bestfiction Chapter 421 - 421: A Long Throw from Seventy Meters Away!
Chapter 421 - 421: A Long Throw from Seventy Meters Away!
"A rotation strategy has its drawbacks too!"With Coach Kunimoto's sharp eye, there was no way he wouldn't see through Seido's arrangement.
Setting aside what the players on both teams thought about the outcome of today's game…
the coaches clearly didn't value this result as much.
The reason both sides had fielded their full starting lineups for a Spring Tournament final that wasn't truly decisive, yet still held back their Aces,
was simple: both teams had their own calculations.
On one hand, they wanted to test the strength of their current squads.
On the other, they wanted to probe the opponent's hidden cards.
The real decisive battle between Seido and Inashiro would come in this year's Summer Tournament.
Whether it was Coach Kataoka of Seido High School or Coach Kunimoto of Inashiro Industrial—
both were confident they could lead their players all the way to the final.
That would be the time to truly settle everything.
Before then, the real question for both teams was how to adjust their lineups and make themselves even stronger.
When they met again, they wanted to crush the other side with overwhelming force and earn the right to advance to Koshien.
Given the strength of these two teams, as long as they weren't especially unlucky in the bracket draw, neither of them should perform poorly in the Summer Tournament.
Which meant the most important battlefield of all…
was the Tokyo regional final this summer.
That was the true deciding stage.
From Coach Kataoka's point of view, Seido's biggest problem at this stage was undoubtedly their second pitcher.
With Ace Zhou Hao unavailable, Seido was using a three-pitcher relay.
Tanba, who normally should have filled the second slot, had temporarily been moved to third because of the needs of this game.
Kawakami had been sent in as a stopgap measure.
But even he himself hadn't fully adjusted to that role.
From Inashiro Industrial's perspective, this was exactly the opportunity they had been waiting for.
Even if Coach Kunimoto didn't especially care about the result of today's game,
he still intended to pressure Seido as hard as possible.
Only by forcing Seido into a difficult corner would they be pushed to change their current structure.
And as long as they made changes, Inashiro would naturally have a chance to find weaknesses to exploit.
The opportunity was right in front of them.
Now it depended on what these young players would do.
Coach Kunimoto was looking forward to it.
The next batter to step into the box was Inashiro Industrial's third batter.
He was a third-year student and one of the team's core regulars.
Naturally, his batting ability was outstanding.
Standing in the batter's box, he raised his bat directly.
At the same time, Shirakawa, who had been standing on first base, shifted his posture as though ready to break at any moment.
He was deliberately putting pressure on Kawakami.
Behind the plate, Seido catcher Miyuki Kazuya narrowed his eyes.
He could clearly feel the pressure coming from Inashiro's players.
And if even he could feel it, then Kawakami must be feeling it even more strongly.
Whether it was the batter in the box or the runner on base,
both gave off an aura of danger.
It felt as though either one of them could explode into motion at any second.
The mere thought of it made Kawakami's arm tremble.
As the lowest-ranked pitcher in Seido's current rotation, no matter how steady his mentality usually was, Kawakami couldn't help feeling intimidated.
Could he really stand up to Inashiro's regular lineup with his level of ability?
Deep down, he had no confidence.
Especially after his previous pitch had already been hit cleanly.
That only made his uncertainty grow stronger.
Miyuki noticed it.
But at the moment, there seemed to be little he could do.
Grinding his teeth, Miyuki used signs and eye contact to send his message.
You're the second-best pitcher among our second-years. Have confidence!
When Kawakami saw that, he felt even more like crying.
Even within his own year, he was only ranked second.
Against a lineup like Inashiro's, could he really do this?
But hesitation changed nothing.
A game would never stop for one player's thoughts.
No matter how uncertain he felt, Kawakami still had to throw the baseball in his hand.
Whoosh!
As the pitch left his fingers, Kawakami still held a faint hope in his heart.
He hoped that this one pitch could suppress the batter.
But just as that thought crossed his mind, Inashiro's third batter suddenly sharpened his gaze.
Inashiro Industrial had plenty of talented players, and their overall level was extremely high.
Precisely because they had so much talent, they also had experience facing all kinds of pitchers on their own team.
Before today's game, Inashiro's batters had trained specifically for this matchup.
Aside from the monster Zhou Hao, they had simulated Seido's other pitchers one by one.
Kawakami's sidearm delivery might be troublesome for ordinary teams,
but against Inashiro's regulars, it had very little effect.
Inashiro's third batter swung decisively.
Ping!
The baseball was sent sharply into play, bouncing off the ground and flying past the infield.
Seido's fielders barely had time to react.
The third batter reached base safely, while Shirakawa rounded second and charged straight toward third.
"Safe!"
"Safe!!"
No outs.
Runners on first and third.
Kawakami had only just taken the mound, yet he was already facing an enormous crisis.
And it still wasn't over.
"Fourth batter, number two, catcher, Harada Masatoshi!"
At that moment, Inashiro Industrial's strongest batter stepped into the batter's box.
Squatting behind the plate, Miyuki couldn't help inhaling sharply.
The situation unfolding before them was nothing less than a full-scale crisis.
Asking Kawakami to hold off Inashiro's core lineup in a spot like this…
honestly, it was asking far too much of him.
It wasn't that Kawakami was weak.
The real problem was that their opponent was one of the most powerful teams in the entire country.
At the recently concluded Spring Koshien Invitational, Inashiro Industrial had fought all the way to the final and finished as the national runner-up.
Facing a team of that caliber…
even Tanba and Furuya Satoru would feel the pressure.
And Kawakami's overall ability was still a notch below theirs.
Under those circumstances, how was he supposed to endure this inning?
"Do we have no choice but to gamble?"
Coach Kataoka had no intention of making another pitching change.
That left Miyuki with only one option:
he had to steady himself and call the game for Kawakami.
On the mound, Kawakami understood very well that the crisis before him was enormous.
He gritted his teeth and hurled the baseball forward.
No matter what—
he had to survive this inning.
As long as they could get through this inning, the remaining two would be much easier.
However, even though Kawakami poured everything he had into that pitch, it still wasn't enough to threaten Harada in the batter's box.
"Here it comes!"
He didn't wait.
The instant the ball entered his range, Harada's muscles tensed and his bat whipped forward with explosive force.
Boom!
Ping!
The white ball shot off the bat and soared into the outfield under everyone's stunned gaze.
"It got through!"
Shirasu couldn't cut it off in time and could only rush toward the ball's landing point for backup.
The Inashiro Industrial runners charged ahead like madmen.
Shirakawa was the first to dash across home plate.
"Safe!"
The score immediately changed from 3–1 to 3–2.
The runner who had started on first blew past second and made it all the way to third. If Seido hadn't gotten the ball back in so quickly, he might have even tried to go all the way home.
Harada also rounded first and stormed into second base.
No outs. Runners on second and third.
Once Inashiro's offense got rolling, it came in waves.
Seido played a similar style of baseball themselves, so they understood better than anyone how dangerous that momentum could be.
And because they understood it so well, the Seido players and fans knew exactly how bad things could get if Inashiro kept pressing like this.
"They're even more troublesome than they were last fall!"
The thought ignited a fire in Seido's players.
They remembered that crushing defeat in the autumn.
They remembered the Jingu Tournament and Spring Koshien slipping through their fingers.
"Get the first out!"
"Forget the runners! Focus on the batter!"
Even so, the pressure was getting to them.
Seido's players shouted encouragement in every way they could, trying to rally Kawakami.
But one pitch after another was being driven into play.
For any pitcher, that was a heavy blow to the heart.
And for Kawakami, the weight of it was especially brutal.
His eyes narrowed as the same question repeated in his mind over and over.
Was his pitching really this fragile?
Could Inashiro's batters really hit his pitches whenever they wanted?
The boy was changing, little by little, in the middle of adversity.
In the batter's box, Narumiya Mei's lips curled into a cold smile.
"Trying to awaken in the middle of the game?"
As an elite pitcher himself, Mei could tell exactly what Kawakami was doing.
Cornered by this crisis, Kawakami was trying to steady himself, trying to face the game as a stronger version of who he had been just moments ago.
If he overcame this hurdle, then even if it didn't mean everything for Seido as a team, it would be enough to completely transform Kawakami as a pitcher.
Ordinarily, that had nothing to do with Inashiro.
But they were in the middle of a game.
And Inashiro Industrial had finally found their chance to turn things around.
There was no way they would let it slip away.
Mei locked onto the pitch Kawakami threw like a shark that had scented blood.
As the ball neared the plate, his bat came sweeping through.
Boom!
The sound of the swing tearing through the air was deafening.
Crouched behind the plate, Miyuki's bad feeling grew stronger and stronger.
Ping!
The white ball was launched high into the sky.
Before tens of thousands of eyes, it traced a huge arc overhead and began to descend.
In that moment, Seido's players and supporters alike forgot how to breathe.
For an instant, it looked like the ball might carry all the way into the stands.
And if it did—
then the score would be overturned in one swing.
Before the game, many fans had predicted this matchup would become a fierce slugfest the moment they saw both lineups.
Now, that very scene seemed about to unfold before their eyes.
Fortunately, the ball didn't have quite enough distance.
After flying about seventy meters, it began to fall.
Zhou Hao had already positioned himself underneath it.
Meanwhile, Inashiro's runner on third checked the landing point again and again.
He had a chance.
And since he knew he had a chance, he was already prepared to break for home the moment the catch was made.
Snap!
Out!
The ball dropped cleanly into Zhou Hao's glove, giving Seido their first out.
But there was no time to celebrate.
The runner on third immediately bolted for home.
Throw home!
Everyone knew exactly what Zhou Hao needed to do.
Zhou Hao himself knew it too.
"The distance is too great. It's a full seventy meters. There's no way the throw makes it in time..."
Every player on the field understood that instinctively.
The moment the ball came down, everyone had already judged the distance and the odds of cutting down the runner at the plate.
By normal logic, it was impossible.
And yet, just as that thought passed through everyone's mind, Zhou Hao moved.
The moment he secured the catch, he stepped through and unleashed the ball with all his strength.
Like an arrow loosed from a fully drawn bow, the baseball screamed out of his hand.
Boom!
Everyone along its path could hear the air splitting apart.
What power!
What terrifying speed!
Just how fast was that throw?
Even the fans in the stands could tell from instinct alone that the velocity of that throw was absurd.
The Inashiro runner was just about to reach home when he suddenly heard the piercing whistle of the ball cutting through the air.
What?
Before he could even react, the baseball had already slammed into Miyuki Kazuya's mitt.
Snap!
Even Miyuki was shocked by how quickly it had arrived.
His next move didn't come from conscious thought at all—it was pure instinct.
In one fluid motion, he swept his glove across and caught the runner with the tag.
Snap!
Out!!
The home plate umpire stood frozen for two full seconds before finally making the call.
Only then did the crowd begin to react.
Good lord!
Can someone tell them what just happened?