Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

'We couldn't Stop him?'

This result was a significant blow to the players of the Los Angeles team. After witnessing the speed of Kuramochi Youichi, they had a premonition that this opponent would be quite troublesome.

However, they never expected it to be troublesome to this extent.

Carlisle is a star player in America. His excellence is not limited to just the Los Angeles team—there are very few catchers in all of America with such well-rounded abilities.

Weede's pitching speed may not be top-notch in all of America, but it can certainly be called first-class.

When the two of them combined their efforts to control the game, their speed in keeping runners at bay was enough to make any runner tremble.

That is the strength of Weede and Carlisle.

Now, even they couldn't easily deal with Kuramochi in a straightforward confrontation.

Kuramochi's speed and agility were enough to make any opponent nervous.

In the Los Angeles team's dugout.

The Coach of Los Angeles patted his forehead and scratched his scalp.

"Truly worthy of being the top team in Japan, they indeed have many excellent players."

At this moment, they had realized how hasty their earlier judgment was.

When compared to the Tokyo representative team they had faced before, the strength of the Seidou High School baseball team was by no means inferior.

Not just overall—many individual players from Seidou High School's baseball team were also not afraid of the Tokyo representative team.

Take the pitcher who had played earlier Furuya and the runner on second base now Kuramochi as examples.

Their abilities were definitely not inferior to those players from the Tokyo team.

In fact, they were even superior in some aspects.

With such foundation and strength, it was no wonder Seidou High School's baseball team could become the king of Japan's baseball world.

Wanting to face such a team head-on, the Coach of the Los Angeles team had a flash of insight.

He knew very well that if they didn't change their mindset, they could very well end up losing this match.

He secretly made up his mind that when the players returned after this round, he would have to give them a good motivational speech.

As for now...

He still needed the players to get through this challenge themselves.

The match continued. Facing the crisis of no Outs and a runner on second base, the Wind Youth players were at a loss for a moment.

Not being able to stop the opponent's runner was a big problem.

But after thinking it over, they couldn't come up with a good solution.

In the end, they had no choice but to set aside the issue with Kuramochi and focus on facing the batter in the Batter's Box.

'That's a one small a*s batter...'

Focusing seriously on the batter, Kominato Haruichi in the Batter's Box, this was the most direct thought in Weede's mind.

A small frame, a delicate face.

It was hard to imagine that this flower boy was also a high school player.

If they hadn't suffered a heavy defeat on this front before, the American players might have directly voiced their doubts.

But now, they didn't dare to do so.

There was no way around it; after all, when they played against the Tokyo representative team in Tokyo, they had been punched in the face over this very point.

At the time, some had commented that the pitcher Narumiya didn't look like a high school student.

And they had been thoroughly beaten to blub by the very same Narumiya.

Now, facing another opponent of a similar build, the Los Angeles players didn't dare to be careless.

They treated Kominato Haruichi as an opponent that required their full attention.

Anything that seemed particularly unreasonable, once it happened, the only reasonable explanation—provided the opponent's brain wasn't malfunctioning of course—was that those who could step onto the field must have some extraordinary quality.

This seemingly weak and frail little guy in front of them must also have some qualities that the American players couldn't guess.

With this vigilance in their hearts, when facing Haruichi, the American players unconsciously became more cautious.

Of course, even if the opponent was unusual, some physical limitations couldn't be overcome.

For example, a thin and slender teenager like this certainly wouldn't have great strength.

There weren't any bulging muscles on him; if he could have overwhelming strength, that wouldn't be natural!

On this point, Carlisle's signal to Weede was very simple and straightforward.

As long as the ball could be thrown to the outside corner, fully exerting the pitcher's strength...

Even if this guy performed exceptionally, he surely wouldn't be able to hit that kind of forceful pitch!

The strategy was very simple and direct.

But also very effective.

You had to admit, Carlisle really came up with a good idea.

However, he still didn't fully understand the players of Seidou High School.

Before stepping up to bat, Haruichi had already guessed what kind of pitch they would use against him.

This wasn't hard to predict.

As long as they watched the American team's game footage carefully, it wouldn't be hard to spot Carlisle's strategy.

When he faced another shorter player like Shirakawa, what did he do?

It was easy to infer that, when the time came to face him, the opponent would do the same.

This was something Haruichi-kun never doubted.

Whrroosh!

The small baseball shot through the air like a meteor, dazzling and brilliant.

'This pitch was thrown to the outside corner.'

In comparison, the American pitcher approach was much simpler than their Japanese counterparts, and their pitching strategy was the same.

But that didn't mean their approach was ineffective.

By combining the pitcher's strengths and targeting the opponent's weaknesses, they could choose the simplest and most direct pitch.

This was one of the best strategies to defeat the opponent with pure skill.

Facing the incoming pitch, Haruichi, already prepared, took a step toward the plate.

This shifted his body's center of gravity forward.

It may sound simple, but it's actually very difficult to achieve.

When hitting, it's easier to make contact with the ball if you maintain a fixed stance.

Once the movement range becomes large, it's harder to ensure that the bat hits the ball squarely.

Of course, it's not impossible.

But achieving this requires very high batting skills.

And Haruichi's greatest strength was his batting technique.

Without any tricks, he simply swung his bat with proper form, making a solid hit on the small baseball.

Paak!

'Damn Heavy!'

At the moment of impact, Haruichi felt a massive shock force pass through his arms.

His face turned bright red from the force.

But he still stubbornly sent the ball flying.

Tak!

The baseball bounced off the ground and flew straight to the outfield.

Haruichi charged ahead toward the first base.

"Hyaa-ha-haa!"

Meanwhile, Kuramochi, originally at second base, darted past third base and rushed home.

"SAFE!"

"SAFE!!"

The players 's Los Angeles team were fuming with frustration.

Losing a point like this was something they couldn't accept.

But there was nothing they could do.

By the time the ball was thrown back to home plate, Kuramochi was already comfortably sitting at home plate.

"Hyaa-ha!"

He casually laughed with his trademark laugh, his smile unabashed.

But, by scoring a point against Los Angeles, Kuramochi felt a sense of pride.

'The players participating in the exchange match weren't impressive enough, right? Even though they were strong, they still had to rely on that kid, Sawamura, to win.'

As for Kuramochi, he didn't rely on anyone, yet still managed to score.

Kuramochi was inwardly feeling quite smug.

However, his performance was indeed excellent, and even though others saw it, they couldn't say anything against it.

"Impressive!"

Sawamura, who was preparing to take his turn at bat, gave a thumbs-up to Kuramochi, who had returned.

They had already faced off against the Los Angeles team before, and they were very familiar with their strength.

Sawamura wasn't surprised that Kuramochi managed to score off Weede. What surprised him was that Kuramochi had managed to score in the very first round.

This wasn't something ordinary!

Even the star players of the Tokyo representative team had struggled when they faced Weede's pitching for the first time, being quite passive. It wasn't until the second round that they found a strategy to deal with him.

Kuramochi had just entered the game. Even though he had studied Weede's pitching through video, hitting the ball so easily was certainly not a simple feat.

Sawamura had to admit that since Kuramochi moved up to his third year, he had continuously surprised him.

Now, even Sawamura himself was not confident in predicting Kuramochi's future.

The game continued.

With no Outs and a runner on first base, the batter, the third hitter, Shiratsu, stepped up to the plate.

As Shiratsu stood in the Batter's Box, he appeared highly energized.

It looked like he was eager to give the opponent a lesson...

Shiratsu had no problem with kicking someone when they were down.

As long as it helped the Seidou baseball team, he wouldn't even flinch.

Shiratsu knew full well that his current opponent was formidable.

Yet, he still had confidence in his ability to hit the opponent's pitch out of the park.

Before the match, they had studied the Los Angeles team carefully and had practiced simulations with them as hypothetical enemies.

On top of that, with Kuramochi and Kominato having already hit the ball, no matter how strong Weede's mental fortitude was, he had to be a little unnerved.

'He had to be thinking: Why on earth did my pitch get hit? Is my pitching no good? Or did I have some bad habits that were exposed?'

Shiratsu had all the advantages in this matchup: the timing, the count, and the morale.

So, he firmly believed he would hit Weede's pitch out of the park.

Everything was planned, but no one expected an unexpected twist to happen at this moment.

In the American Los Angeles team's dugout, the coach suddenly stood up and signaled to make a substitution.

He could no longer sit still.

He couldn't tolerate the current situation.

Without hesitation, he called in his Ace pitcher.

The defeat they suffered against Tokyo still lingered as a painful memory for the Los Angeles team.

To put it bluntly, that defeat with that big difference was a disgrace.

They didn't want to suffer such disgrace again on their home turf.

The Los Angeles team was showing zero tolerance for this game.

And so, they quickly responded.

This wasn't good news for Shiratsu, who had been preparing to hit Weede's pitch.

It was like a battlefield where one side had prepared all its defenses and summoned reinforcements for a head-on battle, only to have the enemy take a shortcut and strike at their supply line from the rear.

Shiratsu felt a sense of suffocating pressure.

He couldn't shake the feeling of having something stuck in his chest, wanting to let it out but being unable to do so.

The pitcher they substituted was none other than their Ace, Conrad, the tall guy with long hair.

When Conrad, with his long limbs, took the mound and threw his first pitch with his side left-arm pitching...

Roaar!

Shiratsu was dumbfounded.

As the core player for Seidou's baseball team, who had dominated the national stage for two consecutive years, Shiratsu had seen a lot.

Although Conrad was an unfamiliar pitcher to most, Shiratsu had actually seen him pitch twice before.

But even after seeing Conrad pitch twice, Shiratsu still felt helpless after witnessing his delivery.

He had never seen a pitch come at him from such an angle.

Not to mention, Conrad's pitch speed was incredibly fast!

For this match, Seidou High School had been careful and brought along a speed gun.

Of course, this wasn't allowed in official games, but in this kind of exchange match, no one would make a fuss.

The speed gun displayed a speed of 95 mph (153 km/h).

With the angle from which the ball was coming, the speed was still over 93 mph (150 km/h).

Hitting that was no easy task.

Perhaps in the powerful hitters of Japan, someone might be able to go up against Conrad from the first pitch, but Shiratsu was definitely not one of them.

After foolishly letting two pitches go by, Shiratsu was now being pressured by Conrad.

With no other option, when the third pitch came, Shiratsu could only swing his bat. But there was no way he could make contact with the ball.

The baseball passed by the bat, neither touching it nor being hit.

Boom!

"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!!!"

Just like that, Shiratsu was cleanly struck out.

One Out, with a runner on first base.

At this moment, it was time for Seidou High School's fourth batter to take the plate.

Sawamura Eijun!

This was also his second time facing off against Conrad recently.

Before stepping up to bat, Sawamura continuously swung his bat while waiting.

He was trying to find his most comfortable stance.

Based on his knowledge of Conrad, Sawamura knew that, after these few days, Conrad must have figured out a strategy to counter him.

He could generally guess what Conrad might try.

Though Sawamura was still confident, he knew that hitting Conrad's pitches would require quite a bit of effort.

…