Chapter 381: Exchange Match

The training on the baseball field proceeded smoothly; everyone was a core player from their respective teams, so these simple, basic drills were a total breeze.

Watching the 18 players on the field, who looked more like they were playing around than training, Director Kunitomo felt conflicted; the truth was that there were too many overlapping positions among these people.

If he wanted to organize these people into a team and bring out their full strength, he would have to change their original defensive positions.

Huangqian Yangyi, needless to say, was definitely an outfielder.

As an opponent, although letting Huangqian Yangyi pitch would yield important intelligence, Director Kunitomo also knew that the other side had been adjusting his condition for the past few months, and it would be bad if something went wrong should he rashly let him pitch; for this exchange match, being able to utilize Huangqian Yangyi's hitting ability was enough.

Besides that, Narumiya Mei was also placed in the outfield.

These two core aces of their respective teams had even more experience in outfield defense than many regular outfielders.

"Second Base!!"

Whoosh!

Slap!

The baseball flew to second base and was caught in the glove by Shirakawa.

"Heh, I didn't expect you to be so happy playing first base; I thought you couldn't do without being a catcher," Shirakawa said.

At first base, Miyuki revealed a smile: "Well, it's quite interesting to switch positions once in a while."

In the outfield, Huangqian Yangyi intercepted a ball and, following the momentum, threw it directly toward home plate; that terrifying ball speed drew a streak of white light and shot straight out.

"That's too much, that's too foul!"

"Huangqian is also terrifying as an outfielder."

"With a throw like that, the baserunner is going to have a hard time."

"This guy really knows how to show off no matter where he is."

"So annoying."

The players were all very helpless; why was this guy still showing off even after coming to the home of their old rival, Inashiro? Couldn't someone just come and deal with him?

After a whole afternoon of coordination, everyone gathered together to begin confirming the signals.

Fast pitching, pick-offs, stolen base defense, infield-in defense, double play, pitcher-catcher coordination... all kinds of signals needed to be confirmed and unified one by one; if these players from different teams didn't have unified signals, the game would be nearly impossible to play.

After confirming the signals, before training ended that evening, Director Kunitomo announced the team's starting lineup.

"First batter, Center Fielder, Carlos."

"Second batter, Shortstop, Shirakawa."

"Third batter, First Baseman, Miyuki Kazuya."

"Fourth batter, Left Fielder, Huangqian Yangyi."

"Fifth batter, Catcher, Inui Kengo."

"Sixth batter, Third Baseman, Yamaoka Riku."

"Seventh batter, Right Fielder, Meigong."

"Eighth batter, Second Baseman, Pingfu Liao."

"Ninth batter, Pitcher, Yang Shunchen."

After this starting lineup came out, everyone had no objections, except for Seiko's power hitter Nagata Shohei, who was somewhat resentful; he hadn't managed to get a single starting position.

"Hehe, little blondie, I'm a starter," Huangqian Yangyi turned his head and teased Narumiya Mei with a raised eyebrow.

"Idiot, tomorrow is just a practice match against a university, what's there to be proud of?" Narumiya Mei rolled his eyes; he wouldn't fall for such childish provocation.

The first day of training ended, and apart from the Inashiro players, the others went back to their own homes.

At Seishin Dormitory, upon learning the news that Huangqian Yangyi and Miyuki had returned, a crowd squeezed into Miyuki's room to ask all sorts of questions, their curiosity extremely intense.

"Senior, what is Inashiro's school like?"

"Senior, are there really many amazing players over there?"

"Aniki! Did you establish your own royal authority over there?"

Bang!

Sawamura's head was fiercely knocked.

"Did Miyuki-senpai and Narumiya Mei-senpai pair up?" Furuya Satoru asked.

When everyone heard this, they thought it was a good question.

"Not at all. For this exchange match, players from the same district were deliberately separated by Director Kunitomo. After all, the Summer Tournament is coming up soon, so there's no reason to let rivals from the same district form a battery; Director Kunitomo would certainly never do something like leaking intelligence," Miyuki said.

"Is that so~ boring."

"I thought we'd be able to get some intel on Narumiya Mei."

Having simply satisfied everyone's curiosity, Huangqian Yangyi also left Miyuki's room.

The next day, after the practice match against Ming Shen University, a group of foreign faces appeared on the Inashiro campus; they were clearly the USA Team that had come for the exchange match.

Time flew to the day of the exchange match against the USA Team; both sides would play two games in total, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

"For the first game, the starting lineup is the same as yesterday's practice match; the Starting Catcher is Inui Kengo, the Pitcher is Yang Shunchen, and Narumiya Mei will be the middle reliever."

"For the second game, Starting Catcher, Miyuki Kazuya, starting Pitcher, Meigong..."

At Heshi Stadium, for the Japan-USA exchange match, tens of thousands of spectators had already taken their seats; looking around, the excitement of this exchange match was no less than the final of the Spring Tournament, and major television media had all arrived.

After the two teams entered the field, they took turns conducting warm-up defensive training.

"These guys, they aren't just simple gorillas," Narumiya Mei said with a serious face as he watched the USA Team members warming up.

"No kidding, you didn't expect them to be all brawn and no brains, did you?" said Huangqian Yangyi, who was observing the USA Team's warm-up while loosening his shoulders.

"Hmph!" Narumiya Mei elbowed Huangqian Yangyi.

"Why are you poking my butt?" Huangqian Yangyi said.

"Bastard, what do you mean by that? Are you saying I'm short?!"

"Gomen gomen, I didn't mean to."

A few minutes later, the game officially began.

On the First Base side, the USA Team.

On the Third Base side, the Tokyo Representative Team.

The first inning began; as the starting Pitcher, Yang Shunchen performed steadily and went full throttle from the very start. In his dictionary, words like "unstable start" never existed, and he quickly retired the USA Team in order.

When it was the USA Team's turn to play defense, Carlos, Shirakawa Katsuyuki, and Miyuki were retired one after another, also going three up, three down.

Entering the second inning, the USA Team began to exert their strength; with one out and a runner on Second Base, Yang Shunchen's low outside pitch was caught by the opponent and blasted to the outfield.

The runner at Second Base let out a wild laugh and began to sprint.

Just as he stepped on the Third Base bag and prepared to continue charging toward home plate, a gasp erupted from the stands; in Left Fielder, Huangqian Yangyi intercepted the falling baseball and, without a moment's hesitation, threw the ball in his hand directly toward home plate.

"How is that possible!!"

"That's too exaggerated!"

The spectators were astonished, and the members of the USA Team were also incredibly shocked; their runner had actually been called out on a Force Out by a ball thrown from the outfield back to home plate.

After Inui Kengo caught the baseball and performed the Force Out on the USA Team's player, he looked toward the outfield position and couldn't help but marvel in his heart; it was the first time he had ever caught such a throw, and he had almost failed to react in time.