Chapter 73: The Unseen

In the first half of the sixth inning, under the guidance of Kataoka and the cheer of the teammates, Tanpa regained his shape.

His pitches are back to power, the Straight, the Forkball, and the high drop Curve.

Except for the monster Raichi, the average batters of Yakushi High School really can't deal with him.

"STRIKE!"

"STRIKE!"

"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!"

The ninth batter, the pitcher, Sanada was Struck Out.

Ping!

"OUT!"

The first batter, outfielder, Akiba, barely hit the ball and hit a high fly. And was solved Out by second baseman Kominato Ryosuke.

Two Outs, no one on base.

"Second Batter, first baseman, Mishima-kun."

Facing Mishima, Miyuki and Tanpa's thoughts synchronized for the first time.

Using two Balls outside the strike zone forced Mishima to hit two Foul.

Suddenly a low ball came over.

Mishima bites his teeth and swings his bat at the Forkball.

The bat then swung under the small white ball without touching it.

SNAP!

"STRIKE BATTER OUT!!!"

After losing four points, Tanpa finally found his rhythm.

In the dugout, Kataoka, who had originally made up his mind to replace Tanpa, was a little hesitant right now.

Is it really okay to replace Tanpa right now?

The game continues.

In the second half of the sixth inning, Seidou High School attacked.

"First Pitch, shortstop, Kuramochi-kun."

Kuramochi was the first to stand on the strike zone!

"Being chased for points again and again, this is not the way of Seidou to be only beaten passively like this!"

Kuramochi's eyes looked dangerously at Sanada on the pitcher's mound.

He is determined to show his role as Seidou's lineup starter.

As long as he can hit base, he can help the team recover the score.

He can bring the momentum back to the side of Seidou.

Otherwise, just looking at Yakushi high school score, where is Seidou's performance?

'Throw your worth, we can't let you all come and go like you own the game!'

The bat in his hand was raised, and Kuramochi looked like a bloodthirsty Cheetah.

The bad genes in his body began to awaken.

On the mound! Sanada looked at Kuramochi, who was determined and wanted to go to base and was secretly wary.

'Seidou really isn't some herbivore sheep.'

No matter who it is, they all have their own motivations and plans.

None of them are background characters.

"But facing such Opponents is what makes it exciting!"

Whoosh!

The white ball broke after approaching the home plate.

This makes the batter who is batting right now very helpless.

Kuramochi Yoichi is like this now. He feels that after baseball is in hand, there is a sharp break.

"You little..!!"

He held the bat in his hand was subconsciously held short, so Kuramochi changed his plan and wanted to strike with precision.

Watanabe noticed this.

In fact, any truly qualified catcher will not let go of any change in the batter's state.

The simplest Game calling is also corresponding to these subtle changes, and it came into being as the times required.

For example, the stance of the Batter exposes the path of the ball he is aiming at to a certain extent, whether it is an inside corner or an outside corner. Holding the bat long means you want to hit long, holding the bat short means you want to hit the ball with precision…

Correspondingly, the catcher will also adjust the calling according to the intentions shown by the batter. For example, if you aim at the inner corner, he will call the outer corner, and if you aim at the long play, he will ask for some Breaking balls in the corners, making it difficult for you to swing the bat. Once you get the bat short, he can ask some strong Straight… 

All in all, it is the batter who speaks, and the catcher who responds.

Theoretically speaking, if the two players in a battery cooperate well, it is not difficult to lead the Batter around by the nose. Similarly, if a batter is proficient in game calling, he can also ask the opponent's battery to throw the ball where he wants.

There is also the rhythm of pitch calling.

On top of that, it is the insight into the other party's thoughts…

As the batteries evolve, the Batters will naturally evolve as well.

Promote each other, fight wits and courage…

That's the charm of the game calling and the charm of pitcher and batter dueling.

After realizing Kuramochi's plans, Watanabe gave Sanada the call.

On the pitcher's mound, Sanada nodded slightly.

'Watanabe-senpai are really reliable.'

Whoosh!

The white ball whizzed Out.

On the strike zone, Kuramochi, who was behind with a Strike, hurriedly swung his bat in order to prevent himself from being chased.

Ping!

After the white ball was hit, it fell out of bounds.

In the rest area of ​​Seidou High School.

Sawamura frowned, looking at the Pitcher and Batter who were fighting.

"The catcher of Yakushi High School is a bit interesting!"

Chris nodded.

"When he was partnering with Mino before, he was limited by the ability of the pitcher. This catcher called Watanabe couldn't do much. However, after the pitcher changed to Sanada, this changed immediately.

Miyuki also led the pitcher offensively like that. He will call for the tricky balls that are basically what the batter hates. The batter becomes very uncomfortable by the step-by-step pressing and this matches the rhythm of Sanada's pitching."

Furuya, who was on the side nodded.

"Dude, do you understand?"

Sawamura thought it was very interesting and couldn't help but tease him.

Furuya nodded his head: "That catcher is very powerful!"

Sawamura, Chris, and Miyuki, the three were petrified all at once.

'What? Where did this come from?'

Although they also think that the catcher of Yakushi is a bit interesting. But not to the level of powerful.

Watanabe isn't a great catcher with a strong presence.

If it weren't for Sawamura's experience and Chris, Miyuki being observant.

Ordinary players can't see what is different about Watanabe.

"This is a catcher who is good when he works with the strong pitcher! He was also a good partner with Mishima before, but he was helpless to lead Mishima, who is very average in strength."

Miyuki's objective evaluation.

When the pitcher is strong, he is strong!

Sawamura did not expect Miyuki to rate Watanabe so highly.

"No, he's still far from that level. He's not strong when the pitcher is strong. At most, he can display the strength of the pitcher."

Furuya looked at Sawamura suspiciously. Isn't it enough to be able to display the strength of a pitcher?

Miyuki and Chris looked at each other but understood what Sawamura meant.

Catchers don't just know how to call and catch the ball!

"This may also be the plan of Yakushi's strategy"

Faintly, a thought came to Miyuki's mind.

While several people's discussing, the duel on the field is still going on.

Ping!

After three balls, Kuramochi gritted his teeth and hit one, then threw away his bat and flew to first base.

After the baseball bounced off the ground, it was directly caught in the Mitt by Sanada.

"Your luck is too bad!"

The ball flew to the pitcher's mound.

Sanada felt bad for Kuramochi. If it didn't fall here, Kuramochi should have a good chance of hitting base.

"OUT!"

One Out, no one on base.

Seidou's first batter failed to get to base.

"This damned guy pitching rhythm is too good!"

Everyone's eyes, including Kuramochi, were on Sanada, who was pitching the ball, but no one noticed the silent guy who was squatting in the catcher's position.

As if he was a background board.

"This is also a skill!"

In the past, when Seidou studied opponents, the catcher's Game calling strategy was an important item. For batters who use pitch guessing as a weapon, this kind of information is very precious.

But before the match against Yakushi, Seidou had no idea about the Game calling strategy of Yakushi's catcher, that is, Watanabe's Game calling rule!

To be unseen, to act like a transparent person.

Like this, the batter will focus only on the pitcher and his rhythm, while letting the catcher do his work simply.

To a certain extent, it is a skill worthy of admiration.

"Second Batter, second baseman, Kominato-kun."

Right now, it was Kominato Ryosuke's turn.

…