Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

Even though it was killing Kataoka inside, the match still couldn't be avoided.

That afternoon, the Seidou High School baseball team faced their third opponent. It was said to be the runner-up of Texas from last year, and their name was a long string of English letters.

Luckily, the members of the Seidou High School baseball team weren't particularly interested in their opponents either. No one tried to pry deeper into the situation.

From their previous match against the players from ABC High School, they already knew that beating opponents from American schools wouldn't be much of a challenge.

For this game, Seidou High School made significant adjustments to their lineup.

First, they adjusted the battery pairing.

The pitcher was senior Kawakami, a third-year student, and the catcher was first-year student Okumura.

At the beginning of the year, Okumura wasn't among the first-year students promoted to the team.

At that time, whether it was his closeness to the team, his achievements from middle school, or the abilities he displayed after joining the team...

Okumura's performance was just decent, not outstanding.

With other players performing better, there was no chance of him making it to the first team.

After discussions, Coach Kataoka and the coaching staff decided to place Okumura in the second team for development.

At that time, neither Coach Kataoka nor the other coaches believed that Okumura would be promoted to the first team before the summer tournament.

At most, he would become a rotation player after the graduation of the current players like Miyuki.

After all, compared to Okumura, there was a significant gap in performance with players like Yui Kaoru.

But then, an unexpected incident occurred.

Sawamura and Miyuki, the regular battery pair, were sent to play an exchange match against America's Los Angeles team.

The first team was temporarily short on players.

So, Okumura was exceptionally promoted to the first team as a substitute catcher.

This unassuming little guy, who hadn't shown exceptional strength in routine tests, suddenly became a rising star during the practice matches with strong teams.

The entire coaching staff of Seidou was stunned.

Not only did he perform excellently in his main role, but his hitting also impressed everyone. In five appearances, he got four hits. A hit rate of 80%!

Even the coaching staff of Seidou High School, who were having collective lapses of judgment, couldn't send such a talent back to the second team.

Since then, Okumura had risen to become the third-best catcher in the team, just behind Miyuki and Ono.

In today's match, both Okumura and Kawakami were put into the game to give Okumura better command of the team.

Don't doubt it. Yes, they had Okumura, a first-year student, leading the team.

Although Kawakami was a third-year student with distinctive pitching skills, his personality wasn't suited to lead the team.

Naturally, the heavy responsibility fell on Okumura.

Apart from them, the other players on the field were almost all substitutes and rotation players.

The absolute stars were resting in the dugout.

Against an amateur team like Riverwood Valley Regional High School, sending the star players of Seidou High would be too unfair.

The skill gap was something that couldn't be bridged by anything.

"Your opponents are the runner-up from the Texas region, so they should be much stronger than ABC High School. Don't be careless!"

Before the game, Coach Kataoka tried to encourage his players.

But after a few words, he couldn't continue.

Facing an opponent of this level, Coach Kataoka wasn't sure what to say.

So, he chose to remain silent and let the players play freely.

It's worth noting that for this match, Coach Kataoka sent his secret weapon, Lee-Hyun, to play.

"Don't steal bases..."

Coach Kataoka didn't have many expectations for Lee-Hyun's performance on the field. He just repeatedly reminded him not to steal bases.

The most important task was for Lee-Hyun to get a feel for the game atmosphere.

After months of preparation, Lee-Hyun's skills had improved a lot in various aspects.

What he was still lacking was actual game experience.

Only after playing numerous games would he be able to stand firm and truly become the backbone of the Seidou High School baseball team.

However, to save Lee-Hyun as a secret weapon for the summer tournament, they couldn't have him play too many matches even during practice games in Japan.

Now, in America, there was no such concern.

Except for the game against the Dream Team, the other exchange matches wouldn't be broadcast live.

At most, journalists would write reports.

As long as Lee-Hyun didn't produce any jaw-dropping stats during the game, such as running to base in 3.5 seconds...

There was no need to worry about his name reaching Japan.

The game officially started.

Riverwood Valley Regional High School team, the Texas runner-up team, facing Seidou High School, showed a bit of timidity from the start.

There was no way around it; not only was Seidou High School already well-known in Japan, but their performances in America had also been enough to make their opponents tremble.

They took down the Texas Lone-Star team in one game and wiped out the top eight of the Texas region in another.

And they sent in substitutes.

How could they compete with that?

Fortunately, the pitcher that Seidou High School sent out wasn't their Ace, nor was it the amazing Flaming-fastball pitcher.

The Texas Riverwood team sighed in relief.

They were so lucky!

They didn't even dare to dream of beating Seidou High School.

Despite all the boasting from their players and coach, everyone knew in their hearts that it was impossible to defeat Seidou High School with their own strength.

Even if Seidou sent their substitutes, they wouldn't have any chance.

Seidou High School had crushed ABC High School with a score of 18:0 using only substitutes.

If they had been given the same opportunity, they wouldn't even have been able to score.

With such a huge skill gap, their goal was just to minimize the loss.

The game began.

Facing Kawakami's pitching, the opponents initially showed a high level of fighting spirit.

Compared to the art-like pitching of Sawamura and the swift pitches of Furuya, this opponent was much easier to handle.

They didn't have much confidence in a comeback, but they hoped to get a few hits and runs.

Ambition grows quickly in people.

Seeing this glimmer of hope, the American players immediately exploded with incredible fighting spirit.

Especially during the offense, they showed even more aggression.

But the result was far from what they had hoped for.

'Outside!'

'Inside!!'

'Outside!!!'

From the perspective of the Texas Riverwood batters, almost all of Kawakami's pitches were thrown to the edges.

This made them extremely uncomfortable.

It was rare to face such an opponent with such precise control.

When the pitcher consistently threw to these edges, the strike zone felt unusually wide.

It became incredibly difficult to aim for the ball.

'If it's not working, just pick an area and swing!'

Their Coach wasn't idle. Seeing there were no opportunities, he immediately came up with a counterstrategy.

Compared to Sawamura and Furuya, whose power was beyond words, this opponent was definitely easier to handle.

For the Texas Riverwood team, this was an opponent they could fight.

The Riverwood players soon realized that this seemingly harmless opponent was far more ruthless and complex than they had imagined.

Every pitch Kawakami threw landed on the edges.

Even if the batters could make contact, the ball would fly out of bounds.

And soon, Kawakami threw some extremely tricky curveballs.

For example, one batter faced a pitch that suddenly dropped to the floor.

By the time the batter reacted, the bat had already swung past.

Three innings passed.

The American players didn't manage to get a single hit off Kawakami.

In contrast, their defense had many holes.

They gave up two runs right at the start.

The players who helped score those two runs even surprised the Seidou team members.

One was Okumura, and the other was Lee-Hyun.

Lee-Hyun played first batter and shortstop.

Although Kuramochi hadn't publicly announced it, the coaches of Seidou High School quickly realized that Lee-Hyun's skills were perfectly suited to be the lead-off hitter and shortstop.

"He has a talent for this position that surpasses all others!"

That's how the assistant coach described it to Coach Kataoka.

The shortstop position was highly competitive, and even after Kuramochi's retirement, several players competed for the spot.

It didn't seem suitable to put Lee-Hyun there, but Coach Kataoka didn't suppress his talent. Instead, he let him focus on practicing that position.

"The most important thing is for him to get into the game quickly!"

From this, it was clear that Coach Kataoka favored Lee-Hyun.

Today, when Lee-Hyun stepped onto the field, he gave the coaching staff a pleasant surprise.

He was the first to step into the Batter's Box and, without hesitation, swung at the pitcher's pitch.

Ping!

The bat hit the ball and it landed in a defensive gap.

Lee-Hyun himself was stunned.

'How did I hit it?'

This was his first time hitting a baseball in an official match.

"Run, you idiot!"

Kuramochi yelled from the dugout.

Only then did Lee-Hyun react and sprint to first base.

Seeing this, the Seidou players were all excited.

"Nice hit!!"

"That's beautiful!!"

"You're the best...!"

…