Chapter 16: The Perfect Fit

In the catcher's position, Miyuki's lips curled into a cold smile when he saw the expression of Sasaki, the fifth batter of Sankou.

He looked at his current position in the Box, his stance, and remembered his swing from earlier.

'His swing from earlier was clearly late, and looking at his position and tense stance, he is clearly wary of the Change-up.'

'So they are aiming for the Change-up, trying to read my game calling and take advantage of it to get an opening.'

Glancing over at Sankou High's dugout, Miyuki couldn't help but reveal a hint of amusement.

'Still thinking of making a comeback?'

'Sorry, this road is dead!'

'For the final pitch, a Straight-Fastball.'

The opponent is wary of the Change-up, so let's finish this with a Straight-Fastball.

Seeing the signal from Miyuki, Sawamura gave a barely noticeable nod.

He still has 100% trust in his current partner. In terms of understanding baseball, game calling, and the application of tactics…

Even with all of his years of experience from both now and the past, Sawamura does not consider himself a match for Miyuki in that area.

Miyuki, Chris!

The baseball they understand and the world of baseball they engage with are completely different from the baseball world that Sawamura and his teammates know.

Sawamura knows exactly what he should do now.

So when he pitched, he didn't hold back at all, delivering a Straight-Fastball.

Whrroosh!

As the baseball flew out, it was like a rocket igniting. It instantly broke the speed limit and continued to slice through the air, accelerating forward.

'Fast!'

Sasaki felt like his heart was about to stop. Chased by two Strikes, he seemed to have no way out.

It seemed like his only option was to face off against Sawamura directly.

But in reality, he didn't do that. Even with two Strikes against him, he resolutely went for a bunt.

He knew that if he failed the bunt now, it would mean he was out.

Neither Sawamura nor Miyuki had anticipated that the opponent would make such a move.

If we move the timeline forward by a few seconds, we can notice a crucial detail.

In the dugout of Sankou High School.

When Coach Tahara saw the uneasy look on Sasaki's face, he realized that getting Sasaki to hit the ball was probably too much.

At this point, they could only make a concession.

So he unhesitatingly gave Sasaki new instructions.

'Get Hoshida to third base first.'

If there were other options Coach Tahara would definitely not have chosen this path. After all, they were not just trailing by one or two points, but by a full three runs. Even if they scored a point, it wouldn't change the unfavorable situation on the field.

But now he had no choice.

If Sasaki were to face Sawamura in this state, the outcome was predictable; Tahara could already imagine it.

Coach Tahara felt this way; he didn't need to guess to see the result.

In this situation, they had absolutely no chance to turn the game around.

Since the situation was like this, he could only choose to take a bold risk. Sacrifice one Out to extend their scoring opportunities.

For Sasaki in the Batter's Box, Coach Tahara's instructions felt like a lifeline.

Finally, he didn't have to face this terrifying demon king anymore.

Receiving Coach Tahara's instructions, he felt a huge sense of relief. Even though he was already behind by two strikes and knew that failing the bunt would mean being directly Out.

He didn't care at all.

Ping!

After the small ball was touched, it rolled forward.

Although Sawamura hadn't anticipated this move from the opponent, his reaction was swift.

Seeing that Sasaki had switched to a bunt, he ran straight forward without stopping.

Snap!

As the baseball rebounded from the ground, Sawamura caught it in one motion and glanced at third base out of the corner of his eye.

'It was too late.'

Hoshida was clearly prepared and was already close to third base. If Sawamura passed the ball there, it would only delay the chance to seal first base.

Without any hesitation, Sawamura opened his stance and threw the ball to first base.

Snap!

"OUT!!!"

Sasaki was indeed Out, but his tactical intention had been achieved.

Hoshida, who had been at second base, had now advanced to third base.

The atmosphere in the stands turned strange.

The supporters who had once cheered for Seidou were now all bewildered.

Clearly, most of them had not anticipated such a sudden change in the situation.

"What a coward!"

In the area of Teito High School, Mukai Taiyou crossed his legs and said impatiently.

The tactics of Sankou made him very unhappy.

Seidou and Sankou High School were now in a head-to-head clash. With Seidou leading by three points, they held the absolute initiative.

If Sankou High School did not have the determination to fight desperately, they would not stand a chance at all.

"You're right; I think Coach Tahara of Sankou High School must know this too. Knowing that he still didn't choose to let the batter swing…" Inui calmly analyzed.

"There must be a reason behind this decision."

But it's unclear whether the reason was forced or if they had a plan of their own.

If Sankou High School had an alternative strategy, then this game could still be interesting.

If it was the former, then the players of Sankou High School were truly being forced into a corner.

Inui's analysis was correct from an objective perspective.

But from the standpoint of the Seidou baseball team, they could not tolerate such a situation.

Miyuki's face was serious, almost icy.

'The opponent had truly thrown caution to the wind, even giving up an Out at this crucial moment.'

'What was their objective?'

'There was no doubt they wanted to score runs.'

For any top-tier team, the tactics they drill for when there are runners on third base are countless.

Sankou High School was no different.

'Forced scoring?'

'Hit and run?'

'Direct confrontation?'

'Bunt for a walk?'

There were so many tactics available that it was impossible to guess what Sankou High School intended to do.

Based on usual routines, in this situation, the pitcher should throw with the intention of giving up a run. The priority would be to secure the outs first…

Of course, this is just the general approach. With Sawamura as the pitcher, this strategy wouldn't be very appropriate.

'Sawamura would never agree.'

'He wasn't someone who would just give away runs.'

'What to do?'

In a moment, countless thoughts raced through Miyuki's mind.

Ultimately, these thoughts coalesced into one: confront the opponent head-on.

In fact, if you think about it, Sankou didn't have many choices right now.

A head-to-head confrontation could be completely ruled out.

When Sawamura was fully engaged, what would be the outcome of the head-to-head duel between the batter from Sankou High School and Sawamura?

90% would end in strikeouts.

In such a scenario, Seidou would effectively have two outs secured.

The last out could just be a head-to-head match with the batter. Why complicate things further?

If this route was closed off, then Sankou High School had only two options left.

'Either force a run!'

'Or hit and run!'

For some reason, the image of Hoshida not daring to steal a base flashed in Miyuki's mind.

'What were they afraid of?'

'Was it Sawamura's pickoff technique?'

'No, it shouldn't be!'

As a left-handed pitcher, Sawamura had his back to second base when he was about to pitch. His pickoff skills primarily targeted first base, and his effectiveness against second and third bases was considerably less.

'Even if Hoshida wanted to distract Sawamura, he shouldn't have been so timid.'

'So what were they really afraid of?'

'It was Sawamura's Last Moment Adjustment.'

Thinking of this, Miyuki felt a sudden clarity wash over him.

He understood a lot in that moment and finally formed a comfortable smile on his lips.

He knew exactly what he should do.

He signaled to Sawamura on the pitcher's mound.

Miyuki crouched in the catcher's position.

On the mound, Sawamura's face was twitching.

Miyuki's thoughts made Sawamura shiver.

'This guy's cunning seemed to have increased once again.'

'But I don't hate it.'

Being kind to your opponent is cruel to yourself. From this perspective, there is no better partner than Miyuki Kazuya.

Whrroosh!

With his form set, Sawamura pitched the ball directly.

At that moment, Adashi, batting sixth for Sankou High School, suddenly swung his bat.

From his earlier stance, it didn't seem like he intended to swing at the first pitch.

But now he did.

At the same time, Hoshida, at third base, dashed toward home plate.

'As expected!'

Just as Miyuki had predicted, Sankou High School also believed that their best tactic at this moment was to hit and run.

'They didn't dare to guarantee they could score using other strategies against Sawamura.'

'In fact, hitting and running wasn't foolproof either.'

'But compared to other options, this tactic had the highest probability of success.'

'So they executed it without hesitation.'

And Miyuki had anticipated all of this in advance; he had started designing their strategy from the beginning.

The players of Sankou High School were like headless flies, diving straight into the trap that Miyuki had meticulously set for them.

Ping!

The small ball was struck by the bat and did not drop but instead bounced high into the air.

At that moment, Hoshida, who was running, seemed to have seen an incredible monster and quickly slammed the brakes to run back.

Snap!

Sawamura securely caught the ball and threw it to third base.

Snap!

Hoshida returned to third base faster than Sawamura's throw.

"Safe!"

It was as if he had a mind-reading ability; once Miyuki saw through Sankou High School's plan, the outcome was already predetermined.

Two Outs, with a runner on third.

Under Miyuki Kazuya's careful design, Seidou avoided the risk of giving up a run.

"Leave the rest to me!"

With Adashi's unsuccessful attempt leading to two Outs, Sawamura just needed to focus on the batter.

Amahisa Kousei stepped up to the plate.

"STRIKE!"

"STRIKE!!"

"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!!!"

With no suspense at all, he swung three times and missed three times.

He was struck Out.

In this inning, although Seidou accidentally allowed a runner to reach third, thanks to the perfect cooperation between Sawamura and Miyuki Kazuya,

Seidou passed through the crisis unscathed.

…