Chapter 328: Sawamura's First Inning
What Sendo said was a bit exaggerated. Even though it was the grand summer Koshien, this was only the second round.
Even if it was Seidou, a prestigious school, returning to Koshien after six years and drawing a lot of attention, there was no way it would reach the level of tens of millions of viewers.
...
"Alright! I'm going in! I absolutely won't let this become a dark history!" Sawamura pumped himself up as the two idiots were colluding shamelessly.
Miyuki and Sendo both let out a mischievous chuckle.
Because they both knew Sendo wasn't really wrong—if Sawamura truly became famous, then this would indeed just turn into a joke.
But in the eyes of people close to him, this would forever remain a true dark history—something they could tease (and mess with) him about for the rest of his life…
"I'm ready, Your Honor! Please let the game resume!" Sawamura shouted loudly as the Seidou players dispersed.
Even the umpire didn't really want to say anything. After all, this kid had just made what might be the biggest embarrassment of his life—it was probably better to be considerate of his mental state.
"Oh? He's lively again."
"So he's trying to reset?"
"Don't trip again this time, kid!"
"Hahaha!"
The spectators' voices made Sawamura blush again, but that only strengthened his resolve to wipe away this black mark.
"This is our chance! A winning opportunity! His mentality's shaken—break him while he's down!" Yokohama Kouhoku's buck-toothed coach thought to himself.
Naturally, he had no idea that Seidou had someone like Sendo—someone who could pull Sawamura back out of the pit with just a few words.
So it was only natural for him to assume that Sawamura's performance would suffer badly from this incident, maybe even collapse completely and give up three or five runs in one go.
What he didn't know was that Sawamura was now in a humiliated but fired-up state—determined to wash away his shame no matter what.
"The game has resumed! The new pitcher, Sawamura Eijun, has only thrown one unbelievable wild pitch so far, so the count is one ball, no strikes! Now, what kind of pitching will Sawamura show us? In the regional tournament, he was a big-game pitcher, giving up even fewer runs than Furuya!" The commentator couldn't openly tease Sawamura, so he used the phrase "an unbelievable wild pitch" instead.
"Haha! That pitch just now was funny, sure, but it's not completely unusable. No matter how well you try to suppress it, it's hard to erase that laughter, right?" Miyuki glanced at the batter and thought to himself.
Simply put, Sawamura had just been too funny. Even if the batter tried to stay composed, seeing that face would make it hard to truly keep a calm mind and perform at full strength.
After all, the batter, Miyuki, and even the home-plate umpire all had a front-row view.
(That toothy grin.)
"A fastball right down the middle is fine—even if it's easy to hit, it just needs to enter the strike zone." Miyuki's pitch call was extremely bold. He wanted a strike, and even Sawamura's 'easy' pitches weren't actually easy to hit.
"How should I put it… seeing his face just reminds me of how red it was earlier—it kind of makes me want to laugh. But sorry, their lineup is just too ridiculous. I don't know how many runs Ino can hold them to, but right now is clearly our chance to score big!"
The No. 2 batter, Shinami, wasn't as affected as Miyuki imagined, but there was a slight relaxation in his focus.
That was enough.
"Pff!"
"What the—his arm was completely hidden, and then suddenly—"
"Whoosh!"
"So fast!" By the time Shinami realized his lapse, it was already too late.
"Pop!"
"Strike!"
"The batter watches it go by! A pitch right down the middle. Even with that strange pitching form, it shouldn't be so hard to react—did he relax because of the earlier wild pitch? And wow, he really adjusted quickly, didn't he? Sawamura-kun! As expected of one of the Super Diamond Generation!"
The commentator immediately saw the reason. As an adult and a professional baseball man, he naturally understood the mental fluctuations of high school players.
That was why he admired Sawamura. Despite making such a huge embarrassment, he still had the nerve to throw such a bold pitch.
The commentator knew that even if the batter had relaxed, he was still part of a prestigious school's upper lineup. If it were truly an easy pitch, there was no way he'd just watch it go by.
Which meant Sawamura had brought out his unique traits. That was what the commentator read from that single pitch.
"What was that just now? His form…!" Shinami broke out in a cold sweat.
He already understood—he'd basically handed over a strike for free.
"Now it's the real showdown! Don't give the batter time to adjust—press the advantage! A diagonal inside fastball, like stuffing it into a right-handed batter's chest!"
"Yah…!"
"Whoosh!"
"Ping!" Shinami instinctively swung at the ball that suddenly appeared near his chest.
A rushed swing, of course, wouldn't send the ball very far…
"Third baseman!" several female managers shouted in unison.
"Unga! (I got it!)"
"Pop!"
"Out!"
"Yes!!!"
"The third pitch is a diagonal inside fastball, and the batter hits a fly ball to third for the out! That was an excellent pitch! Sharp location too!"
"Exactly! And the way he adjusted his mindset so quickly—The tempo is great. It feels really smooth!"
"And this pitcher was already the type in the regional tournament who settles things in the strike zone. Low pitch count, low runs allowed!"
"Absolutely!"
"Third batter! Shortstop, Kajiyama!" The announcement cut off the commentators' chat, and the game continued.
"No need to hide anything now—inside pitches!"
"Whoosh!"
"Pop!"
"Strike!"
"Whoosh!"
"Ping!"
"Foul!"
With just one inside pitch and one very hittable outside pitch, Sawamura quickly got two strikes.
"Yes! He's got him cornered!"
"Whoosh!"
"Ping!"
"Damn it! What is this feeling?!"
"Shortstop!" Sawamura shouted as he turned around.
"Yahaha!" Kuramochi caught the ball and leapt into the air before throwing—his trademark move. It demanded strong core strength, but it shortened the release time.
"Pop!"
"Out!"
"Whoosh!"
"Ping!"
Cleanup hitter Furano then hit the first cutter pitch into a grounder straight to the second baseman.
"Pop!"
"Three outs, change sides! Wearing number 18, Sawamura Eijun ended the inning with just seven pitches— And that's including the shocking wild pitch on the first ball (Sawamura: If you hadn't mentioned that, we'd still be friends)! The score remains 2–0!"
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