Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

After some hesitation, the umpire finally made his call.

"…OUT!!"

In fact, he wasn't entirely sure which had arrived first—the ball or the runner.

But theoretically, light travels much faster than sound. When the ball hitting the mitt's echo seemed to arrive simultaneously with the runner, it should have been the mitt that caught the ball first.

"TSK!"

But that still didn't stop Kuramochi from being annoyed.

An effective base hit, just like that, disappeared into thin air. How could he feel good about it?

However, although he was unhappy, it seemed that the opposing team wasn't exactly in a great mood either.

They probably didn't expect Kuramochi's speed to be so fast. Despite their timely defensive positioning, he still managed to reach first base.

In Seidou High School's dugout.

Sawamura and Miyuki exchanged a glance, both seeing the surprise in each other's eyes.

They knew Kuramochi's speed too well, and yet, despite the opposing team not shifting their defense forward, they still managed to retire Kuramochi.

Though the process seemed a bit complicated, the reality was clear: Kuramochi had been caught out.

For Seidou's baseball team, this was a highly unbelievable event.

Even though they had seen it with their own eyes, they still found it hard to believe that what had just happened was real.

"It's not entirely impossible!"

Miyuki frowned and muttered.

As someone who liked data analysis, Miyuki never liked to believe in coincidences in this world.

Kuramochi's Out might have seemed like a coincidence, but there had to be some inevitable factors involved.

First, the opposing team's defensive speed was too fast. Second, the reactions of Shonan's players were also strange.

Miyuki couldn't quite figure it out at that moment. But he had found a clue, and he believed the solution wasn't far off.

One out, no one on base.

Now, it was time for the second batter, Kominato Haruichi, to step up.

The third batter, Sawamura, also began putting on his batting mitts and helmet, taking his usual bat in hand, and preparing to step into the Batter's Box.

As Kominato Haruichi stood in the Batter's Box, his mind kept replaying the scene of Kuramochi being solved.

As a Keystone partner and a senior on the team, Kominato had a lot of confidence in Kuramochi's abilities.

If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, even he would have found it hard to believe that the opposing team could stop Kuramochi's bunt without shifting their defense forward.

But there had been something to learn from that previous encounter. Through their exchanges, Kominato realized one thing.

If even Kuramochi couldn't rely on stealing bases to get on, then there was no way anyone else could.

At this point, they could only choose to face their opponent head-on in a direct confrontation.

He raised his wooden bat in his hands and assumed a stance that would help him hit at any place in the zone.

He had intentionally altered his hitting rhythm and stance—he didn't want to give the opponent any opening and see how they responded.

Kominato had an odd feeling that Kuramochi's Out wasn't as simple as it seemed.

Of course, this was just his personal feeling.

If he had to explain it, he wouldn't be able to articulate it.

However, Shonan High School's players didn't seem to take much notice of Kominato's changed batting stance.

Instead, they were calmly adjusting their defense.

'Their infielders began shifting towards first base.'

Looking from the Batter's Box, the side leaning toward first base was now guarded like an iron fortress by Shonan's fielders.

'On the other hand, the third-base side was wide open.'

It gave the impression that if the ball dropped there, it would likely be an easy hit.

'An outside pitch?'

Kominato was a right-handed batter, and with the opponent positioning themselves like this, it seemed they were preparing to attack the outside corner.

Kominato adjusted his stance slightly, getting ready to step out when the ball came toward him.

'Here it comes!'

Shonan's pitcher, Aota, had an incredibly fast pitching rhythm.

As soon as their defensive formation was adjusted, the pitch was already in the air.

It was fast, had a strong momentum, and was well-placed—quite a tricky pitch.

To be honest, this was a high-quality pitch.

'But it wasn't something that couldn't be hit.'

Especially for a Seidou High School player, this pitch wasn't too difficult to handle.

Kominato was confident he could hit it.

The timing of the pitch and the angle of the ball were exactly as he had imagined in his mind.

Logically, Kominato should have been completely confident in hitting this ball.

But for some reason, Kominato felt strange.

It was as though he was being set up, an uncomfortable feeling that made him uneasy.

Despite the ominous feeling, this was a pitch he had been planning for too long to just let it go.

He gritted his teeth and stepped forward.

At the same time, his bat swung with his stride.

Paak!

He had originally expected some unexpected event during the swing, but nothing out of the ordinary occurred. He made contact, and the sharp outside pitch was forcefully pulled to the third-base side.

'Perfect!'

The defense on the third-base side was still very lax.

Kominato let go of his bat and started running toward first base.

As he watched the ball he had hit about to drop, suddenly, a swift figure darted forward.

The player sprinted several steps and then dove, catching the ball firmly in his mitt.

Because he was moving so fast, he couldn't stop in time and rolled twice before finally coming to a halt.

"Out!!"

Despite the messy appearance, the ball never left his mitt.

When the mitt raised the ball, Kominato was officially Out.

"Wow!"

"Did you see that?"

"Spectacular defense!!"

In the stands.

Even Seidou's supporters fell silent.

The game was unfolding so strangely. Kominato's seemingly certain hit was forcefully stopped by an amazing defensive play from the opponent.

At that moment, even Seidou's supporters felt that Luck had abandoned their team.

How else could they explain such bad luck?

"Third batter, pitcher, Sawamura-kun!"

Facing the first pitch thrown by Nigima Aota, Sawamura didn't swing but chose to watch it.

"STRIKE!"

This can be understood since the previous two batters were Out from the first pitch, so it's reasonable for him to be cautious.

But then, he didn't swing at the second pitch either.

"STRIKE!!"

This changes things entirely.

It's like he's giving the opponent free Strikes, which is a very foolish move.

With two Strikes ahead, Shonan High School can easily pitch, even freely switching up the pitch types and variations during the delivery.

In contrast, Sawamura cannot afford to let any pitch that enters the strike zone go by. He cannot afford to miss any pitch that is even possibly in the strike zone.

Otherwise, Sawamura would just have to wait for the strikeout.

Two Outs, no one on base. Two Strikes, no Balls.

Sawamura, in the Batter's Box, found himself in an unprecedented passive situation.

In the stands, Owada Akiko from Baseball Kingdom Magazine nervously pinched her hands.

She is a fan of Seidou, and also a die-hard fan of Sawamura. Seeing her favorite player in such a passive state made her anxious.

But, since it was Sawamura, she surely believed he had a plan.

After all, how could the 'Demon King' be stopped by a mere Shonan High School when have defeated many more tricky and powerful opponents in a way harder situation?

Akiko wasn't the only one thinking this way. The fans at the scene, especially Seidou fans and Sawamura's personal supporters, all had the same belief.

They had full confidence in Sawamura's abilities and were sure that he would create a miracle at the last moment.

A mere Nigima Aota? It shouldn't be a problem to overcome him.

Those supporting Sawamura had such expectations, but soon, their hopes were shattered.

The reason? The third pitch from Nigima.

With two Strikes already against him, Sawamura could not afford to let this one pass.

So naturally, he swung at the pitch — and it was a very decisive swing.

The people watching the game even sensed a dangerous feeling from his swing.

It felt like the ball could be hit out of the park.

Ping…!

The moment the bat connected with the ball, everyone's gaze went blank.

The small ball that should have been hit out, instead, weakly flew out of bounds.

It gave the impression that Sawamura had been thoroughly suppressed by Aota's pitching power.

Seidou High School's fans and Sawamura's personal supporters were stunned.

Some couldn't believe it. Could Nigima's pitching really be that strong?

Otherwise, how could they explain what just happened?

On Seidou's side, there was a sudden lull, while Shonan High School's supporters immediately came to life.

They also had plenty of fans, many of whom had come all the way from Kanagawa. These fans were loyal.

Seeing their team perform so well, especially suppressing the nationally famous 'Demon King', their adrenaline surged rapidly.

"Suppressing the batter!!"

"Let's go all the way and finish off the opponent!"

"That so-called Demon King isn't all that great."

"Nigima, go for it!!!"

The Shonan fans in the stands were now in high spirits.

They were eager to bring Seidou High School down from their pedestal and take their place.

They seemed to have already seen the rise of Kanagawa!

Ping!

"FOUL!!"

If the first foul ball had gone out of bounds, people would have remained calm. But when Sawamura hit the second ball Foul…

The surrounding noise suddenly grew louder.

Shonan's fans were now certain they weren't dreaming.

The once-invincible Sawamura, whom they had seen on TV, was truly being suppressed by their pitchers.

"Sawamura-kun, is he not in his best state today?"

Owada Akiko looked at Sawamura in the Batter's Box with concern.

Two consecutive good pitches had gone by without him swinging, and two consecutive balls had been suppressed.

She had never seen Sawamura Eijun look so awkward before.

This made Owada Akiko very worried.

"Not at his best state?"

Fujio Mine, sitting next to Owada Akiko, looked at his partner in surprise.

"Fujio-senpai!"

Although Akiko didn't know where she had gone wrong, she certainly knew she had made a mistake. She quickly corrected her attitude and seriously asked for advice.

"I don't think Sawamura-kun is in bad form right now!"

While the non-professional can't see the subtle details, the professional can see them clearly.

Fujio's understanding of baseball far exceeded that of an average person.

Take Sawamura's performance in front of them, to Fujio, it held a deeper meaning.

"Think about the two Outs earlier and compare them with how Sawamura-kun is acting now. Do you feel any difference?"

Akiko frowned and still couldn't come up with an appropriate answer.

So, she stared at Fujio eagerly waiting for his explanation.

Even though she couldn't figure out the key points herself, Akiko was sure that her senior had noticed something others hadn't.

Fujio shook his head. "We're reporters, and our job is to report on things the audience can't observe. In today's information-driven society, if fans are interested, they can easily watch the game's video. From the perspective of the audience, if they can figure out the secrets of the game themselves, why would they spend money subscribing to our magazine?"

Owada Akiko was left speechless by this.

"As a reporter for a baseball magazine, even if you can't compare to the true professionals, you should at least understand baseball better than the general public."

"Take Seidou's actions earlier as an example. Sawamura-kun's choice to entangle right now is a very wise move."

"Why?"

Owada Akiko asked, puzzled.

"Because Seidou's data collection has a problem."

Fujio said decisively.

It's undeniable that this senior reporter really knew his stuff. He was absolutely right—there was indeed a problem with the information Seidou had gathered.

In a high-level competition, it was impossible to reveal all of one's cards before the actual battle.

Take today's game, for example. The offensive strategy Seidou High had formulated was based on previously collected data.

It looked effective, but in reality, the effect was minimal, or perhaps nonexistent.

This situation was quite awkward.

Sawamura had keenly noticed this, so he gave up on trying to hit the ball this inning and focused instead on gathering intelligence.

He needed to carefully observe how his opponent was leading Haruichi and Kuramochi by the nose.

The result, of course, was not smooth.

In the previous games, the opponent had prevented Seidou High from noticing any clues.

How could they possibly let Sawamura detect their tactics after just a few balls?

'This is really tricky!' Sawamura frowned slightly in the Batter's Box.

He felt a little unhappy inside, sensing that he had overlooked something.

Meanwhile, in Shonan's dugout, Coach Matt had a very grim expression.

Matt had thought about the possibility that the carefully prepared trap for Seidou might be seen through.

But he had expected that to happen later in the game, not so quickly!

'The Maou, Sawamura Eijun.'

Without any basis, without any reasoning, and without even having the time to listen to the Coach's advice, Sawamura had deduced that Shonan had a hidden plot.

Matt had never faced an opponent with such a high baseball intelligence before.

His long binoculars were focused on Sawamura.

It seemed as though Matt was trying to figure this person out, but then he saw Sawamura's gaze—an intense, fierce stare.

"You're asking for trouble!" Matt's heart skipped a beat.

He quickly gave a sign to his players on the field.

Several infielders moved in sync, and as they did, they also shifted their stances and pitched the ball.

Infielders shifting positions, pitchers throwing—both actions combined created a dazzling effect.

Even though Sawamura kept reminding himself to focus on the pitcher, he couldn't help but be drawn in by the distractions, draining a lot of his focus.

His gaze followed the infielders.

By the time he saw the ball coming toward him, it had already entered his hands.

'They got me…'

A bad thought flashed in Sawamura's mind.

By the time he reacted and swung his bat, it was clear he had missed the best timing.

Ping!

He made contact with the ball, but Sawamura couldn't send it into foul territory.

He could only helplessly watch as the baseball fell directly above the third baseman.

The third baseman for Shonan leaped into the air and expertly caught the ball.

Snap!

"OUT!!"

Three Outs, offense and defense exchange.

At the end of the first inning, the score between the two teams was 0:0.

Although there was no explosive scoring, the intense confrontation still left the audience stunned.

This game was truly unexpected.

Who would have thought that a simple game would turn into a pitching duel like that?

What a blast!

…

T/N: Well, That's it for now.

Thank you all for reading!

Have a good day!

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