Chapter 751 Collapse

The First Baseman of Sakurazawa High School's reaction speed was by no means slow.

Led by their Ace, Sakurazawa had already shed the initial game jitters and was gradually getting accustomed to playing against the Seido High School Baseball Team.

Their opponent was very strong.

But that wasn't the most terrifying thing; for the players of Sakurazawa High School, the first problem they needed to solve was their own mindset.

They didn't need to worry about how powerful the opponent was; they only needed to do their best and leverage their strengths.

They would battle the Seido High School Baseball Team with their own pitcher as the core.

They would confidently perform their auxiliary duties.

Even for the guy who had previously hit Nagao Akira's pitch, his hit wasn't particularly good.

As long as they could intercept the ball, they still had a high probability of stopping the opponent.

With such resolve and confidence, the First Baseman of Sakurazawa High School moved quickly.

He watched the rolling baseball, admonishing himself repeatedly in his mind.

Don't be nervous!

I must firmly stop the ball and then throw it back to first base.

Although their fundamentals weren't perfect, as a public school, and one primarily focused on academics, their players' intelligence was not an issue.

They had rehearsed such situations.

The Sakurazawa First Baseman, who had run out, believed that by this time, a teammate must have already run to first base.

So he only needed to throw the ball back to stop the speeding First Batter of Seido.

This Sakurazawa player's idea was good, and he executed it thoroughly.

However, what he didn't expect was that the players of the Seido High School Baseball Team, especially this First Batter, were simply too fast.

Before he could even catch up to the ball, a blue figure had already darted past him.

So fast!

That speed was like a sprinter's, possessing terrifying explosive power.

This explosive power, in the eyes of the Sakurazawa High School players, was even beyond their comprehension.

By the time the First Baseman of Sakurazawa High School picked up the ball, turned around, and prepared to throw, he was surprised to find that he seemed to be doing something futile.

That person had already easily reached first base.

"Safe..."

How could it be so fast?

Although he had had such a premonition in his heart, the Sakurazawa First Batter, who witnessed all of this firsthand, still found it hard to accept.

He had only run a dozen meters, and the opponent had already run from home plate to first base.

His speed was almost double his own.

Even if there was a difference in their physical abilities, it shouldn't be this significant.

In the stands, almost all of the Seido High School Baseball Team supporters were overwhelmingly chanting Seido's name.

Sakurazawa High School's performance in today's game was very unexpected for them.

Fortunately, the Seido High School Baseball Team's strong foundation was evident; they wouldn't be flustered by a sudden dark horse baseball team.

They quickly stabilized the situation, and judging by the momentum, winning this game was a matter of course.

Their cheers at this moment were also a premature celebration for the baseball team.

Fujio, a senior reporter for Baseball Kingdom Magazine, also nodded repeatedly after watching this matchup.

The Seido High School Baseball Team played truly intelligently.

Facing such a sudden dark horse baseball team, if they played entirely at the opponent's pace, even if the Seido High School Baseball Team could secure the final victory, it would inevitably take more effort.

So there was no need for them to do that.

As long as they demonstrated the difference in the fundamental abilities of the two baseball teams, the outcome of the game was almost self-evident.

"Sakurazawa played well, but it's a pity."

It was a pity that they encountered the Seido High School Baseball Team, which not only had monster-level players capable of turning the tide.

Kuramochi, at first base, was eager to advance.

Although Nagao Akira knew in his heart that with his style and pitch speed, he simply couldn't do anything to Kuramochi, at this moment, he shouldn't be affected by anything external and should focus on facing the batter at the batter's box.

But how can it be that simple?

No matter how much Nagao Akira admonished himself not to be distracted and to focus on facing the batter, he still inevitably placed a portion of his attention on Kuramochi.

It was this man who had previously run the bases as if no one was there, returning to home plate.

Could Sakurazawa High School withstand such a blow again?

Nagao Akira didn't know.

In this atmosphere, he finally threw his first pitch.

Kominato Ryosuke had a cold smile on his face.

How little the opponent thought of him, to look at Kuramochi on the base three times while facing him.

At this rate, even a fool could guess the general direction of your pitch.

Outside corner!

Although he wasn't sure about the specific movement of the baseball, or where it would curve, the general location could still be estimated.

As long as he shortened his swing and didn't force himself to hit the baseball far, stopping the ball wouldn't be a difficult task.

"Ping!"

The touched baseball rolled towards third base.

Seeing this scene, Yoshimi's pupils widened.

He knew there was a big problem.

Nagao Akira, who could originally roughly control the direction of the hit baseball, failed to perfectly control the ball to the first base side this time.

The baseball flew to the third base side.

What did this signify?

This indicated that the players of the Seido High School Baseball Team had very likely thoroughly studied Nagao Akira's pitching patterns.

Nagao Akira's knuckleball might have been cracked to some extent.

If the situation was truly like this, then Sakurazawa High School had only one choice left.

Surrender.

Other than that, they had no other path to take.

"Maybe it's a coincidence?"

The consequences were too severe, so severe that Yoshimi didn't dare to imagine further.

He thought of another possibility, as if to escape.

Believe in yourself, Nagao Akira!

He looked expectantly at his own Ace.

Nagao Akira's face showed little emotion.

He watched helplessly as Kuramochi passed second base and reached third base.

He watched helplessly as Kominato Ryosuke reached first base.

One out, runners on first and third base.

Although the baseball had just passed the Third Baseman's defense, neither Kuramochi nor Kominato Ryosuke chose to advance further.

Instead, they honestly stayed on the bases.

This scene made Owada Akiko, a new reporter for Baseball Kingdom Magazine, somewhat unable to comprehend.

"Couldn't Kuramochi have advanced just now? He should have been able to score a run for Seido."

Although Kominato Ryosuke advancing would have been somewhat risky, it wasn't entirely impossible.

In the dugout of Sakurazawa High School, the man known as the Professor watched the players fighting on the field, his eyes welling up.

He knew very well what it meant for the Seido High School Baseball Team players to intentionally stay on base.

Sakurazawa High School's defense was poor.

Especially when there were runners on base, this weakness became particularly obvious.

There was also another, very fatal point: their Ace Pitcher actually had no way to use a proper pickoff move.

The knuckleball required too high a sensitivity in the pitcher's fingers.

Once he switched to a Fastball, it would take a few pitches to regain the feel for the knuckleball.

This, in turn, unknowingly gave the Seido High School Baseball Team players hitting opportunities.

"Just play your own style!"

With such a large gap in strength between the two teams and trailing in score, Coach Kikukawa believed they no longer had a chance.

As third-year players, Nagao Akira and his teammates would be saying goodbye to the baseball team after this game.

Of course, they were unwilling to accept it.

But at this moment, they could only try their best to play every pitch well, so as not to leave themselves with too many regrets.

Nagao Akira also realized this problem.

He already had a premonition that no matter how hard they tried, it would be impossible to regain control of the game's rhythm.

But he was truly unwilling to accept it.

Starting two years ago, he joined Sakurazawa High School with his two friends.

At that time, those third-year seniors had clearly given up on baseball completely.

Only they were still dreaming.

What would it feel like for a public school to make it to Koshien?

It was under the inspiration of this belief that they worked hard step by step to reach this point.

And it was precisely because they were inspired by this belief that more and more friends joined, these friends took their dream as their own, and worked hard together.

Now that they had finally come this far, how could he give up?

As Nagao Akira thought of this, his gaze suddenly became very sharp.

At this moment, he was no longer that indifferent person, but had the demeanor of a true Ace.

"Whoosh!"

Miyuki, at the batter's box, watched the baseball fly towards him.

For a ball with no spin, even if he knew the hitting method, Miyuki didn't have much confidence.

The fact that Tanba, who was the Ninth Batter before him, was struck out proved this point.

Knowing the principle alone was useless; one needed the real skill to hit the ball.

Just as he was thinking this, the baseball flew over.

Completely different from his previous feeling, this time the baseball, though still slow, had spin during its flight.

Realizing this, Miyuki, contrary to his usual behavior, didn't think too much this time.

He directly brought his bat behind his back, fully extending his hitting stance.

It looked as if he was going to put all his strength into hitting the ball.

In the dugout of Seido High School Baseball Team, the teammates who saw this scene felt their eyes widen in disbelief.

Was this guy crazy?

They had already formulated a hitting strategy, so why wasn't this guy following it?

Facing a knuckleball that could fly anywhere, swinging with full force could easily result in a missed swing.

If Miyuki was struck out this time, given Coach Kataoka's personality, it was very possible that he would be benched directly.

One should know that things were different now; the Seido High School Baseball Team's catcher wasn't necessarily Miyuki alone.

Chris had always been eyeing the starting catcher position.

Most importantly, Chris also had the ability to replace Miyuki at any time.

So, why couldn't this guy be a little more sensible?

Why did he have to pull such a stunt?

Under the worried gazes of his teammates, they witnessed Miyuki's swing connect perfectly with the baseball.

"Ping!"

This guy's luck was really good.

But good luck alone was useless. If he just got lucky and made contact, and it was a fly ball caught for an out, Miyuki would still be reprimanded by Coach Kataoka afterwards.

However, what surprised his teammates even more was that the baseball was not only not caught, but it flew straight into the outfield stands.

"Thud!"

The baseball landed in the outfield stands and then bounced.

Miyuki Kazuya hit a three-run Homerun, helping the Seido High School Baseball Team extend their lead to five runs.

The score was 5:0.

Although everyone knew beforehand that it would be difficult for Sakurazawa High School to win against the Seido High School Baseball Team, Sakurazawa High School's performance was indeed excellent.

Even the most ardent supporters of the Seido High School Baseball Team could not deny this.

So they naturally believed that while the Seido High School Baseball Team would definitely win today's game, the process certainly wouldn't be so smooth.

Unexpectedly, this thought had only just emerged.

The Seido High School Baseball Team had already established a huge advantage.

From the current feeling, the Seido High School Baseball Team would not only win but should also be able to end the game early.

The game continued.

Isashiki Jun, not to be outdone, hit a timely single, extending the lead to six runs.

In the stands, the die-hard supporters of the Seido High School Baseball Team were already ecstatic.

They passionately cheered the name of the Seido High School Baseball Team, welcoming their first victory of the Summer Tournament.

Sakurazawa's performance was not bad.

Even under complete suppression, their players managed to stabilize the situation and did not completely collapse.

Nagao Akira, who was fully enjoying the game, gradually found his original intention, and in the subsequent game, he once again displayed the power of the knuckleball.

He even managed to strike out Masuko Toru at one point.

But there was nothing they could do; in the fourth inning, Zhang Han led off with a double.

The Seido High School Baseball Team's subsequent teammates launched a series of fierce attacks, scoring a total of five runs, extending the lead to eleven runs.

The score on the field became 11:0.

In the top of the fifth inning, Sakurazawa High School was on offense.

Their players tried everything they had; even if they couldn't score, they wanted to get a hit.

But the Seido High School Baseball Team's players didn't even give them that chance.

Tanba, who pitched to the end, got two strikeouts and one tag out.

Very cleanly and decisively, he secured the final three outs.

Thus, the Seido High School Baseball Team ended the game early without even batting in the fifth inning.

Seido, having only batted for four innings, scored eleven runs.

Although their score was a bit lower than the other two powerhouse teams competing with them, because they had one less offensive opportunity, overall, their performance was not inferior to those two teams.

"West Tokyo Regional Tournament Round 3, the game between Seido High School Baseball Team and Sakurazawa High School. The team that successfully advanced to Round 4 is the West Tokyo Seido High School Baseball Team."

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