Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

In the Batter's Box, Sawamura had raised the bat behind his back, near his shoulder blade.

Not only that, but his entire body was twisted like a pretzel, facing backward.

He used only the peripheral vision of his eyes to focus on the pitcher, Conrad, on the mound.

This posture seems easy to describe, but from the perspective of an onlooker, it looks quite awkward in reality.

The players from the Los Angeles team couldn't quite understand it at first.

What exactly was Sawamura trying to do?

Of course, because they had previous experience facing Sawamura, they didn't think he was just trying to bluff.

They knew Sawamura's strength very well, and they were quite wary of him.

So naturally, they believed that Sawamura had adopted such a stance for a reason.

However, they were confused about what Sawamura was trying to accomplish by doing this.

In such an awkward position, how could he ensure his swing would be accurate?

Just returning to his normal batting stance would likely take a lot of effort, right?

As for the spectators in the stands, they didn't know who Sawamura was.

Many of them had no idea who he was at all.

After all, not everyone was paying attention to the results of Seidou High School's exchange matches in America.

They were just there to watch a game because they happened to have free time.

Seeing Sawamura's performance, everyone looked stunned.

"This young man, is he trying to perform a circus trick?"

"Don't speak nonsense if you don't understand. He's obviously performing some kind of martial arts technique, not a circus trick!"

The spectators chatted and joked, laughing it off, without paying much attention to it.

The members of Seidou's baseball team were, of course, upset.

Though they couldn't understand exactly what the American fans were saying, from their expressions and laughter, they could tell it wasn't something good.

"You guys really don't understand anything. Just wait and be amazed!"

Kuramochi glared angrily at the surrounding spectators, then turned his gaze back to Sawamura Eijun.

The Seidou baseball team members were quite familiar with this batting stance of Sawamura.

Before Sawamura's batting evolved further (Zone), he often used this stance.

By using force and rotation, he could enhance the power of his swing.

The situation now was likely the same. Sawamura must have anticipated that hitting Conrad's pitches with his normal batting stance wouldn't be easy.

So he came up with this approach...

Once Sawamura adopted this method, hitting a home run would be a natural outcome.

The members of Seidou High School's baseball team had full confidence in this.

And indeed, Sawamura did not disappoint their expectations.

The baseball whizzed toward him.

Sawamura, his body twisted like a pretzel, spun like a windmill.

With his naturally flexible body, most people couldn't possibly maintain a normal swing in this position.

But for Sawamura, it was no problem at all.

As he spun, his body stretched fully.

The force from his powerful rotation also brought his strength to its peak.

This way, even if he collided head-on with Conrad's powerful pitch...

Eijun would not lose out.

PAAAAAKKKK!!!!

Whrroosh!

The bat hit the baseball, sending it flying far out of the park.

In the Batter's Box, Sawamura let out a long sigh of relief.

'That wasn't easy!'

In previous games, Conrad's strength had indeed improved rapidly, which had surprised Sawamura.

Fortunately, Sawamura's skill was still superior.

Even though Conrad's power had grown so much, Sawamura could still take him down.

The moment the ball was hit, Eijun already had a premonition that this one was going to be a hit.

It's like in basketball when a shooter releases the ball, they just know it's going in!

That's how Sawamura felt now. He felt the ball would definitely fly out of the park.

Just as Sawamura had visualized in his mind, the baseball flew straight out.

It soared unusually far.

Because it had been a long time since Sawamura had used this stance fully, the effect was surprisingly strong when he finally did!

A home run, a two-run home run!!

"YOSHAAA!!"

"NICE BATTING SAWAMURA!!"

"SAWAMURA-SENPAI!!"

"I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT!!"

"SAWAMURA!!"

Added to the previous run scored by Kuramochi, who made it home.

In just the first inning, Seidou High School had already scored three runs.

The score was now 3-0.

The two pitchers for the Los Angeles team, Weede and Conrad, were both exceptional and had a strong reputation in America.

They were even ranked among the top pitchers.

Yet, even they couldn't stop the advancing Seidou High School.

A 3-0 lead to start the game!

A perfect start!!!

It's worth noting that the teams Seidou had faced before were entirely different from the American Los Angeles team.

There was an essential difference between them.

One could say one was professional, and the other was purely amateur.

Facing such opponents, facing one of the top-ranked teams in America...

For Seidou High School to gain such a substantial lead from the start was truly remarkable.

Their strength was undeniable.

This was incredibly important for building the players' confidence.

In the dugout, Coach Kataoka nodded repeatedly.

Although his original plan had completely fallen apart and could not be realized, this unexpected gain was enough to make him feel pleased.

When summer comes and Seidou High School faces other teams, Coach Kataoka believes they will be able to crush their opponents if they maintain this state.

"Very good!"

This was Coach Kataoka's evaluation of the efforts made by Seidou High School's baseball team.

Coach Ochiai stroked the small beard on his chin and nodded in agreement.

He also believed that the current Seidou High School team had become very well-rounded.

No matter who was on the 20-player roster, as long as the core players remained the same, Seidou High School would surely ride the waves to success.

He also believed that when the summer tournament began, Seidou High School's strength would definitely shock all of their opponents.

In the spring, Seidou still seemed a bit immature.

Although they were powerful, they were not without weaknesses that could be exploited.

But now, Seidou High School had completely transformed into a cohesive unit with Calvary and hard-hitting weapons.

Coach Ochiai believed that the current Seidou High School baseball team was strong enough to defend their national championship.

'As long as the players didn't run into any personal issues and luck wasn't too bad during the draw...'

When Sawamura returned to the dugout, he was greeted with cheers as if he were a hero returning from a victory.

Being able to perform like this against the Los Angeles Wind Youth Academy team made the teammates feel like they were just as good as the Tokyo representatives.

They immediately felt like their own abilities had been elevated to a higher level.

...

T/N: With this, the game against the Wind Youth Academy Should be easy, right…?

Well, let us all hope good luck for Furuya...the boy is going to need a lot of it!

Anyway, Thank you all for reading!!

Have a good day people!