Tug of War

"Wow, that pitcher is amazing!"

They dominated the game solely by relying on Outside Corner Ball!

My only impression of this pitcher is that fall he took in the summer. It was really funny back then. I wondered how a player like that ended up on the bench... and stuff like that!

"What a team full of hidden talents!" Seto Takuma exclaimed, while secretly glancing at Okumura's reaction.

After all, it's a catcher!

"To be honest, it really startled me before!"

The team's ace player was immediately substituted out in that situation!

That person must have been quite ruthless, right?

Although I was just laughing at him for not wanting to go back to the bench!

Is that really possible?

I used to think he was a cold-blooded monster!

As a result, he was pushed back by his teammates!

To say he has a human side? Maybe he's an incredibly easy-going person!

With the pitchers currently on the mound, Seidou has more than just different types of pitchers!

Even their personalities are different!

"Maybe they're both very interesting people!" Seeing that Okumura ignored him, Seto Takuma continued talking about things he might be interested in.

"If it's an absolute ace, the core of the team!"

He won't be replaced at that time!

"That means he hasn't gained that level of trust from the bench players yet!" Okumura said, but his eyes remained fixed on the Seidou bench.

"That's really strict!"

"But Seidou actually has a pitcher like that!"

When they had given up two runs and absolutely did not want to give up any more, with no outs, the runner on second base, and one ball on the count!

He single-handedly turned the tide!

What?!

"You can see it very clearly!" Seto Takuma chuckled to himself.

"The atmosphere on the field changes the moment this pitcher comes on!" Okumura thought to himself.

"The opponent is quite wary of Inside Corner Ball kicks, and has absolutely no information about Sawamura's Outside Corner Ball."

His posture makes it difficult to find the right timing. I think it would be interesting to continue using Outside Corner Ball kicks as the center of the pitch! Miyuki reported to Coach Kataoka, information that only a catcher could obtain.

"That's good then. That kid's in great form today, so the Outside Corner Ball shouldn't get out of control easily!" Coach Kataoka nodded in approval.

"Mmmmmm!"

Why are you getting nervous now?! Sawamura, Okumura wanted to observe, was currently clutching his chest and sweating profusely.

After all, it was my first time using Outside Corner Ball kick in a real match, and it was centered around the outside corner, so it would be a lie to say I wasn't nervous.

This guy's reaction time is as long as ever...

The sixth inning began with Seidou's lower batting lineup.

"When the opponent's ace was replaced, it was already very obvious, wasn't it?"

"Who exactly is the No. 1 pitcher of this generation?!" Mukai looked arrogantly at Seidou's bench, thinking to himself.

He thought that way because he didn't consider Sendou a pitcher at all.

The first batter in this inning was third baseman Shouji Higasa, who hit Ground Ball between first and second base on the fourth pitch, resulting in an out.

After all, Teitou's ironclad defense is well-known.

"Ninth batter! Left outfielder, Tojo- kun!"

"I didn't notice in the last round of the draw, but wasn't it Tojo, the Matsukata Senior?"

Why are you guarding the outfield?

I originally wanted to see you again in high school!

They just quit without permission!

Don't let two outsiders steal the Pitcher's Mound!!!

"In that case, I'll show you, you coward, what a real pitcher is!"

"Puff!"

"Call out!"

"Smack!"

"Nice shot!"

"First ball Diagonal Fastball!"

"With a Ball Trajectory like that from the Left Side Throw, it's really hard for the batter to get a shot off!" Mine Fujio exclaimed.

Wave it!

Come on! Swing the bat wildly!

"Ping!"

"Outside the boundary!"

"Bad ball!"

"Tojo...!"

You're not going to just do nothing, are you?

"Don't let him get too cocky if he keeps suppressing us!" Kanemaru thought to himself, cheering on Tojo as he was being chased.

"If that's how it works, then so be it!"

"If you're coming from this side, then... like this!" Sawamura once again took advantage of Kanemaru's inattention to run out of the bench and frantically sat down to demonstrate.

This reminded Sendou of how Raichi Todoroki had given Sanada a demonstration back in the summer...

They're practically identical, but Tojo obviously won't be like Sanada, whose witty remarks are completely incomprehensible.

"Get out of my way!" Kuramochi, annoyed by Sawamura's noise in the preparation area, turned around and cursed.

"...!"

"Tojo! Like this!" After a few seconds of silence, Sawamura spoke again with lightning speed, and then ran back to the bench.

Sendou was stunned, and suddenly felt that watching the game was no longer interesting.

"Puff!"

"Call out!"

"Outer corner!" Tojo saw the outer corner and immediately made his move.

However, it suddenly dropped halfway through.

"Ping!"

Relying on his body's instincts, Tojo released one hand and hit the ball with his non-dominant left hand.

"Spiral ball!" Tojo's brain only reacted just before the bat was about to make contact with the ball.

Teitou Pitcher-Catcher was also taken aback by Tojo's actions.

"With... with one hand?" Mukai exclaimed in disbelief.

"Second baseman! Behind you!!" Kenken Ken shouted.

Finally, the ball landed between the second-place player and the center-back.

Tojo successfully reached base!

"Yoshi!!" Kanemaru shouted, genuinely happy for his partner of three years.

"Just like I suggested!" Sawamura pointed to himself and boasted to Kanemaru.

"A beautiful strike!"

"My second hit of the day!"

Could this be used as a pretext to launch a counterattack?

Seidou Batting Lineup!

"What amazing waist and legs! Incredible core strength, no wonder he used to be a pitcher!" Koharu thought to himself as he prepared to enter the preparation area.

As for how Xiaochun learned about the term "core strength"...

Don't ask, the answer is that these useful but strange basics all come from the Sendou.

And Sawamura, who also possesses all sorts of strange and unusual abilities...

The knowledge he uses to show off is mostly useless...

"I haven't given up yet!"

"Whether it's the game or the pitching!" From Mukai's previous look, Tojo, who had handed the protective gear to his teammate, already knew what he was thinking, so he responded with a firm look.

Mukai saw Tojo's displeasure in his eyes, then lowered his head and began tidying up the Pitcher's Mound's mound.

"That's right!"

Back in junior high, he was the only person who could hit the winning shot against me!

"This is really annoying!" Mukai said, head down, trying to compose himself as he recalled the events.

"Run with all your might!... Don't stop..."

Run as fast as you can!... Don't stop...

"Go for it! Kuramochi!" The Seidou substitutes in the stands sang Kuramochi's support song in unison.

"They're here! The top-ranked players from the third round!"

"What a reliable guy!"

"I can't let this bastard play me for fools like this!" Kuramochi thought to himself.

Don't rush!

If we keep pursuing this, an opportunity will surely come!

In order to seize an opportunity that may never come again, I must relentlessly pursue him.

"I'll wear him down, both physically and mentally!" Miyuki thought to himself.

"Puff!"

"Call out!"

"Smack!"

"Nice shot!"

The first pitch was a low straight ball to the inside corner, landing near Kuramochi's knee!

"Puff!"

"Call out!"

"Smack!"

"Bad ball!"

Then there's the low-angled spiral ball!

"Puff!"

"Call out!"

"Ping!"

"Outside the boundary!"

Low straight ball from the outside corner!

"Puff!"

"Call out!"

"Smack!"

"Bad ball!"

A straight shot with a high inside angle!

"That was close!!"

"I almost made a move!" Kuramochi thought to himself, "That was close."

After all, he was being chased down, and many tricky and ambiguous Ball Trajectory made it difficult for him to get a shot off.

But if you don't strike, you risk getting struck out.

Just as Miyuki said, Kenken Ken's ball-receiving skills are absolutely amazing.

But they are very good at stealing good balls.

A "steal" is a ball that Strike Zone an edge to the edge of the pitch. The catcher moves his body to catch the ball face up and makes a loud sound, making the referee mistakenly think it is a good pitch.

At this point, the umpire is observing the ball to confirm the catcher's approximate position and the approximate timing before the pitcher swings his arm.

Catching it head-on could potentially mislead the arresting officer.

It can be said that Yang Shunchen misled the referee by controlling the ball in the summer, and the catcher also played a part in this.

However, Mingchuan's catcher and catching skills are not on the same level as Kenken Ken.

Think about how he tried to catch the ball from Mukai, that ball-handling genius.

How much effort must one have put in to make their hands so steady?

Ping Pong

"Outside the boundary!"

"Outside the boundary!"

"Smack!"

"Bad ball!"

The spiral ball at the outer corner simply Rebound Ball.

"The ball count is full."

"This is so annoying! How many goals is this?" a spectator asked.

"About ten goals, I think!" The person next to him was also a little uncertain.

Eleven goals!

"This hitter is really good at sticking around!" The supporters of Teitou started to get nervous.

"As expected of the top players in the third round! They won't be eliminated easily!"

"So he really stopped hitting low Changeup at the start?" Kenken Ken thought to himself.

Having balls all over their faces is not what they wanted.

After all, they are the top batters, and there is only one out. If they want to continue to build up bases, they need to perfectly suppress the second and third batters behind them.

Otherwise, with so many runners, the situation would fall to the fourth and fifth batters, the two mainstays of the Seidou Batting Lineup...

Kenken Ken felt that just thinking about it made his mind resound like thunder!

Moreover, with Miyuki present, they simply couldn't send Sendou to safety with a large number of people piled up on the mound.

Even if you deliberately walk the bases to a full load, which makes it easy to get a lot of outs, it still depends on who the batter is, right?

"Now is the time to decide the outcome!"

"We absolutely cannot let the fourth batter get to the bottom in this inning!" Kenken Ken made up his mind.

There's no need to hesitate, is there?

Qian-san!

"Let's take control right here!" Mukai saw the determination in his senior's eyes and revealed a proud smile, expressing his resolve.

"As expected of that capricious Taiyou!" Kenken Ken thought to himself, words that Mukai would surely nod proudly if he heard.

After all, both he and Narumiya Mei are the kind of people who admit to being willful and want to work hard to maintain that willfulness.

Strictly speaking, the Sendou is similar.

However, Sendou's willfulness has its limits. These two are just like children; they wouldn't argue if you told them otherwise.

Moreover, Sendou only recently started practicing hard to maintain that willful spirit because he was going through a low period.

"Puff!"

"Call out!"

"Smack!"

"Nice shot!"

"The attacker is out!"

"Watching them strike out!!"

"Second elimination!!"

"Nice pitch!!!

Taiyou!!"

"As expected of you!"

That ball control... perfect!!!

This was Mukai's most confident shot, and it was still a spiral shot.

However, thanks to his superb ball control, Mukai managed to make the ball graz the low edge of the inside corner, sending that sharp angle flying past.

Kuramochi mistakenly thought it was a bad shot and didn't shoot at all.

"Damn it!" Kuramochi's eyes widened, and he looked up at the sky in disappointment before finally collapsing there.

"Nice Ball!!! Taiyou!" Kenken Ken excitedly passed the ball.

Needless to say, his mind was racing again.

"How many balls are there in this game?" Coach Okamoto asked.

"This situation required eighteen pitches against three batters."

"From the very first game, the number of balls used by the batter to solve the problem gradually increases!"

If it weren't for Furuya's influence in the last game, things would probably have been even more difficult!

Are you really going to slowly put pressure on us, Kataoka Tsuyoshi?

However, as long as it's not that man's turn in this round, there won't be any problems! Coach Okamoto is very confident in his players.

"Do you think you can win me over by letting me shoot a few more balls?"

Snort!

"Don't underestimate me!" After being Kuramochi for so many balls, Mukai Taiyou had finally figured out Seidou's initial tactics against him.

However, what they didn't know was that Coach Kataoka had never thought that way.

Having tasted the sweetness of a max-level account in the summer, this strategy is no exception.

Coach Kataoka's ultimate weapon is still Sendou, who is idly watching the game.

Indeed, his max-level account is currently in a slump, and today he's been plagued by bad luck.

With so many people at stake, it would be best if the pitcher could just give up on himself.

If not, after the body and mind have been exhausted to a certain extent, and the Ball Trajectory has been fully observed and become familiar.

The pressure Mukai faces when confronting Sendou increases exponentially.

Just like in summer, other tactics rely on luck, but these tactics have the most stable offensive routines behind them.

That is, Sendou personally tore through the pitcher's mental defenses, and then Miyuki expanded upon them.

Most pitchers would be stunned if it was just one run, and even if they managed to get through it, the psychological impact wouldn't be easy to recover from.

This will also be of great help in the subsequent stringing process.

This can be considered a virtuous cycle.

Although Teitou knew this, he didn't want too many people to encounter Sendou on the base.

But I never expected Coach Kataoka to go to such lengths.

One thing leads to another, unless they can suppress the Sendou indefinitely.

Even during this low period, they need Lady Luck to lend them a little more luck.

Of course, Coach Kataoka would never make a bold prediction.

After all, Lady Luck is the one who punishes all who refuse to submit.

For example, today, Seidou has had a really bad day.

However, strategy and tactics are simply about doing one's best and leaving the rest to fate!

Requesting votes...