Two Outs, no runners on base.
The batter was Angelo, who had previously hit a home run.
A pitcher with incredibly fastball speed, and a powerful hitter.
The confrontation between these two players captivated the attention of everyone at the scene.
No spectator could ignore this moment, and the outcome of their confrontation would directly determine the direction of the game.
"Two Outs!"
"Two Outs!!!"
"Let him hit!"
"I'll stop it, I swear!"
"Go for it, Furuya!"
"Don't hold back!"
"Use your speed to overpower him."
The fielders on the baseball team also sensed that this confrontation was extraordinary.
So, each of them showed their unyielding stubbornness in their eyes.
They began cheering for their teammate, Furuya.
"There is no need to be this loud, they're just passing on their anxiety to the pitcher."
Coach Ochiai was indifferent to this act of support from his players.
He rubbed the small beard on his chin and mumbled.
Hearing Ochiai's muttering, Sawamura turned to look at his coach in surprise.
'As expected of the seasoned strategist, coach Ochiai truly had a keen sense of the situation.'
What he said was spot on. The fielders were yelling so loudly because they had also sensed that the atmosphere on the field was unlike usual.
But they didn't realize that by yelling like that, they might be shaking the pitcher's determination.
Fortunately, Furuya was not the type of person to be swayed by such things.
Catcher Miyuki would never let this phenomenon go unchecked either.
This was a confrontation that mattered!
'Just don't think that just because the other guy is tall and strong, he can't handle a breaking ball. That guy is quite skilled at hitting breaking balls.'
Sawamura knew this from painful experiences in MLB.
He focused intently on Miyuki.
In fact, the characteristics of the big guy Angelo had already been shown in his earlier confrontation with Nishiyama.
'The question was, did Miyuki-senpai notice it?'
Sawamura was very clear in his mind that this was a difficult task.
Because of his experience, he understood the abilities of this big guy in front of him much better. That's why he noticed how he dealt with Nishiyama's pitch.
But Miyuki didn't have such experience.
He didn't have any information on this opponent.
It was unrealistic to expect him to make such careful observations based on just simple observations.
It was like using a simple magnifying glass to look at microorganisms that could only be seen through a microscope.
It wasn't an easy task!
Even though Miyuki had strong abilities, doing this was certainly not going to be easy.
Sawamura carefully observed the movements on the field.
Then, he saw Miyuki begin to signal to Furuya.
'Here they go!'
Sawamura instantly understood that Miyuki was planning to take action.
To be honest, this guy really had a set of skills.
Although Sawamura didn't know exactly what he was going to do, from the way they were acting, Sawamura could guess that Miyuki and the others were definitely going to take action.
Sure enough.
After receiving the signal, pitcher Furuya nodded slightly, then went through his form and threw the ball.
Roaar!
Furuya's pitch was always imposing, no matter when you saw it.
At this moment, it was no different. The baseball continued to break through the air's resistance like a rocket accelerating after ignition.
There was no obstacle. The baseball went straight into Miyuki's mitt.
Boom!
"STRIKE!"
The heavy sound echoed.
After receiving the ball, Miyuki squinted and looked at Angelo at the Batter's Box.
Angelo remained perfectly still and didn't show any intention of swinging at the ball.
'Didn't aim for the fastball? Or was it because it was the first pitch, and he wasn't planning to swing?'
Miyuki couldn't guess.
Moreover, he didn't have much information on this opponent, so he couldn't predict what actions he might take next.
'But it didn't matter!'
Even if he couldn't figure it out, it was still just the first pitch.
'Another pitch!'
After the first pitch, Miyuki signaled Furuya the same way.
Then, he placed his Mitt in the same position.
Of course, this position only looked the same, but in reality, it was raised by two centimeters compared to the previous pitch.
'Control must be reliable here!'
After signaling, Miyuki was still a little uneasy inside.
But there was no choice.
To deal with the opponent in front of him, relying purely on Flame pitching would probably not work. They needed to use a little trickery.
Miyuki, who was responsible for the catch, was careful, but Furuya didn't feel the same way.
After receiving the signal, he almost immediately threw the ball without hesitation.
At the Batter's Box, Angelo, at this moment, couldn't stay still anymore.
Looking at the second pitch that landed in the same spot, his eyes widened.
He was already behind 0-1 on the count. If this pitch was exactly the same as the first, the consequence of not swinging would be 0-2, and he would be in a tough spot.
'Would the final pitch be a breaking ball?'
Angelo didn't dare to take that risk.
To avoid getting into a worse situation, if this pitch was in the strike zone, Angelo had no choice but to swing.
But he hadn't been aiming for a fastball earlier!
At this point, facing a fastball, he was in a bit of a bind.
But with the count already in this situation, no matter how difficult it was, he had to swing the bat.
In the blink of an eye, Angelo figured it out. He no longer hesitated.
Because of his previous experience, the ball looked clearer now. Angelo didn't hesitate and swung his bat.
PAAAAKKKK!!!!
Whrroosh!
Sure enough, the bat made precise contact with the baseball.
After being hit, the ball soared far into the air at a very high speed.
Miyuki, the catcher, felt his heart jump into his throat.
'It is over!'
Although the pitch was quite close to what he had planned, it didn't meet the standards he had set.
It was unreasonable to expect Furuya to meet such high standards.
Miyuki's eyes followed the ball to the outfield.
It wasn't until a few seconds later that he heard cheers from his teammates.
'What was going on?'
At this point, Miyuki turned his attention to get a better view of the landing spot of the ball.
Out in the outfield, Shiratsu took a high position with his mitt.
Shiratsu had retreated to the very back of the field. The ball was just a few meters away from flying out of bounds.
But even though it was just a meter away, the ball didn't fly out—it didn't.
Not only did it not fly out, but their outfielder also caught the ball.
'Nice Shiratsu!'
At this moment, Miyuki finally relaxed.
Maybe he had been worrying too much earlier. He hadn't expected Furuya's pitch to be so good.
Although the bat appeared to make perfect contact with the ball, there was still a slight misalignment.
Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a high fly to the outfield, it would have been a clean home run.
Miyuki was overjoyed and gave a thumbs-up to Shiratsu.
Not just him, but the rest of the team also felt the same.
To be honest, Shiratsu's contribution was crucial in making this catch.
He had been at least ten meters away from the ball's landing spot when it was hit.
To get to that spot in such a short amount of time and catch the ball precisely required exceptional fundamentals.
Even his fellow outfielder Toujou admired him.
Toujou said that Shiratsu was the model for all outfielders.
Three Outs, offense, and defense exchange!
It is said what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
When this applied to Furuya, he encapsulated it perfectly.
The pitcher from the San Francisco team was quite formidable.
His pitching had its own distinctive characteristics and his fielding skills were very good...
Even after a round of struggle, the players from the Seidou High School baseball team couldn't break through his defense.
It wasn't until the fifth inning, with the fourth batter Miyuki at-bat, that he seized an opportunity and hit the ball.
Paak!
He made a good hit to the outfield and reached first base.
But just getting on base wasn't enough with this pitcher; scoring was still difficult.
This required the batter following him to cooperate.
The fifth batter in this game, Maezono, also wanted to hit the incoming baseball cleanly.
But it wasn't that easy.
Paak!
Facing the pitched ball, despite swinging with all his might, he managed to send the ball flying.
However, the ball didn't obey his commands.
The baseball flew far into the outfield and then dropped straight down.
Snap!
The outfielder from the San Francisco team caught the ball with ease as if it took no effort at all.
"OUT!"
The situation was now one Out, with a runner on second base.
It was now Furuya's turn to bat.
The young man didn't think about any strategies; his approach had always been simple and direct.
That was, to hit the incoming baseball hard and send it flying.
Perhaps it was because his goal was so straightforward that Furuya was more likely to achieve his ambition.
Watching the baseball fly toward him, Furuya instinctively knew he should swing his bat.
He didn't hesitate and decisively swung the bat.
PAAAAKKKK!!!!
The bat made heavy contact with the baseball, sending it flying out of the park.
The ball soared high into the sky, drawing an incredibly long arc before dropping into the outfield stands.
At that moment, the entire crowd erupted in cheers.
Although they were all American fans, they paid the highest respect to their opponent.
Many even stood up and applauded Furuya.
This scene left the Seidou players confused.
They had never experienced such a thing before.
Sawamura, however, wasn't surprised.
In America, unless they are diehard fans, people are here to watch a good game.
Perhaps because of this, they don't usually care about who is playing.
When an opponent performs exceptionally well, sometimes they stand up and applaud as a sign of respect.
Of course, very few people earn this honor.
Furuya was fortunate to become one of them.
In the dugout, Sawamura carefully observed Furuya returning to the home plate.
This opponent was truly not someone to be underestimated.
No matter where you placed Furuya, his brilliance could not be overshadowed.
In this life, Sawamura had immense skills and knew how to manage his image.
At this age in high school, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Sawamura had reached the pinnacle.
With such a bright star like him, it would be hard for anyone around him to shine.
The closer they were to him, the harder it would be to shine.
Not to mention Furuya, who was in almost the same position as Sawamura.
Logically speaking, Furuya should have been overshadowed by Sawamura, his shadow completely disappeared.
But the reality was not like that.
Although Sawamura's name as a great player was well-known nationwide, Furuya was not bad either.
He was at least in the top ten among players in high school.
Now that he had come to America, after just a few games, he quickly made a name for himself.
According to Coach Kataoka, even Major League and Minor League teams had shown interest in Furuya.
'He was truly on the easy mode!'
If Sawamura said he wasn't envious at all, that would definitely be a lie.
How much effort did Sawamura put in to get to this point? How much exhaustion did he endure?
Not to mention the two times he led the Akagi Middle School baseball team to dominate the country.
How much effort did that take?
Now look at Furuya. To be blunt, he hasn't really made any major contributions.
With Sawamura around, key moments never called for his appearance.
He couldn't really be called a savior, nor could he be said to have crushed his opponents.
But even in this situation, his fame still wasn't small.
Now, he had even attracted the interest of Major League scouts.
For top-tier players aiming for a professional career, Furuya had already achieved his goal.
Under his leadership, Seidou High School also had an easy time.
They barely exerted any effort and won the game.
Final score: 5-2.
Although Furuya gave up one point in the final stages of the game, it didn't diminish his spectacular performance!
…
T/N: Well, That's it for now!
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