Akutsu Watari stood on the strike zone, giving a very strange feeling.
He's not an opponent who can be easily dealt with.
He is not like Raichi, where there is a dangerous aura all over him, giving a feeling of not being messed with.
No, facing Akutsu was like facing a rigid machine.
It's so cold and calculating…
The rich experience in the competitions has given Sawamura an instinctive understanding of his opponents.
The opponent in front of him is probably a hundred times more difficult than everyone expected.
'He's strong!'
It is just Sawamura's intuition that was giving him very dangerous signs.
Right now, Chris, who was in the catcher position, did not feel this way. For him, Akutsu Watari is really not a difficult opponent.
Judging from the information obtained by Seidou High School before, Akutsu is indeed a very strong Batter and often gets hits, but he is not the type that Sawamura can't deal with.
In particular, Chris has extraordinary confidence in Sawamura. He thinks that although Akutsu is good, he is probably too normal to hit Sawamura's pitching.
If it is the third round and the fourth round of attack, they still need to be careful at that time.
After all, Sawamura's pitching at that time would inevitably decrease in terms of ball speed.
Moreover, opponents would have become accustomed to Sawamura's pitching.
At the time, the catcher's Game calling is extremely important, and Chris must be cautious.
But for now, as the game has just started, it is very difficult for the opponent to just adapt to Sawamura's pitching, let alone hit Sawamura's pitching accurately.
It is a very happy thing to make game calling for Sawamura. Any of Sawamura's Breaking balls has an extraordinary effect when used for the first time.
It's easy to score Strikes, or even get Out.
Without thinking too much, Chris gave Sawamura the sign.
The first ball: Change-up!
This ball seems to be randomly matched, but with Chris's mindset, even if it is his random game calling, there is a lot of thinking in it.
First and foremost, Sawamura Struck Out the first and second batters of Seihou High School, and he didn't use Change-up in the strikeouts.
So far, Sawamura has never thrown a Change-up, and suddenly a Change-up is thrown, which will definitely catch the batter by surprise.
Not to mention, this is the first ball against this batter.
Faced with Sawamura's Wall-Making Form, it is generally difficult for the batter to swing the bat on the first pitch.
If he even can't swing how would he get a hit?
Even if he wanted to swing, how will he get the right Timing in face of this sudden pitch?
Taken together, the probability of the opponent not swinging the first ball is very high!
Even if the opponent chooses the ball path to swing at, it is impossible to choose a Change-up on the first ball. This aspect involves psychology, so there is no need to explain it.
If Sawamura's first Change-up Pitch is successful, this impression will be deeply imprinted in the minds of the batters at Seihou High School.
This will definitely disrupt the batter's next swing.
Even if he didn't deliberately have a full game calling plan, Chris made a casual calling and dug a lot of holes for Akutsu and the Batters of Seihou High School.
Sawamura on the pitching mound couldn't help but smile when he saw Chris-shisho's call.
'Chris-senpai is so cool.'
'It makes you feel a little sorry for the opponent…'
Whoosh!
The white ball whizzed Out.
Akutsu, who was on the strike zone, did not swing the bat on the first ball.
The white ball slowly fell into Chris's open Mitt.
SNAP!
"STRIKE!!"
At this moment, the entire Koshien fell into a brief silence.
After a full second or two, a spectator in the audience opened his mouth in surprise and said incredulously.
"Oh my gosh, the Change-up was on the first pitch!"
Change-ups are often used with Straights, mostly to disrupt the timing of the batter's swing.
It's rare for Sawamura to boldly use a Change-up on the first Pitch.
If the opponent is the type of batter who can wait for the ball to enter his hand before swinging the bat, even if they did not aim for the Change-up before, they can also swing the bat right now.
Sawamura dares to throw a Change-up on the first Pitch because Sawamura's ability is high.
"As expected of the Maou!"
The audience in the stands still recognized Sawamura's bold pitching. Even many baseball professionals were full of praise for Sawamura's pitching.
The vast majority of people at the scene believed that Sawamura would be able to solve the batter very smoothly, and even get a strikeout.
It is understandable that they would think so.
After all, the Maou Sawamura is famous for having a solid start. As long as Sawamura starts pitching, 90% of the first innings are three Strikeouts.
This can also be regarded as a signature of the Maou.
There should be no surprise today.
Everyone thought so, and the accident happened.
Sawamura's second pitch was thrown!
Whoosh!
The small white ball was thrown from Sawamura's hand like a laser beam.
The speed of the ball is very sharp, and the angle is straight into the inner corner.
Originally, Akutsu, who didn't swing at all in the first ball, was no longer standing still against this ball thrown by Sawamura Eijun.
He swung his bat very decisively into the inside corner.
'What?'
In the position of the catcher, Chris had a bit of disbelief in his eyes.
He glanced at Akutsu on the strike zone in disbelief and didn't understand why Akutsu could see through his game calling.
It's just that the situation at the scene changed so quickly, but he didn't give him much time to think about it.
Ping!
The ball that Sawamura threw into the inner corner was forcibly swept away.
On the pitcher's mound, Sawamura's expression also changed.
Before the ball was hit, Sawamura didn't have any vigilance or premonition in his heart.
In his original thinking, he thought that this ball should be able to win a Strike.
But it backfired, and the white ball was just so abruptly hit.
"Shortstop!"
Sawamura hurriedly called Kuramochi to guard.
The white baseball had clearly crossed the line between third base and pitcher. Now he can only pin his hopes on the shortstop.
"Hyaa-ha-haa!"
Like a running cheetah, Kuramochi ran non-stop to the point where the baseball fell and then failed to stop the rebounding baseball by the slightest margin. He watched the white baseball land one meter in front of him and leap to the outfield.
"Gone through!"
"A long Hit!"
With a nice hit, Akutsu blew himself to second base like a gust of wind.
Two Outs, runner at second base!
The next batter, was Seihou High's fourth bat, Shuzo Sano.
At this moment, in the stands of Koshien, which has tens of thousands of spectators, there is no sound.
They are still trying to digest the situation in front of them.
Incredible, really incredible!
The Maou, who had a solid start, actually lost a hit in the first inning?
…