"Koyanagi-senpai, what's the pitch from Seido's pitcher?" Daocheng Industrial's third batsman Hideoshi Ozawa asked Koyanagi-senpai who was walking towards him.
"The power of the ball is good, but what is really difficult to conquer is the Qingdao catcher."
"Is that so?" Ozawa Hidehi nodded and trotted towards home plate.
After coming on the court, Ozawa Hidehi hit several balls in succession with his relatively good hitting skills at the beginning, and finally selected a relatively easy ball to hit and knocked it out.
After the baseball was hit, it flew upside down from the area between the first and second bases. Ozawa Hideji dropped the bat in his hand and immediately ran towards the first base. Aomichi's right fielder Hiroshi Ohta passed the ball.
Before reaching first base, be the first to touch the base.
“safe.“
The first base umpire puts his hands flat to indicate that the batter has successfully reached base.
Hidehi Ozawa got up from the ground, took off his protective gear and handed it to his teammates. He patted the dust on his body, walked a few steps towards second base, bent down and put his hands on his thighs, looking at home plate.
situation, ready to steal bases at any time.
"Four bats, shortstop, Takashi Goto."
Following the female voice on the radio, the one who walked into the batting box was the hitter Hoshida Inagi.
As a hitter, Takashi Goto swept away the first pitch thrown by Yu Sakai. Unfortunately, the timing of his swing was wrong and the ball missed the center of the ball and was hit out of bounds.
"Yu, look for the right opportunity before taking action!" Daocheng Industrial Five-Bang Funabashi Yu stood on the waiting area and shouted loudly.
"Bridge, come on!"
"Senior, be sure to hit!"
Daocheng Industrial's players on the bench also shouted.
Ozawa Hideshi took two steps toward second base, and then quickly retreated to first base when Yu Sakai looked over.
Goto Takashi waved the bat in his hand and turned to look at Yu Sakai on the pitcher's mound. In terms of hitting skills, he is still unable to compare with the retired third-year senior, so he must watch the ball carefully.
Chris seemed to sense the mentality of the four-bat hitter, and then gave a signal to Sakai-senpai, and then placed the ball sleeve in the low outside corner.
Yu Sakai nodded in agreement, and after making a pitching gesture, he suddenly threw the baseball in his hand toward first base.
Ryuumi Inokoyanagi, who was some distance away from the base, quickly turned around and dived back to first base. The first base umpire put his hands flat to signal that the runner was safe.
“safe.“
After throwing the pinned ball, Yu Sakai turned back to face home plate, raised his legs, stepped forward, and swung his arms to throw the ball Chris wanted.
"Steal a base!"
Hideshi Ozawa rushed directly to second base just as Yu Sakai was about to throw the baseball away.
As soon as the baseball flew out of the palm of his hand, Yu Sakai heard someone shouting for stolen base and immediately squatted down. Chris also changed his catching posture and immediately caught the baseball flying from the pitcher's mound.
He took the baseball out of his holster and threw it toward second base.
"Crack!"
Seido's second baseman Tanaka Yuuki stretched out his glove to catch the baseball thrown by Chris, and then slapped the calf of Ozawa Hideshi who was charging toward the base while sliding.
“out.“
Hidehi Ozawa, who was a step too late, was ruled out by the second base judge, so he had to jump up with his hands on the ground, leave the field, and return to the rest area of Daocheng Industrial.
Both sides exchange offense and defense.
"You're too impatient!" Daocheng Industrial's fourth-stringer Goto Takashi said to third-stringer Ryuumi Koyanagi as they left the field together.
"I just want to give it a try." He shrugged.
"Oh oh oh!" On the pitcher's mound, Yu Sakai punched his right hand vigorously a few times before running off the pitcher's mound.
"Good shot!"
"Well done, Sakai!"
On their way back to the dugout, the other defensive players stepped forward one by one to touch Yu Sakai's sleeves.
As soon as he returned to the rest area, Jinguji handed a glass of water to Sakai Yu: "Good shot."
"Thank you." Yu Sakai glanced at Jinguji, took the water glass in his hand, and drank it.
"Okay, it's up to us now."
The fielding players put on the batter's protective gear and walked outside the dugout to swing the bats in their hands.
As a bat, Taro Fukuda moved his bat in place for a few times and then walked towards the batting area.
Daocheng Industrial's pitcher is first-year student Kohei Tsukada. The winning ball is a fast finger ball with a speed of nearly 140km/h. The ball is heavy and even if he hits the ball, it will be difficult for him to hit the ball.
In order to get on base, it is best to hit the ball in the direction of third base. Only then will he have the opportunity to compare whether the defense's passing speed is faster or his speed of getting on base.
Taro Fukuda stood in the left batter's box, raised his bat, looked at Kohei Tsukada on the pitcher's mound, and made a posture waiting for a hit.
Kohei Tsukada stood on the pitcher's mound. He lowered his head to sweep the dirt under his feet with his shoe, raised his hand to straighten his ball cap, looked at the catcher behind home plate, and held the baseball in his right hand behind his back and turned it around. .
Taro Fukuda stood still on the batter's box, and Kohei Tsukada, after getting the signal from Inagi Industrial's catcher Hidesei Shirakawa, raised his right hand, stepped forward with his left leg, waved his right arm, and concentrated his power on his right hand. On his fingertips, he pushed the baseball out of his hand.
The sharp white light rushed towards the home plate in a straight path. Standing at the home plate, you could even hear the sound of the baseball breaking through the air. Taro Fukuda swung the bat in his hand hard, but unfortunately it was a step too late. The baseball rushed forward first. Enter the ball sleeve set up by Shirakawa Eisei.
"Bang!"
“strike.“
143km/h!
The lower right corner of the scoreboard showed the speed of Tsukada Kohei's ball, and the scouts behind the stands immediately became excited. "Tsukada Kohei is still a freshman in high school, and his ball speed should be close to 150km/h by the time he reaches his senior year. "
"He has good ball power and good ball control. If he can lead the team to Koshien in the future, he will be indispensable in the professional baseball draft the year after next."
"Speaking of first-year pitchers, apart from Kuroshikan's Naoyuki Saizen, only the third-year Kaname Manaka and Seido's Yagami Yagami are better than Tsukada Kohei in Tokyo. Basically, we can only look at a few of these pitchers in this class in the region.”
Just when a lot of scouts were talking about this, Kohei Tsukada successfully struck out Seido's hitter Taro Fukuda.
He made a "one out" gesture with the other fielders, then bent down and pinched the powder bag at his feet, took out the baseball from the ball cover, and prepared to throw the ball.
Seido's second batsman is Tanaka Yuki. He just entered the second grade in April this year and became one of the nine starters at Seido. He is very keen on the timing of swinging the bat and is a player with good hitting talent. player.
Standing on the batting box, Yuki Tanaka raised his bat and looked at the pitcher on the mound. He had heard that Kohei Tsukada had good skills before, but this was the first time he met him in a game. His level was at the bottom of the game. Anyway, just leave it to yourself to test it out.