Analyzing the Opponent

Quite some time had passed by the time Sendou and Coach Kataoka asked the reporter for help.

Everyone in Seidou was waiting outside the stadium for the bus to arrive.

"Miyuki! Win the next match too!"

"Sendou-kun!! I'll come back tomorrow to watch you swing the bat!"

Let's defeat Narumiya again, just like in the summer!

"Nice game! Seidou!"

"Seidou is the strongest!!"

As the fans left the stadium, they cheered for the players one by one before heading home.

"How was it? First time starting?" Tojo asked Kanemaru with a smile.

"This is so awesome!"

"A-Yuan! Let's fight it out tomorrow too!"

Maezono blushed and nodded to the unknown fan, politely leaning forward in return.

"Everything's going smoothly so far!" Miyuki said to Kuramochi.

"Ah! The main event has finally arrived!"

"Next, we'll see what kind of team Inajitsu becomes, and what kind of evolution Ming will undergo!"

If I can't get past that hurdle tomorrow, there won't be anything after that!

"Ugh!!!" Furuya was standing next to Coach Kataoka, exuding an aura that made others grit their teeth, not knowing where to begin.

"Save your energy, Furuya! Save your Fighting Spirit for tomorrow!"

Meanwhile, Sawamura was surrounded by his seniors in the stands.

"Sawamura's pitch was great! Although it was just a coincidence!"

"Huh?" Sawamura was pleased to hear the first half of the sentence, but then he was taken aback by the ending.

"Isn't this a good job!"

It was just a coincidence!

One after another, the seniors teased Sawamura, leaving Sawamura somewhat bewildered.

"Ah! Thank you for the compliment!" Sawamura bowed respectfully.

Then Sawamura saw Furuya and Coach Kataoka doing something behind his back, and immediately ran over.

"If I can shoot tomorrow, I will perform even better than I did today!"

High school students grow exceptionally fast during this period!

Sawamura, standing in front of Coach Kataoka, went on a wild display of his talent, swinging his arms wildly as he got excited.

"Wow, he really knows how to show off!" Kariba remarked with an exclamation.

Furuya knew he wasn't good with words, so he kept staring at Coach Kataoka, as if staring at him long enough would make Coach Kataoka feel embarrassed and allow him to play.

Head Manager Oota repeatedly reassured the two energetic men.

Furuya saw Sawamura swinging his arms, he followed suit, Coach Kataoka could only cross his arms like a statue, pretending not to see anything.

"I wonder if the match over there has ended yet?"

"You mean Oota Ballpark?"

At this moment, several second-year substitutes in the stands gathered around Kudou- senpai and began to discuss the matter.

"I'm calling Abe right now!" Kudou replied, holding the phone.

"Ugh!!!" Kudou- senpai suddenly exclaimed.

This drew the attention of others as well.

"You lost... You're talking about Inajitsu?"

Upon hearing Kudou's words, everyone lost their will to speak.

"Kudou! Is this true?" Ono couldn't help but run over and ask.

"Ah!

"The game just ended, the score is 2 to 1, Ugumori won!" Kudou put down the phone and said, still sounding incredulous.

"I see!

In the end, there was no chance to play again!

"Looks like we'll have to wait until next year!" Sendou murmured to himself.

The Autumn Tournament is the last tournament in the Tokyo area this year.

Sendou, who only remembers the result, is very curious about the reasons for Inajitsu's failure.

After all, Inajitsu had an extra month to integrate the new team compared to his previous life.

If it's not a technical issue, then it must be a matter of mindset.

Just like Seidou a while ago, they had to fight a small, weak team until the very end.

Otherwise, even if the two teams are mismatched and the pitchers are terrible, Seidou Batting Lineup can still make the game a foregone conclusion much earlier.

"The bus is here!" someone shouted.

"Let's go back first! As for the match... we'll watch the video when Watanabe gets back!" Coach Kataoka, who had been acting like a statue, suddenly "came back to life."

"Hi!!"

After returning, the Seidou athletes began to put away their luggage, change clothes, and tidy up their belongings.

It will take Watanabe-senpai quite some time to return.

The contestants chose to roam freely in a few fixed locations. A few first and second-year students, a few members of the coaching staff, and Sendou, who had nothing else to do, stayed in the cafeteria to wait.

"I'm back!

"Let's see... the match!" Sure enough, as evening fell, Watanabe-senpai opened the door and entered the cafeteria.

"Ah! I'm counting on you!" Senior Kuramochi said.

Welcome back!

Abe, how's it going on the scene? What's Ugumori's strength like? Miyuki seemed even more anxious, directly asking about the most important thing.

After all, Ugumori is a team from East Tokyo, and even Teitou only got the recordings because Rei-chan used his personal connections.

Ugumori is a member of the top 16, and apart from their performance this summer, Seidou knows practically nothing about them.

"Um!

It seems that Inajitsu did not perform to its full potential, but...

Ugumori, so he really has real skills! Watanabe-senpai said what everyone wanted to know first.

The difference between directly eliminating Inajitsu and not directly defeating them is significant.

"Terribly sorry!

"Excuse me, was that Narumiya -san... kicked out and lost?" Sawamura asked.

By this time, Sawamura no longer called him "White Hair".

This is a recognition of strength, even though the honorific was added later...

As a first-grader who got to play against Inajitsu, Sawamura had the deepest impression of Narumiya Mei.

"Don't rush, Sawamura!"

Let's watch the game first!

"We were also taken aback!" Kanemaru interrupted.

"His condition should be fine, but there seems to be some problem with the Signals between the thrower and the catcher," Watanabe-senpai explained as best he could.

Let's leave it at that!

Let's watch the video first!

More important than the teams we've already lost are tomorrow's opponents!

Quickly change your mood in your mind.

Even Sendou didn't care!

They have an indescribable relationship!

"Keep in touch!" Miyuki pointed at Sendou, who was secretly reading a comic book.

"I'm wondering what it would be like if Ugumori against Teitou next summer."

I'm kind of looking forward to it!

"Although I don't like Ugumori's style, they are a completely different team from Teitou!" Sendou said.

"You!" Miyuki was speechless.

He hadn't expected that Sendou would think so far ahead.

"However, upon closer reflection, it's still quite lucky!"

"We don't have to fight Narumiya!" Senior Asou exclaimed, looking at the ceiling.

"Hey!"

"If you think like that, it's no wonder you didn't play well!" Kijima-senpai coldly retorted.

"Huh?" Aso stood up excitedly.

"We are facing a team that has defeated Inajitsu's high morale!"

If we're careless...

"We will too!" Senior Yamaguchi and Kijima agreed.

"Thinking like that is too weak!!"

"Where's the luck? That's called carelessness!"

"What if we lose the momentum before the fight even starts?"

We will win!

"Sendou just said he's looking forward to Ugumori Teitou playing in the game!"

He's been to their matches! Senior Yamaguchi brought up Sendou.

"What do you think of Sendou?" Aso asked.

"It's true that we will win, but..."

I wouldn't call it luck!

If possible, I would prefer to compete against Inajitsu!

Their loss to Ugumori shows that their team has a fatal flaw!

Although I don't like Ugumori's team and they're not as good as ours, but...

"That team could be really weird if we don't handle them well!" Sendou recalled Ugumori's game a week ago and remembered Akashi from his junior high school days.

"Something strange?" Senior Asou asked in confusion.

"Right!

A team that completely disregards strategy and acts even more recklessly than the pharmacist.

If they were given a strong presence, they would unleash a terrifying force.

Those guys have been together since junior high!

Being together definitely means you want to do something!

"Such a team, with their perfect teamwork, trust, Fighting Spirit, is absolutely top-notch!" Sendou replied.

Baseball is a team sport. Ugumori, whose individual skills are all quite good, has a level of understanding and mutual trust that far surpasses that of other teams. This is their biggest advantage in winning against stronger opponents.

Let's discuss these things later!

"Watch the video first!" Coach Kataoka said in a deep voice.

"Go and call everyone over!" Miyuki said.

"Hey!" Kanemaru and Tojo shouted after winning the fight and went to gather the others.

"The first one to be released is the Furuya; the others will be announced tomorrow!"

The opponent defeated Inajitsu and is in high spirits!

Moreover, judging from this match, just as Sendou said before, their level of understanding and mutual trust is extraordinary.

Moreover, they remained highly motivated and showed no signs of Fighting Spirit even when they were behind in the final stages.

Don't let your guard down until you win!

Otherwise, they could be overturned no matter what! Coach Kataoka could only offer a few key words to a team that lacked information and played such a chaotic style.

"Hi!"

Oh, right Sendou! You can come to the Supervisor's Room tonight.

"We'll deal with today's punishment after tomorrow's match."

"Punish?"

Didn't I already say that?

"I don't care what kind of hit you get today, but if you hit a bad pitch, you have to run ten laps around the field!" Coach Kataoka said with great enthusiasm.

Everyone in the room was covered in cold sweat.

The opposing team went toe-to-toe with Sendou for two at-bats, hitting two Home Run, but Sendou was penalized for those two at-bats...

"I understand!" Sendou admitted defeat.

"Above! Dismissed!!"

Coach Kataoka and his team left, and when Furuya heard that he would be starting, his aura ignited in the room.

Furuya excitedly went to run laps, and just as Sawamura was about to follow, he was taken away by Kudou -senpai and Higashio- senpai.

Koharu also followed Sawamura.

The rest of the regulars and several key second-year rotation players stayed on.

"Umemiya Seiichi!"

"As expected, the key to both the pitching and hitting was this man!" Kuramochi said, watching the replay of the crucial moments.

"He's the one who got the game-winning hit from Narumiya!" Senior Asou exclaimed.

"Instead of forcefully hitting the Outside Corner Ball, he Push Hit the right middle..." Kuramochi was still marveling at Mei Seiichi's hitting technique.

"The key is that the runner started running without hesitation; they were practically of one mind!" Senior Yamaguchi remembered what Sendou had said before about Ugumori's tacit understanding, and that's how he noticed the detail.

"That's blatant self-destruction!" Miyuki said angrily.

"Hmm?" Everyone except Sendou looked over.

"The catcher's pitch selection was clearly a setup to end the game with Changeup!"

I don't know what Narumiya was thinking, but when he shook his head, the outcome was decided!

"If I were the catcher, I would never let him act so recklessly!" Miyuki said with great confidence.

The seniors stared blankly at Miyuki, their faces breaking out in a cold sweat.

After all, this guy rarely gets angry, but when he does, it's terrifying. This time, he's even stopped barking, clearly indicating that he's become quite angry.

"Well, Miyuki -san, are you angry?" Ono-senpai asked politely.

The classmate used polite language, clearly speaking in a joking tone, not wanting to make the atmosphere too heavy.

"I'm not angry!" Miyuki said in an angry tone.

"You're just angry!" Ono shouted.

So you weren't the catcher!

Baka!

However, you are right about that!

That hitter was technically skilled, but extremely naive!

"He's the kind of person who's easy to deal with!" Only Sendou has the right to call Miyuki an idiot.

"The coordination of the attacks was also poor, and it looked very stiff!"

"It's only natural that they'll lose!" After being silenced for a few seconds by Sendou's retort, Miyuki continued.

"Indeed, the batting is a bit too strong!" Ono agreed.

"If we consider the individual strength of the players, Inajitsu has an overwhelming advantage."

But Ugumori was stronger that day, that's all!

"In short, the biggest wall on our path to defending our title has been removed."

Let's treat this as a strong advantage!

We must crush Ugumori's momentum in one fell swoop!!!

"Please! Fourth batter!" Miyuki said seriously to Sendou.

Sendou glanced at him!

"What's wrong?" Miyuki couldn't help but ask.

"As expected, it would be much easier if the opponent were Inajitsu!"

There is no trust between the thrower and the catcher. The white-haired guy doesn't trust his catcher at all and wants to lead the team himself.

The idea is good, but this guy is completely brainless...

The batting lineup was a bit too aggressive, it was basically a mess of individual players, everyone trying to win the game with their own bats!

Just like some of those small fry who beat up a bunch of trash a month ago!

However, they were led by that white-haired individualist, and some people..."Sendou went on a killing spree, taking down both friend and foe.

After watching the video, Sendou understood why Inajitsu had lost.

This is not a matter of strength at all.

"...!" The people mentioned by Sendou were once again speechless.

Thinking about it, it's exactly the same. Coach Kataoka lost his temper the most this year back then.

With the Sendou is played, there's no way to have a conversation.

"That's enough! I'm heading back now!" Sendou said, seeing that the group had lost their "fighting spirit" and were preparing to return to their camp victorious.

I'm planning to challenge myself to sleep at a normal time today, so I'm starting to write earlier.