Chapter 143: Great Victory!

The game reached the final inning, and Seido High School chose to make a substitution again, with Pitcher Tanba Koichiro moving to the Center Fielder position.

And the one stepping onto the Pitcher's Mound was none other than Isashiki Jun.

"Hahahaha~~~"

Isashiki's laughter echoed continuously across the field.

His teammates behind him were also full of smiles; with the score gap so wide, it was only natural for Seido's pitcher to come off the field to rest, and since Manager Kataoka couldn't possibly send out Huangqian Yangyi, he ultimately chose to let Isashiki Jun, a guy who had always harbored a dream of being a pitcher, have a go at it to satisfy his craving.

"I say, is there really nothing for me to do today?" Huangqian Yangyi said to Zhitian Jiangtai, who was standing beside him.

It had been agreed that he would go to the Bullpen to warm up and put pressure on the opponents, but who knew the opponents would be so weak that they collapsed before he even applied any pressure.

Now that the game was reaching its end, the manager wouldn't even let him go up to soak in the atmosphere.

"Well, the game is already like this; if you were to go up there, wouldn't that be bullying them?" Zhitian Jiangtai laughed.

On the Seido side, seeing that Seido had actually sent their Center Fielder to the Pitcher's Mound, they were all furious.

"This is too much bullying!"

"We must get a hit!"

"No matter what, we absolutely have to score a run!"

The players from Seido had almost given up, but at this moment, their fighting spirit was reignited.

Fengdao Yingtai, standing to the side, smiled bitterly in helplessness; he kept feeling that it shouldn't be like this—how could they be trailing by so many runs? Was the gap in strength really that large? They were, after all, a team that had fought their way up here.

Manager Takagi sighed as he looked at his players; with such a large score gap, the defeat was already sealed.

He had to admit that they had lost due to individual ability.

These Seido players, if not every single one, then the majority of them performed their roles perfectly during the game; they knew clearly what they should be doing at any given time, whether on offense or defense, and their tactics and coordination seemed as if they were fused into their blood.

If he had a team like this under his command, he would even dare to dream of a Koshien championship; Manager Takagi's gaze toward Manager Kataoka was filled with envy.

In the stands, Seido's fans had already begun celebrating; with a 10-run lead, it would be harder for the opponents to stage a comeback than it would be to ascend to heaven.

After receiving a bye in the first round and encountering a so-called dark horse that emerged from the weak bracket in the second, Seido was now almost certain to enter the Koshien Top 16; such a performance was enough to satisfy most of their supporters.

After all, while the players might have the determination to dominate the nation, as Seido fans, they might have expectations, but their requirements were actually not that high.

But entering the Top 16 was quite ideal for the fans, and it was also their bottom line; if Seido couldn't even make the Top 16, it would instead cause dissatisfaction among most fans, as they were the representatives of West Tokyo, and losing too ugly at Koshien would be a loss of face for them as well.

"Seido's momentum is too strong this year."

In a corner of the stands, Manager Okamoto Kazuya of Teito High School, who also hailed from Tokyo and was representing East Tokyo at Koshien, said with a frown.

Compared to Seido, although they at Teito had also entered Koshien this year, but...

On the field, Miyuki looked at Isashiki Jun, who was still laughing wildly, and sighed; if this guy kept being so smug, he would probably be warned by the umpire.

"Senior!" Miyuki had to speak up to remind him.

"Eh?"

Isashiki Jun looked at Miyuki with a clear, foolish gaze, just like a husky.

"Pitch!" Miyuki gritted his teeth.

"Ahem..."

Isashiki put away his smug smile.

When he first entered Seido, he had come with the intention of being a pitcher; his strong arm made his pitching speed shock everyone, yet his terrible control meant his pitching career ended before it even began.

He never dreamed in his life that he would have the chance to stand on the Koshien Pitcher's Mound and experience it for himself.

Hmm? Where are the signs?

Isashiki Jun was stunned for a moment; Miyuki hadn't given him any signs at all.

What kind of signs do you need!

As soon as Miyuki saw Isashiki Jun's expression, he knew what he meant.

Throw it with your fastest speed! Idiot!

Yokozuna!

Isashiki felt annoyed, but he still threw the baseball with all his might.

Hmm? The pitch is not bad.

Miyuki marveled to himself the moment the baseball flew out.

"Pop!"

"Strike!"

Pitch speed 142!

Hiss, the people from Seido were startled; what is going on with Seido, that they have this level of skill even when pulling someone out at random?

"Hahaha!"

Isashiki Jun laughed smugly twice and quickly threw the second pitch.

"Ball!"

"Ball!"

Uh...

Two ridiculously off-target balls made the people from Seido realize that the first pitch was definitely luck!

In that case, as long as they didn't swing, the opponent might just self-destruct and send them to base, the Batter just thought.

Pop!

"Strike!"

What an idiot! The Batter was almost furious; two strikes and two balls, there was no other way.

Bang!

"Out!"

The Seika Academy batter chased a bad pitch, hitting a grounder and getting tagged out.

After that, Miyuki utilized Isashiki Jun's inconsistent, half-baked pitching, coordinating with the defense behind him to force two more outs.

With this, the final score of the match between Seido High School and Seika Academy was set at 10:0.

The Seido High School Baseball Club broke through the second round of Koshien and officially advanced to the national Round of 16!

We won!!

Although Seido had long since locked in the victory, it was only when the game truly ended that the Seido teammates finally let their inner joy show.

"The Round of 16! We made it to the Round of 16!" the most excited Department Head Ota shouted loudly.

The teammates celebrated with those around them, and Huangqian Yangyi also smiled happily, walking over to Director Kataoka and saying, "Director, for the next game, can you let me go up and pitch for two innings? It would be good to find my rhythm again."

Hearing this, Director Kataoka, who had been immersed in the joy of victory, pulled back his smile, looked at Huangqian Yangyi, and said, "Hmm, after resting for so long, your condition does indeed need to be observed. Get yourself ready."

"Yes!" Huangqian Yangyi was overjoyed, his heart already beginning to look forward to the next match in the Round of 16.

Unlike the cheerful atmosphere at Seido, the people from Seika were crying very sadly one by one; they had finally managed to make it into Koshien, only to suffer a crushing defeat in their very first game, and they didn't know how to face the fans who supported them.

For them, their original goal hadn't been high—just one win, as long as they could win one game at Koshien—but fate had played a joke on them, and they had run into Seido in the first game.

If it had been some other weaker team, even if they couldn't win, they wouldn't have lost so miserably.

Carrying this feeling of frustration, the Seika players came onto the field to shake hands and bow to the Seido team.

"Thank you for the game!"

"Thank you for the game!"