Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

In the Texas Lone-Star Academy Team's dugout.

The Coach of the Texas team slumped into his chair, completely defeated.

It was over. Everything he had planned had crumbled.

He had been so devoted to Lincoln, and yet this kid had made such a huge blunder at the critical moment.

After Sawamura hit the home run, Lincoln was also stunned.

Earlier, he had been full of confidence, but when Sawamura actually hit the home run, Lincoln couldn't remain calm.

The outcome of this game seemed to have become irrelevant.

Was his path to the Major Leagues about to end before it even began?

Anyone facing such a blow would not be able to remain unaffected internally.

'This is an opportunity!'

At this moment, the man stepping into the Batter's Box wasn't concerned with his opponent's disarray.

What he saw was an opportunity.

Originally, when Yuuki Masashi faced off against the Texas team's players, it had been somewhat difficult.

Although his physical attributes weren't that much worse than the American players', their techniques were clearly far more refined and skilled.

Competing against such high-level players inevitably left Masashi feeling a bit out of his depth.

Especially in a direct confrontation with Lincoln, even though Masashi had maintained his fighting spirit throughout, to be honest, he hadn't seen any hope of figuring out how to deal with this pitcher.

He was too powerful!

Even stronger than his team's Senpais.

These powerful Senpais were standing there like fools in front of this pitcher.

But now, this was not the case.

This crazily strong pitcher was completely out of it.

His spirit had completely dissipated.

At this moment, Masashi didn't feel any sympathy for his opponent; instead, he saw a massive opportunity.

The chance to get a hit off of him.

Because the Coach of the Texas team was so overwhelmed with loss, he completely failed to realize that their ace pitcher was in trouble.

As the game continued, Lincoln threw another pitch.

Even in his disoriented state, his pitching still showed a very high level of skill.

However, this pitch, compared to his previous ones, lacked a lot of its former power.

'This is it!'

As the fourth batter, Masashi didn't let this opportunity slip by.

He gathered all his strength into his arms, focused on the approaching baseball, took a step forward, and swung his bat with all his might.

PAAAAKKK!!

The players of the Texas team could never have anticipated that, at this moment, they would face the most crushing blow.

The fourth batter they didn't think much of.

The one they believed had nothing but spirit and flashy swing but lacked any real ability.

However, at this moment, he displayed an exceptionally refined hitting technique.

The baseball was sent soaring, flying past the stadium fence and landing in the outfield stands.

A consecutive home run.

Although Masashi's home run only scored one point, it seemed much less impressive compared to Sawamura's three-run home run.

Because it was his home run that completely reversed the game's score.

The 4:4 tie, which had been leveled by Sawamura's home run, was now rewritten to 5:4.

Masashi Yuuki, a first-year freshman, had hit the game-winning home run.

The home run made by Yuuki Masashi shocked everyone present at the scene.

"That guy is that impressive?"

On the stands, an American fan stared in surprise, muttering to himself.

This reaction was shared by most of the American audience.

Although the Seidou baseball team's Coach, Kataoka, had arranged for Yuuki Masashi to be the cleanup batter in today's match.

Needless to say, the American players who had actually faced Seidou High School, along with the audience, felt that Yuuki Masashi was nothing special.

He looked good but had no other notable skills.

Yuuki Masashi was one of the tallest and most physically imposing players on Seidou High School's team. His build was extremely robust.

The most important thing was the way he swung his bat.

It looked incredibly smooth and satisfying.

When they first saw him swing, the American players and fans thought he must be a very powerful player.

If their ace pitcher's ball was hit by him, it might even fly out of the park.

But in the subsequent encounters, Yuuki Masashi didn't even make contact with the ball.

His performance was so poor that the American audience couldn't help but downgrade their opinion of him.

It was natural for them to assume that his abilities were not that great.

Apart from his impressive appearance, his actual threat level and difficulty level didn't match the expectations.

So when it was finally Yuuki Masashi's turn to bat, most of the American audience and players naturally assumed the game was practically over.

Although they didn't want the game to end in a tie, they had reached a point where they felt powerless.

They even prepared themselves for the post-match words.

No one expected that Yuuki Masashi would seize the opportunity and hit a home run.

The American players and audience were left stunned!

They couldn't believe it.

The guy they had looked down on, the one they thought was just a bluff—Yuuki Masashi—showed up with a performance like this?

Not just the American players and audience, but the players from Seidou High School were also dumbfounded.

Even the most optimistic players had never imagined such a situation.

They had thought that if Sawamura could hit a home run to tie the game, it would be a stroke of good luck.

Now, to counterattack and reverse the score?

It was beyond belief!

The Seidou players could hardly put their feelings into words.

"YOSHAAAAA!"

"NICE BATTING YUUKI!"

"NICE BATTING YOU BRAT!"

"DAMN! I AM STARTING TO RESPECT HIM!"

"WHO CARES! WE WON!"

"THAT WAS SOO CLOSE!"

The second and third-year players were cheering, and high-fiving each other.

To turn the game around at the very end was simply a dreamlike scenario.

Even Sawamura was grinning from ear to ear.

He of course wanted to win too!

No matter what Coach Kataoka's intentions were before the game, turning things around and winning this match was extremely important for Seidou High School's baseball team.

Through Yuuki Masashi's performance in this match, the players could learn this lesson.

Seidou High's baseball team's American exchange trip wouldn't be wasted.

At this moment, the second and third-year players still had a fairly normal mindset.

The first-year players, however, were stiff-faced and couldn't smile.

Currently, Seidou High School's first-string team is severely overstaffed.

There were seven first-year players alone.

From previous calculations, only three or four of these first-year players would realistically stay on the first team for the summer tournament.

Among them, the most likely wasn't the most outstanding players, but rather the average-performing Lee-Hyun.

Lee-Hyun's presence was like a secret weapon.

He could even turn the game around against some truly threatening opponents.

This made it hard for the coaching staff to send him back to the second-string team.

So, among the first-year players, it was almost certain that Lee-Hyun would get a spot on the first team.

With this certainty, Yuuki Masashi's performance with that home run could almost guarantee his spot as well.

That's two spots locked.

The remaining spots were to be contested by Hirota, Nishiyama, Yui, and Okumura.

These four players would battle for the remaining one or two spots.

Such fierce competition meant that players couldn't afford to be passive.

This directly impacted whether or not they could play in the summer tournament.

No one wanted to fall behind.

For Seidou High's baseball team, however, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

As long as the competition was healthy, it was more beneficial than harmful.

When it comes to creating an excellent baseball environment, Seidou High's baseball team was one of the best in the country, even the world.

Even if this wasn't entirely absolute, it was certainly among the best.

If the players could develop that competitive awareness, Coach Kataoka and the coaching staff would welcome it.

The stands were silent, but under the surface, tensions were running high.

Yuuki Masashi's home run, despite being significant, didn't cause much of a stir at the scene.

After all, they were on American turf, and their fans weren't crazy.

They would never cheer for the opposing team just because their own team was losing.

That would be madness.

The game continued, with two outs and no one on base.

But at this moment, no one at the scene believed that Seidou High School would just give up.

When the score gap was still three runs, the members of Seidou High School's baseball team were thinking that as long as the team could tie the game, they'd be satisfied.

However, after actually tying the score, everyone was now thinking that it would be even more perfect if they could make a comeback.

When Yuuki hit the home run, the score on the field completely reversed.

At this point, Seidou High School's players had no intention of stopping.

They were thinking of pushing forward...

Humans are never satisfied!

Not to mention that in this game, Seidou High School had been completely suppressed by Lincoln until now.

So far, aside from the few earlier batters, no one else had even managed to hit a single.

How could they accept that?

Naturally, the teammates who were dissatisfied were determined to regain their pride.

Next up was the fifth batter, Miyuki.

He was the representative of this.

He was the true fourth batter for Seidou High School's baseball team.

Now that everyone else had already made a hit, he was the only one who had not shown any results.

As the team captain and the fourth batter, this seemed a bit unacceptable.

Looking at the empty bases, Miyuki felt a bit offended.

'Yeah, my bad luck!'

When he focused on his at-bat, he genuinely hoped someone would get on base.

That way, as long as he could hit the ball, he could bring in the score.

The idea was very grand, but the reality was painfully lean.

The batters before him had done too well, not leaving him a chance to shine.

At this moment, Miyuki had no choice but to push himself to face the challenge.

Luckily, Lincoln wasn't in his best form, so trying to counter his pitches wasn't particularly difficult.

"FOUL!"

"FOUL!!"

Paak!

After battling with two pitches, Miyuki found the opportunity to hit the ball.

The ball flew into the gap in the defense.

Miyuki took this chance and sprinted to first base in one go.

"SAFE!!"

He reached base successfully!

Up to now, Seidou High School had managed to get hits, including the home run.

The last five batters had all managed to hit the ball.

At this point, the Texas team Coach lost the last of his patience.

He decided to make a substitution.

The American team replaced Lincoln with a new pitcher.

As a regional representative, did the Loan-Star Academy team really lack pitchers?

Even though the new pitcher was on a completely different level from Lincoln, the members of Seidou High School's baseball team had no previous records of facing him.

They were completely unaware of his pitching characteristics.

Unavoidably, Maezono was shut out.

Even though the ball he hit was very high and very far.

It didn't matter.

The ball smoothly dropped into the mitt of a Texas outfielder.

"OUT!!"

With that Out, Seidou's offensive ended.

The score on the field was 5:4, and the game entered the bottom of the ninth inning.

The atmosphere at the scene felt like a gloomy rainy day.

It was so oppressive.

Although Seidou High School had reversed the game and performed flawlessly, they still hadn't earned the recognition and support of the fans in the stands.

It couldn't be helped.

After all, Seidou High School was playing as the away team.

If they were on their home turf, things would likely be very different.

Bottom of the ninth inning, the Texas team was attacking.

The score was just one run apart, and Texas still had their last offensive chance.

But their players seemed to lack any fighting spirit.

Facing Sawamura's pitching, most of them just stood there dumbfounded.

"STRIKE!"

"STRIKE!!"

"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!!!"

"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!!!!"

"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!!!!!"

Without any hesitation, Sawamura used nine pitches, striking out three batters.

He secured the last three Outs, helping his team claim the last say!!

After winning this game, Seidou High School's players celebrated briefly, but there was no over-the-top display.

One reason was that they were playing as the away team, and acting too wildly might not be appropriate.

Another reason was that they were simply too tired.

After such a tense game, they hadn't felt it at the time.

But as soon as the game ended, they couldn't help but feel exhausted.

Their jet lag still hadn't adjusted.

In that headache-inducing state, even if Seidou High School's players were encouraged to celebrate, they lacked the energy to do so.

So the matter quickly ended without much fanfare.

After the game, the players had a brief exchange with the Texas team.

Despite the language barrier, communication between men sometimes doesn't require too many words.

A few gestures and a nice smile.

That was enough to convey about 100% of their emotions. (Yeah, we are that simple…)

Then they took a group photo, and Seidou's players were ready to leave.

They needed rest because two more intense exchange games awaited them the next day.

Just as they were about to leave, the Texas Coach suddenly approached them.

"There's a guest who wants to meet Sawamura!"

...

T/N: That's it for Today.

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