Chapter 179: Home Run Reappears!

After this Changeup, the Batter was in a state of mental turmoil; how was he supposed to hit this? Was the next pitch a Fastball or a Changeup?

It was impossible to tell at all from the pitching motion!

He could only choose one!

In the Seido Dugout, when Coach Kataoka saw that Huangqian Yangyi and Miyuki had chosen to use a Changeup at this moment, the slight nervousness he had felt earlier about potentially giving up runs dissipated; in his view, using a Changeup at this time would definitely make the opposing Batter unable to adapt or parry for a moment.

Sure enough, when Huangqian Yangyi threw the ball, even though the Batter had already decided in his heart to choose a Fastball to hit, the impression left by that previous Changeup was too deep, and his swing unconsciously hesitated.

A 150 km/h four-seam Fastball was thrust into the Batter's chest like a sharp sword.

And in the Batter's view, the speed of this ball even felt faster than it had in the previous few innings.

This was the effect brought about by the Changeup.

"Strikeout!"

The top of the fifth inning ended, and the offensive of Seibo High School was cut off at Third Base; in the end, they could only return empty-handed.

"Huangqian!"

Stepping down from the Pitcher's Mound, Huangqian Yangyi received the applause of all the Seido fans in the stadium.

"This kid is pretty good."

"He is worthy of being our junior."

"Ah, the Coach must be dying of happiness; our Seido has finally gotten another ace Pitcher."

"The tides have turned; before, Inashiro Industrial and Ichidai Sanko always had genius Pitchers joining them, and this time it should be our Seido's turn."

"If, and I mean if, we had had such a powerful Pitcher back then, would we have been able to make it to Koshien?" someone suddenly said.

Suddenly, the group fell into an eerie silence.

"Damn it! Why say that!"

"Don't bring up painful memories!"

"Self-punish with three cups later!"

After the group finished horsing around, they looked at the figure of Huangqian Yangyi in the Dugout, their minds filled with thoughts for a moment.

Yes, although their Pitcher back then couldn't be called bad—he could even be ranked in West Tokyo—he definitely couldn't be considered top-tier; when facing those two teams, they would always be a step behind, which also led to it being very difficult for Seido to break through the wall formed by the two schools, Inashiro Industrial and Ichidai Sanko.

In the Seido Dugout, after Huangqian Yangyi returned, he took an energy drink from the senior student's hand and took a big gulp to replenish himself; the weather was too hot!

"Huangqian, don't be anxious; the effect of the Changeup is very good. For the next pitches, don't put too much force into the Fastball; lower the speed," Coach Kataoka said. In his heart, he was also very worried about whether Huangqian Yangyi could pitch the complete game; if not, he would have no choice but to let Tanba take the mound.

This was the worst-case scenario; in the Koshien final, with Tanba's psychological endurance, Coach Kataoka felt that he would probably self-destruct as soon as he took the field.

"Yes, Coach." Huangqian Yangyi nodded. His stamina was still fine; although he was a bit tired, there were only 4 innings left in the game, so it shouldn't be much of a problem.

The game continued. In the bottom of the fifth inning, after Dong Qingguo stepped up with his bat, he quickly hit an Extra-base Hit to Left Fielder; the baseball flew to the corner, just a hair away from flying over the wall.

Next, Huangqian Yangyi also stepped into the Batter's Box with his bat; this was his second at-bat.

Zhongyue Youtai's stamina was still sufficient at this moment; although there had been some consumption, the pitch count was low, and he was a Third Year, so two extra years of training gave him considerable stamina reserves.

Looking at Huangqian Yangyi opposite him, Zhongyue Youtai did not hesitate to throw the ball after seeing the sign given by the Catcher.

Whoosh!

The baseball flew over. Huangqian Yangyi concentrated his spirit, his eyes staring fixedly at the baseball, and the bat in his hand swung out at this moment.

Thwack!

"Strike!"

Just a little bit off. Huangqian Yangyi raised an eyebrow; this was a Forkball, and it was less than half a ball's distance away from being hit.

However, it was fortunate that he didn't hit it, otherwise, this would likely have been a ground ball.

After the Seibo High School Catcher caught the ball, he glanced at Huangqian Yangyi. This guy was not only powerful at pitching, but his batting was also terrifying; even though his swing speed wasn't that fast yet, he was able to win first place on the Koshien Home Run leaderboard this year. He must never be underestimated just because he was a First Year!

Come on, High-speed Curveball to the outside corner!

After the Catcher returned the ball, he gave the sign. Zhongyue Youtai nodded; as long as this difficult spot was thrown in, any Batter would feel troubled.

Whoosh!

The baseball was thrown, but Zhongyue Youtai felt a tightness in his heart. At the same time, the Catcher's eyes widened. It was high! It was too much of a Red Center!

The position where the baseball flew was not toward the outside corner, but instead toward the Red Center.

Huangqian Yangyi did not miss this opportunity. The bat in his hand seemed to have the force of a thousand jun; hearing only a crisp "bang," the baseball was hit away, high and far.

This!

The Catcher's heart went cold; don't, please don't go out!

Heh, Huangqian Yangyi chuckled. If he couldn't grasp such an opportunity, he would really be doing a disservice to these eyes of his.

"Home Run!!"

"It flew out! Seido's ace, 5th Batter Huangqian Yangyi, has contributed another Home Run on the stage of the Koshien final!"

"Oh oh oh!!!"

"Well done!"

"Beat him up!"

"Blast him, blast him!!"

"Haha, so much for being a championship contender."

"Kid, kill them!"

"Don't give them a chance, stomp them to death!"

Compared to the Seido fans, those senior students of Seido were even more unbridled, shouting all kinds of mocking and contemptuous words toward the opponent.

Amidst the cheers, Dong Qingguo laughed loudly as he ran in front, while Huangqian Yangyi waved his hand to interact with the audience.

Two runs!

Seido leads Seibo High School 2:0.

When the game reached the bottom of the 5th inning, both sides launched their offensives, and in the end, Seido successfully broke the deadlock thanks to a Home Run by Huangqian Yangyi.

Returning to the Dugout, Huangqian Yangyi was immediately treated like a hero; upperclassmen handed him water, upperclasswomen wiped his sweat, and the manager... the manager did nothing at all.

"Very good, we are now leading by two runs, but we cannot be careless. The batting lineup must continue to exert pressure and widen the gap; only then can we reduce the pressure on the Pitcher!" Manager Kataoka said.

"Yes!" everyone replied.

On the field, the Sixth Batter Isashiki Jun continued to carry out his wild nature of swinging at whatever came his way, but the results were not very good; he hit a soft fly ball and was out on a Flyout, and the subsequent Shinoki Keita and Yoshikawa Junpei also failed to hit for a base, bringing the 5th inning to an end.

In the 6th inning, Huangqian Yangyi easily recorded a Strikeout against Seibo's ninth batter, who was the Pitcher Zhongyue Youtai, and was immediately followed by a bunt from the leadoff Batter; fortunately, the ball's landing spot was poor, rolling less than three meters toward Third Base, and after Miyuki reacted, he quickly picked up the ball and threw it to First Base.

"So fast!!"

The baseball flew past Zhongyue Youtai in an instant, and the spectators were startled by the speed of the pitch; they had not expected that this Catcher could also throw such a fast ball.

This Pitcher and Catcher duo from Seido is just too monstrous.