Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

"Are we...Is this...those guys...also high school students like us?"

Kuramochi had a look on his face as if he had seen a ghost.

Sawamura nodded helplessly. "Of course, they are high school students."

Kuramochi widened his eyes, looking at Sawamura in disbelief, as if to say, 'Don't lie to me!'.

How could those rough-looking guys possibly be high school students? Even the youngest of them looked to be in their early twenties, right?

'Some of them even had beards, BEARDS!!'

If they said they were in their thirties, Kuramochi would have thought that was being polite.

'How could high school students have so much facial hair?'

'Sawamura must be lying!'

'Yes, that's it. They must have brought in an adult team for some joke.'

Before long, Kuramochi had already imagined a whole scene in his head.

In response, Sawamura, who was standing next to Kuramochi, felt like he had no energy to even comment.

Texas players are all tall and muscular, with…distinct? Facial features.

Nearly half of the players on the Texas Lone-Star Academy Team were Black, with the other half white.

Even though the baseball team at Seidou High School trains extremely hard and they have their fair share of sturdy dudes, this is way too exaggerated.

'What the hell were they feeding these guys?!'

Sawamura couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Get it together!"

Sawamura sighed in exasperation.

Actually, there were quite a few members of the Seidou High School baseball team who had the same thoughts as Kuramochi.

If they didn't know the organizers wouldn't joke around in such a way, they might have really believed it...

This little interlude didn't last long, as the game between the two teams soon began.

The Texas pitcher had a distinctive characteristic—not his appearance, but his name.

His name was H. Lincoln.

Yes, the same name as the famous president.

In America, this name was quite common.

From an American perspective, they wouldn't find this name remarkable at all.

But for the Tokyo baseball team, this name was quite significant.

Lincoln? That was something!

In fact, this player was quite remarkable.

From the very beginning of the game, he delivered a crushing blow to the Seidou High School baseball team.

Roaar!

Boom!

"STRIKE!"

"STRIKE!!"

"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!!!"

"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!!!!"

"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!!!!!"

He struck out Kuramochi, the first batter, followed by Shiratsu, the second, and Nishiyama, the third.

That's right, even though the first opponent was very strong, Coach Kataoka hadn't sent out all of his main players.

He was very clear on the purpose of these exchange games.

Apart from the final match against the Dream Team, where they would go all out, for the other games—whether against Texas or Washington Teams, or the other five matches against American high schools—Seidou's goal from the start was always the same:

To thoroughly polish the new lineup.

Just like today, Seidou didn't field their main lineup.

Instead, they were testing various possibilities.

The already fatigued players immediately encountered the opponent's strong offensive attack.

First, Lincoln, despite not being particularly tall—only around 1.8 meters—had a pitching velocity and power that were impressive.

The Seidou batters couldn't even touch his pitches at the start.

"Isn't this a bit too overconfident? It's the first game today; getting a good start is quite important," Coach Ochiai said, stroking the small beard on his chin thoughtfully.

'The players were already in a poor state due to just arriving from the flight'.

Even though they had tried adjusting their jet lag before, the human biological clock doesn't adjust so easily.

If it were the previous time of day, they'd normally be resting.

How much strength can one muster when they're extremely tired?

That was anyone's guess.

And with a powerful opponent like Lone-Star Academy, Coach Ochiai couldn't help but feel that today's game might be akin to suicide.

'Why did he travel all the way here to play a game that was destined to be lost?'

Although he had been working as an assistant to Kataoka for almost a year, sometimes Coach Ochiai still felt like he didn't fully understand his Boss.

Kataoka was a truly mysterious person.

Ochiai wasn't saying this to flatter him. He genuinely felt this way.

To become a baseball coach, ability is certainly an important factor, but most coaches are people who have played baseball in high school and have an innate passion for the sport.

Some even became coaches after retiring from professional playing, unable to let go of baseball, and unable to find other better career paths.

When they first start in this line of work, their goals are very simple—on one hand, it's to make money, and on the other, it's for the love of the sport.

But over time, these two aspects inevitably become imbalanced.

The reason is simple.

As players, when they played baseball in high school, all they had to do was truly love the sport and pursue their dreams.

But when it becomes a job, it's a different story.

When pursuing a dream, it's like being your own boss. If you have the ability and don't overly restrict yourself, you can do things however you want, and no one can stop you.

But as a Coach, it's different.

Coaches have tasks, and they have responsibilities.

Schools will set demands for your performance…

This means that Coaches can't just act entirely according to their own will.

After all, you're working for someone, and the work won't count if you don't perform. You might be exhausted, but it won't matter if you fail.

In simple terms, there's pressure from superiors. Coaches are bound to do things they don't want to do but have no choice but to do.

Some coaches, who have completely lost their moral compass, directly exploit their players' potential without regard for their future. As long as they can achieve good results in high school, these coaches will go to any lengths.

Do those coaches not know the impact this has on the players?

Stop kidding yourself—everyone in the industry knows.

But sometimes, they just don't have any other choice.

This is one of the reasons the Koshien Tournament format is often criticized.

The games are already packed, and with the harsh elimination system, coaches naturally want to put their most talented players on the field to win.

If the conditions allowed, they would probably want to send all their strongest players out and have them play every game until the very end.

But overusing them has ruined more than one or two players.

Behind those passionate dreams, how much pain remains?

No one understands this better than Coach Ochiai.

A big team like Seidou High School also faces a huge burden from having so many players. But some schools can't limit the number of players joining due to their rules.

'Even so, some coaches still focus only on the few players with potential, completely ignoring the others.'

To them, this approach makes perfect sense.

In fact, Coach Ochiai himself was once like this.

A person's energy is limited, and it's impossible to waste it on everyone.

So when it comes to coaching, some players inevitably get more attention, especially in a team like Seidou High School, where the roster is overcrowded.

'Because a single coach just can't handle everyone...'

Of course, Coach Ochiai wouldn't deny this.

Such claims are just excuses from coaches.

The main reason they don't want to waste too much energy on other players is because they don't want to take on unnecessary responsibilities—especially responsibilities that don't bring any return.

Ultimately, they see coaching as a job. And as a job, there's a defined scope of work, and they couldn't care less about things that fall outside of that scope.

But Kataoka was completely different.

Saying that he treated all the players equally would be an exaggeration.

'However, he never gave up on any player still chasing their dream.'

Just that fact alone was extremely valuable.

Not to mention, he did everything he could within his ability to avoid overexerting his players' potential.

Seidou High School's training was very rigorous, and some players had been injured due to the physical strain.

But Coach Ochiai could guarantee that none of these injuries were caused by Kataoka forcing the players to push themselves. The players were either forced by the circumstances or voluntarily chose to push themselves.

And even Kataoka couldn't stop them from doing that.

Seidou High School's baseball team was, after all, a place that valued talent.

If players' abilities weren't up to standard, even Kataoka couldn't promise them a future.

Since he couldn't promise them a future, he couldn't stop them from voluntarily practicing more on their own.

Such a way of handling things was something Coach Ochiai had never seen before.

Despite Kataoka's strict demeanor on the surface, he had a soft heart inside.

He was like a pure player, and at the same time, he worked hard to create an environment at Seidou High School's baseball club where the players could pursue their dreams freely.

As for the external pressures, Kataoka took them all on himself.

'I never thought there could be such a foolish person in the world!"'

After spending some time together, Coach Ochiai came to this conclusion when evaluating Kataoka.

From the perspective of an adult, there was no doubt that Kataoka had taken on responsibilities he didn't have to.

But deep down, Ochiai couldn't help but admire what Kataoka had done.

That was the reason Ochiai had said, "Let's all become legends together" in the first place.

Originally, Ochiai thought he had somewhat understood Kataoka by now.

But now, seeing how he was arranging things, Coach Ochiai was left a bit confused.

'Even if it was to nurture and test the team, wasn't this arrangement a bit too hasty?'

One needs dignity like a tree needs its bark.

'You can't just disregard the outcome of the game for the sake of testing the players.'

Seidou High School's baseball team had eight games lined up in America.

At this rate, they were bound to lose a few matches.

'Especially against this opponent.'

The training system in America was different from that in Japan.

The Texas Lone-Star Academy Team in front of them wasn't a single-school team, but rather a youth baseball team similar to the one of Tokyo.

Most were the elite players from various high schools.

Some had been given scholarships because of their excellent performance, while others chose to join the team due to family circumstances.

The Texas Lone-Star Academy Team truly represented the level of Texas baseball.

They were a far cry from an ordinary high school team.

Coach Ochiai had also watched the video of the previous match between the Tokyo representative team and the Los Angeles team.

After watching the match, he let out a long sigh.

Looking at the score alone, it seemed that the Tokyo team had a huge advantage.

The opponent was no match for them.

But anyone who had actually watched the game wouldn't think that.

The American teams were strong.

The reason the first exchange match had seemed one-sided was mainly because of Coach Kunitomo's arrangements.

'He had really pulled it off.'

'He arranged for the three best pitchers in the team to battle it out against the Los Angeles players in a relay format.'

'Each of them was a super-talented pitcher.'

'If they only pitched for one round, even the top batters from professional baseball would likely have trouble dealing with them.'

Not to mention the representatives from Los Angeles?

In the end, from start to finish, they were completely outplayed.

Up until the very last moment, the Wind Youth Academy team couldn't get a single Run.

'They were thoroughly dominated and wiped out by the Tokyo representative team.'

…