West Tokyo, Jingu Stadium.
The game has not yet officially started, and the entire stadium is already full of audience. The management of the stadium is also considering whether to open the outfield stands.
It is said that the outfield stands of Jingu Stadium have not been opened for a while.
"Seidou!"
"Sawamura!"
"Yuuki!"
"Chris!"
"Miyuki!"
Accompanied by bursts of cheers, the Players of Seidou High School appeared.
"West Tokyo qualifiers, the first game of the semi-finals, Seidou High School's game against Sensen High School officially begins."
In the first half of the first inning, Seidou High School attacked.
Right now, the two sides have already obtained each other's batter order list.
Sensen's rest area, Superintendent Ugai Kazuyoshi is looking at the batter list in his hand and Holding his chin with the other hand.
"Seidou is indeed a Seidou. I didn't expect that in such a crucial game, they didn't let the Ace play. I really don't know whether you are too confident, arrogant, or ignorant. You should know that this pitcher is very easy to collapse."
"First Batter, shortstop, Kuramochi!"
"Hyaa-ha-haa~"
Kuramochi walked up to the strike zone while waving the bat in his hand.
He kept recalling yesterday's practice in his mind.
The results of the training are extremely pessimistic.
Originally, they didn't think too highly of Sensen High School, and naturally, they didn't think too highly of Sensen's Ace Maki.
Nevertheless, through yesterday's practice, the Players of Seidou High School deeply realized their naivety.
Things are probably more complicated than they imagined.
The real Maki ball may not be so easy to hit.
In Kuramochi's own case, although he touched the ball, he didn't hit the ball.
'In this case, the probability of hitting a hit in the first inning is really not high. It's better to steal base.'
Right now, Kuramochi had already made up his mind that in the first inning, he would use bunts and steal bases.
This is easy to say, but it's not that easy to do.
The opponent will definitely expect that you will use the possibility of bunting and stealing bases.
So, you will definitely be targeted.
In the case that the opponent is targeting you, it is necessary to bunt accurately and the running speed has to be fast.
The advantage of Kuramochi is that he is fast enough!
Ping!
After the small white ball was touched, it did not stop between the pitcher and the first baseman as Kuramochi had hoped but instead moved toward the pitcher's position.
"Damn, this high drop is too hard to touch!" Kuramochi murmured angrily.
But his movements did not stop because of this. He threw his bat away and ran.
Even if he touches the ball, he is not as accurate as he wanted, and he may not be able to hit the base.
He started running to first base as agile as a cheetah.
It's just that he is fast, and someone moves faster than him.
Maki on the pitcher's mound, although big, he was not slow at all.
He picked up the ball quickly and sent it to first base.
SNAP!
Just by a tiny margin, Kuramochi failed to get on base.
"Damn, what a waste!"
"With your immature bunt skills, being able to run to that position is already very good!" Kominato Ryosuke laughed.
"Second Batter, second baseman, Kominato-kun."
As the second batter in the team, Kominato Ryosuke, of course, wants to consume more of his opponent's balls right now.
Ping!
After tangling for a few balls, Kominato Ryosuke hit the ball forward.
His face was very ugly, and he didn't want this ball to go in the field.
But there is no way. The opponent's pitching is too weird. With such a huge gap, he needs more focus to judge the timing of the swing.
Not only is Maki's height a problem, but his entire stride is not large.
Not only is his stride not large, it can even be said to be very small. In this way, he can use his height properly in his pitching form.
The ball from his hand to the catcher's Mitt is a very curved line. Especially when pitching low balls, the angle of this curved line is even more exaggerated.
When aiming for the ball, the Batter cannot aim for a straight line but must find the intersection with the curved line.
Kominato Ryosuke really wanted to teach Maki a lesson.
There is no deep reason, he just had a grudge against tall people.
Ryosuke is naturally dissatisfied with those tall pitchers like Maki. And Tanpa.
He was in such a situation that he wanted to teach Maki a good lesson, but with Maki's pitching, it was very difficult for him to just judge the intersection, let alone hit all such balls Oot of bounds with precision.
Because of Kominato Ryosuke's mistake in judgment, the consequences were very serious.
Ping!
After the white ball was hit, it flew to third base.
At the third base, someone had been waiting there for a long time and caught the ball in their Mitt.
"OUT!"
Two Outs, no one on base.
The fast first Batter and the Devilish second Batter.
Seidou High School's first two Batters were all dealt with neatly.
Maki Yosuke!
He is very tall, so he is very visible on the mound. The sense of existence displayed right now is amazing.
High!
Powerful!
Troublesome!
In the rest area of Seidou High School.
Chris rubbed the Mitt in his hands, his eyes resting on Maki on the mound.
"When I read the information before, I didn't expect the opponent to be such a tough pitcher."
Although Maki's pitching is very distinctive, in previous games, his ball was not the type that people can't hit.
Logically speaking, the batters at Seidou High School shouldn't have a hard time with him.
Nevertheless, currently, even Kominato Ryosuke has been resolved.
"In addition to his own strength, the pitcher's state also fluctuates. Although I don't know the reason, but depending on the situation, today's Maki is in a state better than his usual."
Sawamura is also looking at Maki.
For Maki, the memory of him was rather vague.
Throughout his high school years, Maki didn't become a rival.
In theory, Maki's strength is just that.
Very good in the Tokyo area, and can even be regarded of the top ten pitchers.
But that is it. Later, as Seidou High School became more and more powerful, the top ten pitchers in Tokyo were not enough.
He just didn't expect that Maki's condition would be so good today.
"The third Batter, Center, Isashiki-kun"
"Smash it out, Spitz!"
"Shout, Spitz."
"Connect the attack."
Seeing Isashiki playing, the stands immediately became noisy.
They stared at Isashiki eagerly, hoping to see Isashiki create a miracle.
It's no wonder that they have such an idea. Among all the Batters in Seidou High School, everyone has their own individualities.
What is the specialty of Isashiki? hitting weird pitches!
He is especially good at hitting those irregular pitches, such as the Ball outside the strike zone, the tricky ball…
Like now, Maki's pitching, because he is taller, has a big drop like a steep curve.
Like this, Maki is undoubtedly a very peculiar pitcher.
Isashiki has a lot of experience against such an opponent.
Therefore, everyone is looking forward to Isashiki being able to hit the ball out.
"I'm not a Spitz!"
Ping!
As if to wield all the power in his body, Isashiki hit the ball with precision.
It actually hit!
In the first round of attack, Isashiki found the rhythm of his swing.
SNAP!
The thought is okay, but the reality is not. Although the ball was hit, it did not hit as expected.
The white ball was caught by the outfielder of Sensen High School.
"OUT!"
Three Outs, offense and defense exchange.
Such a neat result has no other meaning than declaring the power of Maki!
"It's so difficult~"
This kind of development is obviously beyond the expectations of all the Players of Seidou High School.
They may have thought before that there will be some difficulty in the game.
Nevertheless, it was never expected to be like this.
"It seems that it is very difficult to conquer this pitcher easily!"
Chris took a deep look at Maki on the mound, then turned to look at Tanpa.
In the previous match with Yakushi High School, Tanpa's performance was unsatisfactory, and he didn't have the look of the third-year Ace.
Is it appropriate to send him to the field in such a crucial game?
Of course, doing this is also to allow Seidou High School to go more smoothly in the future.
"Looks like this game will be a Pitcher Duel for a while. You won't be faint-hearted, will you, Tanpa?"
"Of course not!"
Tanpa seemed to feel Chris's worries so he replied reassuringly.
We will suppress them together!
"Very good!"
As his partner, seeing Tanpa have such confidence, of course, Chris is very pleased.
…
T/N: Thank you all for reading!!
You also can check my Patre0n for extra Chapters.
https://www.patre0n.com/ColdColt
There are +85 Chapters there.
I hope you all have a nice day!