Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

That afternoon, Seidou High School played a practice game against another strong team from Chiba Prefecture.

In this game, the starting lineup was completely adjusted.

It was clear that Coach Kataoka still wanted to try something new.

The starting pitcher for the game was Furuya, with Yui Kaoru as the catcher.

The other positions included both the main starters and the substitutes.

Coach Kataoka completely disrupted the previous main lineup and backup lineup to see if forming a new team would trigger any different chemical reactions.

To be honest, the results weren't very ideal.

In this game, Seidou High School found themselves in a tough battle.

Both the pitcher and the catcher had problems.

First, Furuya's control was unstable.

He had pitched well in the morning, but by the afternoon, his control was completely off.

No one knew what exactly went wrong, but his control was simply not there.

Many of his pitches failed to land in the strike zone.

This was quickly noticed by the opposing coach.

Any team capable of playing a practice game with Seidou High School must be at a certain level.

Perhaps right now, their team was in a transitional phase, with the overall strength of their players not as strong as Seidou High School's.

But the level of their Coach certainly didn't fall short.

Their tactical approach was very flexible.

They immediately adopted a strategy of never swinging until there were two Strikes, letting Furuya dig his own grave.

And Furuya truly did dig his own grave, Walking several batters in a row and giving up runs.

In the dugout, Coach Kataoka's expression grew darker and darker.

Furuya's issue wasn't new; the coaching staff had repeatedly warned him in the past.

They were worried that Furuya would make the same mistakes as before.

But there was nothing they could do—he couldn't escape this curse.

The more anxious he became, the harder he threw, especially when there were runners on base, and he instinctively tried to throw harder.

The result? The harder he tried, the more erratic his pitches became.

Pitching is like this.

It's not like solving homework questions, where you can simply fix it by practicing a few more times.

These subconscious habits were built over the course of his ten years of experience.

Such things cannot be changed overnight.

The biggest problem Furuya faced now was that while he could see a grand future ahead, the path to reaching that goal wasn't clear.

In simple terms, he had a very bright future. The coaching staff at Seidou High School, along with Coach Kataoka, even believed that, as long as he grew step by step, his future achievements wouldn't be worse than Sawamura's.

But looking at the current situation, things didn't seem that easy.

The summer tournament was approaching.

In his current state, Coach Kataoka and the coaching staff really found it difficult to entrust him with heavy responsibilities.

After realizing the problem, Furuya continued to reflect on himself.

Finally, with encouragement from teammates, he decided to give up his fast ball speed.

He switched to a regular fastball to face the opponent.

The effect was immediate.

Even after controlling his pitching speed, his fastball was still incredible.

For most opponents, solving Furuya was not an easy task.

He quickly regained control of the game.

However, Yui Kaoru faced another problem.

As Furuya regained his sharpness, his pitching became increasingly hard.

Yui soon struggled to catch his pitches.

Those fast pitches, almost like little monsters with sound effects, were very hard for Yui to handle.

He needed a tremendous amount of effort just to barely catch the ball.

Sometimes, he couldn't even stop the ball.

Two consecutive errors led to three runs being scored.

Together, they conceded five runs.

Fortunately, when it was their turn to bat, they responded well and managed to recover those five runs.

In particular, Furuya hit a two-run home run.

The final score ended at 11-5.

In this game, Seidou High School didn't end up losing prestige.

The next day, after a quiet night, the Seidou High School players got back on the bus and headed to their final practice game destination.

Gunma Prefecture.

When you talk about Gunma, one team immediately comes to mind: Hakuryu High School.

At this stage, Hakuryu High School was undeniably the king of Gunma Prefecture.

The two teams had a long-standing connection.

They had played many practice games in the past and later got to know each other in the national competition, with plenty of private interactions.

Especially Hakuryu's star player, Mima Soichiro.

He seemed to have a particular interest in Miyuki Kazuya.

The two exchanged contact information and often communicated via text messages.

When Mima Soichiro heard that Seidou High School was coming to Gunma for a practice game, he specifically took time off to watch.

"Too polite!"

Miyuki felt a bit embarrassed by the warm reception.

"I'm here to scout information; what's with all the politeness?"

Mima Soichiro rolled his eyes and looked at Miyuki strangely.

He was basically asking: "Are you embarrassed?"

"We still have time in the schedule. Do you want to play another practice game?"

Sawamura suggested enthusiastically.

There were fewer and fewer opponents who could catch his attention, and unfortunately, Hakuryu High School was one of them.

They were the most agile team in the country.

For Sawamura, they posed a significant threat.

He was still very eager to face them.

"Let's save our match for the Kanto Tournament!"

Mima Soichiro said bluntly.

Ouno Shintarou, Hakuryu's Ace, who had come with him, remained silent.

Although Ouno was also a very strong pitcher, he was clearly not on the same level as the other three.

Adding his naturally quiet nature, he didn't say much.

In the afternoon, Seidou High School started their fifth practice game.

"Kuroba High School is no push-over, so you all need to be careful,"

Mima Soichiro warned. Kuroba was one of the top four teams in Gunma Prefecture.

In a previous regional tournament, Hakuryu High School had already played against them.

Mima's expression still carried a hint of unease.

This sparked the interest of Miyuki and Sawamura.

If Mima was saying this, it meant Kuroba High School was quite formidable.

In today's game, Sawamura was the starting pitcher.

His catcher was also Yui Kaoru.

Except for the first practice game, Yui Kaoru received special attention from Coach Kataoka.

He had spent more time on the field than even Miyuki.

Although he appeared indifferent, Coach Kataoka was likely feeling a lot of internal pressure.

With the third year nearing graduation, and realizing that Miyuki and Ono would soon leave the team,

finding the next catcher had become an urgent task for Seidou High School, one that had to be addressed immediately.

After the Summer Koshien, the Fall Tournament would come quickly.

It was hard to imagine how Seidou High School would handle things if they faced a situation where there was no reliable catcher.

It's hard to imagine what would happen if Seidou High School found itself in a situation where there's a lack of talent to fill important roles.

If that happens, Seidou High School will be finished!!!

To prevent such a scenario, Coach Kataoka has been preparing in advance.

He's been putting most of his effort into training Yui Kaoru to prevent any potential issues from arising.

Among the second-year players, there isn't a single excellent catcher.

This has always been a major regret and a huge hidden danger for Seidou High School.

In the second-year class, two of the country's top pitchers have emerged, especially with Sawamura, the legend in the making.

The pitching squad no longer needs to be a concern.

But the lack of a catcher in the team is still a very troublesome issue.

In top-tier schools, it takes at least two years to develop a competent catcher.

This is assuming the catcher has some natural talent; if they have none, no amount of training will help.

With the third-year catcher retiring, it's only natural that the second-year catcher should step in.

If a first-year catcher shows promise, they might be able to compete for the starting role after half a year.

But Seidou's biggest problem right now is that there's no reliable second-year catcher to rely on.

It's a very awkward situation.

They've had no choice but to rely on a first-year catcher.

Having only trained for half a year and being thrown into actual games, it's difficult for such a catcher to gain the trust of the team.

Fortunately, Seidou High School had a good harvest this year, with a few promising young catchers joining.

This gave Coach Kataoka and the coaching staff hope to accelerate their development.

Yui Kaoru was promoted under these circumstances.

In fact, Sawamura was directly paired with him as his catcher.

Such a combination wouldn't have been possible during the summer tournament or the Koshien competition.

With Miyuki Kazuya still on the team, and even Ono as a backup, it would never have been the time for a new catcher to step up.

If there had been a rotation, the first one to be substituted would have been their ace pitcher, Sawamura.

It was impossible for both of them to stay on the field together.

But in practice games, pairing Yui Kaoru with Sawamura clearly had one purpose: to train Yui Kaoru.

After Yui's two errors in catching Furuya's pitches the previous day, Yui didn't dare speak much now.

When they were discussing strategy, he followed Sawamura's lead without question.

"Let's focus on fastballs, Moving balls, and Change-ups."

Sawamura quietly instructed.

Taking care of a Kohai was about building their confidence.

If you start by overwhelming them with difficulty, they won't be able to handle it.

So now, it was important to be cautious—gradually increasing the challenge when necessary.

Additionally, Sawamura also wanted to use this opportunity to practice his defense.

Whrroosh!

Ping!

"OUT!!!"

In the next part of the game, Sawamura focused on Moving balls, adding in fastballs and changeups.

He effortlessly controlled the game, making the opponents dance in his palm.

Kuroba High School, which Mima Soichiro had described as a very strong team,

wasn't as impressive as it had seemed.

When facing Sawamura, they were completely outmatched, and all of them were quickly Shut Out.

"Pretty average!"

Miyuki muttered.

Next, Seidou High School's turn to bat came up, and when they saw the opposing pitcher,

the Seidou players suddenly understood Mima Soichiro's earlier comment.

These opponents weren't easy.

What appeared before them was a mountain of meat, a huge guy squatting there, resembling a human meatball.

The Seidou players exchanged glances.

Had the opponent entered the wrong field? Shouldn't this person be on the Sumo wrestling stage instead of playing baseball?

While baseball players are generally built,

this guy was in an entirely different category—at least 300 pounds!

What kind of power could such a 300-pound giant possess?

When they saw the first pitch come from him, the Seidou players went silent.

This was no ordinary opponent—this was a true expert.

A true, speechless expert!

Takatsu, who was batting first, replaced the spot of Kuramochi Youichi.

In the previous practice games, Takatsu Hiroomi had been quite outstanding.

Even as a competitor, Seidou's players all praised his skills.

He was genuinely strong.

There was no pretense in his swinging—his batting was universally acknowledged.

Some even said his swing was inherited from the legendary Yuuki Tatsuya.

Although Yuuki Masashi and Yuuki Tetsuya were brothers and both strong hitters, their styles were entirely different.

Yuuki Masashi was a purely violent hitter, while Tetsuya was a more versatile hitter.

Tetsuya also had an incredible swing speed, and it seemed like no pitch could defeat him.

Takatsu's swing was very similar to Yuuki Tetsuya's.

Though it wasn't as polished as Tetsuya's, it already had a remarkable quality.

When Seidou's players talked privately, they considered Takatsu's batting ability to be among the top five on the team.

Yet, this powerful batter was completely shut down.

Ping!

The sound of the bat striking the ball was filled with a sense of despair.

It felt like a sentence of death.

It was especially painful to watch.

Takatsu's face turned bright red.

When he saw the opponent's size, he expected the pitch to be heavy, but he didn't expect it to be this heavy.

It felt like his arms had been run over by a truck.

He was completely outclassed in power.

The ball barely hovered forward, only to be lightly caught by the first baseman.

"OUT!!!"

every Seidou player was stunned.

They say the world is full of wonders,

but a freak like this one was probably one of a kind in the whole country.

"If this guy were in a top school, he would have been way more famous!"

Sawamura murmured.

He even suspected that this guy would eventually make a name for himself, whether or not he entered a prestigious school.

He clearly didn't belong to the ordinary crowd.

"What's this guy's name?"

Seidou's players finally came to their senses and asked about his name.

It wasn't that they were being superficial.

It was just that they'd beaten so many opponents without remembering their names, and by the time they tried to, those players had already disappeared.

Over time, they got used to it and stopped asking.

But this guy—this guy they definitely needed to remember.

Otherwise, they'd never know who they lost to in the future!

Mutoyama Hosotori!

…

T/N: Btw, Hosotori(細鳥) means the slim bird! XD

Also, this game too won't take long, only one and a half more Chapters.

Anyway, Thank you all for reading!!

Hope you all have a nice day!

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