Chapter 58: Having Fun

Triangle Defense!

This defensive lineup was created by the Kotari Brothers and Yamazaki Kento, with significant credit also going to Sawamura Eijun.

As mentioned earlier, the Kotari Brothers are extremely passionate fans of Sawamura Eijun. They have watched almost every game video of the Akagi Middle School baseball team and often imagine themselves as members of the team. How would they play if they were on Akagi Middle School's team?

These countless imaginings naturally led them to become interested in the triangle defense formation.

However, understanding the intricacies of this formation isn't something that can be achieved just by watching screens.

They didn't solve the final puzzle until they met Yamazaki Kento.

Yamazaki Kento is the elder cousin of Sawamura's former teammate. They are cousins from the same grandfather.

Through intense questioning of his younger cousin, he quickly figured out the key aspects of the triangle defense.

There are two core issues: lineup changes and game-calling.

These are the essence of the triangle defense.

Based on this formation, they quickly developed the current tactics they used.

The Coach, Kiyoshi Ogiwara, seeing that the players were enthusiastic about this, allowed them to train it. As the team's main motto is for the players to enjoy playing.

Seeing the results were promising, the Coach adopted the formation officially.

With the triangle defense tactics, the team's strength surged.

This allowed them to advance all the way to the top eight in the nation.

The more powerful the opponents, the more confident they became in their play and tactics.

Unless they face an extraordinary opponent, it's difficult for ordinary teams to score against them.

Although the twins knew that Sawamura originally created this set of tactics, they have since refined it.

They are confident that their version is far more sophisticated than the original easy-to-use triangle defense tactics.

Even if there are any flaws, they should have already addressed them.

The Kotari brothers' looked at the Seidou High School bench, puzzled.

At this moment, they faced a difficult choice.

Should they abandon the formation they had honed for so long, or continue to trust it?

If they abandon the formation, it could buy them an inning at most. That if Seidou didn't use their confusion and attack them as usual.

The Coach gave them the orders to do their best and enjoy the game.

In other words, he let them decide.

After a few seconds of struggle, the Kotari brothers made up their minds.

At this point, the only path left was to fight on with the current strategy.

Reworking a new unhoned tactic to handle Seidou High School is simply unrealistic.

Whether this formation has flaws or not, they can only proceed with it now.

Moreover, Kazuto had a hunch that even if there were weaknesses in the tactic, they likely weren't fatal.

Otherwise, with all the strong teams they had faced before, they would have been defeated by now!

The situation was that there were no Outs, and runners were on first and third bases.

An unprecedented crisis.

The Kotari twins decided to venture forward bravely with a smile.

' 'It should have been this way all along!' '

Whoosh!

The white ball was incredibly sharp.

Even though the opponent's intended pitch location was read, Seidou High School's eighth batter still failed to connect with the ball.

Ping!

The baseball was hit and landed precisely in the death triangle.

"Snap!"

"Out!"

Higasa's face was grim.

Taking over from Kanemaru, his performance was truly disappointing.

In Seidou High School's rest area, the players' faces also grew serious.

Strictly speaking, the opponent's tactics had no significant flaws.

Even if you could read it, hitting the opponent's ball was still not easy.

"Ninth batter, pitcher, Kawakami-kun."

Now it was Kawakami, the ninth batter, who was up.

There was no pinch hitter sent out from Seidou High School's bench.

In the stands, Owada Akiko, no longer a novice, had begun to guess something about Seidou High School's next move.

"At this point, no pinch hitter has been sent out. It seems Coach Kataoka plans to let Kawakami continue in the next inning."

Fujio nodded.

Coach Kataoka has a strong trust in his pitchers.

Unless it's a matter of life and death for the team, he generally follows his pre-set pitching strategy.

He probably has very high expectations for Kawakami-kun, the second-year student.

Let's hope this player doesn't let them down.

With runners on first and third bases, Kawakami set up for a bunt.

Ping!

Seidou High School employed a forced scoring tactic.

Their primary goal was to score a run as soon as possible, and on the other hand, to confuse their opponents.

Higasa's Out did partially disrupt Seidou High School's offensive momentum.

But it also served to confuse the opponent.

This might not be a bad thing for Seidou High School's subsequent attack.

Coach Kataoka's eyes sparkled with insight.

He could vaguely see a very good outcome.

"SAFE!!"

Although Kawakami was Out, Maezono scored at home plate.

This result was a compromise between both sides.

As long as Seidou High School was willing to trade Outs for runs, they didn't seem to mind losing this point!

The score became 4:2.

With two Outs and a man on second base.

Toujou advanced to second base!

"First batter, shortstop, Kuramochi-kun!"

Now it was Seidou High School's turn to hit with their top lineup.

Against Kuramochi, Yamamori adopted their usual defensive posture, which they regularly use.

They usually do this when facing Kuramochi.

But Kuramochi noticed something different.

On the surface, it seemed like they were extremely wary of Kuramochi's bunts, setting up a formation to deny him any chance to bunt.

But the real intention was not entirely as it appeared.

By setting up this formation, their main goal was to force Kuramochi to hit the ball into the death triangle.

'I see!'

At this moment, Kuramochi's mind raced, and he instantly understood many things.

'The previous setup by Yamamori wasn't genuinely to guard against my bunts, but to force me to hit normally.'

In other words, it was a bluff!

If Kuramochi didn't know how to handle this situation, he would truly be a fool.

Facing the incoming baseball, Kuramochi decisively went for a bunt.

Ping!

The white ball was touched and rolled toward third base.

After hitting the ball, Kuramochi transformed into a blue streak of lightning.

He raced towards first base!

Toujou also left second base and ran to third base.

Toujou's speed, combined with his early start, made it a clear advance to third base.

Kuramochi, facing the forward defense and attempting a steal, looked like a very risky play.

The third baseman picked up the ball and hurriedly threw it to first base.

The more they panicked, the more likely they were to make mistakes.

Kuramochi's sudden move might have thrown them off balance.

The throw turned out to be a clear error.

Yamazaki Kento, who had just returned to first base, failed to catch the ball.

They could only watch as Kuramochi reached first base.

"SAFE!!!"

At the moment of the throwing error, Toujou, who had already reached third base, continued to run forward at full speed!

"WHAT?!"

"THIS IS INSANE!!!"

"STEALING BASES WITH TWO OUTS!!"

"AND A DOUBLE STEAL!!!"

"STEALING HOME PLATE TOO!!!"

Seidou's mad assault stunned everyone else in the field.

The ball reached the catcher Mitt the moment Toujou slid and touched the plate with his hand.

"SAFE!!!" The umpire didn't hesitate and declared.

"YEAAAAH!!"

"OOOH!!"

"TOUJOU!!!"

"TOUJOU!!!!"

"NICE RUN!!"

Toujou, the dugout, and the stands roared at the success of the gamble.

The score became 5:2.

Seidou High School's lead was back to three points.

And it's not over yet.

With two Outs and a runner on first base.

It was Kominato Haruichi's turn to bat!

Paak!

The white ball was hit and skillfully avoided the death triangle.

With an awkward pull-and-play stance, he forcibly changed the direction of the baseball.

Kuramochi on first base reached third base, and Haruichi didn't overestimate his speed and stayed at first base.

At this moment, in Yamamori's dugout.

Their Coach couldn't leave things like that and finally gave his orders.

"Abandon the Tringle Defense and use the normal defensive tactics!"

"Eh?"

Everyone looked at the player delivering the message in shock.

The player responsible for conveying the message was apprehensive but still firmly relayed the coach's instructions.

"Although we don't know the specific reason, our formation seems to have been figured out. From now on, all players should stay in their defensive positions to guard normally and face the batter head-on.

And in the end, remember to always have fun."

The players of Yamamori smiled at their Coach's orders.

They smiled and looked at their Coach, and each other and diligently followed the command.

"Let's do it!"

"Yeah!"

"Two Outs!"

"Two Outs!"

With their usual liveliness, they returned to their position while cheering each other.

This, of course, was liked by the audience.

"They are keeping their morale up in this situation."

"You can almost feel how much they are having fun."

"Go Yamamori!"

"Yamamori!"

This energy was infectious, and the audience started cheering for Yamamori.

Or at least until this guy took the Batter's Box

"Third batter, outfielder, Sawamura-kun!"

"OOOH!!"

"SAWAMURAA!!!"

"SEIDOU!!"

"SAWAMURA!!"

"DEMON KING!!!"

"DO IT SAWAMURA!!"

His fans and Seidou's fans in the stands started pushing back.

Now it was the third batter, Sawamura's turn.

With his aura and his previous home run, too much expectation is on Sawamura right now.

But Eijun didn't care about that now as he looked at the field.

When he saw that the defense had not changed, he realized that the opponent must have detected something.

'Next would be a battle between the batter and the pitcher.'

'Fine by me!'

The blood surging inside him made Sawamura extremely excited.

He could hardly wait to exact revenge for the earlier embarrassing double play.

"This day, I've waited too long for it!"

On the pitcher's mound, Kotari Yuuto also felt every cell in his body trembling.

…

T/N: That's it for now.

Thank you all for reading!

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