Diamond No Ace: The Strongest Hitter

Chapter 27: Day 1 of Training Camp (2)

"The practice ends at 4 PM, Eijun! The four of us will go grocery shopping for about three days. The others will practice until 5:30. Since lunch wasn't substantial, let's end early today. If you want to practice batting, you can have your fill tonight. You should be able to make use of it!" Sendo said after lunch.

"Hooray!"

Overall, before Sendo took over Akagi, none of the players, except for Sawamura, had particularly terrible batting, even Wakana and the others—including the plump Takada—weren't as bad as imagined. However, they tended to be more like wild sluggers.

After correcting their stances, Sendo wasn't sure what their batting potential could be, but the immediate concern was fielding.

With decent defense and a bit of luck, there's a good chance they could succeed in their first game.

Fixing the batting stance requires a lot of swinging to build up skills, but for Akagi's level, defensive skills like bunt drills can improve in a short time.

Until they master the basics and start transitioning to more complex collaborative techniques, progress will slow. After all, handling each easily manageable ball steadily is simple enough.

Forming an ironclad defense with solid teamwork isn't something that can be achieved in a few years.

Sendo plans to have them reach a level where they can execute simple plays and handle balls that aren't too hard or too easy by the time he graduates.

As for offense, it'll be a matter of feeling things out, and even Sendo can't come up with solutions right away. He only has a rough idea in his mind.

"Alright, let's start the practice. Get to your positions."

"Alright!"

"Ping!"

"Thud...thud!"

"OK, let's do another one!" Seeing the first ground ball was handled with ease, Sendo shouted.

"Ping!"

"This one's a fly ball!" After over a month—no, it's been almost two months—of proper practice, they're now able to handle normal middle school-level hits like ground balls and flies.

The basic infield coordination is fast enough, but when it comes to complex positioning, backups, and high-difficulty plays, it's still a mess.

Frankly, they can handle ordinary hitters, but they're clueless against powerful hits from strong batters.

That kind of skill is generally found in the core players of well-known youth teams, who typically do not participate in soft baseball tournaments.

So their fielding, aside from some weaknesses, can barely manage.

But that's still far from enough; real games are prone to errors.

Now, in practice, Sendo no longer tells them in advance whether it's a fly ball or a ground ball.

As for line drives, they only occasionally give those to Ohno and a few others who Sendo has considered as infielders.

In middle school soft baseball, long hits are rare without youth league hitters participating.

Even with such prolonged practice, errors are still common, but there's no choice but to build up experience ball by ball.

Through observing these plays, Sendo has discovered some points to pay attention to.

However, his natural inclination to observe has given coach Nakani headaches, as this focus issue is a side effect of his observational habit.

"Ohno, don't always think of catching with the glove. If time permits, move your feet too!"

"Takada, you're standing too far back. Don't think about getting more reaction time, help us deal when a sudden bunt turns into an easy single. Move up a bit. Here comes another one!"

"It's fast!"

"Keep your center of gravity low and move your feet. If the ball's too fast, use your body to block it. Don't make rash bets; your skills aren't up to that."

"One more!"

As the only chubby player on the team, it's impractical to have him chase balls in the outfield since it would be an exploitable gap.

So Sendo pays extra attention to his ideal third baseman, knowing that the simplicity of a first baseman's role should go to Wakana.

The positions they gave themselves take various factors into account. It's clear that Sawamura definitely doesn't understand his teammates' intentions.

The usually reserved Sendo seems like a different person when focused, astonishing everyone with how meticulous he is about these details.

Those reminders come incessantly, like a lit fire, from someone who doesn't usually say much.

"Hold on, let me have a drink and take a break! I'll come back to continue instructing you! Ohno, you take over!" After more than an hour, Sendo's throat was getting dry.

He handed the bat to Ohno and stepped aside to continue observing.

Half an hour later, everyone had taken their turn!

"Let's pause here for now! Everyone, meditate for 20 minutes!"

Meditation had seemingly become a routine at Akagi. Each student would reflect on the day's practice, continuously reminding themselves of what to pay attention to.

After the meditation, Sendo led them through another round of practice, paying special attention to Ohno and Takada this time.

Once this round was done, he gave everyone another ten minutes to summarize their learning. He then took Sawamura, Fumino, and Wakana out shopping, leaving the rest to practice bunting techniques!

Although they said they were going grocery shopping, it was mostly Sendo and Wakana doing the choosing, with Fumino coming along to relax and Sawamura acting as the muscle.

After all, Sawamura's current regimen focused on running and a few body maintenance routines.

As for defense, Sendo didn't have time to deal with "that fool," occasionally having him practice fielding a few ground balls from pitchers and covering first and home bases.

They bought quite a bit of pork, beef, and vegetables, with everyone chipping in money.

That's how it is in Japan: it's fine to treat others a few times, but if it happens too often, the guests feel uncomfortable—it wouldn't even be considered in polite company unless the relationship is very close.

Of course, certain anime characters that quickly become friends with everyone are exceptions.

"I'm back!" The group announced their return as they entered the house.

"Welcome back!"

"Practice is over, so go do your homework. After dinner, you can either practice swinging independently or work on batting."

"I should probably practice swinging too!" Sawamura chimed in, joining the fun.

"Do as you like, though it's not really useful."

"What did you say, Sendo?"

"I'm just stating the fact. Even if you practice swinging, you'll only swing at air."

"Hmph!"

"Just earlier, I was wondering why Sen-chan wasn't bantering with Ei-chan today; it felt unusual! Haha!"

The evening's batting practice further confirmed Sendo's previous thoughts: a few teammates were indeed pretty good hitters. Nevertheless, he still wasn't planning to change the training sequence.

"I'll go ask the coach tomorrow!"

Afterward, it was the usual routine of bathing and sleeping. Before drifting off, Sendo suddenly thought that this lifestyle wasn't too bad.

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