"Everyone on the Wildcats Little League Team was amazing! I wanted to hit, but I couldn't hit a single ball!" Everyone chatted as they walked after leaving the Wildcats Little League Team.
"Yeah! But Coach Nakanishi's guidance was even more amazing! He only casually said a few things, but it gave me a whole new understanding of base running!"
"The defense too. I'd never seen reactions that fast before! Those pitches were easily over a hundred kilometers per hour, right? And they could accurately control them right into the corners. It felt like the pitch speed was so fast that the Strike Zone had gotten bigger! As expected, a Pitching Machine and a real person pitching were on completely different levels! They were super hard to hit!"
"It looked like everyone gained a lot! But that old man said you still had some problems judging balls and strikes! Still, it was fine if you couldn't hit the balls. You needed to hit over 80%, even 90%, of the balls from a Pitching Machine before you were qualified to face a pitcher with the same velocity—and that was only if the other side threw the same Ball Trajectory as the machine. That would still mean a batting average of less than 30%.
"There were plenty of reasons for that. For example, the angles of pitches at the corners. Inside and Outside Corner Balls entered home plate at angles themselves, making them harder to hit. Then there was the combination of inside and outside pitches, which gave batters the illusion that the Strike Zone had become bigger. But that illusion still depended on the person's spatial awareness." Watching everyone discuss what they had gained that day, Sendou chimed in.
"I see!"
"So don't rush. Spatial awareness can still be improved through training. Even if you couldn't completely avoid being affected by it, practice would gradually make you better!"
"Today's training was really simple and straightforward. I didn't expect we could split into groups too. Some people watched pitches in the Bullpen, while others took turns practicing on the field!"
"I came up with that. That old man's brain isn't that sharp. After all, this kind of cooperative training was his first time too," Sendou said.
"Really?"
"Of course!"
At that moment, Sendou noticed someone looking at him with a resentful expression.
"Alright, starting tomorrow, when A Shin is resting, you can help catch for him. It's about time you pitchers and catchers practiced together. But Eijun, don't throw too hard at first! Let A Shin gradually get used to your pitching. He can't catch your full-power pitches."
"Got it!" No matter what, Sawamura was quite happy. After several months, he finally had a chance to pitch again!
"Quit dawdling, or we'll miss the train!"
"Yeah!!!"
That night, everyone began their usual individual practice. Even A Shin caught a few easy bad pitches before they started reviewing what had happened during the day. They had seen a professional team practice and met a professional coach. Even just a few casual remarks had benefited them immensely, so everyone was busy summarizing what they had learned.
So self-practice was not just batting. Some stood beside the field with their eyes closed, mentally replaying the day's situations as they practiced their base-running starts.
Even Wakaba took several dozen swings of the bat!
"Oh, right, I just thought of something. Even with group practice, there should still be downtime, right? The outfield group and you pitcher-catcher pairs should practice some Long Toss when you're free! Even without anyone catching, it can build your stamina! Especially you, Eijun! You're our only pitcher in the tournament!"
"Go back early and rest. Don't push yourselves too hard. If your body shows any signs of trouble, stop immediately. That's your body telling you that you've reached your limit. If you keep going, you'll get injured. If any of you gets hurt, our team won't be able to compete! Understood?"
"Yes!!!"
Seeing everyone agree, Sendou left early. The others usually practiced on their own for at most an hour or two before going to shower and rest.
After all, among this group of friends, only that idiot was truly a hot-blooded teenager.
"Akila!..." After everyone had finished showering at ten, Furuhashi Fumino went to Sendou's room. He had told her during the day that she did not need tutoring that night, but when she saw the empty room, Fumino sighed and said, "Just as I thought," before heading downstairs and out the door.
...A few minutes later!
Bang! A tall boy in a helmet stood in the Batter's Box of the batting cage, which should have been empty.
"Just as I thought!" Furuhashi Fumino said as she opened the door and looked at someone inside.
"Fumino? Why did you suddenly come here?"
"I went to your room just now, but you weren't there. Just as I thought, you were here! You really haven't changed at all. You're still so unwilling to admit defeat!"
"Maybe so. Did you need something? I remember I wasn't supposed to tutor you today, right?"
"That's right. I just wanted to see you and confirm it for myself."
"Alright!" Sendou was just that unwilling to admit defeat. The lucky hit he had gotten during the day might have fooled everyone else, but it could not fool him. That stubbornness in him had flared up again.
"So, how is it?"
"It really is fast!" he said, raising the bat again.
"I see." Fumino simply watched him bat without saying anything.
Whoosh!
Bang! An infield Ground Ball!
Smack! A swing and a miss!
Ping! Smack! A foul ball behind him.
"This is a little too fast, isn't it?" Sendou said gloomily after who knew how long.
But Sendou's frustration was only dissatisfaction with himself. He liked the feeling of the bat connecting with the ball, the recoil of striking it dead on, and the thrill of watching it fly far away. Those sensations were completely different from hitting it anywhere else.
Overall, though, the Ground Balls and Foul Balls gradually decreased, and the swings and misses only happened a few times at the beginning. More fair balls started appearing, both to the infield and the outfield. Quite a few were struck powerfully into the Home Run zone. Although calculations showed that balls hit there would basically be Home Runs, the pleasure that gave Sendou was far inferior to personally watching those high, far, fast fly balls at the Wildcats. Besides, the Pitching Machine used softballs, which felt completely different from the hardballs used by Little League teams like the Wildcats.
"Ah..." Fumino was getting sleepy. She lightly patted her cute little mouth and let out a small yawn.
"Do you still want to hit?"
"Yeah, a few more. I just feel kind of annoyed! And the more I hit, the more annoyed I get. The more annoyed I get, the more I want to hit! Damn it!!!"
Sendou would never say something rude like, "Why don't you go back first?" to Fumino. Instead, he completely dropped his usual image and vented the frustration of being trapped in this vicious cycle. But only Fumino got to see this side of Sendou.
A while later...
"Let's go back," Sendou said, still looking frustrated.
"You're not hitting anymore?"
"We have to get up early tomorrow."
"Do you feel better now?"
"Not at all!!!"
"...We'll hit again tomorrow," he said after a brief pause.
"Alright, we'll continue tomorrow!" Fumino said with a smile.
"...Yeah!"
The two of them headed back side by side. Fumino returned to her room to sleep, while Sendou went to take a bath alone.
I'd like to thank everyone for the rewards here. Please keep supporting me with recommendations and bookmarks! Also, don't think the protagonist can really hit 150-kilometer Fastballs. Those were merely preemptive swings based on prediction, since the Pitching Machine's Ball Trajectory and speed were fixed. Even someone at Captain Tetsu's level in the original high school series could barely manage without predicting in advance. Everyone else? Heh. When Jun-san faced a Pitching Machine throwing a fixed 150 with no spin, he still hit Infield Fly balls. That showed just how hard it was to hit. And even a ball right down dead center became difficult when you had to consider Changeups. Even Todoroki or Captain Tetsu had to aim for the Ball Trajectory, or they could easily get struck out. But a Pitching Machine only had one kind of pitch, so things were different when you could predict in advance. I once saw a video where someone could barely hit 130 properly from a standard Pitching Machine, yet foolishly turned it up to 210—yes, 210-kilometer softballs. With advance prediction, he still managed to graze one out of three pitches. So even if the protagonist hit plenty of Home Runs off a 150-kilometer Pitching Machine, that did not mean he could hit a real 150-kilometer pitch. Just saying this now, so don't accuse me of weakening the protagonist later.
Before you continue