Diamond No Ace: Life As Sawamura Eijun

Chapter 405: Pre-War Meeting

A week is neither long nor short. When the match is scheduled for Sunday, strictly speaking, Seido High School only has six days to prepare. Within these six days, collecting all available data on Ouya High School and conducting a detailed analysis is undoubtedly a massive task.

Moreover, after suffering some setbacks due to insufficient intelligence in the match against Ugumori High, Watanabe went all out in this pre-war reconnaissance mission.

He gathered every possible video recording of Ouya High's current starting players, collected detailed information on each player, including training and match data, as well as personal and skill-related intelligence. Watanabe truly exhausted every effort in this endeavor.

As he put it, baseball is also his dream. Since he can no longer realize his dream on the field, he will contribute to the team in this way.

When the team reaches the pinnacle again, he can proudly say that he played a part in it. This is Watanabe Hisashi's goal during his high school years.

After Watanabe Hisashi collected and analyzed the data on Ouya High, Seido High promptly held a pre-war meeting for the quarterfinals.

Based on the information provided by Watanabe on Ouya High's current main players, Seido High would formulate targeted strategies.

In Seido High's usual cafeteria meeting room:

"Ouya High, a public high school from East Tokyo, has had a history of consecutive appearances at Koshien in previous years. Their best historical performance was reaching the quarterfinals in the summer Koshien four years ago. They are a team known for their intellectual style of play. While the individual skills of their players are not particularly strong, Ouya High excels at integrating the abilities of each player to enhance the team's overall strength. This has been the key reason for their past success in reaching Koshien. Over the past three years, with the resurgence of Teito High, Ouya High has not made it to Koshien, but they remain regular contenders in the top eight and even the top four in East Tokyo. Their overall strength should not be underestimated," Watanabe explained in a calm yet serious tone.

"The team's coach, Coach Araki, is the most important factor behind Ouya High's past success in reaching Koshien and maintaining a strong record. For every opponent, this coach devises corresponding strategies to ensure the team's coordination and continuity. While their offensive capabilities are debatable, their defensive strategies are often quite effective."

"In addition to Coach Araki, the current Ouya High team has three key players to watch: their ace, Wakabayashi Gou; their cleanup hitter, Kasuga Hiro; and Yamazato Youhei. Based on past performances, these three players could easily secure starting positions even in elite private schools. Particularly in this summer's tournament, Ouya High fought a close battle against Teito High, remaining evenly matched until the seventh inning. Although their defense collapsed in the final two innings, leading to a 9-3 loss, their strength is undeniable. After the summer tournament, Ouya High retained most of their main players, making them a formidable opponent."

Watanabe provided detailed information on each key player from Ouya High.

"Their ace, Wakabayashi Gou, is a second-year right-handed pitcher with excellent control. He often uses low pitches as his deciding balls, with his signature pitch being a forkball. Notably, his forkball can land within the strike zone, so batters must swing at it and cannot let it pass. It is this forkball that has struck out many strong hitters, as his control over the strike zone is precise."

"The cleanup hitter and first baseman, Kasuga Hiro, is... The fifth batter and right fielder, Yamazato Youhei, is known for..."

The details were exhaustive. Senior Watanabe's notebook was filled with dense information and analysis on Ouya High, including his own insights.

"Finally, I want to emphasize one more point: Ouya High's defense relies heavily on coordinated plays among the players to suppress batters. However, there is one suspicious aspect I've noticed about their defense," Watanabe said, closing his notebook. Just as everyone thought his analysis was over, he added this statement, his serious expression piquing everyone's curiosity. Only Eijun already knew, though he pretended to be surprised like everyone else.

"Ouya High's ace pitches different balls depending on the batter, and in response, the outfielders and infielders adjust their defensive positions accordingly," Watanabe explained without delay, his tone grave.

"Defensive position adjustments!?"

Not even Kuramochi, Touou, or Maezono could hold back their reactions—even Miyuki showed a hint of surprise.

"Yeah, look here, and here... and also here," Watanabe nodded, then turned on the television behind him. As he played the recording of Ouya High's previous match, he paused and slowed down the footage at several key moments.

"You see, whenever the defense shifts to the right, their ace, Wakabayashi Gou, tends to throw an outside fastball. This is essentially a coordinated strategy between the pitcher and the defense, tailored to the batter's tendencies and characteristics. It's also a trap designed to lure the batter into hitting toward the right side. Of course, since this is only based on video footage, we can't be 100% certain. That's why I suggest we observe this pattern firsthand during the first round of batting in the actual match before drawing any conclusions," Watanabe explained calmly and methodically.

"Wait, seriously!?" Kuramochi blurted out, his expression a mix of shock and disbelief.

"That's amazing, Hisashi!" Maezono exclaimed, his face flushed with excitement as he laughed.

"Hisashi, I can't believe you managed to pick up on that," Miyuki said, shaking his head in admiration.

After Watanabe shared his analysis, every member of Seido's first string couldn't help but show their respect and awe.

Even Eijun, who had already known about this beforehand, couldn't help but feel a deep sense of admiration when he saw and heard Watanabe present his findings so clearly.