Chapter 11: Never Let A Chance Go!

"Alright, let's begin the third round of testing now."

Because Sawamura fell during the second round of testing, Coach Ochiai had to conduct an additional test for Sawamura separately.

This time, Sawamura made a concerted effort to master his balance, and the increase in speed was very noticeable.

6.68 seconds!

That's a full 0.2 seconds faster than before, placing him just below Kuramochi and second in the team rankings.

Moreover, this isn't his highest score yet but rather the average of the two tests.

"Very good!"

It seems both Coach Kataoka and Coach Ochiai are quite excited about this information.

Indeed, Sawamura Eijun currently boasts the highest on-base percentage in Seidou High School.

Even in the previous national powerhouse team, Sawamura's on-base percentage ranked second only after the Captain of Steel, Yuuki Tetsuya.

With such a high on-base percentage, if he improves his stealing base, it will definitely become the most terrifying scoring weapon in the new team.

With the retirement of the third-year students, the current issues at Seidou High School have become increasingly apparent. Their defense itself, thanks to the partnership of Sawamura and Miyuki, should not pose a major problem as long as the outfielders can fulfill their duties, despite their immaturity they could be highly effective.

Pitchers account for a particularly large proportion of a team's defense. Even for a powerhouse like Seidou High School, Sawamura can account for 60-70% of it.

For an average team, a pitcher like Sawamura could even account for 80-90% of the entire defense.

So even though the third-year players have retired, Sawamura will also play a stronger role accordingly.

In the short term, there shouldn't be any major problems with Seidou High School's defense.

But offense is a different story!

As soon as the third-year players left, the attacking power of Seidou High School immediately dropped by three levels at least, and their overall strength dropped by two notches.

At this point, Seidou especially needs stable scoring tactics.

Sawamura showed amazing speed, which was definitely a surprise during this training. Combined with Sawamura's terrifying on-base percentage before, this alone might help Seidou triumph over their opponents.

"It's still not very mature; there's still room for improvement."

When Ochiai communicated this to Kataoka, he set higher expectations for Sawamura's future development.

"Give him some targeted extra training in the next month," Coach Kataoka finally decided.

At this point, Sawamura had no idea that the coaches had already secretly planned to hone his skills.

He was still immersed in his previous feelings.

After grasping the balance, his speed had indeed steadily improved.

In his time in the Major League, Sawamura had received similar guidance, but he never seemed to grasp it, so he gave up and moved on. No matter how much he ran, his body couldn't coordinate properly.

Unexpectedly, right now, he executed this action with ease. However, because his body joints were relatively soft, he still needed some practice to fully master the toeing running method.

But it shouldn't be difficult, and Sawamura is confident that he can master it.

And furthermore, this shouldn't be his limit.

When Coach Ochiai asked Sawamura to re-test, Sawamura didn't try his best to run because he focused too much on grasping his body balance.

Believing that after he has mastered it, he should run faster if he goes all out.

Before anyone realized it, the third round of testing was coming to an end.

This time, everyone's results were generally not as good as the previous two rounds.

Sprinting is extremely exhausting. Although it may not be visible on the surface, it is very important for both physical and mental exams.

When they ran for the third time, their explosiveness was obviously not as good as the previous two rounds. Of course, the overall difference wasn't too significant. Although there was a gap between the data and their previous two times, they were still basically close.

Calculating their average statistics wasn't too different from what they did in the first run.

The best runner here was Toujou, with the three results respectively.

6.82, 6.78, 6.80.

The average score was 6.80.

This data, even placed among the entire high school, could achieve a full score.

Sawamura's three times were 6.88, 6.68, and 6.56.

Sawamura's speed improved with each of these three times.

By the third time, the distance between him and Kuramochi was actually very close, only about three meters apart.

"This guy is a monster!"

"He's terrifying, this guy."

Now, everyone was no longer focused on how fast Kuramochi was; unconsciously, all their attention was drawn to Sawamura.

Even Miyuki couldn't help but smile wryly.

"This guy must be Heaven's favorite, otherwise why is he so talented in every aspect!"

Although he was obviously joking, no one around him refuted it.

Unconsciously, everyone seemed to agree with this statement.

This Sawamura really seems to be unstoppable.

"This guy is very capable, but there's still a gap between him and this uncle."

With the obvious progress Sawamura had been making, Kuramochi had clearly felt the pressure brought by Sawamura.

But the gap between the two of them was still huge.

Just like the last run, he and Sawamura were also three meters apart.

On a 50-meter track, a three-meter gap was still quite noticeable.

In theory, it was impossible for Sawamura to catch up with Kuramochi.

This could also be seen from Kuramochi's three results.

The first time: 6.21.

The second time: 6.16.

The third time: 6.23.

The average speed was 6.20.

According to the standards of high school sophomores, their 50-meter perfect score is seven seconds.

Kuramochi's speed was a full 0.8 seconds faster than this result.

Even if he were measured among the top high school students, the perfect score improved to 6.8 seconds.

The gap between the two is still big.

Of course, except for Sawamura himself, no one else believed that Sawamura could really catch up with Kuramochi. They also didn't know that Sawamura was targeting Kuramochi.

"The three of you who ran within 6.80 seconds, come over here. The three of you will run one last time. Are you ready to start right away?"

In the end, Ochiai, who was originally scheduled to run with six people, suddenly proposed to let Kuramochi, Sawamura, and Toujou compete.

Honestly, this competition was unfair.

Before the 60 people finished their rounds, it took more than ten to twenty minutes.

Everyone had a chance to catch their breath.

But now, starting directly with three people, there simply wasn't enough time to rest.

Toujou was slightly better off since he was at the front of the line and had rested for a few minutes by now.

Sawamura and Kuramochi, on the other hand, had just finished running and hadn't even caught their breath yet.

Facing such harsh conditions, Sawamura's eyes lit up.

'This is my chance!'

And Sawamura Eijun's motto in life is to never let a chance go!

In a normal competition, the speed difference between him and Kuramochi would be too great.

But if both of them were exhausted and competing, he might still have a chance.

...