<77> The Useless Magic Pitch

Chapter 77: The Useless Magic Pitch

"This bastard! What kind of look is that?" Ozawa glared menacingly at Sendo.

Sendo glanced at her briefly, then started adjusting the batter's box. He kicked some dirt aside with his right foot and then stepped onto it. This wasn't his usual habit; he just needed something to do while thinking.

"Cutter, curveball, slow curveball, and pretty good control. But with a speed of only 120 km/h, it's too slow. I have plenty of time to observe and judge the pitch. It's going to be tough to beat me like this. Or maybe she has another hidden pitch?" Sendo finished his thoughts, then prepared himself by placing his left hand under his left elbow and pulling both hands back, getting into his stance.

"Woah! An American-style stance! Is he sacrificing power for accuracy?" Coach Mitani muttered lightly as he observed Sendo's balanced stance, left foot as the pivot, and no leg kick.

It reminded him of Ichiro Suzuki, who mostly focused on infield singles or doubles near the outfield and rarely aimed for home runs, given that Asian players usually aren't as power-oriented as their Western counterparts.

To Ozawa, however, Sendo's movements appeared arrogant.

Yet at the same time, she felt a strange calm from the batter.

His eyes scanned her with an almost expressionless gaze before he quickly looked away.

Sendo's tendency to be easily distracted led him to observe his surroundings like a radar, his focus shifting constantly.

Seeing her catcher's sign, Ozawa nodded in response.

"This one!" She cursed internally as she threw the pitch.

Thwack!

"Ball!"

Sendo didn't move an inch. His eyes kept wandering, but there was no reaction to her pitch.

"That's it, Ozawa! Even though he didn't swing, now that the batter has an impression of the outside corner, throw to the inside next! No matter how good a batter is, it'll have some effect."

"This bastard!" Ozawa scowled, irritated by Sendo's lack of response, even as she received the sign for the next pitch.

As Ozawa furiously stomped on the pitcher's mound, Sendo couldn't help but comment internally.

"This girl has such a bad temper! It's such a waste, considering her build and looks," he thought, though his attention was soon distracted again by something else.

After what seemed like a moment of venting, Ozawa was finally ready to pitch.

Whoosh!

"Inside corner?" Sendo's exceptional dynamic vision allowed him to read the trajectory of the ball almost as soon as it was released, given the relatively slow speed of this pitcher.

However, because of his habit of looking away, he failed to notice what he normally should have seen.

"No, this pitch—" Within a fraction of a second, Sendo sensed something unusual about this ball.

Smack!

"Strike!"

"Yes! The batter didn't swing!"

"What was that pitch?" Sendo realized, somewhat dazed, that he didn't recognize the type of pitch it was.

As a left-handed batter facing a right-handed pitcher, the ball seemed aimed at the middle of the inner column of the strike zone grid.

But as it approached the plate, it suddenly darted outward, veering sharply to the lower outside corner, resembling a wide-breaking cutter.

It was a pitch with a wicked break, almost like a magic ball, challenging hitters from both sides of the plate.

"Even though I don't know what it's called, it's a pretty impressive pitch! But once I've seen it, it loses its effectiveness. The issue is your pitch speed is too slow," Sendo thought to himself with a sigh.

This wasn't just bravado. If he had decided to swing, with his reflexes, flexibility, and adaptability, he could have at least made contact for a foul ball, even if caught off guard.

However, everyone—from Sendo's teammates in Akagi to the opposing battery and even the coaches Mitani and Yashiro—assumed that the exaggerated break on the pitch had left Sendo unable to react in time.

The exaggerated movement of this pitch isn't just an exaggeration; it's on par with the extreme break of Amahisa's slider, but in reverse.

For a right-handed pitcher, a typical slider to a left-handed batter cuts from the outside to the inside.

However, this pitcher's cutter veers in the opposite direction—from inside to outside, sliding away rather than dropping.

For a right-handed pitcher, pitching inside to a left-handed batter is the most natural and easiest direction to control.

This is why there's a saying that left-handed batters are good against right-handed pitchers, and vice versa. A left-handed pitcher can more easily control pitches to the outside corner against a left-handed batter, making them difficult to hit.

.....

"Count is one-one! Where will the next pitch go? This might be the decisive pitch!" Sendo thought casually. Despite his calm demeanor, his teammates below were tense; after all, Sendo seemed utterly unable to handle that previous pitch.

"How about that? Scared, aren't you, kid?" Ozawa smirked at Sendo. Even though he showed no visible reaction, she believed he was merely trying to hide his shock. For her, it was a moment of satisfaction.

"Throw it right here for the third pitch!"

"Hey, kid! Try hitting this! Now that you've seen all my pitches, do you still have time to pick one?"

Whoosh!

"Huh? Right down the middle?" Seeing the incoming pitch, Sendo shifted his weight. Having seen her go-to pitch, he decided to swing regardless of what it was.

Despite his American-style stance with balanced weight on both feet, about 80-20 from inside to outside, Sendo had already shifted his weight entirely in preparation for his swing. Due to the slower pitch speed, he held off swinging slightly later than usual.

Ozawa grinned when she saw Sendo preparing to swing.

Even the catcher relaxed a bit. As the ball approached the plate, it started sliding towards the inside corner—a standard slider with a slight downward angle, though not a steep one.

But then,

CRACK!

The ball shot off Sendo's bat with a speed too fast for Ozawa to react!

"Wha- what just happened?!" Ozawa stood there, wide-eyed and in disbelief, as Sendo tossed his bat aside and sprinted towards first base.

The American-style swing often favors hitting high fly balls, and with the speed this one left the bat, it was almost certain to be a long hit or even a home run unless luck got in the way.

"Wait! He didn't even lift his leg! How does he have so much power in that lean body? It's more like an explosive burst of strength rather than raw power. Can he really generate that much force without a leg kick, just by tapping into his explosive strength? Sendo-kun!" Coach Mitani's eyes widened in shock at the unexpected speed of the ball.

BAM!

The ball slammed into the outfield fence and bounced back into the field. Despite the center fielder playing deep, she couldn't catch up to such a fast-hit ball, which had landed nearby.

"Hurry up, center fielder!" A shout of urgency jolted the outfielder who had just picked up the ball.

Turning her head, she saw a terrifying sight.

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