"Hold this inning!!"
"Yeah!!!"
Before the bottom of the eighth began, Seidou gathered in a circle once again.
Having seen the resilience Amakusa had displayed, Sawamura pressed his lips together, with no intention of backing down.
"He's an incredible pitcher, isn't he?" Sendou said as he walked over to Sawamura.
"Yeah!" Sawamura nodded, his lips slightly crooked like a little girl throwing a mild tantrum.
"Then settle this with him properly!!
You're our ace now!
Even Amakusa at his absolute best won't beat you!!" Sendou said, rubbing Sawamura's head.
"Ace!!" Sawamura was somewhat moved by Sendou's words.
"Leave the scoring to us!
No matter how I look at it, this score gap is damn unpleasant. I won't let that guy walk away unscathed!" Sendou said, putting a little more force into the hand rubbing Sawamura's head.
Then he headed toward the field...
"Sawamura!" Just as Sawamura looked at that cool retreating figure with a hint of admiration, the fully geared-up Miyuki called out to him.
"This inning, all of San High's batters are left-handed!
Number Seven won't be as effective as it would be against a right-handed batter!
But they won't let their guard down against that pitch, and left-handed pitchers naturally have a major advantage against left-handed batters!
I'll use Number Seven as bait!" Before they went out to warm up, Miyuki began explaining his pitch-calling plan for the inning.
Sawamura nodded without saying much.
He was in far too good a state right now. His intense concentration kept him from thinking too much.
Still, Miyuki explained it mostly out of habit!
Ever since Sawamura had started wanting to understand pitch selection during the Autumn Tournament, Miyuki had developed this habit!
And Sawamura's presence today was so overwhelming that even Miyuki had unconsciously been intimidated by it.
He no