Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

No outs, runner on second base!

Seeing that Kuramochi successfully reached first base, the players from Senku High School were disgusted, as if they had eaten a steamed bun with half a bug inside.

Before the game, the players from Senku High School had carefully studied Seidou High School.

Since they had done the research, they inevitably came to several conclusions. The number one conclusion was that they must not let Kuramochi get on base.

As the offensive engine of Seidou's baseball team, once Kuramochi Youichi successfully gets on base, Seidou's chances of scoring in the first inning increase exponentially.

They even did some calculations using their watches, and the conclusion was very pessimistic.

For instance, if the pitcher throws normally and the catcher pickoff as usual, the time it takes for the two of them to work together is enough for Kuramochi to steal third base with plenty of time to spare.

It means they have no way to stop Kuramochi from stealing bases.

'What should we do?'

The catcher of Senku frowned, unable to think of a good solution.

At this point, they could only choose to go forward without caring about the lost Run!

Since there was no way to stop Kuramochi, they might as well let him do whatever he wanted. If he wanted to steal bases, let him. If he wanted to do anything else, let him. They wouldn't bother with him.

'Focus on the next batter!'

After receiving the catcher's signal, the pitcher from Senku High School nodded in agreement.

He too knew that, given their strength, it was impossible to stop Kuramochi.

With the mindset of 'giving it a try,' the pitcher deliberately tried to intimidate Kuramochi with a look before pitching.

But who knew, Kuramochi was being incredibly still and had no intention of stealing the base at all.

'Hmm?'

The pitcher was stunned when he saw this.

His intuition told him that Kuramochi was deliberately acting like this to deceive him.

But since the opponent was willing to do so, he didn't have to be polite.

Why refuse a free meal?

The pitcher directly set up and threw the ball.

Whoosh!

The ball flew toward the outside corner.

In the Batter's Box stood Seidou High School's second batter, Kominato Haruichi-kun.

He looked at the pitch, and the corner of his mouth curled into a smile.

He had every reason to smile because the pitch thrown by the Senku pitcher was almost exactly what he had expected.

The reason for this was also due to their prior analysis.

'From the earlier analysis, once someone gets to the base, Senku High School's pitcher tends to favor throwing outside corner pitches.'

The probability of this was as high as 70%.

Kuramochi had deliberately stayed still, intentionally refraining from stealing the base.

This was to ensure that Senku's pitcher would be too anxious to throw properly.

'When anxious, the probability of throwing an outside corner pitch increases by a lot more.'

Needless to say, whether it was to the inside or the outside, Kominato had no reason to back down.

As the baseball flew toward him, he stepped forward and swung his bat fiercely, sending the ball soaring.

Paak!

The ball flew low parallel to the ground after being hit.

Haruichi's face showed a bit of confusion.

The angle of the pitch was even trickier than he had anticipated.

Luckily, he had swung the bat thoroughly enough, so the ball should still fly out.

The ball landed behind the first baseman, and just as the second baseman moved to field it, the ball took an unexpected turn and flew away.

The second baseman from Senku High School stood frozen in shock.

He never imagined that the ball would bounce so irregularly.

One wrong step, and everything went wrong.

He missed the best opportunity to field it, and could only watch the ball fly away.

Behind the first baseman, there was a huge gap.

He let go of his bat and sprinted straight past first base, heading for second base.

Haruichi made it to second base with a long hit!

Kuramochi Youichi, who had been on second base, was even more eager at this point.

He raced past third base without stopping!

He didn't even halt at third base but continued directly toward home plate.

His speed was increasing, and his movements were growing more powerful. In the end, he appeared like a flash of blue light, reaching home plate in the blink of an eye.

By the time the ball was thrown back, and the catcher tried to tag him with the Mitt, Kuramochi had already safely stepped on the home plate long ago.

"SAFE!!!"

Thanks to his overwhelming speed, Kuramochi helped Seidou High School take the lead, scoring the first point.

The Seidou High School fans in the stands erupted in excitement.

It was as if boiling water was constantly churning.

"SEIDOU!"

"SEIDOU!!!"

The score was 1-0.

After losing this point, the Catcher of Senku didn't seem overly disappointed. On the contrary, he breathed a sigh of relief.

In fact, they had a premonition of this when Kuramochi got on base.

They knew that point was lost!

Although they knew they couldn't stop it, just seeing Kuramochi on base inevitably distracted them.

It felt like a sharp sword was hanging over their heads, ready to fall at any moment.

Now that the sword had fallen, they could finally relax.

"Focus on the next batter!"

The catcher shouted at his partner, and the pitcher of Senku nodded, ready to face the next batter.

But when he saw who was standing in the Batter's Box, his mood immediately shifted.

'After losing a Run and with a runner on base, did it have to be him?'

the batter was none other than Sawamura Eijun.

As soon as he stepped into the Batter's Box, a loud uproar broke out in the stands.

The fans were beyond excited as if they had taken some sort of stimulant.

To them, Sawamura Eijun's presence in the Batter's Box meant one thing: to score more Runs.

"HIT IT!!"

"HIT IT!!!"

At first, there were only a few voices, then hundreds, thousands, and eventually tens of thousands of fans chanting in unison.

In the midst of this roar, Sawamura raised his bat high.

Senku High School's battery were no fools. They knew they couldn't let Sawamura hit a home run under any circumstances.

Would they Walk him directly?

It didn't seem to make much sense.

Even the batter behind Sawamura wasn't easy to deal with.

And even if they Walked him, there was no need to be so cowardly.

The problem could be solved by a fight at the corners with an offensive walk.

If they win, he will be Out.

If he wins, he will get a clumsy hit.

If it is a draw, he will be walked.

The catcher for Senku High School moved his Mitt closer to Sawamura's body.

If they could force Sawamura to retreat, it would be ideal.

If they couldn't force him back, it wasn't too big of a problem.

The pitcher and catcher from Senku High School seemed confident in their strategy.

The small ball flew toward Sawamura's head.

Seeing the pitcher throw the ball, Sawamura, who was about to be hit, wasn't too bothered, but the catcher in the catching position nearly had a heart attack.

He had a good plan, but his teammate made a very serious mistake.

Senku's Ace pitcher, who had excellent control, actually threw a wild pitch at this moment.

The ball, which was supposed to fly toward Sawamura's chest, instead headed directly for his head.

It was dangerous, way too dangerous!

Sawamura, the nationally famous Demon King, is the most highly regarded baseball rookie by the audience.

Everyone is thinking that as long as there are no premature accidents, Sawamura is likely to become a legendary player in the future.

And now, their ball was about to hit such a person.

If nothing happened to Sawamura, it would be fine, but if something went wrong, whether they could even leave the field alive was another matter.

Not all the fans at the scene were rational, especially Sawamura's two die-hard fan clubs.

Their eyes were wide open, their eyeballs nearly flying out. Their hearts were in their throats, almost leaping out of their mouths.

They stared fixedly at the flying baseball, and the catcher of Senku High School wished he could rush up to block the bullet for Sawamura.

In the Batter's Box, Sawamura calmly watched the flying baseball.

He knew the ball was likely to hit him, but he wasn't too nervous.

If it had been Furuya's pitch, with that kind of speed, it would have been difficult for him to dodge.

But the pitcher from Senku High School was only throwing about 130 km/h.

With that speed, he could easily dodge.

Just like now, he slightly turned his head and avoided the incoming baseball.

Snap!

"BALL!!!"

Seeing Sawamura successfully dodge the pitch, the majority of people in the crowd breathed a huge sigh of relief.

In the stands, with the Brotherhood of the Red Heart.

Obayashi and Kobayashi were the first to stand up and yell at the pitcher of Senku.

Though their voices were drowned out in a sea of over 30,000 people, they still used their actions to express their attitudes.

"Despicable!"

"Shameless!!!"

"If anything happens to Sawamura here, I won't let you leave this stadium alive."

"You little punk, just wait for me!"

The pitcher from Senku High School was disturbed by the fans and grew increasingly nervous.

To be honest, that pitch wasn't intentional.

But obviously, Seidou High School's supporters didn't think so.

The catcher from Senku High School let out a sigh of relief.

It couldn't have been better; things hadn't gone in the worst direction.

Even the umpire suddenly issued a warning.

"I didn't mean to, I'm really sorry!"

The pitcher of Senku High School quickly apologized to Sawamura.

Sawamura waved his hand indifferently, signaling that he wasn't bothered.

He didn't care much about it himself.

'If the pitcher's mind wasn't disturbed, the next ball would likely be an inside pitch. If the pitcher was rattled, the next pitch would probably be an outside one.'

From start to finish, Sawamura only focused on hitting the ball, nothing else.

So, when he saw the baseball coming in, he stepped forward and swung hard at the outside pitch that was off the strike zone.

PIIINNNGGGG!

The ball was blasted and soared high into the air.

The Catcher of Senku High School stared in disbelief at Sawamura stepping forward.

He never expected that Sawamura had guessed it.

'He had guessed we would throw an outside pitch, and it would be a Ball.'

The baseball kept flying, all the way to the stands in the outfield.

"Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!"

A wolf-like roar suddenly erupted from the entire stand.

Mima crossed his legs and shook his head emotionally.

'Senku are in trouble.'

No matter whether that pitch was intentional or not, all the players from Seidou High School would never let it slide.

They were not the kind of team that just took a hit without fighting back.

Mima's guess was spot on.

With Sawamura hitting a two-run homer, Seidou had opened their offensive floodgates.

Miyuki Kazuya, who was batting fourth, keenly noticed Senku High School's problems.

Because Sawamura hit a ball outside the strike zone for a home run, the pitcher from Senku High School was clearly rattled.

He could understand a home run off a pitch in the strike zone, but how could a pitch outside the strike zone result in a home run?

'What kind of monsters were were facing?'

The pitcher's mentality wavered.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Seidou.

Miyuki raised his bat high.

He swung at the incoming pitch with force.

PAANNGGG!!!

The ball soared through the air and landed in the left field stands.

Two home runs in a row!

To be honest, Senku High School's strength wasn't that great, but they had managed to become the runner-up in Gunma Prefecture, so their abilities weren't too bad.

At the very least, they were on par with the top eight in West Tokyo.

With a bit of luck, making it to the semifinals wasn't out of the question.

Such strength wasn't bad.

But once they heard they were playing against Seidou High School, the players' morale deflated.

They thought it would be difficult for them to win.

Then, Sawamura and Miyuki hit the ball out.

Back-to-back home runs.

The pitcher collapsed, and the entire defense fell apart.

Senku High School, which wasn't bad to begin with, had now dug their own grave.

Originally, with their strength, they could have been dark horses.

But now, they might only be a joke.

The score was 4:0.

No Outs, no one on base.

Seidou High School's offense was far from over.

"Fifth batter, left fielder, Shiratsu-kun!"

It was now Shiratsu's turn to bat.

The Catcher of Senku High School called for a timeout.

The pitcher's mentality had shattered, and now he had to step in and pull him back.

…