Chapter 235: Sawamura Takes the Mound

Top of the sixth inning, Seido makes a substitution.

Catcher is changed to Chris, Pitcher is changed to Sawamura Eijun, Second Baseman Kominato Ryosuke is changed to Kominato Haruichi, and Third Baseman Masuko Toru is changed to Arima Kazusa.

"Sawamura!"

Just as he was preparing to enter the field, Sawamura heard the voice of Huangqian Yangyi behind him.

"Aniki! Please, feel free to order me around!"

Sawamura turned around and shouted.

Ugh...

Hearing this shitty remark, Huangqian Yangyi couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Pitch well, and don't go embarrassing yourself along with Senior Chris."

"Ha?! Hmph!"

Sawamura snapped his head around; how could he possibly drag his master down and embarrass him? Absolutely not!

Seeing Sawamura storm onto the field in a huff, Chris turned his head helplessly and said, "If you provoke him like that, what will you do if it has the opposite effect?"

"Then it'll be a good show to watch," Huangqian Yangyi chuckled.

"You guy..."

Chris sighed to himself; they always say catchers are black-hearted, so why is their team's pitcher also so black-hearted, even scamming his own junior?

Top of the sixth inning, Sawamura Eijun stood on the Pitcher's Mound.

Whoo~ whoo~ whoo~

After three consecutive deep breaths, Sawamura took a sharp breath and roared loudly.

"I'll try my best to pitch it for them to hit! Teammates behind me, please take care of me!!!"

"Ya-ha-ha, did you get tongue-tied as soon as you got on the field?"

"Truly interesting, Eijun-kun."

"Pitch it for them to hit!"

"I'll defend it!"

The teammates behind him all voiced their support after hearing Eijun's shout.

In the Osaka Kiryu Dugout, they saw that the number of First Years in the Seido lineup had gone from one to three.

Manager Matsumoto Hirotaka's expression was not looking good; this Manager Kataoka was actually using them, Osaka Kiryu, as tools for the Seido First Years to gain experience.

Moreover, this First Year who was brought in was also a left-handed pitcher.

Furuya Satoru from just a moment ago had already surprised Matsumoto Hirotaka; although his performance in the first few innings wasn't good, one could see the opponent's potential just by looking at his pitch speed.

Then, what about this left-handed pitcher? What kind of style is he?

Worthy of Manager Kataoka using their Osaka Kiryu batting lineup as a whetstone for the opponent.

At Home Plate, Chris quickly gave the signs, clear on Sawamura's pitching characteristics. He knew how to make good use of the other's talent, but all of this had to be based on Sawamura being able to throw the ball to the location he wanted.

Come on, Sawamura, show me!

Sawamura's leopard-like pupils stared fixedly at Chris, then he nodded; this first pitch must be thrown well!

Whoosh!

The moment Sawamura threw the ball, the Batter in the Batter's Box had his pupils dilate, clearly having seen something incredible.

How is this possible?! I can't see this guy's release point at all!

Thwack!

The Batter, having regained his senses, swung and missed.

So strange, is it an illusion? The Batter looked at Sawamura in surprise.

"Hmm? What's going on? How did I miss a pitch like that?"

"Were you distracted?"

The Osaka Kiryu players were very confused after seeing this scene; the pitch speed of this ball wasn't fast, and the trajectory wasn't tricky, yet the Batter had swung so late.

"Nice ball!"

Chris didn't stint on his praise for Sawamura at all.

Then for the second pitch, the Batter still couldn't see the release point clearly and swung a beat late.

"Strike!"

Very good, two strikes now; the Batter had swung and missed at two consecutive low outside pitches. Chris satisfiedly returned the ball and then placed his glove in a low inside position.

For a right-handed batter, an inside pitch shooting diagonally toward their body is extremely aggressive, and coupled with Sawamura's pitching form that hides the release point, as long as he can throw it in, it will definitely achieve a very good effect.

The result was just as Chris expected; this diagonal Fastball killing toward the inside corner made the Batter astonished while he swung and missed again.

"Strikeout!"

"Nice job, Sawamura!"

"You kid are not bad."

"I really didn't misjudge you!"

The teammates behind him raised their hands and cheered.

Having retired one batter, Sawamura put his hands on his hips and laughed out loud.

Feeling that his condition was still quite good, Sawamura quickly began pitching after the second batter stepped into the Batter's Box.

The form that hid the release point made the Osaka Kiryu batters either swing and miss or fail to hit well during their first time up.

Bang!

An inside pitch was tracked by the opponent and blasted out; the little white ball flew toward the vicinity of Third Base. Tap-tap-tap, a figure rushed out quickly, stretched out an arm, intercepted the baseball directly after it landed, and then threw the ball to First Base with a swift lunge!

Thwack!

"Out!"

"Wow, so amazing!"

"To be able to stop a ball like that!"

"Who is that Third Baseman?!"

"It's a First Year!"

The beautiful defensive play drew gasps of admiration from the onlookers.

Arima Kazusa's beautiful defensive play abruptly cut off the Osaka Kiryu offensive; watching Arima Kazusa raise his right hand on the field, Huangqian Yangyi smiled smugly.

"See that? Arima, I scouted him!"

Upon hearing this, Takashima Rei pushed up her glasses; Arima Kazusa was indeed a child with extraordinary talent, able to react in time even to such a fast ball.

"Hmm, he is indeed outstanding. Since he was scouted by Huangqian, if he makes a low-level error, you will be punished along with him," Coach Kataoka said, being uncharacteristically devious, turning his head to look at Huangqian Yangyi with a smile.

"Ah, this..."

Huangqian Yangyi froze in his chair; he knew it was a joke, but Coach Kataoka was actually joking?!

Not to mention him, Takashima Rei and Department Head Ota also looked at Coach Kataoka in surprise; having worked together for so many years, they had never seen the coach joke before.

Is this the favoritism shown to an ace?

"Arima Kazusa was actually recruited by student Huangqian? That's truly impressive."

Only Ochiai Hiromitsu, who didn't understand the situation, looked surprised with a serious face.

The game proceeded methodically to the eighth inning, and Osaka Kiryu gradually figured out the characteristics of Sawamura's pitching, swinging a bit earlier—this was the strategy they ultimately decided on.

The effect was good; relying solely on the four-seam Fastball, combined with the decline in control due to stamina issues, Sawamura's pitches were being hit one after another, though there were very few Extra-base Hits.

Most of the balls landed in the infield, and relying on the solid defense behind him, by the end of the eighth inning, Sawamura had given up a total of two runs over three innings.

On the batting side, Seido scored three runs, with Kominato Haruichi and Arima Kazusa each getting a hit; for First Years, their performance was extremely outstanding.

The game entered the final inning, and Osaka Kiryu quickly scored a run right away, bringing the score to 12-12.

Following that, the Osaka Kiryu batting lineup exploded, and soon there was one out with runners on first and third base.

Bang!

The ball pitched by Sawamura under pressure was fiercely struck by Tachi Hiromi.

"Danger!"

"Sawamura!"

The baseball flew straight toward Sawamura like a bullet.

Seeing the baseball flying toward him, Sawamura instinctively reached out his glove.

Thwack!

The baseball slammed into the glove at Sawamura's abdomen.

"Second Base!!"

Chris shouted after the shock.

After steadying himself, Sawamura turned and threw the ball behind him, then quickly crouched down.

Kominato Haruichi at Second Base caught the throw and quickly relayed the ball back to home plate!

Thwack!

"Double Play!"

The top of the ninth inning is over!