It's really hard to say who would win between Sendou-Naru.
The two players have faced off three times in Inside-the-Park Home Run. Sendou hit one home run, one Safety Bunt, and struck out one game, so even in terms of individual records, he is the one with the advantage.
In terms of strength, as Harada said, judging from the first three at-bats, Sendou is not as good as Captain Tetsu.
Baseball games are not about raw skill; form, luck, and even judgment can all play a decisive role in matches where the skill gap is small.
Narumiya Mei has the advantage in terms of strength, but he has already pitched eight innings, and his physical and mental strength has been greatly depleted.
It was also Coach Kataoka's tactic to apply pressure with a bat without fear of strikeouts and wear down the spirit.
Moreover, Sendou's form was on the rise in this match.
"Now is the crucial moment!" Coach Nakanishi suddenly said from the sidelines.
However, even Sendou Ichiro and the group of laymen around him knew this, so everyone was waiting for him to continue.
Coach Nakanishi offered no explanation, silently taking off his shirt to reveal a Seidou short-sleeved shirt underneath. (Didn't he mind the heat even in this sweltering weather...?)
That's not all; the Coach Nakanishi had a Back Number eight sticker on his stomach...
"This is!" Sendou Ichiro's face darkened.
"We must give our full support at crucial moments." He picked up his AIBO, ready to shout. However, a piercing noise came through (the kind that often occurs with electronic devices).
"Go for it! Go for it, Sendoh!!!"
Alright! Let's ignore this sprightly old man for now!
Sendou heard it, after all, Coach Nakanishi's AIBO was no joke, but he ignored it because he felt embarrassed.
As for the others, no one would care about such a crazy fan. They wouldn't even bother to turn their heads to look at him. Otherwise, many people would definitely recognize Coach Nakanishi, since he is a celebrity.
"Seriously! These first-year students are really amazing!"
The team's fate rested entirely on his shoulders, yet he showed no sign of tension in this situation.
Is this guy really human? What's his heart made of?
To be honest, even if I were in this situation, I would probably be affected by the pressure!
There's no other way, so we'll just overpower you head-on and bring victory back!
Harada glanced at Sendou, who seemed unfazed by the pressure, and his resolve hardened.
Not to mention Harada, even the coaches on both sides on the sidelines could feel the pressure on the field. If you looked closely, you could see sweat on the faces of Coach Kataoka and Coach Kunimoto.
In the hot environment, the pressure seems to have solidified into a fluid that is somewhere between a liquid and a solid.
"Please! Sendou!"
Please!
" Sendou!" Senior Takako prayed again, sincerely not daring to open his eyes.
"Here!" Harada gave the Signals.
"Since you didn't become flustered as I expected, I'll slightly increase the 90/10 ratio for you!"
"Eighty-two... no, this guy is way stronger than the others, so let's make it seven-five to two-five!"
"Pfft!" Footsteps.
"Call out!"
"Um?"
"Ping!"
"Outside the boundary!"
"First ball Slider! A ball that's way off the line!"
"As expected, they still went for the bad ball!"
Is this due to nervousness? Judging from the records, it's been like this before!
However, this guy almost never hits Changeup, so it might be worth trying to disrupt his rhythm later.
The second ball is here!
"Fight your way out, Sendou!"
"This is your chance to become a man! This is your chance to become a hero! Fight your way out, Sendou!" Sawamura roared from the Bullpen.
"What a talkative guy! You just need to stay there and watch quietly!"
"Don't bother me!" Sendou muttered to himself.
The second goal!
"Call out!"
"Smack!"
"Missed!!! This is the third time today that Sendou has missed his Forkball!"
"Yoshi! They're catching up!"
"Ah!!!" Yabe tried to release his emotions in this way.
"The timing is perfect!"
Let's keep this going for now!
"Don't give up, Sendou!"
The seniors in the stands were desperately trying to encourage and comfort Sendou, afraid that he wouldn't be able to handle the pressure.
They're all such good people!
"Please! God-sama!" Senior Takako was even more worried, and her voice even started to tremble with tears.
"Akila!" Fumino looked intently at the figure below.
"Hmm?" Harada noticed that Sendou had moved, so he straightened up, took two small steps back, and resumed his fighting stance.
His back foot, or left foot, was already right next to the back line of the Batter's Box, with nowhere left to retreat.
"This is it!" Coach Nakanishi exclaimed.
"What's wrong? Coach Nakanishi!"
"No! Akila's positioning is similar to that of some power hitters in the Major League."
Standing at the very back allows for more time to observe the Ball Trajectory and a later swing!
You can also wait for the Changeup shape before shooting it.
Of course, a perfect method with so many advantages also places higher demands on the hitter, such as swing speed and reaction speed, which Akila possesses.
"Judging from his appearance, he probably didn't know these things, and it was a result of his own thinking based on the actual situation!" Coach Nakanishi replied.
"Pitch carefully!" Harada knew that this backswing would give the batter more time to watch the Ball Trajectory's trajectory, so he decided to test it out.
"What?! How could I possibly lose to a strategy I came up with on the spot?"
"Call out!"
This time, Sendou had more time to determine the type of sphere.
"They're falling!"
"Ping!"
"Outside the boundary!"
Sendou deflected the Forkball behind him as if he were slashing diagonally.
And the baseball bat kicked up a lot of dirt!
"Was it a little unusual the first time? But even so, it still ended up being out of bounds!"
We can't drag this out any longer; we need to end this game as soon as possible.
"Wow! I can see it very clearly!"
"The timing was perfect!"
"Go!" Koharu, who was on second base, couldn't withstand the pressure in the air and shouted.
"Kill him! You bastard!"
"One hit! Please!"
"Cry!"
"Go!"
"Suppress him!"
"Don't vote! Don't vote! Don't vote!" Head Manager Oota chanted the incantation again.
"If the Changeup goes into the Strike Zone, we're done for!" Senior Chris said gravely.
Coach Kataoka's face was visibly sweating.
"A bad pitch is fine! Just keep it low! It would be best if this guy could swing!"
Narumiya Mei began to move, tens of thousands of people in the audience focused their attention on him.
Lift your leg! Step forward! Swing your arm! Release the ball!
"Change... Changeup!" Countless people on the Seidou bench cried out in despair.
"Ameru! (Stop! No!)" Senior Tanba finally couldn't hold back his tears when he saw this.
"No!!!" Head Manager Oota screamed in despair, clutching his head.
"Smack!" Before anyone could even exclaim, the ball had already gone into the glove.
"Bad ball!"
"Pfft!!!" Countless people in Seidou exhaled at the same time!
Head Manager Oota almost fainted when he heard this result right after he started shouting.
"Okay... okay... okay... that was close!" Jun-san almost couldn't catch her breath.
"Yoshi!"
"The attacker's rhythm has been disrupted!"
"Suppress him!"
"I saw it very clearly! I saw it very clearly!" Seidou's bench, having realized what was happening, retorted without backing down.
"He can see it very clearly! Sure enough, after standing still, he can tell the difference even when the Changeup is completely still. (Before, it was swinging slightly!)" Harada thought to himself, staring at Sendou's furrowed brows.
" In the Eighth Inning, there are two outs on first and second, and the batter is in fifth place. The current count is one ball and two strikes!"
The pitcher is the Kanto's Number One Left Pitcher!
Which side will ultimately prevail? The ace's pride? Or the batter's will? Even though the commentators could see that the pitchers still had the upper hand, they couldn't say that.
One of the scary things about baseball is that in a pitching-hitting duel, no one knows when the pitcher or catcher will throw the game-winning ball.
This is bad for the heart for both the hitter and the audience.
Just now, apart from Inajitsu who saw the Signals, even Sendou thought for a moment that the Changeup was the winning shot.
However, Sendou immediately realized that the ball was a bit too low and almost became Rebound Ball.
The others were genuinely terrified, because when Sendou didn't swing, even Senior Tanba cried, thinking Sendou would strike out.
The others who didn't cry weren't much better off.
"If this shot hadn't been a miss!"
The next goal should decide the outcome!
However! Regardless of whether it's the deciding goal or not, the next shot probably won't be Ball Trajectory!
"But I'm already used to this ball compared to the Changeup!" Sendou tightened his grip and rubbed the handle of the bat to make it more comfortable.
He then stuck out his tongue and licked the left corner of his mouth.
Is it a chance to survive by getting a hit?
Or is this the end of the team's season?
No matter what, I will never back down. Come on! Sendou's eyes were filled with determination, and his mental state was excellent!
" Yalu!" Narumiya Mei took this as a provocation.
"No need for good pitches! Just draw the batter's swing, finish him off, and win the game! Whistle!"
"Can you swing a bat?... You!" Narumiya Mei looked indifferently at Sendou with his arm raised and muttered to himself.
"Call out!"
"Here it comes! Outside corner!" Almost simultaneously with seeing the ball being placed, Sendou reacted instinctively, stepping out with his foot almost at the same time.
"But the ball speed isn't enough!" Sendou's lower body had already begun to provide kinetic energy to his body, his arm muscles were tense, and he had begun to swing the bat, but his body was still restraining itself, not yet releasing the switch to unleash all the power at the end.
In the past, Sendou was always just a hair's breadth off in judging the Ball Trajectory, which forced him to give up thinking and rely on instinct to react.
However, by moving back in position, he had a tiny bit of time to think, which allowed him to judge the ball's speed and clear his mind.
Not to mention that he can now wait for the ball to start changing before swinging, and the extra time to prepare by anticipating the changes brings about a huge difference.
"Yoshi! He's starting to swing! Even if he doesn't miss, it'll just be a powerless fly ball!" Harada was delighted to see Sendou take a step.
"Whoosh!" The ball entered home plate and the situation began to change.
" Slider!"
"Ping!"
The biggest change brought about by a little more preparation is that, where you could only force the ball out of bounds by touching it, you can now try to shoot it.
The moment Sendou hit the ball, all the Seidou players had already started running the bases.
With two outs, there's no need to consider the batter returning to base after being caught out; if the batter lands and is caught out, the game is immediately changed. That's how brutal it is.
"Yoshi! The ball you hit wasn't fast and had no power! Center back!!!" Harada was a little excited.
"Yoshi!"
" Carlo!!!"
" Carlos- sama!" Naruto called out, a rare occurrence for him.
This time was much more serious, but also much easier than before.
"Ah!" The group on the bench at Seidou were all somewhat incredulous!
Captain Tetsu clenched his fists, while Tanba and Onisan stared blankly at the high-flying ball.
"Damn it! Get down here! You bastard!!!" Isashiki, shouted like a madman.
Sawamura shouted the same words to him again, and their voices completely overlapped once more.
However, after reaching first base, Sendou gradually slowed down.
"Ku! Ku! Ku! Ku!" Carlos was sprinting. He knew that although this ball didn't have much speed, it was high and far, which was a characteristic of American Style Lifting Hit against Low Ball.
"Hey! Hey!" However, Carlos, who ran to the back to check the ball's landing point, was a little...
"Smack!"
"They're... they're in!!!"
Home plate! Center field scoreboard... Live hit!!!
Three-Run Home Run!!!
Seidou High School pulls off a stunning comeback!!!
Just like a response to Inajitsu's previous Home Run!
"Ah!" Narumiya Mei momentarily stunned by the excitement, and he wasn't the only one who was stunned.
"Yoshi!"
"Ah!!!"
The Seidou supporters have gone mad!
A group of grown men were hugging and shouting wildly!
Among the female managers, Takako, Haruno, and two others were also hugging each other... and Fumino, that girl, opened her arms again, as if she wanted to "jump off the building"...
Sachiko, who had just struck a fierce pose, quickly pulled him back.
"Damn! She's so cute! Even I, a girl, am smitten!" Senior Sachiko thought to herself.
"Ah!!! Yoshi yoshi yoshi!" On one side of the bench, Head Manager Oota spread his arms wide in a "holy glorification" gesture, tears streaming down his face!
"Yoshi yoshi yoshi! Yoshi yoshi yoshi! Yoshi! Yoshi! Yoshi yoshi yoshi!" Sawamura shouted "Yoshi" with a rhythmic flair.
"Yoshi...! Yo... Yoshi!" Furuya called out slowly from behind with his clumsy tongue.
Senior Tanba cried again...!
Even the old man banged on the railing twice with his cheering megaphone.
Coach Kataoka also raised his clenched fists and roared!
The game isn't over yet!
Isashiki crazy, running at full speed to home plate and tackled Captain Tetsu... tackled him.
After Captain Tetsu got up, they high-fived and then hugged each other tightly.
God knows what they went through during that match.
It seemed like everything was over, and then I was sent to heaven.
I didn't expect to write a whole chapter from just one sitting, but it should be pretty satisfying, I think.
Finally, I'm asking for your votes!