In the finals of summer Koshien, Seidou High School is playing against Komadai Fujimaki High School.
When the game reached the ninth inning, the score between the two sides was still 0:0. In this game, Sawamura Eijun's performance was perfect and impeccable, and so far, no player from the Komadai Fujimaki High School has been on the base.
A game with no hits, a Perfect Game until now.
In front of millions of fans, Sawamura Eijun used his tyrannical skills to justify his title as the Demon King.
During the match, everyone believed with the pitching of Sawamura Eijun, Seidou High School would definitely be able to easily win the national championship and then dominate the country.
But the reality is not so easy.
The Komadai Fujimaki High School is not for nothing. In this game, the two pitchers, Ace Nitta, and the monster rookie Hongou who played later showed an amazing performance and unbreakable defense.
The two teamed up to block the entire Seidou High School lineup so that the Seidou High School batter has only scored four effective hits so far.
Which turned the game into a blazing Pitching Duel.
The score is 0:0.
As the game progresses, its unpredictability increases. While Seidou High School still holds a strong chance of victory, a turnaround by Komadai High School would not be considered surprising.
This is a close match with a slight power gap.
This may sound a bit strange for someone who didn't watch the game, but the audience who has watched this game definitely feels this way. There is a gap in strength, and the strength of Seidou High School is obviously a little higher than that of Komadai Fujimaki High School.
In this game, both sides showed their abilities, no one dropped points, and no one scored.
A real even match.
In the first half of the ninth inning, Seidou High School was attacking.
The situation is now a one Out with no one on base.
"Third batter, pitcher, Sawamura-kun."
After seeing Sawamura standing on the strike zone, the entire Koshien stadium immediately fell into a state of madness.
Initially, as the game approached its later stages, the audience's enthusiasm had somewhat diminished, yet looks like these subtleties have nothing to do with Sawamura.
They cheered for the young Ace with all their might!
In this game, Sawamura Eijun's performance was literally Perfect. This is not just about pitching, but even with hitting, Sawamura is the best performer in this game now.
He was the only one with two hits in this game.
He had won one against Nitta before. Later, the freshman Hongou Masamune came on the field, and Sawamura won another one from him.
In the crucial situation of the final, there is such a performance. It is no surprise that the first-year Cleanup has such high expectations.
It's just that high expectations are not all good. Just like now, Hongou and Renji, the battery, looked at Sawamura with eyes that wanted to burn him alive.
If their eyes could really shoot lasers, Eijun would have burned his ashes long ago.
In the face of such an opponent, there is no place for hesitation, and it is natural to go all out.
The first ball: Slider!
Sawamura is indeed good at dealing with breaking balls, but that's because pitchers' Breaking balls are slower than their Straight balls, and also have less power.
For such a ball with no ball speed and no power, he can hit whatever he wants.
SNAP!
"STRIKE!"
'Damn! I can't get a read on him.'
In the previous at-bat, Sawamura depended on his knowledge of Hongou to get the last hit, but now Renji taking the lead, and Hongou is just following.
Because he was good at hitting breaking balls, Sawamura thought they would throw Straight balls against him, which the crafty Renji knew and did the opposite.
Moreover, Hongou's Breaking balls are different, although this guy doesn't have many Breaking balls, only two. But he has honed these two Breaking balls to the highest level. Not sacrificing much of the power and speed.
The second ball: Forkball!
Roaar!!
SNAP!
"STRIKE!"
Sawamura still couldn't make contact with the ball.
'The speed of the ball is not reduced. Even the power of the ball has not changed much!'
This made Sawamura, who was very stable in his swing, unable to make contact.
Against the Breaking ball, Sawamura can get hits with experience and dexterous swing.
Against a ball with power, Sawamura can also use his new batting stance to increase the stability of his swing.
But like Hongou, there are breaks, as well as the power of the ball, and the speed of the ball.
The third ball: A Forkball!!
Renji gave the sign for the third ball.
Hongou threw the ball as asked without delay.
Facing the third ball after two strikes, Sawamura really had no choice but to swing.
When he opened the stance and increased the swing angle, there was no way he could swing the bat dexterously.
In fact, for a pitcher of this level in Hongou, it is not difficult at all to deal with Sawamura Eijun. He is just a paper tiger. As long as he can go all out, the only way for Sawamura to hit his balls either is by guessing or luck.
Right now, Sawamura's luck is really not good.
Not to mention hitting Hongou's ball, he didn't even touch it.
"STRIKE BATTER OUT!!!"
This scene is more embarrassing.
Sawamura Eijun, who is regarded as a pillar of Seidou, was struck Out by his Hongou right now.
The Komadai, who was originally low in momentum, suddenly gained a lot of momentum.
And Sawamura, who returned to the rest area, was even more embarrassed.
He didn't even know how to explain this to his teammates.
"What happened is now in the past. Change your mood and don't let it affect your pitching."
Instead, it was Coach Kataoka, who showed his understanding side right now, instead of reprimanding Sawamura, he comforted him.
"Get ready for pitching in the second half."
After speaking, Coach Kataoka continued to instruct.
"Yes!" Eijun nodded solemnly.
It is also strange to say that Renji and Hongou saw him as if they saw an enemy. How can you be so motivated?
Strange!
"Fourth Batter, first baseman, Yuuki-kun."
After Kominato Ryosuke and Sawamura Eijun were Out one after another, it was the turn of Seidou's Captain of Steel to make his attack.
Yuuki on the strike zone is still the same focused look.
In the face of high school's best batter, Renji did not dare to have the slightest carelessness.
Any carelessness right now is absolutely fatal.
'Go all out!'
Thinking about it, Renji gave Hongou a sign.
They have to make sure they don't drop points to have any hope of a playoff. If they lose a run here, It is very likely that they will go back with the Runner-Up Trophy.
In this regard, Hongou has no objection. He only started playing in the sixth inning. So far, he has only played four innings, and he still has a lot of stamina.
Roaar!
The small white ball came flying, and when it approached the batter's hand, it suddenly slid to the outside.
In the face of this ball, Yuuki was not holding back and swung the bat directly.
PANNG!
After the white ball was hit, it flew far out of bounds.
"FOUL!"
On the strike zone, there was no change in the expression of Yuuki Tetsuya.
He was still staring intently at Hongou on the pitcher's mound.
...