The Shirin coach seemed to take this practice match very seriously. He personally took command, and many students had gathered around to watch.
"Hello, hello. Thank you for accepting our request for a practice match."
The Shirin coach was about fifty years old and looked quite prestigious. When Sano, a young man, met him, he naturally felt a bit intimidated.
The Shirin coach was also very polite: "It's no trouble at all. We have quite a few club members, and our newly formed Second String Team hasn't played a single practice match yet. We are also in great need of opponents."
What, the Second String Team?
The Akagi Teammates hadn't known about this beforehand.
Although they weren't much better than Shirin's Second String Team—in fact, their skills were probably inferior—it didn't stop them from looking down on their opponents. No matter what, they were Akagi's First String Team; how could they play against Shirin's Second String Team?
Sawamura hadn't expected this either. However, he actually admired the 'newborn calves who don't fear tigers' spirit of his Teammates. Regardless of the opponent's strength, they simply looked down on them.
Although their arrogance was somewhat unreasonable, athletes were supposed to have this kind of fearless energy. Otherwise, if they saw a powerful opponent, they would lose their nerve before the game even started.
Such Players could never achieve great results.
"Second String is fine. Most of them are in the same grade as us. Opponents with similar strength like this are well worth playing against."
Admiration aside, the game still had to be played.
Sawamura didn't actually care about the strength of the opponents. His main goal in organizing practice matches was to show his Teammates the charm and atmosphere of Baseball, hoping they would fall in love with the sport through competition.
It would be good if the opponents were strong, as the Teammates could look up to them as role models. If they were weak, it didn't matter; evenly matched games were better for building interest.
After thinking it through, Sawamura took the initiative to persuade his Akagi Teammates.
Once the captain spoke, the Akagi Teammates finally settled down and began to accept the match.
As the match began, Akagi Junior High School batted first, and the first batter was the Catcher, Yamaguchi Ken.
Hey, hey, you've got to be joking, right?
When the Shirin middle school Players saw Yamaguchi Ken walking to the batters box holding the bat upside down, their first reaction was disbelief. They found it hard to accept that their practice match opponents would do something like this.
"Yamaguchi, you idiot! You're holding the bat upside down!"
Sawamura said, his face flushed with embarrassment.
It was truly humiliating; this was a situation Sawamura had never anticipated.
After seeing the Shirin fielders' defensive practice, the Akagi Teammates were completely stunned. Their throwing and catching, their reactions, and their ball speed deeply shocked the Akagi kids.
In their memory, Shirin didn't seem like a particularly strong team. How did they become so powerful the moment they stepped onto the field?
Faced with the professional movements and skillful coordination of the Shirin Players, the Akagi Teammates' previous arrogance vanished without a trace. They were even somewhat at a loss before entering the batters box. Not just Yamaguchi Ken, but the other kids weren't doing any better.
Their faces changed, and their bodies were slightly trembling.
How could they even play?
For a moment, Sawamura really wanted to just give up. Perhaps a practice match was indeed too early for the current Akagi Teammates.
No, he couldn't just give up like this.
The thought had barely appeared before Sawamura pushed it out of his mind. He couldn't let it end like this; if their first practice match went this way, his Teammates' enthusiasm would likely suffer a heavy blow.
He had to give them confidence.
"Let's sub. I'll take the first batter spot."
Sawamura subbed Yamaguchi out and took over as the team's first batter.
This would certainly never be allowed in a formal match,
but since it was a practice match and they were good neighbors, the Shirin coach and Players didn't say anything.
For them, this was also their first practice match. After all, Shirin's Second Team had only just been formed.
"Please look after me!"
The Shirin coach was acting as the Home Plate Umpire. When Sawamura bowed to him, the Shirin Head Coach was momentarily stunned.
He could see right through what kind of team Akagi was at a single glance.
It would be more accurate to call them a Hobby Group than a team. The Akagi Teammates were clearly not mentally prepared for a match.
Even after his teammate had made such a huge fool of himself, Sawamura could still remain perfectly calm when he stepped into the batters box.
He could even greet him so steadily.
Truly incredible!
The Shirin Head Coach, who originally had no expectations for this practice match, nodded at Sawamura.
He decided to watch a bit longer and see.
"Come on!"
Standing in the batters box, Sawamura first imitated Ichiro and made a flashy Home Run Prediction.
"Holy crap, this kid is too arrogant. Was that a Home Run Prediction?"
"And it was Ichiro's signature move."
"Even if you want to show off, that's not how you do it."
The Shirin Teammates were shocked, or more accurately, they were angry.
Was Akagi Junior High School being too dismissive of them?
The Pitcher was Miki, a First-year student who had just entered Shirin this year. He was originally a Relief Pitcher for the Little Leaguers. After entering middle school, he stopped practicing with the Little Leaguers.
Now, he served as the main Pitcher for Shirin's Second String Team.
Although he was only a Second String Pitcher and a First-year student, the Shirin coach held him in high regard.
The coach even saw him as Shirin's savior.
If he weren't a First-year student, and if his body were a bit stronger, the Shirin coach might have promoted him to Ace directly.
This practice match was also specially arranged for him by the Shirin coach.
Faced with the coach's high regard, Miki was overwhelmed and determined to perform well to meet the coach's expectations.
However, an opponent like Akagi really wasn't enough to get him fired up.
The only decent one was probably their Pitcher.
Sawamura Eijun!
Miki was certain he hadn't heard this name in the Little Leaguers, nor had he ever seen this person.
However, his batting stance was very standard. Aside from imitating Ichiro's Home Run Prediction earlier, Sawamura's entire batting stance was the most textbook form.
I can't be careless.
Before pitching, Miki secretly warned himself.
*Whoosh!*
Miki released the pitch, giving the Akagi Teammates a big shock.
This Shirin Pitcher's ball speed is so, so, so slow!
Of course, Miki's ball speed wasn't actually slow; for a first-year middle schooler to throw around 110 km/h was already very good.
But when Sawamura practiced with the Akagi Teammates before, his ball speed was much faster.
"Ha!"
Facing the 110 km/h Fastball, Sawamura gave a loud shout and took his first Swing of his middle school career...