Chapter 307: The Final Struggle

A home run brought in two runs; after Huangqian Yangyi ran back to home plate, he arrived in front of the dugout and raised his fist high toward the location where Kumiko was, a scene that was immediately noticed by all the media present, who hurriedly turned their cameras over.

Then, the image of Huangqian Yangyi with both hands raised high, forming a heart shape over his head, appeared on screen.

Who is it!

Everyone looked curiously in that direction, wanting to know who Huangqian Yangyi was making the heart gesture for.

It was the media who discovered it first; the camera quickly found three young and beautiful girls in the stands behind the Seido dugout, and many Seido fans familiar with their own ace immediately recognized that the one in the middle was Huangqian Yangyi's younger sister, Huangqian Kumiko.

Could the rumor that their own ace is a sister-complex actually be true?

"Nii-chan!!!"

Kumiko waved the flag in her hand and shouted happily.

After greeting his sister, Huangqian Yangyi returned to the dugout with Yuki, and the two were immediately surrounded by their teammates.

"You're amazing, man, a soul-stirring hit." Kuramochi Yoichi lightly punched Huangqian Yangyi in the chest.

"Tsk tsk, I thought we could just advance the bases slowly, I didn't expect a home run right away; Narumiya Mei must be furious," Isashiki Jun said with schadenfreude.

As his friends surrounded him offering congratulations, Coach Kataoka walked over and said to Huangqian Yangyi and Yuki Tetsuya: "Well done, worthy of being the Captain and the ace."

The two looked at each other and smiled.

"Thanks to your coaching, Coach!" Huangqian Yangyi said.

"Heh..." Coach Kataoka knew this was flattery; if it were anyone else, he wouldn't take it to heart, but he really enjoyed the flattery from Huangqian Yangyi.

Ochiai Hiromitsu, standing to the side, stroked his beard with a face full of emotion; this is Seido, this is the Seido ace, it's truly terrifying. Fortunately, he also came to Seido; otherwise, if he had stayed at Honghai University Sagami, he would probably be worried sick about guarding against Seido in Koshien again this year.

Sitting on the bench, Huangqian Yangyi took a small sip of water handed to him by Fujiwara Takako, then focused on watching the game on the field.

Perhaps influenced by this home run, Narumiya Mei's condition experienced a brief fluctuation; after giving up a hit to Miyuki, he was hit for an extra-base hit by Masuko Toru.

With no outs and runners on first and third, Inashiro was once again facing the crisis of giving up runs.

However, after this, Narumiya Mei's condition recovered, and he actually struck out Shirasu Kenjiro, Jiang Ming, and Kuramochi Yoichi with nine consecutive pitches.

Seido's offensive was cut short, and at the end of the top of the 7th inning, Seido High School led Inashiro Industrial 2:0.

In the Inashiro dugout, Narumiya Mei had a towel draped over his head, his whole body bowing his head deeply.

"The game isn't over yet, what are you doing?" Harada Masatoshi stood in front of Narumiya Mei and said in a deep voice.

"I..."

"It's not your fault, it's that I was too careless; I should have thought that Huangqian Yangyi would be wary of the reverse changeup when there were two strikes," Harada Masatoshi said.

"That's right, although there were runners on base afterward, you adjusted your condition very quickly and struck out three Seido players in a row," Carlos also said.

Upon hearing this, Narumiya Mei looked up at the teammates around him, his eyes stinging as he almost cried; he slowly stood up, nodded heavily, and said: "That's right, the game isn't over yet, we must win the score back."

Coach Kunio, who had been paying attention to the movement here, nodded secretly; giving up runs is inevitable, especially when facing Seido, but he was more worried that Narumiya Mei would develop psychological problems because of this. After all, this was his beloved student; although Coach Kunio was strict with his words, in his heart, he truly expected Narumiya Mei to stand on a bigger stage in the future and shine.

Bottom of the 7th, Inashiro's turn to attack.

Carlos, who stood in the Batter's Box, set up a bunt on the very first pitch, but unfortunately, this time he didn't even have a chance to touch the ball; the fastball with a speed of nearly 160 km/h shot into Miyuki's glove right before his eyes.

Damn it, how is it so fast! Carlos's already dark skin turned a few shades darker.

If a bunt won't work, then he could only swing the big bat!

Then on the second pitch, a Two-seam Fastball made him swing and miss again, and on the third pitch, as if he were desperate, Carlos faced an outside changeup; after his swing was more than halfway through, he forced his bat to reach out, barely touching the ball, but he had no chance to run at all, and the baseball landed less than two meters from Miyuki and was handled very easily.

After Carlos, Shirakawa Katsuyuki and Yoshizawa Hideaki were also struck out.

At the end of the 7th inning, Inashiro still couldn't see any hope of scoring.

The game reached the 8th inning; relying on the combination of the reverse changeup and the circle changeup, Narumiya Mei quickly struck out Kominato Ryosuke and Isashiki Jun. Not long after, Yuki Tetsuya made contact with the ball again, but this time it was a ground ball. Watching the baseball bounce toward him, Narumiya Mei picked it up without hesitation and threw it to First Base to force out Yuki Tetsuya.

Next, the 5th batter, Huangqian Yangyi, was walked as expected.

Watching Huangqian Yangyi walk toward First Base, Narumiya Mei's eyes were full of unwillingness, but in order for the team not to give up more runs and to have a chance to win back the score in the end, this was not the time to be willful and insist on a head-to-head confrontation with the opponent.

After walking the most difficult Huangqian Yangyi, Narumiya Mei quickly dealt with Miyuki; at the end of the top of the 8th, Inashiro did not let the score expand further, and the next turn was their offensive opportunity.

The first to go up was Harada Masatoshi; this strong-hitting Captain was currently carrying the hopes of the entire team.

"Captain!"

"Go for it!"

"I'm counting on you!"

"Harada! You can do it! Hit it out!"

The Inashiro Industrial fans shouted vigorously to cheer for the team.

On the field, after swinging and missing the first pitch, Harada Masatoshi's big bat made contact with a forkball, but unfortunately, the hitting angle was too high, and the baseball smashed into the ground and flew past Huangqian Yangyi.

Second Baseman Kominato Ryosuke flew to intercept the ball and threw it to First Base to force out Harada Masatoshi before he even landed.

This scene instantly made the Inashiro fans in the stands feel like their hearts had turned to ash.

Looking at Yuki Tetsuya, who was looking at him after catching the throw, Harada Masatoshi felt a thousand emotions in his heart; this was already his last at-bat, and he still hadn't managed to get on base.

Although he felt disappointed in his heart, when he turned around and walked off the field, Harada Masatoshi's expression returned to his usual composure; he must not let his teammates be affected by his emotions!

He believed that the teammates behind him would definitely create scoring opportunities!

5th batter, Narumiya Mei.

It was ace versus ace again.

Only this time, Huangqian Yangyi didn't give Narumiya Mei any chance; after quickly getting two strikes, Miyuki finally gave the signal for that palmball.

Little blondie, just give up obediently!