control.

"Just as I thought! In that case, what about this one?"

"Whoosh!"

"Slap!"

"Ball!" This pitch was even more off than the last.

"He's got a few tricks, but he's still straightforward. Can't let myself get fooled, though." Sendou thought as he watched the ball.

At the same time, he closed his eyes while the catcher confirmed the signals. After a few seconds, he slowly opened them again. With his exceptional visual talent, Sendou could use this method to erase the impression of the previous pitches—though it only worked against a few people.

"This guy's probably wondering whether the next pitch will be inside or outside after those last few!" Harada guessed.

"Whoosh!" The first pitch was the same low ball down the middle.

"Clang!"

"You've got to be kidding me!" Harada stared blankly at the ball that had been hit, blurting out those words.

Sendou heard him but didn't reply; his answer was the massive home run that sailed over the fence net. This three-run blast turned the score into 8-0.

After that, hits from the fifth and seventh batters put runners in scoring position again, and ultimately the eighth batter hit a ground ball that resulted in a force out, leading to a change of field.

On the defensive side, Sendou easily struck out two batters in the third inning, achieving a Three Up Three Down.

In this inning, the Sailors directly swapped pitchers, and having completely forgotten the score, their form rebounded as they suppressed the Wildcats' batting lineup, returning a Three Up Three Down.

Top of the Fourth Inning, Sendou became the catcher. The mischievous Sendou gave the opponent no chance, though he nearly allowed a long hit from the fourth batter, who was also a catcher, but it was caught out by the outfielder.

Bottom of the Fourth Inning, the Wildcats started with their core batters. The third batter unexpectedly reached base with a safe bunt.

Sendou then hit another long hit, scoring a run. Although the new pitcher didn't panic, he felt no pressure at all; his debut was nearly perfect.

He performed decently against the Wildcats' Upper Batting Lineup, then allowed the fifth batter a single, which was only achieved through an irregular bounce to reach base.

The score was 9-0, with no outs and runners on first and third. However, during the showdown with the sixth batter, the fifth batter on first was forced out by a pickoff throw Harada forcefully delivered, the sixth batter was caught out by a line drive to first, and the seventh batter was struck out by the catcher's pitch sequence.