Chapter 56: Attacking Plan

After the score gap was narrowed to one point, Kawakami appeared somewhat nervous.

"Time!"

At this point, Miyuki called a timeout.

He walked to the mound and said only one sentence to Kawakami.

"Do you know why you haven't been replaced yet?"

"Eh?" Kawakami was confused.

"It's because these guys have a lot of trust in you!"

Kawakami turned his gaze toward his own dugout.

Coach Kataoka, wearing sunglasses, had no visible expression on his face.

"You can do it, Nori!"

"Be aggressive!"

Around him, the players were cheering for Kawakami with hoarse voices. And not just them.

"Nori!"

"Fight Nori!"

"Do your best!"

The second and third string members are also cheering for him, hoping to convey a bit of power.

"Two Outs!"

In the outfield, Sawamura held up two fingers.

'This is your moment!'

"Two Outs, Nori-senpai!!"

"Let them hit!!!"

At first base, Maezono had a serious expression.

"I will catch it I swear!"

"We'll stop them."

"Pitch to contact!"

"We got your back!"

"Hyaa-ha-haa!"

The fielders also started cheering for Kawakami and assuring him that he was not alone.

It worked as a bit of the pressure on Kawakami has disappeared.

He knew he wasn't the Ace pitcher on the team, but he understood his current role.

'We can't always be depending on Sawamura. We want him to depend on us more!'

"I will do my best!"

Even as a backup pitcher, he had his pride.

As long as the team needed him, he would fight until the last moment.

Whoosh!

The tricky breaking ball successfully avoided the batter's swing and landed in Miyuki's mitt.

Snap!

"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!!!"

Kawakami regained his fighting spirit and overcame the challenge.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Seidou High School went on the attack.

To support Kawakami, the Seidou players needed to score a few more runs.

Otherwise, a one-point lead was too precarious.

But the next batters up were the lower-order hitters, starting with Maezono.

Could they really overcome Yamamori?

That remained an unknown.

Coach Kataoka had no particularly good countermeasures; he just advised the players to stick to their style.

Sawamura who had been in the background, now had a different gleam in his eyes.

"I do have a suggestion; you might want to consider it."

As the batters were about to step up, Sawamura suddenly spoke up.

Everyone turned to him.

The same player who was solved with a double play earlier.

Could he really have a good strategy?

"I almost have the opponent's defensive system figured out!" Sawamura spoke through gritted teeth.

Originally, he thought he had understood Yamamori High's defensive system.

The defense gave him an inexplicable sense of familiarity, but he couldn't figure it out.

"First, the opponent's defensive system is centered around three key players: the pitcher, catcher, and first baseman!"

Sawamura picked up a pen from the scorer's desk and drew a simplified diagram of the field.

He marked the positions of the pitcher, catcher, and first baseman.

Such a familiar setup.

When Akagi Middle School's baseball team first competed nationally,

Its core team consisted of just three players:

Ace pitcher Sawamura Eijun.

The main catcher Hosho Okuchi.

Main first baseman Oda Honjo.

It was so similar to Yamamori's current style.

However, Yamamori had made drastic adjustments after borrowing from Akagi Middle School's defensive system.

This had made it difficult for Sawamura, the original creator, to recognize it initially.

Back in the day, every tactic used by the Akagi Middle School baseball team was orchestrated by Sawamura Eijun.

At that time, there were no baseball experts on the team besides Sawamura. Although Hosho and Oda had come from regular junior baseball, they were not the type of players who could lead a team.

Sawamura, as the organizer, founder, captain, and acting coach of the team…

He nearly taught his teammates how to play baseball from scratch.

When his teammates had only a basic understanding of baseball, Sawamura dragged them onto the field to test their skills in real games.

Given that situation, if the Akagi Middle School baseball team wanted to achieve results, using some strategies and elaborated plans was absolutely necessary.

Sawamura had to work hard on his own. He used his precise ball control to direct hitters to hit the ball where he wanted.

Simply put, it was about the pitcher's area, the first baseman's area, and the catcher's area.

Only players in these three positions were experienced enough to handle significant responsibilities.

The defensive formation Sawamura devised was based on this.

Later additions to the lineup were also based on this foundation, with some elements added.

The Iron Triangle defense was used by Akagi Middle School for a long time until Hosho and Oda graduated.

The Iron Triangle defense from that time no longer existed.

As a result, they were defeated by Nagano Metropolitan High School in the autumn immediately after winning the national championship.

It wasn't until a year later, with the formation of a new triangle defense, that the Akagi Middle School baseball team could fight and regain the national championship.

It can be said that Sawamura's achievements in middle school were greatly due to this defensive formation.

After all, Sawamura had spent months devising this strategy, which was more than sufficient to handle a bunch of middle school kids.

By high school, this lineup was naturally no longer applicable.

Especially for elite schools, where players in all positions are very strong, there was no need to use such methods.

As time passed, Sawamura gradually forgot about this defensive system.

For Sawamura, who aiming for the higher league, it was merely a passing phase in his life, not worth dwelling on.

In the future, he wouldn't need this lineup.

He never expected to see this defensive formation again on the Koshien field, and even more, to see it modified and strengthened.

Before discussing with his teammates, Sawamura carefully observed the players from Yamamori High School.

He had a question in his mind.

Those familiar with the Akagi Middle School baseball team knew their defensive system was sophisticated. But could it really be practiced and improved upon?

'It was impossible to achieve by merely watching game footage.'

This involved the pitcher's choices and adjustments in defense.

People outside the Akagi Middle School baseball team should not know about this system.

Otherwise, if the system were so easy to imitate and see through,

Sawamura wouldn't have been able to dominate the middle school baseball scene with it.

But this wasn't the time for these guesses, Sawamura focused on explaining the opponent's tactics to his teammates.

"The defensive formation they use is called the Triangle Defense! The pitcher's choice of pitch greatly affects the defensive adjustments."

When Sawamura Eijun presented this view, his teammates were initially skeptical.

If the adjustments were that obvious, Watanabe's observational skills should have detected them long ago.

 "It's not that complicated. The defensive adjustments are actually quite simple. They likely have 6 to 7 different formations. Each lineup is centered around a triangle. The most important triangle is the one formed by the catcher, pitcher, and first baseman. Next is the triangle formed by the pitcher, third baseman, and catcher. And then there's the third Triangle and the fourth Triangle! These are all pitcher-centric formations combined with the shortstop and second baseman."

"Isn't this the most basic strategy?" Miyuki frowned!

Doesn't every team do this?

"Of course, it's not that simple!"

Sawamura placed his palms on the pitcher's and catcher's positions, then compressed towards the first baseman.

"The real power of this formation lies here!"

After seeing Sawamura's gesture, Miyuki's eyes lit up.

'Did he understand something vaguely?'

As guessed, Sawamura explained the same.

"There's nothing abnormal with this formation itself; the abnormality lies with the pitcher. He uses precise control and calculation to make the batter hit the area he desires. In other words, from the moment the pitcher delivers the pitch, their defense has already been adjusted! This is a pitcher-centric defensive system, which I call the Triangle Defense!"

Sawamura's teammates nodded at this.

Not only is the name vivid, but it also perfectly captures the essence of the tactic.

"You seem to understand it quite well!"

Kuramochi looked at Sawamura with suspicion.

It doesn't seem like something one could figure out just from seeing the opponent's defense for the first time.

Sawamura scratched his scalp in embarrassment.

He really didn't know how to answer.

"No matter how you came up with it, just tell us your strategy."

Coach Kataoka was more pragmatic.

Sawamura first nodded at Coach Kataoka and then explained his countermeasures.

"Actually, it's not that difficult to counter the opponent. Or rather, countering the opponent follows certain rules."

Saying this, Sawamura Eijun pointed to the pitcher's position.

"First, we can guess the general course of the pitcher based on the defensive adjustments."

When Sawamura entered that mysterious state earlier, he had faintly seen through it.

He realized that based on the defensive adjustments, the opponent likely wanted to use an inside corner pitch.

He wasn't sure why specifically.

But he still saw through it immediately.

He had identified very clear patterns.

"Secondly, if we choose to hit the ball head-on, it should likely land in the areas the opponent designed as a trap. It's like deliberately placing hooks and bait, and we are the hooked fish."

"My advice is, no matter what method you use, just hit the ball to the areas where they aren't guarding against, and you'll be fine."

That's Sawamura's countermeasure.

Coach Kataoka nodded in agreement.

"Did you all understand that?"

"Understood!"

"Good, then let's go!"

At Seidou High School, the strategy is not to force the players to do things. Instead, players are encouraged to think and make judgments on their own.

This is the style Seidou High School has always adhered to.

…