Two Outs, runners on first and second base.
The changes in the game situation are a bit dizzying.
Isashiki Jun, who stepped into the strike zone, couldn't hold back the anger in his heart no matter what.
"Avoid the duel with Tetsu and want to get the number of Outs from This uncle, what do you take This uncle for?"
As the core Batter of Seidou High School, it is really annoying to be despised like this. Even if you change him to a player with a relatively calm personality, he will inevitably get angry right now too, not to mention Isashiki Jun's personality, which is far from calm.
"If you dare to look down on This uncle, I will definitely let you know what it means to be awesome! Come on, brat!"
Isashiki Jun has a mustache on his chin, and he has the temperament of a social person. It is really uncomfortable to be stared at by him.
Such dangerous eyes did not frighten Akutsu.
He had already planned to deal with Isashiki Jun.
The batters of Seidou High School, except for Sakai Ichiro in left field, all have their own system and style. This style allows them to be confident when facing off against their opponents. But also because of this style, their batting habits become very obvious.
Like Isashiki Jun, he is particularly good at dealing with pitchers who have good control.
Because his style is to hit a wide range and swing aggressively. Not to mention a Strike that falls into the strike zone, even if it is a Ball that deviates from the strike zone, as long as it doesn't deviate too far, he can reach it and hit it.
This is the ability of the cleanup Batter of Seidou High School, Isashiki Jun!
But again, his aggressive swinging style can be exploited.
like now.
Whoosh!
The white ball whistled and flew over.
In the face of this sharp Pitch, Isashiki Jun on the strike zone hardly hesitated and swung the bat in a weird full-swing form.
Ping!
After the low-course ball was hit, it did not bounce into a grounder but flew high.
On the strike zone, Isashiki Jun's face was a little ugly.
He didn't know what to do just now, he somehow thought that this pitch must be a Forkball.
When swinging, he swung a little lower in order to hit the sinking Forkball.
Unexpectedly for him, the white ball did not drop but was a standard Straight ball. The baseball hit the bat and bounced straight up.
In the position of the catcher, Hirahara stood up, moved a few steps forward, and caught the falling ball with his Mitt.
SNAP!
"OUT!"
After three Outs, Seidou High School's powerful offensive came to an end.
Despite facing five batters, and there was even a Four Ball in the middle. But in fact, Akutsu's pitch count was not high in the first inning.
10 balls in total!
The total number of pitches was almost on par with Sawamura, who had three strikeouts and faced four batters.
In terms of physical exertion, Sawamura Eijun, who forcibly scored strikeouts, was even more physically depleted than Akutsu.
"Something's not right."
In the first half of the second inning, before Seidou High School went on the field, Chris suddenly said to Sawamura.
"What is it?"
"The opponent seems to be deliberately preserving physical strength."
Um?
Although Sawamura himself felt the same way, after all, it was just the first inning, and he wasn't quite sure.
After Chris confirmed, he knew that his feelings should not be wrong.
Akutsu is indeed deliberately retaining his physical strength and trying to avoid increasing the number of pitches he throws.
"He had anticipated that it would be a tough Pitching Duel! And he was ready for a prolonged fight, even for extra innings."
"Then what do we do?"
"It's not just him who can use fishing balls and rely on defense to get Outs. We can do the same, and we can do it better than him."
"Yes! We can also choose to be persistent with him when attacking. Although the ball speed of 140 km/h is not slow, it is not too fast in the eyes of our batters. If we seriously are persistent, the opponent should also have a headache."
Sawamura doesn't have Akutsu's cunnings or brain, but he knows a fact, that is, he should do what he can do to make it as difficult as possible for his opponent.
Even if Akutsu wanted to reduce his own ball count as much as possible to save his stamina, Sawamura naturally couldn't make it easy for him.
'You want to preserve your strength, so I will make you pitch more.'
In the first half of the second inning, Sawamura began to throw with the Moving ball as the core.
"Fifth Batter, catcher, Hirahara-kun."
According to the information collected by Seihou High School before, Sawamura usually throws some tricky breaking balls in the first three innings, relying on strikeouts to win the first few Outs.
In Akutsu's analysis, this is called taking the lead.
In this way, opponents will think that Sawamura's ball is extremely difficult to touch, let alone hit it.
Next, they will take the initiative to adjust their own attack strategy and aim for a specific ball.
Sawamura will use the Moving ball and the fishing ball next, relying on the defense to get the number of Outs.
Sawamura's strategy was used without hesitation, and he was not at all afraid of being seen through by his opponents.
In this game, Hirahara took it for granted that Sawamura would use the same plan. Sawamura's previous plan was almost perfect, and he never failed before.
As long as nothing unexpected happens, Sawamura has absolutely no reason to change his rhythm.
With this thought in mind, Hirahara Rei's grip is not long, and he uses a short grip for accurate swing.
'Here it comes!'
Hirahara was just getting ready, and he didn't even have time to fully focus on Sawamura.
The white ball flew over with a swish sound.
'An inside corner ball!'
Gritting his teeth, Hirahara faced the ball and swung decisively.
In his opinion, this ball is either an ordinary inside corner Straight ball or a Cutter in the inside corner.
'The main reason why Sawamura threw such a tricky ball was to make me swing and miss so that they could increase the number of Strikes.'
'Think carefully!'
On the strike zone, Hirahara swung decisively.
Ping!
After the white ball was hit, it flew diagonally over the line of third base.
At the position of third base, the ready Masuko ran up and caught the ball that was about to hit the ground.
SNAP!
"OUT!"
One Out, no one hits base.
Seihou High School dugout.
Akutsu said calmly: "This ball, even if you see it from the rest area, you can see the baseball moving."
The Coach of Seihou nodded.
"Looks like they changed the strategy, this ball should be one of Sawamura's Core Weapons, the Moving ball, right? It's very difficult to deal with such a pitcher who can accurately throw such a ball in the corners."
…