Sawamura's bat brushed past the incoming baseball. Neither made contact, and the ball landed directly in the mitt of the Shishido Middle School catcher.
"Strike!"
"Hehe, sorry about that. I haven't swung a bat in so long, I'm a little rusty."
Sawamura spouted nonsense without batting an eye. Not a hint of embarrassment could be seen on his face.
At that moment, Shishido's pitcher, Miki, became annoyed. He had previously considered Sawamura a formidable opponent, but now he seemed to be nothing more than a flashy showpiece.
After that exchange, Miki pitched with even more ease.
"Strike!"
"Strike!"
"Strike! Strikeout."
Three strikes in a row, and Sawamura was struck out.
"There's an old Chinese saying: failure is the mother of success. We've found his mother first!"
Struck out at bat, Sawamura returned to the Akagi dugout, spouting nonsense. As soon as the words left his mouth, he was met with unanimous ridicule from his Akagi teammates.
"If you're the ace, then act like one."
"That's so embarrassing."
"If the captain is like this, what hope do we have?"
… …
The teammates, so focused on teasing Sawamura, found that their previously tense emotions had miraculously relaxed.
The game continued.
"Strike, strike, strike, strikeout!"
After all, Akagi's teammates had only been playing baseball for a short time. Facing pitches of 110 kilometers per hour, they struggled to cope.
After Sawamura, two more teammates were struck out. Three outs, and the teams switched offense and defense.
At this point, the Shishido second-string players were so elated that they felt like they could fly.
Akagi was indeed a weak team, utterly trash!
However, it was good to face such an opponent in their first game. At least they could build confidence through this match. The only value of the weak Akagi team was this.
"Go!"
"Swing boldly and crush the pitcher!"
Thanks to pitcher Miki's good performance, the Shishido Middle School teammates cheered with unusual vigor.
They wanted a resounding victory to commemorate the first battle after the establishment of the Shishido second string team.
"The atmosphere is a little strange."
The Shishido coach, moonlighting as the home plate umpire, felt that something was wrong. But if he had to say what the problem was, he couldn't put his finger on it.
How strange!
Bottom of the first inning, Shishido Middle School on offense.
At this time, Sawamura stood on the pitcher's mound, his partner naturally being Yamaguchi.
On the pitcher's mound, Sawamura was not affected by his previous strikeout. On the contrary, he was radiant… …
Finally, finally, he was on this pitcher's mound again.
And it was in a game!
"Hoo ~"
Taking a deep breath, Sawamura suddenly shouted to the teammates behind him in charge of defense: "I will keep letting them hit the ball out, I leave the defense behind me to you all!"
Hearing Sawamura's words, the faces of Akagi's teammates changed one by one.
The founder of the team, the captain, actually entrusted them so solemnly, actually trusted them so much!
For some reason, the teammates felt their blood boiling. As men, how could they fail to live up to their brother's expectations?
"Leave it to us."
"Let them hit, we'll stop them."
Although their calves were still shaking, although they were still afraid of the baseball getting close, the Akagi teammates still firmly shouted words of support for Sawamura.
From his position as home plate umpire, the Shishido coach finally understood what was wrong.
Akagi, who had just been so nervous that they were about to collapse, had now miraculously relaxed,
And each and every one of them was frighteningly high-spirited.
He glanced thoughtfully at the boy on the pitcher's mound, his heart filled with surprise.
The pitcher named Sawamura had done it on purpose, deliberately making a fool of himself, the purpose was to let everyone relax and relieve the pressure… …
Under the spotlight, Sawamura's first pitch was released.
"Whoosh!"
The baseball flew out of Sawamura's hand like a laser beam.
So fast!
The Shishido batter looked incredulously at the baseball passing before his eyes, as if he had seen a ghost in broad daylight, with a look of utter despair on his face.
They had also done some research on their opponents before.
Akagi was just a newly established makeshift team. Their players, like most of Shishido's second-string players, were just freshmen who had just entered school.
This Sawamura was also a first-year student at Akagi Middle School, just twelve years old.
But how could his ball be so fast?
"Thwack!"
The baseball slammed into the mitt, making a thrilling sound.
This sound was heavy in the hearts of the Shishido Middle School teammates.
It wasn't just the ball speed that was fast, the power of the ball was also terrifyingly heavy.
With their eyes, they could not accurately judge Sawamura's actual ball speed.
But the Shishido coach, who was serving as the umpire, was different. He could judge Sawamura's ball speed, if not 100%, then at least 80 or 90% sure.
Sawamura's pitch had a ball speed of at least 120 kilometers per hour!
For a freshman who had just entered middle school, this was not just good, it was simply amazing!
Twelve to fourteen is the fastest stage of physical development for boys. The physical quality gap between first-year and third-year middle school players is very large, and the same is true for strength.
Although a ball speed of 120 kilometers is not very fast in middle school, it is definitely above the average level.
This mostly refers to third-year students. A first-year student with such a pitching level, the Shishido coach had never even heard of before.
You should know that Sawamura and his teammates were just elementary school graduates two months ago.
The Shishido coach suddenly had a peculiar feeling that the future of the boy in front of him was absolutely limitless!
"Strike, strike, strike, strikeout!"
"Strike, strike, strike, strikeout!"
"Strikeout!!!"
The so-called second string of Shishido was only forced to be established because too many new students had joined and one team couldn't accommodate them. Their own level was a little stronger than Akagi's teammates, but only to a limited extent.
Although Sawamura had been focusing on honing his ball speed and power since his rebirth. For this reason, he even temporarily sealed his pitching form and his original natural changeups.
Without the experience of rebirth, Sawamura might not be able to understand the true purpose of fastball and ball speed.
But with such an experience, it was different. No matter what, he would never take the detours he had taken before.
What is ball speed?
If he had to find a word to describe it, Sawamura could think of Chakra, Inner Strength, Haki, Psychic Power… …
In short, without it, it would be difficult for you to become a top master. (Of course, it is difficult, but not absolute. At least there is still the knuckleball and other alternative pitchers.)
But once you have it, it's different. It's like a super master of internal energy. Even picking flowers and flying leaves can hurt people.
Even ordinary changeups can exert amazing power with absolute ball speed.
In his previous life, Sawamura reached the pinnacle of changeups and was once very proud, thinking that he was only one step away from a legendary superstar. But when he got to the major leagues, he realized that the sharp changes in pitching were not so useful against those monsters who swung with all their might.