"Ah!!! So sleepy!" The next morning, Sendou walked into the cafeteria yawning.
Good morning, Sendou-kun!
Good morning, Haruichi!
"What's wrong? You look like you haven't slept yet!"
"After resting for a day, I feel like I've completely fallen into a rut!"
It feels like I've gone back to the Going-Home Club in elementary school!
" The Going-Home Club? What did they do back then?"
"Get up, go to school, come home from school, read comics, eat, sleep..."
"Uh!" Kominato didn't know what to say for a moment.
"Isn't that just a pig?" Sawamura said casually as he walked in from behind.
"You bastard! Say that again! I haven't even settled the score with you for what happened yesterday!"
You bastard, you brought so many people to peek! Wasn't that a live broadcast?
"Damn it!" Sendou grabbed his chin.
"Terribly sorry!"
" Eijun-kun! Why can't you ever learn your lesson?"
"So, what happened yesterday?"
"You'll find out when you start training!"
I'm going to teach him a lesson now.
"Let this guy with the memory of a fish come to his senses."
"Ah! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Upon hearing this, Sawamura struggled frantically.
This child only remembers the pain of the past when he is being beaten...
"Resistance is futile! Prepare to die!"
"Haha! How noisy! First-year students!" Isashiki-senpai laughed.
"They have a very good relationship!" Captain Tetsu nodded.
"Lead!!!
"Where does it look good? Help me!"
Although Sawamura was severely punished, what was bound to happen would still happen.
After breakfast, Coach Kataoka called the starters to the Field A.
While the batters warmed up, Senior Chris and Sendou discussed secret Signals, and in fact, they even exchanged ideas on pitch selection.
After all, both of them are the type of people who use psychology to see through each other's personality and habits in order to match their skills.
It was only then that Xiaochun learned what had happened the night before, and she was also extremely looking forward to her duel with Sendou.
Captain Tetsu, wearing a helmet, wanted to be the first to go, but was stopped by the others.
"Is Furuya's left-handed pitching Perfect Form?"
"Interesting!" Kuramochi, the first to step forward, approached with an interested expression.
"Thump!!!"
"Strike! Batter out!"
It was won with just three straight balls.
For pitchers with Four-Quadrant Control, the low pitches in the outside corner are the Ball Trajectory to scoring and winning.
This is even more true for high-speed fastballs. Even if the outside corner is lowered, or even just a regular outside corner is lowered a bit, this level of Fastball can suppress more than 90% of batters.
Only Captain Tetsu, who knows the Ball Trajectory's trajectory in advance, can guarantee a successful shot.
Even if others knew it was an outside shot, they couldn't hit it. Just like in the previous life, when the Mid-Autumn Festival demanded that Furuya only throw outside shots, only the Main Gun at that time, Miyuki, managed to fire it.
With both internal and external factors combined, even Captain Tetsu frowned and secretly thought it was a tough situation, not to mention Kuramochi batting average is so bad right now.
This is just the beginning.
"Thump!!!"
"Nice shot!"
"Thump!!!"
"Nice shot!"
"Thump!!!"
"Strike! Batter out!"
"It was faster than I expected. There was no time to judge whether a shot was good or bad. All the shots close to the edge of the Strike Zone had to be taken!" The second victim was Onisan.
With a straight shot that's high on the inside corner and a low shot on the outside corner, and finally a bad shot on the outside corner, he had absolutely no chance and had to shoot the Hanging Ball.
Although Onisan is unable to run bases due to injury, he can still hit without any problem.
"At this level of speed, as long as the opponent realizes that the pitcher can control the edge of the Strike Zone, they will throw the ball even if it is two balls off the strike Strike Zone. They simply don't have time to judge whether it's a strike or a ball, or by the time they realize it's a ball, the bat has already been swung."
It will be very easy to distribute the ball!
There's no need for Changeup; even Tetsu would have a hard time hitting a straight shot of this level.
Even balls out of bounds are extremely difficult! Senior Chris thought with a smile.
During the Inajitsu. Narumiya Mei hit a fastball right in the middle, around 147 km/h, an extremely easy Ball Trajectory to hit. Captain Tetsu missed his first at-bat simply because he swung too slowly.
After catching the ball, Senior Chris realized that Sendou's ball was about five kilometers fast and he could control it in all four corners.
Why would we need a hundred balls?
If all goes well, the team can basically win in three or four goals, except for Captain Tetsu. If they take random shots, they might have to make substitutions after one or two goals.
If Captain Tetsu doesn't adapt well enough for a few games, it will probably be difficult for the score to go beyond five goals.
This is the terrifying power of a top-tier combination of Fastball and ball control.
There's nothing surprising about it. You should know that around 2018, the average speed of the Starting Pitcher on the Japanese national team was only slightly faster than that of Narumiya Mei.
It's just ball control in the Four-Quadrant at an average speed of around 145, plus Changeup.
However, Captain Tetsu were facing a 152-kilometer Four-Quadrant, which was completely beyond their capabilities, and it was 2007.
"Ping!"
"It's an obvious fly ball to third base! Even if the third baseman had cramps, he could catch it!" Coach Kataoka rarely joked.
"Damn it!!!" Isashiki-senpai Demon Face.
"Aiming for the first ball? Not a bad idea, but if you can't even get the timing right, it's impossible to hit the ball!" Senior Chris smiled as he looked at Isashiki, who was only sticking to one ball.
Clearly, this monster catcher was also captivated by Sendou's pitching and was in an exceptionally good mood.
"In the first match, everyone else was easy to deal with, but..."
"If you want to get some rest, you'd better pull yourself together!" Chris thought, looking at the figure on the Pitcher's Mound.
"Hey hey hey! The pitcher's scared!"
"Go get them out there, boss!!!" Sawamura had completely forgotten about the beating he'd received half an hour earlier.
" Eijun-kun! You should be going for a run! Why are you still here?" Xiaochun acted like Old Mother Hen, taking care of the child next to her.
"It looks the same as when he was being attacked!"
"Not nervous at all?" Chris Signals.
Sendou nodded.
"Phew!" Captain Tetsu is now in full serious mode.
"Puff!"
"Piu!"
"Thump!!!"
"Nice shot!!!"
Captain Tetsu absolutely no intention of swinging the bat.
"First goal Inside Corner Ball!
Senior Chris is quite assertive too! Miyuki, watching from the side, was itching to squat down there!
"Phew!" Captain Tetsu took another deep breath. Actually standing in the Batter's Box was even more troublesome.
Captain Tetsu realized that he also had to shoot at the same time Sendou released the ball, but he still couldn't guarantee that he could hit the right moment.
The time it takes to reach home plate from 150 kilometers is about 0.4 seconds plus, Captain Tetsu's swing speed is about 0.2 to 0.3 seconds, which is very fast.
Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to keep up with Narumiya Mei's straight shots, but he's a bit slow against Sendou's shots.
While Captain Tetsu's reaction time is top-notch, it's not as exaggerated as Sendou's; it's between 0.15 and 0.2 seconds.
To put it simply, 0.15 seconds after Sendou releases the ball, Captain Tetsu is able to react and see whether the Ball Trajectory.
He didn't have time to analyze the details before he had to swing, so it must have been a struggle.
Theoretically, it's barely possible, and it's very difficult to hit a ball with a clear inside-outside distinction. The inside corner is high and the outside corner is low, which not only gives the hitter the illusion that the Strike Zone has a large radius, but also indirectly increases the difficulty for the hitter to judge.
There might even be a slight hesitation that causes the swing speed to fall behind.
This is the essence of their duel: Sendou, with his absolute ball speed and top-notch ball control, holds absolute initiative.
"Next ball, let's use a bad ball!" Chris put his glove on the outside corner.
Chris and Sendou are a true pitching and catching duo, as they discuss pitch pairings using Signals codes.
Even if others shake their heads, it's not because they're thinking about ball placement strategies, but because they're feeling their own condition and feel that a Ball Trajectory shot won't be effective.
Upon seeing Chris's Signals, Sendou pondered for a moment, then shook his head.
"Let's have another fastball to the inside corner!"
Even if Tetsu-san is the first to at-bat, he can't possibly get a hit on two consecutive Inside Corner Ball! Sendou gave a Signals.
"Ball!" Chris Signals a ball.
Sendou nodded.
" Tetsu-san didn't seem to be aiming at any particular Ball Trajectory!"
Sendou carefully observed every detail of Captain Tetsu's body and made a judgment.
"Puff!"
"Piu!"
"Thump!!!"
"Bad ball!"
"Completely still?" Sendou frowned slightly when he saw that Captain Tetsu was still motionless.
"Did you guess it?" Senior Chris asked.
"No! The ball is too fast! It's almost impossible to shoot, and I don't think it'll be a good shot!"
" Captain Tetsu replied.
"So you mean you won't make a move regardless of whether it's inside or outside the corner?"
"We spent so much time discussing this!" Senior Chris found it somewhat amusing that he had spent so much time trying to figure out the Signals he had used with Sendou, but the other party just wouldn't respond.
Thankfully, Sendou didn't hear that, otherwise he would have said that Captain Tetsu had put his mind to it, and that his youth was over!
Senior Chris hit another bad shot to the outside corner.
Having just conceded a goal and not leading in the score, this goal was quite daring.
However, a glance at the pitcher and the batter in the Batter's Box would change that opinion.
Sendou nodded, then stuck out his tongue and licked the left corner of his mouth.
To be honest, the last bad shot, Senior Chris was a teammate, so he didn't ask for anything particularly tricky. If Captain Tetsu had the illusion that he needed to avoid it, that kind of shot could really have been an accident.
Sendou's shot is no joke; if he hits it, Koshien will be...
"No problem, Senior Chris. Even if we can't stretch the Strike Zone big enough to prevent accidents, it's fine."
With that thought in mind, Sendou raised his hands and feet.
"Puff!"
The whole body transforms into a spring, with power erupting from a single point.
"Piu!"
"Thump!!!"
"Nice shot!"
"The leader actually missed!"
"Why? I only threw a fastball." Sawamura turned and asked.
"Even for Tetsu-san, if two Fastball hit the inside corner in a row, his reaction to the outside corner will be slower."
"And that was the fastest shot of the day," Miyuki explained.
"Unexpectedly, on just the third ball, and all of them were straight balls, Tetsu-san had to take a shot on a bad ball!"
How fast was that?! That straight ball!
"Damn it! I really want to squat there!" The better Sendou performed, the more annoyed Miyuki became.
It's like a stunningly beautiful woman's childhood sweetheart, the two of them are deeply in love, but then she tells him that she's getting married...
Where will the next ball go? Inside? Outside? Strike? Dump? Changeup or Forkball?
I never would have guessed that!
"Completely unable to keep up with the reality of straight shots, any Ball Trajectory could become the deciding shot!" Isashiki said, rubbing his head.
"I hope he doesn't overthink it; even a moment's hesitation could lead to defeat!" Onisan added.
"Three balls! I think I should be able to find the right time to swing!"
Tetsu-san!
But..." Sendou thought to himself as he looked at Captain Tetsu.
"However, even Tetsuya couldn't break down the Ball Trajectory at this speed, which is completely different from what Narumiya back then."
That's what makes the Fastball style so terrifying!
Then there's no need to be so polite!
At that moment, the pitching and catching partners, with their similar pitching styles, were perfectly in sync.
"Piu!"
"The deciding factor is... a high Hanging Ball to the inside corner! x2!"
It's a high- Strike Zone, full-power pitch that goes above the Strike Zone and is further inside it. It's also a high-speed fastball that has the control restrictions lifted, which is Furuya's signature high-speed fastball that Furuya.
" Inside Corner Ball!" The high-speed straight ball compressed Captain Tetsu's judgment time, leaving him with no choice but to take the shot based on this information.
"Ping!"
"Bump!"
"Outside the boundary!"
"You ran into them? ×2"
"Phew!" Captain Tetsu let out a long breath.
He really only touched it very close to the ground, and it slammed heavily into the wire mesh behind him, which shows how much luck was involved in that shot.
"I can only say, as expected of Tetsu-san!"
But..." Sendou smiled.
"Piu!"
"Thump!!!"
"Nice shot!!!"
"The attacker is out!"
"That's the end of it!" Upon hearing the verdict, Sendou finished the second half of his sentence in his heart.
The inside corner Hanging Ball was so lucky, such a perfect diagonal shot, and the outside corner low ball, which was also a ball that was off to the left batting box, was even less likely to hit.
Four batters, twelve balls used!
"Phew!!!" After defeating Captain Tetsu, Sendou let out a long sigh of relief.
"Not yet thrown! Changeup!"
"Ah!"
"I bet the thought of Changeup flashed through Tetsu's mind at that moment too!"
Hesitation leads to defeat!
Such fast straight balls and ball control give absolutely no chance to think! Several senior players discussed.
"See? This is the importance of ball control that I told you about!"
"If you can control the Four-Quadrant, you can suppress Tetsu-san with just a straight shot!" Miyuki took the opportunity to instill strange ideas into Furuya, even though Miyuki himself did not think that Furuya could develop such good ball control in high school, after all, the faster the ball speed, the more difficult it is to control!
It's extremely difficult to develop that skill even throughout one's entire career.
However, this does not prevent Miyuki from instilling the importance of ball control.
Furuya was truly shocked by this at-bat, considering they were both Fastball, and Furuya was a left-handed pitcher who was relatively difficult to deal with right-handed batters.
"Piu!"
"Huh?"
"Thump!"
"Huh!"
"Thump!!!"
"Nice shot!"
"The attacker is out!"
Full of confidence, Miyuki missed twice in a row, looking completely bewildered...
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