Unfathomable

In the quarter-finals of Nagano Prefecture, the giant Nagano Metropolitan Middle School played. Akagi Middle School, which participated in the competition for the first time, ended the game in seven rounds, and the two sides tied at 2:2. A playoff has to be held.

At the beginning of the playoff, everyone except Akagi thought that Nagano Metropolitan Middle School, which was fighting back furiously, would tear Akagi Middle School to shreds.

But the real situation is completely different.

In the first half of the eighth game, Nagano Metropolitan Middle School attacked.

It was their turn to hit the eighth bat, and as soon as the eighth batter came on the field, they put on a bunt.

Nagano Metropolitan Middle School, which is serious about competition, has decided to carry out the bunt offensive. Now, the face has long been lost, and no matter what, I can't lose any more.

If you want to win, you have to target the opponent's weakness without any hesitation.

Akagi Middle School's weakness is that aside from Sawamura, Ren and Oda, there are no decent players at all.

Bunting alone can make them full of loopholes.

One point, as long as they get one point first, the victory still belongs to them.

"Press it up! Press it up!!"

In the face of Nagano's counterattack, Sawamura naturally had already responded. He let Oda and Yamaguchi press forward from first base. From their original garrison position, they advanced seven or eight meters forward.

At the same time, the outfielders moved forward, almost guarding against the infield, ready to go to the base to fill in.

When the Nagano Metropolitan friends saw it, they immediately understood the intention of Akagi Middle School.

"This is forcing us to fight them hard!"

Marian sneered.

The first and third basemen are already equivalent to defending against the batter. If the batter looks around, he can almost see the nose hairs in the nose of the Akagi infielder. In this case, it is difficult for the batter to relax and bunt. Regardless of whether it is successful or not, it feels like a bunt is sending the opponent out of the game.

"Since you want to be tough, we'll do it for you."

Nagano Metropolitan Middle School, which wanted to open it, changed its strategy and faced off against Sawamura.

Sawamura successfully won two outs from Nagano Metropolitan Middle School's eight and nine.

After two outs, Ogawa relied on hitting to get to the base. Fortunately, Sawamura suppressed Nagano Toritsu's second bat.

In this way, he managed to hold the eighth game without any risk.

In the second half of the eighth inning, Marian threw the ball.

In the face of his pitching, Akagi's lower batters didn't swing at all.

Anyway, if you can't hit, it's better not to swing the bat and bet four bad.

Not to mention, Marian, who has been unstable in control of the ball in the first place, has also suffered from physical problems in throwing. He threw two fours in a row, letting Yamazaki and Wakana go to base one after another.

"What are you doing?"

Tsuchihara called for a pause, and looked at Marian without blinking.

"Cut~"

Marian was a little unhappy, but he didn't know where the problem was.

How could he keep the ball wrong?

"Slow down the tempo, and deal with other batters except for Ren and Sawamura. Even if you don't throw the ball with all your strength, you can still deal with them."

Tsuchihara suggested in a loud voice.

Marian's ball-handling is not really that he can't even hit the strike zone. It's just that, if you throw the ball with all your strength, the speed of the ball will be faster. If he tends to control the ball, his ball speed can only be maintained at about 130 kilometers.

Throwing the ball with full force and controlling the ball with precision cannot be said to be completely contradictory, but there is indeed an opposition. Pitchers have to constantly find a balance to get their straight shots fast and accurately.

But note that for any pitcher with good ball control, his usual speed is definitely not his fastest.

Marian is a pitcher who tends to the fastball, so his control of the ball is relatively average.

Now, Tsuchihara's suggestion is to let him give up the fastball and focus on ball control. If the opponent is Akagi's lower line, even if the ball speed is 130 kilometers, it is more than enough to clean them up.

After the adjustment, the effect really showed. After Yamazaki and Wakana went to the base, Marian struck out Akagi's eighth, ninth, and first Yamaguchi with nine consecutive strikes.

They held the eighth game very strongly.

In the first half of the ninth game, it was the core of Nagano Metropolitan Middle School to hit the line.

Their starting batter is their third batter, facing a skilled and fast batter. Sawamura once again signaled his friends to step forward to guard, completely blocking the route of the batter's bunt.

Nagano Metropolis had no choice but to face Sawamura head-to-head. After two goals, he hit an Infield jam and was killed by Nobu Nakagawa.

Once out, no one hits the base.

The next hitter was Nagano Metropolitan Middle School's fourth bat, a super strong hitter Saburo Tsuchihara who was famous throughout Nagano Prefecture.

"bring it on!"

Tsuchihara, who looked like an angry king, stood in the strike zone, waiting for his own eyes to look at Sawamura.

Sawamura threw two balls, but they were both hit very far, and the little buddies didn't have time to react.

"One hundred and twenty-five kilometers of straight Ball are enough to deal with other people, but not enough to deal with Tsuchihara."

On the pitcher's mound, Sawamura's eyes suddenly turned cold. Although he had been beaten all the time, he finally scored two strikes. Next, it will be up to him to decide whether he can take out Tsuchihara.

Sawamura's right foot was raised high and then slashed like a battle axe on the pitcher's mound. At the same time, his body, like a windmill, was rotated by the power of the split.

"Whoosh!"

Quick, so quick! Faster than all previous balls.

Even without a speed test, Tsuchihara knew that Sawamura's ball was over 130 kilometers.

In just one game, Sawamura's ball speed has soared by a full five kilometers, a step higher.

Is it incredible?

It's a pity that if the speed of the ball is at this point, he can't be bothered.

Tsuchihara's eyes became fierce, he bit Sawamura's ball, and he swung the bat directly.

With a ball speed of 130, it's hard to help Tsuchihara, the batter at the top of Nagano.

Aim at one or two centimeters above the straight ball and swing!

"Om!"

Hearing the low whistling sound of the bat, Ren couldn't help his heart tremble.

There is!

Seeing that the bat was about to hit the baseball, Tsuchihara was overjoyed. He feels that his swing has taken it to a higher level, and now he has the confidence to challenge the powerful enemy, Tenryu Temple.

Whoosh! hum!!

The bat and the small white ball passed by, as if they were about to touch each other, but they didn't touch at all.

how is this possible?

Tsuchihara looked at the white ball that passed through the bat in disbelief, and got into Ren's open glove.

"Bang!"

"Strike, strike out!"

Nagano's top three super hits, Saburo Tsuchihara, were struck out.

Followed by the fifth pitcher, Marian was struck out.

In the first half of the ninth inning, Sawamura faced Nagano Metropolitan Middle School's core fourth and fifth, scoring consecutive strikeouts.

His performance dazzled the audience.

In the cowshed of Nagano Metropolitan Middle School.

Takashi Ryu closed his eyes in pain.

His previous feeling was right, Sawamura really kept the last trump card.

By raising his legs high, he increased the number of spins on his straight ball, making the straight ball rise more than two balls. Only in this way can the ball completely bypass Tsuchihara's swing.

Thinking a little bit deeper, Sawamura's straight ball has a normal throw, a normal throw to stress the wrist, a normal throw with a high leg lift, and a high lift shot to stress the wrist.

A full four!

In the eyes of Takashi Ryu, a dark horse team that looked ordinary at first suddenly became unfathomable.

If he knew what Sawamura was thinking at this time, he might be so angry that he vomited blood.

"It's really hard to use only straight balls!"

If you only use straight balls, you're nowhere near as good. What else do you want?