Chapter 146: Seido's Middle Infield

"Tch, this style of Kominato-senpai's is really quite annoying. Of course, if it were a teammate, that would be a different story," Huangqian Yangyi teased with a smile.

Just then, Kominato Ryosuke walked into the dugout, and Miyuki immediately leaned over.

"Kominato-senpai! Yangyi says he doesn't like your batting style."

"Oh?" Kominato Ryosuke squinted his eyes and looked over with a smile.

"Slander! I like Kominato-senpai's batting the most!"

"Really?"

"Truer than pearls!"

Hurriedly pressing the dangerous Kominato Ryosuke down into a chair, Huangqian Yangyi turned his head and glared at Miyuki; this guy was really fast at selling out his brothers, without a moment's hesitation.

At this moment, Qinghai Lin on the field had already thrown the first pitch to Yuki Tetsuya; the pitch path was sharp, flying toward the side where Jiecheng was positioned.

Whoosh!

The sound of the wind stirred up by the swing rang out. Yuki Tetsuya did not hesitate at all, as if he had already made up his mind to swing. After a "bang," the little white ball slammed into the ground, passed between second and third base, and pierced through the infield defense.

Zhitian Jiangtai took this opportunity to reach second base, and Jiecheng also safely reached first base. The game had just begun, there were runners on first and second with one out, and Chuanjiang immediately fell into a crisis of giving up runs.

"Next, it depends on Dong-senpai. Although this Qinghai Lin's pitch path is tricky, his pitch speed is still lacking," Huangqian Yangyi said.

"His forkball is good. If the pitch speed could be a few kilometers faster, it would be very difficult to deal with," Tanaka Wataru said.

"Do you mean that the current Qinghai Lin's pitching threat is not great? That it will be easy to hit?" Shinoki Keita asked.

"It's hittable, but it won't be easy to hit well. This pitcher is very smart. He knows his pitch speed can't handle our batting lineup, so he chooses to press the pitch path more extremely than before. Look at that swing by Jiecheng just now; if the pitch path had been slightly higher, it should have been an extra-base hit."

Hearing this, Huangqian Yangyi nodded and smiled: "That's right. This guy is indeed capable, but his approach is also a double-edged sword. While making it hard for the batter to hit well, the possibility of him throwing balls also increases, especially in the second half of the game; he can't maintain this kind of control forever."

"Heh, by the later stages, they'll have changed pitchers," Miyuki said.

Uh...

Huangqian Yangyi hadn't thought of this point. A team that can enter Koshien must have more than one pitcher. Like Sheng Hua before, although Fengdao Yingtai pitched the whole game, they also had backup pitchers.

Bang!

A crisp sound came. On the field, after swinging and missing once, Dong Qingguo chased after an outside slider, and the baseball flew high toward the right field.

"Baka!"

Dong Qingguo looked helplessly at the baseball in the air. The possibility of this ball being caught for a flyout was too high, unless the opposing outfielder made an error.

Although he knew this ball wasn't hit well, Dong Qingguo still had to run toward first base, and Yuki Tetsuya and Zhitian Jiangtai were also forced to advance.

Soon, the baseball fell, and sure enough, it was a flyout. Dong Qingguo was out, and then the baseball was quickly thrown to first base. Yuki Tetsuya didn't have time to return. Double play!

In the top of the first inning, Seido had two runners on base but couldn't score a run, which was somewhat of a blow to morale.

"Nanjo-senpai, you have to work hard. You can't let Chuanjiang score first," Huangqian Yangyi said.

Nanjo Taishi nodded. Although Chuanjiang's overall level was above Sheng Hua's, it wasn't that easy to get hits or even runs from him.

The 9 players of Seido walked onto the field. Nanjo Taishi and Tanaka Wataru struggled against Chuanjiang's first batter for a few pitches before resolving him, and against the second batter, they relied on a cutter to make the opponent hit a grounder and be forced out.

It wasn't until facing Chuanjiang's third batter that the opponent decisively grabbed Nanjo Taishi's fastball on the first pitch and successfully connected with the ball, hitting it to the left.

"Zhitian!"

The ball flew toward the direction of the Shortstop. Zhitian Jiangtai moved quickly, stretched out his glove, and intercepted the powerful baseball in his glove. Then, he lifted his wrist slightly, and the baseball flew out to the Second Baseman Kominato Ryosuke. Turning around, he threw the ball! Kominato Ryosuke's movement didn't have the slightest delay, and the baseball flew into Yuki Tetsuya's glove like a bullet.

"Out!"

The batter failed to reach base successfully, and the perfect and smooth coordination between Seido's middle infield caused a commotion among the spectators.

After the first inning ended, neither Seido nor Chuanjiang could score, and the game entered the second inning.

Tanaka Wataru came up and successfully hit a single, and the subsequent Isashiki directly smashed an extra-base hit. The situation on the field became runners on first and second again, extremely similar to the first inning.

Bearing the hope of the whole team to score, Shinoki Keita went up to bat. After swinging and missing the first pitch, Shinoki Keita chased a slider, and the baseball flew to left field. Chuanjiang chose to go for third base. In the end, Tanaka Wataru was forced out, while Isashiki and Shinoki Keita reached second and first base respectively.

Qinghai Lin looked back at the two runners on base. Now that one out had been recorded, the best way to quickly get through the crisis was to try to get a double play like before.

Soon, a low fastball flew toward the outside corner. Yoshikawa Junpei in the Batter's Box roared and swung his bat.

Thwack!

"Strike!"

Thwack!

"Strike!"

After swinging and missing two consecutive outside pitches, Yoshikawa Junpei seemed unable to handle Qinghai Lin's pitching, smacked his lips in distress, and finally just set up a bunt.

Hm?

The Catcher saw his movement and immediately understood. This was an attempt to trade an out to advance the runners to third base, but the risk was high. With runners on first and second and only one out, there was no need to adopt such a high-risk tactic in such a great situation. If the bunted ball wasn't of high quality, it was very likely to be a direct double play, or even a triple play. According to the information gathered before, Seido's offense shouldn't be so aggressive!

However, since the batter had already set up the bat, they had to be on guard. The defense as a whole moved much closer under the Catcher's signal.

Then the Catcher gave another pitching sign, an outside slider. Qinghai Lin quickly threw the baseball. However, the moment he lifted his hand, Yoshikawa Junpei instantly retracted the bat, and then, after the baseball flew out, he aimed at the pitch path and swung!

Bang!

The Catcher's heart skipped a beat when he heard this sound. He had been tricked!

The baseball flew high into the air, and at the same time, the runners on base had already rushed toward the next base.

Chuanjiang's Left Fielder chased back with all his might. If he hadn't been standing too far forward just now, he could have caught this ball for a flyout based on its height, but now it was completely impossible. The baseball landed quickly, and Isashiki rushed past third base without stopping, then rushed toward home plate!