Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

'Truly the Steel Heart Kataoka.'

'What kind of ideals must a person have to do something so selfless?'

When coach Ochiai heard Coach Kataoka's decision, he felt his entire body shudder.

The environment's impact on a person is sometimes far greater than people realize.

Before joining the Seidou baseball team, Ochiai had liked baseball, but he mostly saw coaching as just a job. He didn't think like Kataoka, who always considered things from the player's perspective.

It was only after joining the Seidou High School baseball team that some of his thoughts and views began to gradually change.

As for Kataoka himself, he didn't think of himself as the great person coach Ochiai imagined him to be.

Instead, compared to the job itself, he preferred the players who had worked hard alongside him.

There had been players he liked in previous generations as well.

Maybe those players didn't achieve as much as the current ones, but Kataoka's regard for them was no less.

Back then, he could sacrifice a lot for those players, and now, naturally, he could sacrifice even more for players like Sawamura and Miyuki.

To him, this was simply a matter of course.

Though he cared about results, he also wanted his players to experience the process of high school baseball.

A person's thoughts can change with their position in life.

If this were a year ago, when Seidou hadn't been able to break into Koshien for several years, and Kataoka had so much pressure on him, he might not have been able to think this way.

It's like someone on the verge of starving—they're only thinking about filling their stomach and can't afford to care about anything else.

However, when someone is no longer worried about food or clothes, their pursuits change accordingly.

Kataoka's transformation now was a natural process.

Because he was originally the kind of person who would undergo such a rapid change.

Even when Seidou had so much on their plate in the past, Kataoka still didn't change his original intent.

Let alone now.

Being able to allow his players to experience more of the game, and to feel the different aspects of the competition.

On one hand, this was for the team's sake, and on the other hand, it was for the players' sake…

Unfortunately, not many players in Seidou could now understand their coach's intentions.

The Seidou High Baseball Team's players gradually felt like they had fallen into an endless abyss.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Texas's Lone-Star Academy team was up to bat.

Their offense was quickly suppressed by Sawamura.

Earlier, Sawamura had executed his trademark breaking ball. This time, he couldn't be bothered to be that complicated.

He switched to his Moving ball.

Though the situation had drastically changed, the Texas team kept hitting the ball.

Paak!

Snap!

"OUT!"

"OUT!!"

"OUT!!!"

But all those hits were, without exception, either straight up in the air for the outfielders or popped up in the infield.

Though the players from Texas were tall, strong, and fast, the Seidou High players, trained for years, were no joke either.

The fielders' defense was like an impregnable fortress, leaving no gaps to exploit.

The baseball was caught again and again—either directly for an Out, or thrown to first base for also an Out.

The Texas players were quickly retired in a 1-2-3 balls.

"What?"

"I…Don't know!"

"The ball looked like an easy hit, so I took my shot!"

"But all of us got owned like that?"

"This is strange!"

"Was he the contact type pitcher?"

"Yeah, how can he flip the rhythm like that?"

Looking at the imposing figure of Sawamura on the mound, the Texas players were all dumbfounded.

Even from the dugout, they could see the baseball had changed its movement just before it reached the batter.

Hitting that kind of pitch wasn't easy.

Not to mention, when the Texas players first came up to bat, they were all prepared for breaking balls.

They weren't mentally ready for a pitch that had only a slight movement compared to a fastball.

At that moment, the Texas team's Coach felt a deep realization.

'This battery had swindled us good!'

He felt his team was completely outmatched by Miyuki and Sawamura.

It was like an adult bullying a child, pinching the kid's ear with two fingers and casually throwing him around.

And the Texas players had no way of posing a threat to Sawamura.

This kind of disparity in strength, the Texas Coach had only felt once before.

It happened when they faced America's Dream Team!

A team that was said to have players who were once-in-a-decade talents.

Only when they played against that team did the Texas Coach feel such immense pressure.

Initially, when he heard that a Japanese high school team wanted to challenge the Dream Team, he scoffed.

He thought, 'Those Japanese guys are going to embarrass themselves. They don't even know what they're signing up for.'

If it were just a match between two high school teams, then maybe it would be understandable.

But challenging the semi-professional Dream Team was simply suicidal.

However, after seeing Sawamura, the Texas Coach's thoughts underwent a huge shift.

He realized that his previous thinking might have been too shortsighted.

The opponent before him was far stronger than they had imagined.

Though the score was 4-1 and only two innings remained,

It seemed like the Texas team had victory in the bag.

But the Texas Coach didn't feel any joy.

He felt like he was being stalked like a prey.

Sawamura's pitching didn't look like a dispirited player's at all.

'If this player had been sent to the mound from the very beginning of the game,'

'The score would probably have been very different by now.'

Just thinking about that scenario made the Texas Coach feel like he had been thrown into an ice-cold dungeon.

On the other side, the Seidou players felt like they had reached the edge of a cliff.

Miyuki Kazuya, who had been counted on for a big play, stepped up to bat with no Outs and no one on base.

His ability to get on base directly determined Seidou's fate.

Miyuki also felt the pressure that felt like a mountain.

This guy was exceptionally talented, to the point that even Sawamura had to envy him at times.

Miyuki had the ability to turn pressure into motivation.

Standing in the Batter's Box, he chose to go all out, battling against the opponent.

Paak!

"FOUL!"

"FOUL!!"

Paak!

"FOUL!!"

'His power is really tricky!'

The confrontation between the pitcher and the batter was intense.

According to typical sports manga tropes, after much struggle, Miyuki would manage to get on base just in the nick of time.

That would be the most ideal outcome.

But, unfortunately, reality often doesn't follow such a script.

Paak!

After Miyuki hit the last pitch,

'Tsk!'

A look of disbelief flashed across his face.

He had originally thought this hit was practically a sure thing.

But when the bat connected with the baseball, his expression changed.

The rebound from the ball was much weaker than he had anticipated.

As a result, the baseball popped up high into the air.

'He is back to his game.'

In the dugout, Sawamura narrowed his eyes slightly.

In the final moments of the game, Lincoln had managed to regain his rhythm.

The so-called 'Gentle Reaper' had finally begun to awaken.

…

T/N: It is out of Sawamura's hands now, either the Seidou kids do something, or the game is lost.