Chapter 663 - 663: Saving Everyone

Coach Kunitomo, the Coach of Inashiro Industrial High School Baseball Team, truly lives up to his reputation as a strategist on the field.

After seeing Koichiro Tanba's excellent performance and his high-breaking curveball, Coach Kunitomo quickly adjusted their team's strategy, telling his players to abandon hitting the high-breaking ball and focus on hitting the Fastball.

These two pitches have significant differences in terms of pitching location, pitching speed, and the pitcher's arm swing.

It's not difficult to distinguish between them.

Facing Inashiro Industrial High School Baseball Team's approach, Seido High School Baseball Team's pitcher and catcher felt extremely challenged.

It was like being checkmated in a game of chess.

Although it wasn't yet time to surrender a piece, their actions were already restricted by the opponent, making it difficult to play as freely as before.

"They move really fast!"

As the person directly involved, Miyuki felt this more clearly than anyone.

They couldn't completely abandon the Fastball.

In other words, in their confrontation with Inashiro Industrial High School Baseball Team's batters, they absolutely had to pitch the Fastball.

Only when the Fastball and the high-breaking ball appear alternately can this pitch unleash its maximum power.

Otherwise, if they only throw the high-breaking ball, even though its trajectory is tricky, it will eventually be figured out.

Once Inashiro Industrial High School Baseball Team's batters adapt to such a pitching trajectory, Koichiro Tanba's greatest characteristic will cease to exist.

But if you choose to continue pitching according to the previous pattern, it will also be very difficult.

Currently, Inashiro Industrial High School Baseball Team's players have completely given up on hitting the high-breaking curveball.

All their attention is focused on the Fastball. In this situation, the Fastball also loses its previous advantage.

Considering the hitting prowess of Inashiro Industrial High School Baseball Team's batters, it would be no difficult feat for them to hit Koichiro Tanba's Fastball.

There were also knowledgeable people in the stands.

For example, Fujio, a senior reporter for Baseball Kingdom Magazine, quickly realized the magnitude of the predicament Seido High School Baseball Team was about to face after seeing the choices made by Inashiro Industrial High School Baseball Team's batters.

Although their choice was still conservative and wouldn't yield many runs.

The players of Inashiro Industrial High School Baseball Team evidently believed this was enough.

They trusted that their Ace would hold the line for them and protect their score.

So, they only needed to score enough runs against Seido High School Baseball Team.

"Seido High School, this time the trouble is probably not small."

Just as Fujio was thinking this, Miyuki Kazuya's face showed a cold smile.

He knew very well that if Inashiro Industrial High School Baseball Team was allowed to act so freely, Seido High School Baseball Team's subsequent games would be very difficult.

"Now is not the time to hold back."

Miyuki gave the sign to Koichiro Tanba on the pitcher's mound, the high-breaking curveball. With Inashiro Industrial's batters focused entirely on the Fastball, their only option at the present was to keep hoping the curveballs wouldn't miss their mark.

But it seemed luck was running out.

As Tanba came through his motion, his grip slipped slightly on the ball.

The spin he needed for the curveball never materialized. The ball came out flat and fast, dead straight, right down the middle. It was a Fastball where a curveball should have been.

For the ninth batter of Inashiro Industrial, this was an unexpected gift.

He hadn't even been looking for a Fastball anymore at that point. But his instincts recognized the pitch a split second before his mind could, and his bat swung out on pure reflex.

"Ping!"

The contact was clean.

The ball shot low and hard into right field, skipping past Yuuki before Sakai could close the distance.

The batter didn't hesitate. He sprinted down the line and pulled up safely at First Base.

One out, runner on First Base.

In the Seido dugout, the mood shifted at once.

Miyuki called time and jogged out to the mound, his glove smacking against his thigh with every step.

"It slipped, my hand's a little wet, that's all."

Tanba spoke first, before Miyuki could even get a word out.

Miyuki simply nodded. Tanba wiped his palm against his uniform, his jaw tight.

He knew exactly what had happened. One mistake, and Inashiro Industrial suddenly had a runner on base, with two outs still to go and their strong batting order coming back around.

Miyuki studied him for a moment longer, then gave him a small nod and jogged back to his position.

The next batter was Carlos, the leadoff man for Inashiro Industrial.

Tanba and Carlos fell into the same kind of battle as before, pitch after pitch, neither side giving ground, the count stretching out.

But whether it was the lingering unease from his earlier mistake, or simple fatigue creeping into his arm, Tanba's control wavered again on a pitch that should have been well-placed.

It drifted back toward the center of the strike zone, its movement blunted.

It was exactly the kind of pitch a batter like Carlos was waiting for.

Carlos didn't miss it.

"Ping!"

The bat connected with a sound that made the entire stadium rise to its feet.

The ball rocketed off into the outfield sky, showing no sign of coming down before it reached the wall.

With a runner already on base, the meaning was unmistakable to everyone watching. This was a two-run Homerun, and the game was tilting hard in Inashiro Industrial's favor.

The runner on First Base thought so too.

The instant the ball left the bat, he was already jogging, certain of what was coming. There was no need to hurry on something that looked so obviously gone.

In the outfield, Zhang Han was already moving.

He hadn't been positioned deep enough, and he knew it the moment the ball came off the bat.

He turned and ran, closing the gap between himself and the wall in a handful of strides. When there was no more field left to give him, he planted his feet and kicked off the wall, once, then again, his body lifting far higher than it had any right to.

Fully extended, glove outstretched, he snatched the ball out of the air just before it would have cleared the fence.

"Slap!"

The stadium went silent.

Zhang Han dropped back down to the warning track, stumbling forward but keeping the ball locked firmly in his glove.

Without wasting a single second, he spun around and fired a throw back toward the infield.

The runner, who had been jogging toward Second Base certain his teammate's ball was already gone, froze for half a heartbeat too long. He noticed the pale look on the third base coach's face and realized, too late, that the ball had never left the park.

By the time he scrambled to reverse direction and sprint back to First Base, Kuramochi was already there, a huge grin on his face, ready to tag him out.

"Out!"

Two outs on the same play. Carlos was out on the catch, and the runner was doubled off First Base.

The stands erupted, disbelief turning instantly into thunderous cheering.

"Zhang Han!!!"

"Han-san!!!!"

What should have been a Homerun, or at the very least a base hit that put a runner in scoring position, had instead become a double play that ended the inning entirely.

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