Someone's Vicious Circle

"The Wildcats are really amazing! I wanted to hit, but I couldn't hit a single ball!" Everyone started chatting as they walked out of the Wildcats Little League team.

"Yeah! But that Coach Nakanishi's guidance is really amazing! Just a few casual words gave me a new understanding of baserunning!"

"The fielding too, such a fast reaction, I've never seen it before! That ball speed easily exceeded 100 kilometers per hour, right? And being able to accurately control the ball to the edges, it feels like the ball speed is so fast, and the strike zone has also become bigger! As expected, the pitching machine and a real person throwing are completely different dimensions! Super hard to hit!"

"It seems everyone has gained a lot! But that Old Man said you guys still have some problems judging balls and strikes! But it doesn't matter if you can't hit the ball, you have to hit the pitching machine 80% or even 90% of the time to be qualified to compete with a pitcher of equal ball speed, and that's assuming the opponent only throws the same pitches as the pitching machine, which is less than 30% of the hit rate. If the opponent can accurately control the ball to the edges, the difficulty will increase exponentially.

There are many reasons, such as the angle of the edge balls, the inside and outside corner balls entering home base itself carry some angle, increasing the difficulty of hitting, and the inside and outside coordination will give the batter the illusion that the strike zone has become larger, but this illusion still depends on that person's sense of space." Sendou interjected, watching everyone chat about the day's gains.

"I see!"

"So don't worry, the sense of space can still be improved through training. Even if you can't be unaffected by training, it will gradually get better!"

"Today's training was really simple and direct, I didn't expect it could be divided into groups, some people watched the ball in the bullpen, and some people went on the field to practice in turns!"

"That's what I thought of, that Old Man's brain isn't that bright, after all, this kind of cooperative training is also the first time for him," Sendou said.

"Really?"

"Of course!"

At this moment, Sendou noticed someone looking at him with a resentful expression.

"Okay, starting tomorrow, A Shin can help him catch the ball when he's resting, it's time for you two pitchers and catchers to practice together, but Eijun, don't use too much force at the beginning! Let A Shin gradually adapt to your pitching, he can't catch your full-strength pitches."

"I understand!" No matter what, Sawamura was still very happy, he finally had the opportunity to pitch again after several months!

"Don't dawdle, you'll miss the train!"

"Oh!!!"

In the evening, everyone started their independent practice as usual, including A Shin who simply caught a few balls before starting to summarize the content of the day. Seeing the practice of professional teams and professional coaches, even just a few casual words, benefited them a lot, so everyone was busy summarizing their experiences.

So independent practice is not just hitting, but also closing their eyes next to them and imagining the situation of the day to practice baserunning starts.

Even Wakaba swung the bat dozens of times!

"By the way, I suddenly thought, although there is still free time for group practice, right? The outfield group and you two pitchers and catchers, practice long throws when you are free! If no one catches the ball, you can still exercise your physical strength! Especially you, Eijun! There is only you as a pitcher in the big competition!"

"Go back to rest early, don't work too hard, if your body shows any reaction, stop immediately, that's your body telling you that you have reached your limit, if you continue, you will get injured, if any of you get injured, our team will not be able to play the game! Understand?"

"Yes!!!"

Sendou saw that everyone agreed, so he left the field early. The others usually only practice independently for one or two hours before going to take a shower and rest!

After all, the only true hot-blooded teenager among this group of partners is that idiot.

"Akila!..." After everyone took a shower at 10 o'clock, Furuhashi Fumino went to Sendou's room. In fact, she didn't need tutoring at night after he guided her during the day, but seeing the empty room, Fumino sighed and said as expected, then went downstairs and went out!

...A few minutes later!

"Bang!" A tall teenager wearing a helmet was standing in the batter's box of the batting cage, which was originally empty.

"As expected!" Furuhashi Fumino opened the door and said, looking at someone!

"Fumino? Why did you suddenly come here?"

"I just went to your room to find you, and when I saw you weren't there, I knew you'd be here! You really haven't changed at all, still so unwilling to admit defeat!"

"Maybe so. Is there something you need? I don't think I need to tutor you today, do I?"

"That's right, but I just wanted to see you and verify something!"

"Alright!" Sendou is just such a person who refuses to admit defeat. The lucky pitch during the day fooled everyone, but it couldn't fool himself, so his unwillingness to admit defeat flared up.

"So, how is it?"

"As expected, it's so fast!" Saying that, she raised the bat again!

"So ga!" So Fumino just watched him hit without saying a word!

"Swoosh!"

"Clang!" Infield ground ball!

"Whiff!" Empty swing!

"Clang! Thud!" Foul ball behind.

"It's a bit too fast! This!" After hitting for an unknown amount of time, Sendou said dejectedly.

However, Sendou's depression was just his own dissatisfaction. He liked the feeling of the bat hitting the ball, the recoil of hitting the center of the ball, and the pleasure of the ball flying far away, which was completely different from hitting other parts.

But overall, ground balls and foul balls began to decrease, and empty swings only happened a few times at the beginning. Fair balls began to increase, whether in the infield or outfield. There were also many balls that powerfully hit the home run area. Although it was calculated that hitting there would basically be a home run, the pleasure it gave Sendou was far less than watching the high, far, and fast fly ball with his own eyes when he was with the Wildcats. Moreover, the pitching machine uses softballs, which is completely different from the Little League team like the Wildcats that uses hardballs.

"Ah!" Fumino was a little sleepy and patted her small mouth cutely, letting out a small yawn.

"Want to hit more?"

"Yeah, a few more. I just feel a little uncomfortable! And the more I hit, the more uncomfortable I feel, and the more uncomfortable I feel, the more I want to hit! Crap (Damn)!!!"

Sendou would never say something rude like, 'Why don't you go back first?' to Fumino. Instead, he expressed his frustration in this vicious cycle without any pretense. But only Fumino could see this side of Sendou.

After a while! ...

"Going back!" Sendou said with a still depressed face!

"Not hitting anymore?"

"Have to get up early tomorrow!"

"Feeling better?"

"Not at all!!!"

"...Let's hit again tomorrow!" He said after a slight pause.

"Okay, let's continue tomorrow!" Fumino smiled and said!

"...Yeah!"

So the two of them went back side by side. After that, Fumino went back to her room to sleep, while Sendou went to take a bath alone.

I would like to thank everyone here. Thank you for your rewards, and please continue to ask for recommendations and collections! By the way, don't think that the protagonist can really hit a 150-kilometer fastball. That's just a preemptive swing based on prediction. After all, the pitching machine's ball has a fixed trajectory and a fixed speed. Even a player like Tetsu in the original high school series can barely do without predicting in advance. As for the others, hehe. Jun-san hitting a fixed trajectory and fixed speed of 150 from the pitching machine without any spin can still result in an infield fly ball, which shows how difficult it is to hit. However, even a ball right in the center is difficult to play if you still have to consider changeups. Even Raichi or Tetsu have to aim for the trajectory, otherwise they will easily get k'd. However, the pitching machine only has this one type of ball, so predicting in advance is different. I once watched a video of a person who could barely hit a 130 km/h ball from a formal pitching machine, but recklessly opened a 210 km/h soft ball, that's right, 210 kilometers, and with advance prediction, one out of three balls would graze the edge. So, hitting several home runs from a 150 km/h pitching machine doesn't necessarily mean that the protagonist can hit 150 km/h. I'm saying this here so that you don't say I'm weakening the protagonist later.