"A Homerun?!"
Even with their own eyes watching the baseball fly into the stands, some of Seido High School Baseball Team's supporters still couldn't believe it.
Wada High School Baseball Team's intentions were practically written on their faces.
They planned to intentionally walk Zhang Han, giving him no chance to swing the bat.
If there was any unexpected element, it was that the Wada High School Baseball Team players were a little too greedy.
They intended to use an aggressive intentional walk to put psychological pressure on the batters who would come up next.
Having watched the Wada High School Baseball Team players' performance from start to finish, even the die-hard fans of Seido High School Baseball Team had to admit that their performance was indeed good.
That bald pitcher, Ogata Jūjirō, before he threw the last pitch, even deliberately added a dramatic flair, a flair that even the fans in the stands could feel was full of malice.
The fans in the stands had no doubt that if this guy was pushed to the limit, he might actually throw the ball at the batter.
They had actually calculated that Zhang Han should not swing at this pitch.
Not only would he not swing, but he might even retreat, fearing that the baseball might deviate from its intended trajectory and hit him.
Zhang Han had a very high probability of retreating!
This was also what the Wada High School Baseball Team desired.
Zhang Han's retreat would signify backing down, and the Wada High School Baseball Team players could naturally choose to push their advantage.
Although in terms of the game's situation, they wouldn't gain any immediate benefit, in the subsequent innings, their morale would be boosted, while Seido High School Baseball Team's morale would be suppressed.
In short, it was one word: 'Go for it!'
Of course, all of this would only happen under ideal conditions.
But for the Wada High School Baseball Team players, now they had no choice but to hope for ideal conditions; they couldn't hope for anything else.
So their gamble, though somewhat dishonorable, was understandable.
The most brilliant part was Zhang Han's response.
Facing a ball that might hit him, retreating would seem cowardly, but not retreating risked actually getting hit.
Was this a dilemma?
Anyone looking at this problem from Zhang Han's perspective would likely be sweating.
How did Zhang Han respond?
What does it mean to be skilled and bold?
Zhang Han's method of response was, for many people, even for almost anyone other than Zhang Han, virtually impossible.
But Zhang Han did it.
He retreated!
He avoided the possibility of being hit by the baseball, protecting himself.
This was not cowardice; for a baseball player, protecting oneself is the first priority.
As long as making this choice has no impact on your state of mind, then it is the best choice.
As for those players who can only confront head-on, and whose momentum immediately disappears if they retreat, making other choices is also understandable.
But even so, retreating is still the best choice; the person comes first.
Zhang Han retreated, but he did not back down.
While retreating, he resolutely swung at that pitch.
It was as if all of this was meticulously planned by him.
But in fact, a closer look reveals that this couldn't have been planned in advance.
Zhang Han hitting after retreating carried a huge risk.
How big was this risk?
Just look at the previous confrontation; if the baseball had flown five or six meters less, there was a very high probability that it would have been caught directly by the outfielder.
Although Kuramochi would still return to home plate, Seido High School Baseball Team would still take a one-run lead.
If it were any other batter, this would have met the minimum hitting requirement.
But the batter was Zhang Han, a top national star player, and the audience's expectations for him were completely different.
If his ball had been caught, the blow to morale would have been similar to him retreating to take a walk earlier.
In this situation, Zhang Han was able to quickly assess the situation and decisively blast the ball away.
This was indeed the performance of a star player.
The die-hard supporters and the two cheerleaders of Seido High School Baseball Team in the stands, after their initial momentary daze, immediately cheered wildly for Zhang Han.
Their excited emotions almost ignited the entire stadium.
Fujio, a senior reporter for Baseball Kingdom Magazine, nodded thoughtfully and said.
"Seido High School Baseball Team's supporters, whether fans or their players, genuinely believe in Zhang Han. This has also become the driving force and source of Zhang Han's confidence; when faced with a crisis, he can quickly assess and decisively act."
In fact, players striving for the pinnacle should be like this.
When facing difficult situations, even if there are some risks, they must dare to challenge.
Even if the challenge fails, it's just a small blunder.
Once the challenge succeeds, you become a classic, you become a legend!
People often remember only the players' most brilliant moments.
As for times when players perform poorly, even if such times are the majority, the best hitters in the Major League only have a hitting average of forty percent.
That means out of ten at-bats, he only hits the ball four times, and misses six times.
But can you say this hitter is not great?
Certainly not.
People often subconsciously forget the six poor performances and put all their attention on the moment the ball was hit.
Especially the moment a Homerun is hit.
The man known as the God of Island Nation Baseball had an astonishingly high batting average, but not many Homeruns.
But you still can't stop his fervent fans from collecting all his Homeruns and making them into a highlight reel.
It feels like he can hit a Homerun every time he swings.
"35!"
"35!!!!"
A huge number suddenly appeared in the stands; this number was thirty-five.
Some fans who were new to watching Seido High School Baseball Team's games stared at the number curiously, somewhat puzzled.
"What does that mean?"
"It means he has already hit thirty-five Homeruns."
The game on the field continued.
Having given up three runs, the Wada High School Baseball Team seemed to have suddenly understood.
Although they gave up two more hits afterward, they didn't give up any runs, and even managed to turn a double play in between.
Ultimately, they ended this inning with a three-run difference.
In the bottom of the first inning, Wada High School Baseball Team was on offense.
Miyuki and Kawakami teamed up, and the two of them smoothly retired three batters, not allowing any of them to get on base.
Three outs, sides exchanged.
This caused a shock in the hearts of other high school players who had specifically come to watch Seido High School Baseball Team's game.
Besides Ace Tanba, that monstrous freshman, and the true Ace Zhang Han, did Seido High School Baseball Team have such a reliable relief pitcher?
Although this pitcher's threat to them wasn't very high, as long as the game continued, they were very confident they could score runs off this pitcher.
But the purpose of this pitcher's existence was not to shut them out.
Because of his presence, other teams had no way to wear down Seido High School Baseball Team's pitching staff with a rotation of pitchers.
As long as Seido High School Baseball Team's pitchers are not a sieve and can control the runs given up within a certain range, then, relying on the offensive power of their nationally strongest hitting lineup, they are capable of contending with any top powerhouse in the nation and not falling behind.
In the second inning, Seido High School Baseball Team's lower-order batters and the First Batter were unable to get hits and were successively retired.
The little bald pitcher still had a lot of skill.
Especially after he got serious, hitting his pitches wasn't that simple.
Fortunately, Seido High School Baseball Team also showed astonishing fighting power when facing the opponent's core hitting lineup.
At the cost of one hit, they successfully secured three outs.
The game thus moved into the third inning.
Starting with Kominato Ryosuke, Zhang Han and Yuuki Tetsuya achieved three consecutive hits.
Although they were all ordinary hits, because Zhang Han was quick to react and ran the bases early, he still successfully ran back to home plate.
Helping the team score two runs.
The total score became five to zero.
This was not the end; under Coach Kataoka's instructions, the subsequent batters focused on covering Yuuki, successfully extending Seido High School Baseball Team's lead to six runs.
Total score 6:0.
Normally, when the game reaches this point, Seido High School Baseball Team has basically secured the victory.
Analyzing the current situation, let alone Seido High School Baseball Team still having pitchers sitting in the bullpen, even if Kawakami continued to pitch until he was broken by the opponent, in a scoring contest, Seido High School Baseball Team would not lose.
Of course, that was just one possibility.
The Seido High School Baseball Team players would not allow that possibility to occur.
Previously, they were most severely questioned about their pitchers, which is to say, their defense.
They weren't fighting for bread, but for pride; even for this pride, the Seido High School Baseball Team players would absolutely not allow themselves to give up many runs in this game.
They wanted a resounding victory, not a narrow win decided in the final inning against their opponent.
But this path was destined to be rugged.
When the game reached the fourth inning, in the bottom of the fourth, Wada High School Baseball Team was on offense.
The game took a different turn.
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