In the second semi-final in the afternoon, as everyone in Qingdao expected, the third-year student from the city won the competition.
After everyone in Qingdao took the school bus back to school after watching the game, Supervisor Kataoka summoned the members of the First Army for another small meeting.
"The starting pitchers for the finals, Yagami, Sakai and Tanba, must be prepared, and we will arrange for you two to play according to the situation."
Before the end of the meeting, Director Kataoka arranged this.
"Yes." The people whose names were called replied in unison.
Finally, he told the players who were playing today not to overtrain, and then Supervisor Kataoka turned around and left.
After Director Kataoka left, others also left the conference room in twos and threes. Yagami stretched his neck and prepared to go home and rest.
"Iori, can I trouble you?" When Yagami was getting his things and preparing to go home, Koichiro Tanba, a tall and shy pitcher, rarely took the initiative to call out to Yagami who was about to leave.
"What's the matter? Tanba." Iori Yagami asked Tanba Koichiro who stopped him. Unlike other team members of the same grade, Tanba Koichiro would not take the initiative to look for him.
"I would like to ask you to help me take a look at my straight shot. I haven't been throwing well..." Koichiro Tanba said shyly: "If you are busy, then forget it."
"Okay, I'm fine now." Yagami agreed to Tanba Koichiro's request: "Who will catch your ball? Miyauchi?"
The two of them walked towards the bullpen together, and Koichiro Tanba whispered: "Miyauchi will catch the ball, and Chris will come over to help take a look."
The two of them chatted all the way to the bullpen, and sure enough, Keisuke Miyauchi and Chris Yu Suikawa were already waiting there.
Yagami stood next to Koichiro Tanba and asked him to throw a few balls to see. After Keisuke Miyauchi squatted down, he made a posture ready to catch the ball.
Koichiro Tanba nodded, held the baseball as he would for a four-seam fastball, waved his arms, and threw the baseball in his hand with all his strength.
The baseball flying out of Koichiro Tanba's hand was like a white light shining directly on the position where Keisuke Miyauchi was. He opened his ball cover to catch Koichiro Tanba's pitch, took the baseball out of the ball cover and passed it back.
Tanba Koichiro threw three more straight shots before stopping and looking at Yagami standing aside.
"The speed of the ball is between 132~134km/h, and the tail power of the ball is not strong enough." Chris put down the speedometer in his hand and looked at Keisuke Miyauchi. At the same time, Keisuke Miyauchi also nodded.
He nodded and agreed with Chris.
Both catchers caught Yagami Yagami's pitch. In comparison, Tanba Koichiro's fast straight ball was far inferior to Yagami Yagami in terms of ball speed and ball power, but Tanba Koichiro's vertical curve ball was even unable to be thrown by Yagami Yam.
The changing ball.
Yagami thought for a while, picked up a baseball, and after holding it, he said to Koichiro Tanba: "Tanba, are you holding the ball too far inside? Try changing your grip, and then use it when you finally throw it.
Push the baseball out with your fingertips."
Tanba Koichiro took the baseball thrown by Yagami, tried to change the grip according to Yagami's instructions, and threw the baseball in his hand towards the catcher Keisuke Miyauchi. As a result, the baseball only flew halfway before falling down.
"I'm not used to it. The ball flew away before I even put any force on it." Koichiro Tanba picked up a new baseball, held it again, and let his fingers feel the weight of the ball.
"Actually, Tanba, you mainly focus on strengthening your physical strength and stabilizing your lower body." Yagami Ye thinks that this has something to do with Danba's relatively tall height: "You are too thin, and your center of gravity is high... I used to
It is also through gaining weight to enhance the power of the ball.”
"I know." Strengthening his physical strength has always been a topic for him. Koichiro Tanba looked at his right hand holding the baseball, tried several times, and threw the baseball in his hand again.
Keisuke Miyauchi looked at the flying baseball and opened his sleeve to catch it. However, when the baseball was about to fly in front of his eyes, it suddenly floated upward slightly. He was caught off guard and failed to catch the ball that floated upward.
, let it pass in front of your eyes and then fly behind you.
"this……"
"It's a ball with a little lift."
When Chris saw this, his eyes lit up: "Dambo, you can practice this variation of the straight ball as your future winning shot. After all, there are very few vertically changing balls that float on the ball path."
“Indeed, among the curveballs that drop greatly vertically, curveballs that change drastically in slant, and ordinary pitches, there is suddenly a variation of the pitch that floats up vertically, and no matter how powerful a hitter is, it will be difficult for a hitter to react.
"Iori Yagami immediately agreed that Chris would use such a ball as the winning goal for Koichiro Tanba in future games.
"Tamba, do you still remember how you held it just now?" Chris came over and handed the baseball in his hand to Koichiro Tanba.
"Hmm... It seems like this. When you hold it with your fingers, it's still a little far away from the tiger's mouth." Koichiro Tanba tried the baseball and threw it toward Keisuke Miyauchi, who was squatting at the catcher's position.
Keisuke Miyauchi, who was squatting at the catcher's position, stared closely at the flying baseball. When the baseball floated upward slightly, he quickly moved his ball sleeve and successfully caught the flying baseball.
"That's it. I'll go to the batter's position to see the effect." After Yagami said that, he ran towards Keisuke Miyauchi.
"Iori, put on the protective gear first!" Chris stretched out his hand to grab Iori Yagami and asked him to put on the protective gear first before talking about anything else.
"Just one ball." Yagami really didn't want to spend time putting on protective gear for hitting.
"No." Chris directly rejected Yagami's idea of ignoring the danger and wanting to be lazy.
"Okay." Yagami could only run to the side first, put on protective gear and pick up the bat, then walked to the batter's position and stood up.
During this period of time, Koichiro Tanba made several more shots to make sure that he would not make wild shots before giving up.
Yagami held the bat high, stood on the right bench, and shouted to Koichiro Tanba in front of him, "I'm ready, we can start."
Tanba Koichiro nodded and threw the baseball in his hand according to the previous holding position.
Yagami watched the ball flying straight from the pitcher's position and suddenly floated upward when it was about to enter home plate. At this moment, he had the illusion that the baseball would hit his face, and he instinctively went for it.
He took a step back. At the same time, Keisuke Miyauchi opened his set ball cover and successfully caught the floating baseball.
"Wow, that's what it feels like!" Yagami looked a little excited about this, "It's really interesting. When a batter stands in the batting area, he will feel that the baseball is flying towards his face. If this is the first time he sees such a ball,
, I will definitely want to avoid it driven by instinct."
After listening, Chris turned to Koichiro Tanba and said: "Tanba, you must practice this kind of ball carefully, it will definitely become your winning ball."
Tanba Koichiro was also very excited at this time, and nodded towards Chris with a red face. Both Yagami Yagami and Manaka Kaname were already far ahead of him, and he must work hard to catch up with them. This chapter has been completed!