After saying goodbye to Raichi and his father, when the Sawamura and the two first-years returned to the school bus, they were greeted 'very nicely' by Kuramochi.
"As a Kohai, you should be more self-conscious of your Senpai. How can you let so many Senpais wait for you?"
The three of them apologized again and again, and they barely passed from his clutch.
When they all arrived, the bus moved back to Seidou.
In the car, the three people who got in the car at the back sat together.
"Eijun-kun, are you acquaintances with that father and son?"
Acquaintance?
Sawamura was stunned for a moment. before returning to the past, of course, they were acquaintances, and he and Raichi were still good friends.
But now, Sawamura doesn't know how to define their relationship.
"Yes, they are people I know."
On the other side, Miyuki was leaning against the window alone.
Hold his chin with one hand, no one knows what he is thinking there.
Chris moved his body and accidentally disturbed the contemplative Miyuki.
"Are you simulating a game with a Yakushi?" Chris asked with certainty.
Miyuki didn't deny it either. He nodded and said to Chris, "To be honest, I'm really glad that we didn't meet Yakushi High School first. With their attack strength, if we weren't prepared, we might have been destroyed first."
The opponent Yakushi is an unknown!
If Seidou fights them, what will he do?
Before the semi-finals and finals, Kataoka is likely not to let Sawamura be the starter in the game.
If things really unfolded that way, it's very likely that Seidou would have lost a lot of points from the start.
Even if Sawamura came to rescue later, Seidou might not be able to turn the tide easily.
'It's scary to think about!'
Before the competition with the Sankou High School, the three of the first year did not play before.
Even if Seidou wanted to prepare materials, there was no way to prepare them.
Therefore, the Dark Horse team has an advantage, at least in terms of intelligence, the sooner the Dark Horse is encountered in the competition, the more passive the Giant team will be.
"In this game, it depends on how our pitching squad can suppress the opponent lineup." Said Chris.
Miyuki nodded, and he agreed with him.
'However, it's hard!'
If you just talk about the competition with Yakushi High School, if Seidou goes all out, the odds of winning will be great!
However, the problem is that it will be difficult for Seidou to fight with all their strength unless Coach Kataoka is willing to expose all of his cards in the game!
The safest way, of course, is to let Sawamura complete the game. This is the strongest form of Seidou High School!
Otherwise, with other people on the pitcher mound, they would not be considered the strongest Seidou.
However, July 27 is the quarterfinals, followed by the semi-finals and finals.
Five days, three games.
Sawamura has already pitched for the game with Akikawa. If he also finishes the match against Yakushi High School…
What about the finals after that?
Physical strength, hidden cards…
These can be problems.
In this way, Seidou will not be able to fight Inashiro in a complete state.
What a Dilemma!
' 'In this game, we need Tanpa's power!' ' Chris and Miyuki looked at Tanpa at the same time.
Returning to school, and after dinner, all the players of the Seidou High School First String went to the conference room to analyze the information of the Yakushi.
Among them, of course, were the three first-year who played as the core lineup.
Todoroki Raichi, Mishima Yuta, Akiba Kazuma.
"Todoroki Raichi didn't have any record at all in middle school. Although Mishima and Akiba joined junior clubs, their results were not outstanding. No one expected that once they joined Yakushi, their strength would increase by such a huge margin."
As the person in charge of admissions, Takashima Rei naturally has some understanding of the more powerful players among freshmen.
However, she had never heard of Raichi. And Mishima and Akiba didn't meet the requirements for Seidou's recruitment.
After the three entered high school, they were able to shake the defense of the Sankou High School.
With such strength, she failed to extend an invitation in advance. It has to be said that it was her error.
"Those two guys have been learning batting with Coach Todoroki Raizou. I haven't heard their names in middle school, so it's not unusual at all. And Raichi has never joined any team!"
Sawamura said softly.
"Sawamura-kun knows them?"
No one knew how Ochiai's ears grew so attentive, but he heard Sawamura's low voice.
He immediately turned his attention to Sawamura.
Sawamura was embarrassed to be asked.
"Yes, I know a little."
"Tell us." Kataoka set his eyes on Sawamura.
"Actually it's nothing much, it's just what everyone knows. Mishima and Akiba started studying baseball with Todoroki Raizou last spring, they are his students, And Raichi is his son.
Todoroki Raizou Received an invitation from Yakushi High School to be the baseball coach, so he sent his two students and his son to Yakushi."
The three of them had been taught baseball by Todoroki Raizou, and they were all talented, so their strength was naturally stronger than that of the original players at Yakushi High School.
After discussing these three Batters, it's time to get to the other points.
If it were only these three first graders, Seidou High School wouldn't have a problem.
In baseball, if the two teams have an equal amount of attacking power, just being able to score is useless. If there is no good pitcher or a robust defense in the team that can contain the opponent's firepower, then this team will become a living target.
Yakushi High School really made Seidou feel threatened, precisely because their team, in addition to the batters, had a good Ace to stabilize the situation.
"Sanada Shunpei!"
Back number 18, good at pitching to the inside corners, and Shuuto, the ball is almost approaching 140 km/h.
It is said that even professional baseball scouts are paying attention to him.
In the game with Sankou High School, it was also because he played at the last moment that he stabilized the defense of the Yakushi and helped the Yakushi to defeat Sankou.
"I really didn't expect that there is such a pitcher in Yakushi High School!"
Sanada Shunpei has an Ace potential.
The Giants should have poached this kind of pitcher long ago.
"Anyway, if we can't conquer this guy, it will be difficult for us to secure victory."
"It's just weird, shouldn't such a guy be an Ace? Why didn't he take the lead when he played against the Sankou high school?"
Isashiki murmured.
Yeah, that's a real problem. If Sanada played early, it would have been easier for the Yakushi to win.
"It's clear that he wasn't injured, so Yakushi has other plans." Ochiai stroked his goatee and said thoughtfully.
"Okay, there are still two days left, let's take a good look at this Yakushi's Ace and think of some countermeasures."
When the discussion is over, everyone leaves.
In the conference room, Ochiai, Kataoka, Takashima, and President Ota were left.
"For the next game, Sawamura-kun should be resting, right?" Ochiai asked suddenly.
In the semi-finals and finals, Ace will definitely play.
Then in the quarterfinals, Sawamura must not pitch too much!
No team targeting Koshien will let their Ace Pitches for four consecutive matches.
…