As the runners-up of Texas, Riverwood Valley High School still had their pride.
If they were completely overwhelmed by Seidou High School like this and ended up with a worse result than ABC High School...
Then there would be no place for them in the baseball world.
A shameful start, but they were determined to fight back!
After their hellish beginning, the Riverwood team, instead of backing down, completely let go and began to play freely.
Both their defense and offense.
They fully displayed their style.
To become the runners-up in Texas, the second largest state in America, was no small feat.
Their strength was undeniable.
Once they calmed down and started to seriously compete with Seidou High School's baseball team, the game's momentum quickly became unpredictable.
The sudden shift caught the Seidou High School baseball team off guard, and they found themselves struggling to adapt.
At first, they had thought they were facing a lamb, but how had it suddenly transformed into a humongous bison?
The Seidou High School baseball team's players were unprepared, and the situation started to look less optimistic for them.
First of all, their offense.
After scoring two runs, the Seidou players suddenly realized that their offense wasn't as easy as it had been before.
American teams, once they find their rhythm, have very high overall quality. Their combat strength shouldn't be underestimated.
All the players focused on simplicity and efficiency.
While their actions might not look flashy, they were extremely effective.
Even if their training volume wasn't as high as the players from Seidou High School, they compensated with their superior physical advantage.
For a moment, the game became evenly matched.
"Wow!"
This sudden change of pace piqued the interest of the main players in Seidou High School's dugout.
Yes, the high school teams in America were indeed amateurs.
But not all amateur teams were without strength.
To make it to the runners-up in Texas was a display of true strength, and the Riverwood Valley team, like ABC High School, showed a completely different side.
"They're pretty good!"
"These guys on the field are quite troublesome!!!"
The players in the dugout joked casually.
From their comments, it was clear that they felt confident about winning this game.
Even if the substitutes and rotation players eventually couldn't hold off the opponent, the main players sitting in the dugout were absolutely confident that once they took the field, they would turn things around.
This confidence, of course, wasn't born out of thin air.
It came from a careful assessment of the opponent's abilities.
If the Riverwood really got fired up, they could give Seidou's backup team a tough time.
But if they faced off against Seidou's main roster...
To be blunt, they wouldn't stand a chance.
"The guys on the field don't look like they need any help," Miyuki said impatiently, standing up.
Now in his third year, he was eager to play more, knowing that his time with Seidou High School was running out.
Though he understood Coach Kataoka's strategy, he still couldn't convince himself to sit there quietly.
He stood up and started pacing.
As he walked, he gave his observations.
That "cursed" prediction was actually spot-on.
The players on the field for Seidou weren't planning to let the opponents off the hook.
The Riverwood had their reasons for not giving up.
And now, the backup players and rotation main players from Seidou also had their reasons for not allowing themselves to lose.
Moreover, their reasons for not losing were far stronger than the Riverwood's.
Up until now, the Seidou baseball team had not revealed the full 20-player roster of their main team.
Every opportunity was a chance for the players to show their worth.
They all knew that once they returned to the team, there would be little time left for further decisions.
In other words, this exchange game was their final internal competition.
The players who performed well in these games would have a shot at being on the 20-player main roster.
So whether for the team or for themselves, they couldn't afford to go easy.
The players of Seidou's baseball team played like they were on fire.
They fought desperately against their opponents.
At first, the American players managed to hold their ground, thanks to their stronger explosive power.
Even though they lacked technical skills, they could still challenge Seidou's players for a short time.
But as the game went on, that balance was hard to maintain.
By the third round, with two players on base, Yuuki Masashi hit a home run!
The two-run deadlock was completely broken.
5:0!
Those five runs felt like five daggers thrust into the Riverwood's chest, piercing the confidence they had left.
Without that confidence, the remainder of the game became much easier for Seidou.
By the ninth inning, the score had become 14:0.
Overall, the Riverwood team's strength far exceeded that of ABC High School.
With good planning, though it would still be difficult to beat Seidou's backup team, they could have had a decent match against Seidou's main roster.
But they were overwhelmed by Seidou's momentum.
As a result, they were trampled.
The standout performers in this match were pitcher Kawakami, catcher Okumura, and Yuuki Masashi.
They led Seidou's baseball team forward at different times, from different angles.
Without them, the backup players from Seidou High School would not have been able to win so overwhelmingly.
After Yuuki Masashi, another first-year student was almost guaranteed a spot in the main roster's 20-player list.
However, this player wasn't Nishiyama, it wasn't Yui, nor was it Hirota or Matsumoto.
It wasn't even Lee-Hyun, who had always been favored by Coach Kataoka and the coaching staff.
No, it was Okumura, who had recently been promoted irregularly.
The young man truly made a late surge and surprised everyone.
After this game, Seidou's baseball team played two more matches.
With their semi-pro level skills, it felt almost unfair to play against these amateur teams.
5 wins, 5 victories!
Aside from the first game against the Lone Star Academy team, Seidou High School won every other game by a large margin.
Their opponents were no match.
After five consecutive wins, Seidou High School headed to San Francisco, California.
There, they would face their second strong opponent in the exchange games.
The San Francisco representative team, Golden Gate Academy!
At the same time, Robert sent good news.
Though other regional teams had started to fear playing against Seidou High School...
There were still those who weren't afraid to die.
And one of them was an old acquaintance of Sawamura and Miyuki.
The Los Angeles representative team, Wind Youth Academy!
Seidou High School had canceled all its practice games with other high schools.
The next three opponents they would face were all Pro-level Youth academy teams in America,
San Francisco, Golden Gate Academy.
Los Angeles, Wind Youth Academy...
And the American Dream Team ranked first for four years in a row...
New York, Manhattan Academy!
~~~
After playing several matches against high schools from America, the players of Seidou High School began to feel a bit tired.
At first, they didn't understand why. They thought it was because their own strength was so overwhelming that they could crush these opponents.
But later, they found out that it wasn't exactly the case.
The Pro-level schools in America were unwilling to play against Seidou High School because their own major competitions were about to begin.
Even the top high schools didn't want to face the champion team from Japan at this time. Their players were all saving up their energy for the official games, hoping for a breakthrough.
Playing an exchange match with Seidou High School at this time wasn't guaranteed to result in a win.
The most important thing was that these public high-level matches would inevitably leak their own strategies and tactics.
The intelligence battle in America was no less intense than in Japan.
The internet era started here after all.
Later, they figured out what was really going on. The American exchange matches were not as glamorous as they sounded.
Their opponents were all amateur-level high school teams in this country.
Many of them weren't even top schools in their own states, let alone in the whole country.
Other than that one match, the rest of the games were meaningless for a team at Seidou High School's level.
Well, that's not entirely true.
There was still some value in these games, at least providing some useful insights for Coach Kataoka and the coaching staff.
It helped them figure out which players were more suitable for the main team.
After a few more days of playing such mediocre games, today was finally the start of the real challenge.
The next three games would get tougher with each one.
Their first match was against the San Francisco Golden Gate Academy team.
It was said that this team's purpose in playing the exchange match with Seidou High School wasn't exactly pure.
Like Texas Lone-Star Academy, they were facing many issues.
At this point, they couldn't worry too much about keeping their strength hidden or preventing other teams from learning their tactics.
Their main task was to quickly integrate their team into one cohesive unit to form a solid fighting force.
Only such top-tier teams would be interested in playing an exchange match with Seidou High School.
Other teams wouldn't bother unless Robert threw a check they couldn't refuse.
That was how the match with the Dream Team came about.
Robert made an offer they couldn't say no to, which led to that exchange match.
But if every team were like that, even if Robert got a lot of money from the Japanese side, it would be impossible to arrange.
After all, they weren't stupid. They needed to feel that their money was well spent before they'd open their wallets.
For example, the match between Seidou High School and the American Dream Team.
It was the top teams from both countries colliding. Of course, there was promotional value in it.
But did the matches with other regions have the same promotional value?
Hardly…
On the morning of the match, Seidou High School arrived in San Francisco to face the local team.
Before the game began, Coach Kataoka rarely gave the team a pep talk.
Previously, when facing ordinary high schools, even Coach Kataoka didn't bother talking much.
They could win with just substitutes, so what else was there to say?
But this match was different. At least San Francisco was a semi-professional team.
They were on a completely different level from the amateur teams they had faced before.
"We don't have much information on them, so everyone needs to be adaptable. Stick to the fundamentals you've learned from Seidou High School's baseball team. Stay steady, control the pace, and find their weaknesses to strike hard."
Whenever Coach Kataoka spoke, he was always so passionate.
His words fired up the team.
It was hard to deny that Coach Kataoka had a way of inspiring people.
However recently, the players of Seidou High School had a slight issue with him.
After all, he had always held back, first sending in the substitutes, trying to test the team's strength.
Even though they understood that Coach Kataoka had his reasons, it was hard for the players to accept the defeats.
Understanding was one thing, but accepting defeat was another.
The players of Seidou High School weren't unfamiliar with Coach Kataoka's intentions. They knew his approach would be beneficial for the team.
But asking them to willingly hand over their hard-earned victory? Impossible.
Especially for the substitutes who had finally gotten the chance to play. How could they be expected to lose on purpose?
They weren't willing to be stepping stones for the main team players.
The substitutes and rotating main players of Seidou High School weren't content with staying in their positions.
They all had the determination to overthrow the main team players.
To ask them to act as stepping stones for the first team? That was simply a pipe dream!
This was why Seidou High School had won five straight games.
For this, Coach Kataoka didn't have much of a solution. He could only proceed with the strategy he had planned in advance.
For today's game, however, he made a rare change.
Instead of sending all the substitutes at once, he chose to send most of the main players.
Only Sawamura was left in the rest area.
Coach Kataoka's original plan hadn't been completely abandoned.
He had only made slight adjustments, but the essence remained the same.
He wanted to see how the team would perform without Sawamura Eijun on the field.
How much fighting power could Seidou High School still have?
The idea sounded good, but the reality was a bit harsher.
…