Diamond Ace: Another Story of Sawamura

Chapter 105 Final Day

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"It's so hot..." Rongchun muttered softly, wiping the sweat from his forehead before looking back at the batter.

After nodding to indicate that he was done, he slowly raised his gloves...

"Three people are out!"

"Switch attack and defense!"

The referee's announcement sounded particularly loud in the silent stadium, and everyone was looking at the freshman pitcher who ran off the pitcher's mound in shock.

"Oooo!!!"

"OK!!!"

"Harada...Harada was struck out with three pitches!"

"And... the last pitch was a changeup..."

The development of the game was something no one expected...

Both teams have strong batting lines, and under such circumstances, the game turned into a pitching battle.

Even Supervisor Kataoka couldn't help but clench his fists, and Minister Ota was so excited that he raised his hands and cheered loudly.

"..." As if hit by the passionate cheers from the stadium, Yuki felt his heart stop for a moment.

Looking at the pitching and catcher duo running off the field, he couldn't stop shaking and got goose bumps all over his body.

"Sawamura! Good pitch!"

When Eijun returned to the rest area, he was greeted by the pitching staff and four classmates.

"..." Rong Chun was stunned for a moment, then his mouth widened and his eyes curved into a smile. The fighting spirit in their eyes was stronger than ever before.

"So far, Narimiya has thrown ten changeups..."

Before the start of the eighth inning, Seidou's players gathered in front of the rest area to summarize the game so far.

"We only threw four pitches until the fifth inning, but in the sixth inning, we threw six pitches in a row... It's like Yuuki's first hit made us remember it again..."

And Chris remembered that from the videos up to the finals, he only shot about ten of these shots...

In this game, he was hit by Isashiki into the outfield and never pitched again...

"Maybe there's a reason... that he doesn't want to throw changeups that often..."

Chris's explanation made the others fall into deep thought.

"No... that's right..." Minister Ota was also surprised when he heard this, "That kind of strange ball arrangement does make people feel weird..."

"But if the other party's purpose is to make us think this way..."

"Maybe..." Chris looked at Rongchun hesitantly. He had heard Rongchun say before that some of his changeups would have some disadvantages if he shot them too much.

"Is it because the ball path will be higher at the back that you will miss the shot? Is that right?"

"Really?" Everyone was surprised and looked at Sawamura from the direction of Chris.

"Hmm..." Rongjun nodded in response. This was what happened when he first started learning changeup, and it was indeed the case.

"But this is just a guess after all..." Chris couldn't be 100% sure it was true, at least not 90%, so he turned to look at the supervisor.

"No matter what the opponent's purpose is, if we care about the changeup, it means that the opponent has the initiative... Using the same method to attack will not change..."

After a brief silence, Kataoka made a decision.

"Give up the changeup!"

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"A Ming! Last ball!"

While Seidou was holding a tactical meeting, Inami first performed pitching exercises to adjust his condition.

"A Ming! Don't think too much!"

"Change your mood!"

"Take a deep breath!"

"I know! It's so noisy!" Cheng Gong shouted angrily. He would deal with the beater beautifully.

"What a disgusting atmosphere..." Harada was also very worried about the current situation. The current atmosphere was obviously not friendly to them. "We have been attacking hard... but we can't get any points..."

"Ming has used almost a hundred balls... Don't be careless!"

In the top of the eighth inning, Seidou High School took the attack, and the batter who came up was the eighth batter, left fielder Kadokawa.

"Hmph! How could I be careless? Because I'm...very unhappy right now!"

As cautious as Harada is, Narimiya is now as arbitrary, but their ideas are the same...

"Snapped!"

"nice shot!"

"The batter's pitch count quickly fell into a disadvantage, and the count became two strikes and one ball!"

"When will the changeup that's used as the game-winning shot be thrown?"

The broadcaster's doubts went unanswered, as the fourth pitch was an inside corner cross that hit the batter's chest.

"Snapped!"

"Batters out!"

'Now is not the time to be willful...' Cheng Gong knew that he had been angry too many times today, and today's opponent was different from the previous ones.

The current situation is quite unfavorable for Inami, and he must take the next confrontation seriously.

"Qiang!"

The batter didn't even hesitate when it was a low ball to the inside corner. He swung the bat cleanly and the baseball went straight through the defense between first and second base.

The baseball flying toward the outfield immediately mobilized the defense of the stadium.

"Hakushu, the ninth batter, hit the first ball out!"

When Hakushu was running the bases, Narimiya on the pitcher's mound also quickly ran down the mound to fill the first base position.

The baseball that dodged the first baseman was met by the right fielder in the outfield. He was so eager to pass the ball that he even caught it with his bare hands.

but...

"It's too late to pass to first base!"

"Great!" Baizhou couldn't help but roar out in joy of success.

It was somewhat surprising to see the usually taciturn Shirasu roar like that.

"Hakushu roared..."

"Hakushu draws the bow..."

"Huh..." Kuramochi took a deep breath and leaned against the bat to make final mental preparations before going on the field.

"Kuramochi!"

When he was about to go on stage, Director Kataoka suddenly called out, and Kuramochi heard it before he turned and walked towards the rest area...

"What? Switching?"

Minister Ota exclaimed, looking at Ryosuke in confusion, "Minato, what are you talking about? Are you hurt?"

"Senior Aliang!" Upon hearing this, Kuramochi hurriedly moved closer to Ryosuke.

"Although I am very unwilling..." But thinking of my achievements today, I am relieved, "But I can't perform as I want..."

"Are you really willing to come down and rest?" Kataoka was silent and then looked at Ryosuke seriously.

"...I am willing." Here, Ryosuke smiled with relief, "Because our juniors...have a lot of reliable guys."

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"Kuramochi! Attack!"

"Catch the ball and hit it!"

"You're fine!"

"Stand on the left and hit..." Harada adjusted his strategy in his mind after Kuramochi stepped into the batter's box.

This obviously means to get on base...

"Hu..." After receiving the secret signal, Cheng Gong took a deep breath and at the same time sorted out the situation in front of him.

Now there is a runner on first base with one out, and the batter is Kuramochi who has fast feet... Inami is one run behind...

'I know...'

It was also the top of the eighth inning, and Cheng Gong recalled the scene that was deeply engraved in his mind last summer.

"The situation is completely different from that time..."

In the stadium covered with cheers, it seemed that the only relatively quiet place was the rest area.

"You'll be the next to take the field. Are you ready?"

"Okay!" In response to Supervisor Katagang's question, Chun Shi walked out of the rest area ready to go.

The showdown on the field has already begun...

"Bad ball!"

The first pitch was a bad ball to the outside corner, but Kuramochi resisted the urge to swing.

But the next ball came in the same direction, causing Kuramochi to misjudge and miss a good ball.

"The second ball was a low, outside corner strike!"

"You don't think you can hit it even if you swing the bat normally!" Seeing Narimiya's proud look, Kuramochi took a deep breath.

At this time, Kataoka stood at the door of the dugout and gave instructions. Shirasu and Kuramochi at first base touched their hat brims in response after seeing it.

The two were ready, waiting for the moment when Narimiya stepped on the ball. At the same time as Shirasu stole the base, Kuramochi also changed to a short bat.

Just when there was a burst of exclamations in the stadium, Cheng Gong didn't care and threw the ball in his hand with force.

The ball flew upwards in a strange trajectory, and Kuramochi couldn't help but change his expression.

Cheng Gong grinned. No one expected that he would make such a bad shot here!

"Hmm!" Looking at the ball flying far away, Kuramochi abruptly changed his posture, straightened his legs, leaned forward, and pounced on the baseball.

"Qiang!"

"Varied...!"

Not only the players on the field, but also the players in the dugout and the spectators in the stands were all shocked when they saw the ball being hit.

"Oh oh oh oh!"

“Bang…Bang!”

"Wow!" Rongchun couldn't help but sigh, "Awesome..."

"Yeah!" Chris breathed a sigh of relief. The situation just now was so tense that he broke into a cold sweat. "If he hadn't been touched, the runner would have been killed..."

"But... that's only two good balls..." Yukichi standing aside also had a serious look on his face as the number of balls was being narrowed down.

"Snapped!"

"Bad ball!"

On the fourth pitch, Kuramochi calmly determined that it was a ball and did not hit the bat, so the number of pitches became two strikes and two balls.

On the pitcher's mound, Narimiya's sharp eyes fell on the home plate. "It was obvious that he wanted to get on base..."

He wants to get on base and advance the bases, but he won't let anyone have such good luck.

Seeing Hakushu's hint, Kuramochi tightened his bat, and facing the fifth ball, his inner determination became even stronger.

"Steal a base!"

'Hit out...'

Senior Aliang has taken the initiative to withdraw...

'We must fight back...'

"Qiang!"

"Tsk..." It actually hit the target. Cheng Gong immediately reacted and ran down the pitcher's mound to block the ball.

"Ming, pass to first base!" Harada saw the runner approaching second base and immediately instructed Ming to pass the ball to first base.

"Damn it!" He didn't hit the ball well and it turned into a ground ball. Kuramochi felt as angry as he had just been determined.

"Snapped!"

"Out!"

But let's think optimistically...while contributing an out, the runner on first base also successfully advanced a base.

"..." Harada glanced at the Qingdao rest area and signaled to Ming that two outs were already in the game. "Ming! Pay attention to the next batter!"

"I know..." Narimiya certainly knew what kind of batter the next batter would be when he looked towards the Qingdao rest area.

"Seidou High School changed its pitcher."

"Second batter, second baseman Ryosuke Kominato leaves the field to rest, and Haruichi Kominato comes in to pinch hit."

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