Chapter 736 - 736: Surprising Pitcher

One out, runners on first and third base.

In the Akikawa dugout, the players were all stunned.

Even You Shunshin narrowed his eyes, his pupils filled with doubt.

Who is he?

The game was in the 5th inning, the scores were tied, and the situation was very unfavorable for the Seido High School Baseball Team.

No matter how you analyzed it, the most urgent thing the Seido High School Baseball Team wanted to do right now was to change the current situation.

And to change the current situation, they first needed to resolve the crisis with runners on first and third base.

If this crisis could not be safely overcome, the Seido High School Baseball Team would definitely run into considerable trouble in the rest of the game.

According to You Shunshin's deduction, the Seido High School Baseball Team actually had no other choice at this point but to send their true Ace to the pitcher's mound.

They had already prepared to face Zhang Han head-on.

To win against a stronger opponent, Zhang Han was a threat that Akikawa Academy could not avoid under any circumstances.

The earlier this threat was brought onto the field, the more advantageous it would be for Akikawa Academy.

Their true purpose in overwhelming Furuya Satoru earlier was precisely this: to force the Ace of the Seido High School Baseball Team onto the field.

Only by scoring runs directly off Ace Zhang Han could Akikawa Academy truly have the ability to change their fate.

However, the Seido High School Baseball Team seemed to have no intention of giving them such an opportunity.

After Furuya Satoru's collapse, they once again sent in a first-year pitcher.

"So, the pressure we put on you isn't enough, is that what you're saying?"

After four innings, the score was tied.

The highly anticipated first-year pitcher, Furuya Satoru, was pushed to physical exhaustion by Akikawa Academy.

Facing such a threat, the Seido High School Baseball Team still remained calm and composed, as if they didn't take the current crisis seriously at all.

You Shunshin felt all the hairs on his body stand on end.

The depth and confidence of the Seido High School Baseball Team far exceeded his imagination.

You Shunshin had a very bad premonition in his heart, but he showed no expression when facing his teammates.

There was no expression on his face. "It seems our opponent still doesn't take us seriously."

Even if the Akikawa players were unwilling to admit it in their hearts, they had to nod at this moment.

"I am, not nervous!"

Sawamura, who was outwardly carefree, was also feeling uneasy deep down when facing such an important situation.

When Miyuki came up to discuss tactics with him, his very first sentence hit Miyuki Kazuya hard.

Was he already that nervous?

Miyuki had actually been quite optimistic about Sawamura Eijun's performance on the field before; yesterday, facing Coach Kataoka, Sawamura had unhesitatingly thrown the extreme inside pitch.

Now, no matter how he considered it, he shouldn't be nervous.

But truly standing on the field, especially facing such a critical situation, Sawamura Eijun, as the person involved, felt different after all.

He was very nervous, and fine beads of sweat had even appeared in his palms.

One should know that when he was just practicing pitching, this situation hadn't occurred.

"If you feel your heart isn't strong enough, it's still not too late to regret it now; I can apply to the Manager..."

Miyuki suggested.

"No!"

Sawamura Eijun, whose eyes had been confused moments ago, instantly regained clarity.

He had finally gotten a chance to play, how could he give it up for no reason?

"I can do it!"

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely no problem. Instead of worrying about me, you should think about how we're going to deal with the opponent next."

Miyuki secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Perhaps because it was his first time playing in such a situation, Sawamura was indeed acting a bit abnormally.

Fortunately...

He was a single-celled organism; as long as something else distracted him, his attention was easily diverted.

At least, before officially pitching, his attention was very easily diverted.

"Then I'll leave it to you, the relief Ace."

"Ace is Ace. There's no such thing as a relief ace..."

Sawamura Eijun was very dissatisfied with Miyuki's statement.

He was a man determined to become the Ace; how could he be content with stopping here?

It was precisely because of this bickering that Sawamura completely calmed down and regained his previous mindset.

It's nothing big.

No matter how well Akikawa Academy's players performed, their strength was right there; there was nothing to be afraid of.

The most important thing was to pitch his unique style.

The first pitch, an extreme inside pitch.

Right from the start, Miyuki brought out the trump card ready to checkmate.

Such a confrontation was naturally a huge challenge for Akikawa Academy's players, and equally a huge challenge for Seido themselves.

"Just like yesterday when you faced the Manager, throw that kind of pitch!"

Miyuki's open glove seemed to hide some kind of magic, constantly attracting the pitcher to throw the ball there.

Sawamura Eijun's heart was pounding.

He knew very well what this pitch meant.

Precisely because of this, Sawamura Eijun almost squeezed every last bit of strength in his body into his pitching fingers.

He raised his leg high, then brought it down hard, and as his body's center of gravity shifted, the baseball in his hand whistled out.

His pitching left arm swung like a whip. From the batter's perspective, the pitching hand was completely invisible.

By the time the batter saw the ball, the baseball had already flown out...

"Whoosh!"

The suddenly appearing baseball flew towards his chest.

Onishi, Akikawa's Third Batter, was startled.

Although the feeling of the pitch was different from Furuya Satoru's, the speed of this pitch was also very fast.

The baseball almost reached him in the blink of an eye. Onishi gritted his teeth and chose to let this pitch go.

He felt the baseball was too close to him; it was very likely a ball.

"Thwack!"

The baseball smashed into Miyuki's glove.

Immediately after, the umpire's voice rang out.

"Strike!"

The baseball had not deviated from the strike zone.

Onishi's face became extremely ugly.

This reminded him of his confrontation with You Shunshin, where he simply couldn't distinguish between balls and strikes.

The upcoming confrontation would undoubtedly become very difficult. No matter what kind of pitch the opponent threw, as long as it was close to the strike zone, he had to swing.

"Damn it! I can't see the release point at all."

Onishi truly hadn't expected that besides Furuya Satoru, the Seido High School Baseball Team also had a pitcher like Sawamura hidden away.

The upcoming confrontation will undoubtedly become very difficult.

"Even pitches around the strike zone can't be let go..."

Onishi believed that his careful observation of that pitch was a reasonable reaction.

But in the Akikawa Academy dugout, You Shunshin, who was about to go up to bat, narrowed his eyes.

No.

How could Onishi, who always swings aggressively, not even take a swing at such an ordinary pitch?

Something abnormal must be happening.

Although You Shunshin wasn't sure what Sawamura Eijun had done, he knew one thing for sure.

The first-year pitcher from the Seido High School Baseball Team who just came out must have some secret they didn't know.

After seeing the first pitch, Miyuki already had a slight smile on his face.

He had already thought of a way to solve the current predicament.

Come on, a quirk ball near the center.

That last pitch flew in almost hugging the edge of the strike zone.

At such an angle, it's very difficult for the batter to swing.

Not to mention, with Sawamura Eijun's current pitching form, the opponent shouldn't be able to clearly see his release point.

Combine these two characteristics.

Even the core batters of Akikawa Academy, after witnessing Sawamura's recent pitch, would be on unprecedented high alert against Sawamura Eijun.

With this confidence, Miyuki felt there was nothing to worry about and directly gave the signal for the quirk ball.

Aren't they trying to hit the ball?

Then let them hit.

Trust the reliable senpai behind you.

As long as it's not a solid hit, even if the baseball flies to the corner of the field, they can still stop it.

Seeing Miyuki's signal, Sawamura felt the blood in his body constantly boiling.

The feeling of excitement surging through him was probably what this meant.

In his mind, he had already simulated the scene of defeating his opponent.

This was taught to him by Chris, and Sawamura Eijun believed he could definitely do it.

Sawamura pulled back into his pitching stance, as if putting all his strength into it, and threw the baseball in his hand.

"Whoosh!"

Onishi, standing in the batter's box, felt that the pitch flying towards him now was almost identical to the one he had seen before.

So fast.

Although it couldn't compare to Furuya Satoru and wasn't as astonishing, Sawamura Eijun's pitch, seen from the batter's box, was also very intimidating.

Fortunately, Akikawa Academy was not to be underestimated; before this Summer Tournament, the players of Akikawa Academy, led by You Shunshin, underwent arduous training.

They spent almost all their time, except for studying, on baseball practice.

Such a pitch, last year, Onishi probably wouldn't have been able to hit.

But now, even though the baseball flying in was very fast, from Onishi's perspective, it might have exceeded 140 kilometers per hour.

But he still had confidence that he could hit the ball when it flew over.

Now.

Having calculated the angle and speed of the incoming baseball, Onishi gripped the bat tightly with both hands and swung fiercely at the incoming baseball.

He saw it very clearly; as long as he hit this ball solidly, Onishi was confident he could hit it into the outfield.

If the baseball could land, that would be best...

Even if the baseball couldn't land, as long as it flew into the outfield, Ninomiya, who was currently on third base, should have a chance to run back to home plate.

"Shunshin, Manager, teammates..."

"This run is ours!"

Onishi used all his might; he wanted to sweep the ball out no matter what.

However...

Just as the bat was about to hit the baseball, the baseball suddenly dropped.

Onishi saw it.

But at this moment, his bat had already swung out, and with his ability, he simply had no way to change the direction of his hit at this point.

How could this be?

"Ping!"

The bat solidly struck the baseball, sending the white ball flying.

The flying baseball only traveled about ten meters before landing on the ground and then bouncing high up.

The Seido infielders, who were ready to catch the ball, all missed.

The baseball did not go in their direction but landed directly above the pitcher.

The baseball is coming towards the pitcher.

The hearts of the Seido teammates in the stands were pounding with nervousness.

Of all places for the baseball to fly, it had to fly to the pitcher.

It should be known that Sawamura Eijun's baseball experience was very ordinary. How could he handle such a difficult ball?

Many teammates who had played baseball with Sawamura Eijun on the second team seemed to already envision Akikawa Academy scoring a run at this moment.

They closed their eyes in distress.

They really couldn't bear to watch such a scene.

But just as they closed their eyes, they suddenly heard exclamations from around them.

Even though they were reluctant, they still curiously peeked through their fingers to see the situation on the field.

Did Sawamura miss the catch?

He did.

Sawamura, about whom the second team players of the Seido High School Baseball Team had been extremely worried, caught the ball in his glove after jumping up.

"Thwack!"

He caught it.

Sawamura, who had caught the baseball, was momentarily stunned. What should he do next?

Just as that thought crossed his mind, Sawamura Eijun's body naturally reacted.

He first glared fiercely at third base.

Ninomiya, who was about to start running, was so startled that he didn't move a single step, as if he had been targeted.

This guy.

He can use his gaze to hold a runner?

Many of Akikawa Academy's teammates wouldn't have known about this technique if You Shunshin hadn't explained it to them.

This first-year pitcher from Seido, whose name no one had really heard of before, was able to make the most correct reaction at the very first moment.

That wasn't all; after limiting the Third Baseman's movement, Sawamura didn't throw the ball directly to first base.

Instead, he turned and threw the ball to second base.

"Hee-haw, well done!"

Kuramochi was already waiting there a step ahead, and his smile was incredibly bright when he saw the baseball thrown towards him.

Akikawa's first base runner tried to interfere with his throw to first base by sliding, but how could such a crude technique block Kuramochi, who was known as the leopard?

Kuramochi leaped up and simultaneously threw the baseball in his hand.

"Thwack!"

Yuuki caught the baseball in his glove without even moving his foot.

Cutting through the chaos swiftly.

The offensive momentum that Akikawa Academy had painstakingly built was thus easily resolved by the teammates of the Seido High School Baseball Team.

"Out!"

"Out!"

"Double play!"

Previously, the teammates of Akikawa Academy had almost exhausted themselves to get the monster Furuya Satoru off the field.

And it wasn't by hitting him off, but by making him pitch as much as possible, wearing him down with his stamina.

As a result, the Seido High School Baseball Team immediately substituted another first-year pitcher.

The first-year pitcher who just came on showed abilities no less impressive than Furuya Satoru.

As a result, the situation with runners on first and third base that Akikawa had managed to create was broken just like that.

Now, Furuya Satoru, whose pitch habits they had figured out, had already left the pitcher's mound.

As for Sawamura, who had just come on, they hadn't even clearly seen what kind of mystery his pitch held.

When collecting information on the Seido High School Baseball Team before, the people from Akikawa hadn't found any relevant information about this pitcher.

Trouble, big trouble.

In the dugout.

Zhang Han smiled and patted Sawamura on the shoulder.

"You kid, don't try too hard; you're making it so I, the real Ace, can't find a chance to pitch."

Sawamura's face was flushed, and he earnestly promised Zhang Han.

"Don't worry, senpai, I won't let you pitch."

Zhang Han, who had been smiling, suddenly had a very stiff expression on his face.

What does this kid mean?

Zhang Han had seen arrogant people before, but someone as arrogant as Sawamura Eijun was quite rare.

"Then you'll have to work hard..."

Zhang Han was so angered by Sawamura Eijun that his face changed color.

Although given his situation, he really shouldn't pitch too much, being told to rest well on the bench as the Ace of the team was another matter entirely.

Seeing this scene, the expressions of the Seido teammates sitting in the stands were also surprisingly wonderful.

They originally thought they understood Sawamura Eijun's abilities very well.

But now it seemed they had clearly underestimated this first-year junior who had fought alongside them two months ago.

Not only had he adapted well to the first string game rhythm, but he also had such an outstanding performance.

They wondered what kind of training and growth he had undergone in the first string to evolve to such a degree.

Ambitious players clenched their fists tightly, and even if their fingernails dug into their flesh and blood oozed out, they felt nothing.

"The senpai will be retiring soon. In the fall, I swear I'll join the first string."

Maezono secretly vowed.

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