"Amazing!"
Fujio, a veteran reporter for Baseball Kingdom Magazine, exclaimed with genuine admiration as Zhang Han and Kuramochi aggressively secured a run. The tall beauty beside him stared at her senior with innocent, wide eyes, clearly confused. Her eyes seemed to speak, expressing her unspoken question perfectly.
"How is it amazing?"
Fujio, who had finally gotten an assistant, was not very satisfied with her novice understanding of baseball. But this was his own request, so he couldn't blame anyone else. He could only teach her slowly.
"Manaka's pitching and performance just now were excellent, and his teammates' cooperation was not bad either. Ichidai Third High School was able to reach the Spring Koshien quarterfinals because of this."
"But didn't they give up a run?"
"It's precisely because they gave up a run that I said it's amazing. Facing such a Manaka, such an Ichidai Third High School, and still being able to tear open a gap and help the team score first. That's even more amazing."
"You mean Zhang Han? He's very handsome!"
Fujio was speechless with his partner, who had just graduated from university.
The balance of the game began to shift.
In Ichidai Third High School's dugout, the players were caught off guard. But it was fine. Before playing against Seido High School Baseball Team, they had never hoped to maintain a clean sheet.
To date, no team that had played against Seido High School Baseball Team had ever achieved such a feat. At least four or five runs, often double digits. Seido High School Baseball Team's reputation as the strongest hitting lineup was not just talk; it was earned through their strength.
When preparing, Ichidai Third High School had never hoped to give up zero runs. According to Coach Tahara's requirements, as long as they kept the runs given up within five, their defense would be considered successful, even quite excellent.
Compared to their defense, they placed more hope on their own offensive power. Seido High School Baseball Team's hitting lineup was formidable, but Ichidai Third High School Baseball Team's hitting lineup was not to be underestimated either. They would definitely score more runs.
It was precisely because of this mental preparation that even after giving up a run, Ichidai Third High School maintained its composure, showing no flaws.
However, the subsequent progress of the game made them somewhat unable to adapt.
First, Seido's fourth batter, Yuuki, stepped into the batter's box and also cleanly got a hit, aiming for Manaka's Fastball.
"Safe!"
One out, runners on First Base and Third Base.
Zhang Han and Yuuki truly lived up to their reputation as Seido High School Baseball Team's mainstays. Their nearly flawless performance made Ichidai Third High School's players genuinely wary. All of this was still acceptable.
But the subsequent change was something no one had anticipated.
Facing one out with runners on First Base and Third Base, Manaka's pitching suddenly lost its direction. He kept looking at Yuuki and Zhang Han, and the distraction caused him to throw two consecutive pitches outside the strike zone.
Two balls, zero strikes.
By the time Manaka and his team realized this problem and wanted to recover, it was already too late. The same happened next. Manaka threw three more pitches, two of which were outside the strike zone. As a result, Isashiki Jun, who was aggressive at hitting couldn't even go at the bad pitches, experienced the most magical walk of his life.
"Whack!"
"Ball!"
"Walk to First Base!"
Isashiki Jun, who was walked, couldn't even believe such a change would happen. So much so that after being walked, he even confirmed it with the umpire. He really hadn't wanted to hold back just now; it was just that the pitches were too far off. He couldn't even swing.
Isashiki Jun was walked, changing runners on First Base and Third Base to bases loaded.
Seido High School Baseball Team's supporters even maliciously speculated whether Ichidai Third High School did this on purpose. After all, with runners on First Base and Third Base, they could easily score.
As long as Isashiki Jun hit the ball, whether he got a hit or not, Zhang Han would most likely run forward. Even if Isashiki Jun didn't get a hit, as long as the baseball landed, Seido's chances of scoring were still very high.
In this situation, it might be better to intentionally give Seido bases loaded. At the very least, with bases loaded, they only needed to focus on the batter and didn't need to worry about the runners at all. And if they were lucky, they might even get a double play. From this perspective, Ichidai Third High School had every reason to do so.
But considering the opponent's prestigious status, if Ichidai Third High School really did that, it would inevitably seem a bit cheap. Seido High School's supporters could only be suspicious for now.
If the people from Ichidai Third High School knew about the Seido players' suspicions, they would probably want to spit blood. What nerve had they hit wrong, to not face Isashiki Jun, but to face Miyuki, who was in excellent form with runners on base?
One out, bases loaded.
The man who stepped into the batter's box at this moment was Miyuki Kazuya. When he walked to the batter's box, he was extremely excited. He even hummed along to the music played by the cheerleaders.
How lucky was he to encounter such an opportunity?
And his opponents, Ichidai Third High School's pitcher and catcher, certainly had no intention of giving up without a fight. The hits they had given up before were basically Fastballs. From this point of view, Seido High School's batters might have given up on the breaking ball and focused on attacking Fastballs.
It must be said that for Manaka, who had relatively few breaking balls, this was indeed a good strategy. After all, no matter how good Manaka was at the Slider, he couldn't use it for the entire game. Fastballs had to be thrown.
But in the current situation, they had been pushed to the wall. They no longer had to stick to conventions and could go all out.
Takami gave Manaka the signal to use a low-angle Slider, which was Manaka Kaname's decisive pitch. Takami firmly believed that as long as Manaka could successfully throw this pitch, there were few batters in the country who could hit it. After all, even Zhang Han and Yuuki didn't have that confidence. Otherwise, if they had that confidence, they wouldn't have swung directly when they saw the Fastball.
Manaka received the signal, nodded slightly, and decisively pitched.
"Whoosh!"
The white baseball whistled through the air. Miyuki, in the batter's box, showed a charming smile at the corner of his mouth. After a series of hits, to regain confidence, Ichidai Third High School's first pitch was a low-angle Slider.
Seeing Miyuki swing and precisely hit the ball, Takami's face showed an expression of disbelief.
He actually guessed it? No, it should be said, he was actually able to hit it?
"Ping!"
The hit white baseball flew over a hundred meters and finally landed in the outfield stands. Miyuki Kazuya had hit a genuine grand slam. He single-handedly helped Seido High School Baseball Team score four runs.
Ichidai Third High School had originally planned to limit the entire game to five runs. No one expected that they would give up a total of five runs at the very beginning.
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