On the morning of the first day of training, Kasuga-yun was dragged to the cowshed by his friend Watanabe Hisachi for a pitching practice, which attracted the attention of several main players and coach Kawano of the baseball club. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Because he suspected that Kasugamo was a pitcher with a strange ball path, he was called into the cowshed again in the afternoon training on the first day, and practiced pitching again in front of coach Kawano and the first army to select several main players.

This kind of practice is two days in a row, and in addition to the time for eating, sleeping and resting, the spring clouds basically don't stop during the training time on weekdays.

By the morning of the third day, in the cowshed.

"Whew~~"

"Pong! ~”

"Hiss~~ It's really a bit weird!" Kobayashi Kiyoshi, the main force of the First Army standing in the strike zone, narrowed his already small eyes and said with some amazement.

Although Kiyoshi Kobayashi and his men had been familiar with Kasuga's pitching for two days, the natural changes in the latter's pitching often exceeded their expectations.

After throwing the ball, Kasuga, who was standing in the pitcher's area, asked in a somewhat restrained voice, "Senior, I'm okay with this ball, right!?" ”

At this time, the catcher of the first army, who acted as the catcher of the Kasuga, recalled the path of the ball just now, and also praised it with some surprise: "It's really a weird ball path, obviously it was a speedball, but when the baseball came to the strike zone, it suddenly turned and floated and flew towards the face of the hitter." If this ball is called to shoot the inside corner, it will definitely hit the batter in the face! What the hell is going on with this kid!? ”

Kobayashi Kiyoshi shrugged his shoulders and said, "God knows! …… Check it out again! ~Drink la, Kasuga-kun, please throw another speedball like that! “

"Yes! ~"Kasugamo heard it in the pitcher area and promised: "I want to pitch~"

I saw that after Kasugayun agreed, he immediately made a posture of throwing the ball with his arms.

While raising your hands, take a small step back with your left foot, then stand on one foot with your side raised, pause with your right foot to move your weight to the left and lean over, and when you are about to fall, your left foot suddenly steps out.

At the same time, the hands that have been stretched out in the upper body immediately swing in the opposite direction, and with the twisting of the waist, the right hand holding the ball is lifted up and a small round arm is thrown, and the power is transmitted from the left foot of the step, first the soles of the feet, then the calves, thighs, hips, waist, chest, shoulders, arms, wrists, palms, and finally the index finger and middle finger, and the baseball is finally thrown out of the baseball in the hands of these two fingers like the whip tips thrown out of the cowhide whip, bringing together the power of the whole body of the spring cloud to throw the baseball in his hand fiercely.

"Whew! ~~“

"Pong! ~“

The baseball flew out of the pitcher's area at a rapid speed, and flew straight in the air to the strike zone 18 meters away, but when it was about to reach the strike zone, the baseball suddenly floated upward, and finally crashed into the position of the catcher Domoto Inato's glove, which was about 10 centimeters higher than the position given by Domoto Inato at the beginning.

After receiving the ball, Domoto Inato had a feeling of pinching a cold sweat and said: "Wow~~ It's dangerous, this ball is floating too much, if I didn't lift the gloves up in advance, I really couldn't catch it!" “

Kobayashi Qingzhi stood up straight at this time, relaxed and said, "En! ~ This ball is about to be hit according to the path of a slider or a carter ball, I really can't imagine that this kid is throwing a speedball! Hey, Nakamura-kun, what do you think of Kasuga-kun's pitching!? “

As the ace pitcher in the team, Koji Nakamura's knowledge of pitchers is absolutely leveraged, so as soon as Kiyoshi Kobayashi asked this, he immediately thought of the whole process when Kasuga Cloud pitched just now.

After a while, Koji Nakamura replied with some skepticism: "Maybe it's because of the difference in the force of the round arm throw, I don't know if this kid has a wrist twisting action at the moment when he finally shoots the ball, so that the ball that should have been rotated vertically at 90 degrees has changed to an oblique flight at the moment of flying out, which causes the ball to rise at the end." Coach, am I right!? “

"Yes! ~" Kazuo Kawano on the side nodded and explained: "Nakamura is right, but he just said a rough idea!" ~ Maybe you don't know very well, why the round arm swing is more unfamiliar to us than the folding arm swing, that is because although this arm swing can create a higher ball speed, but in the early training, if the pitcher is not used to this arm swing method, he will involuntarily add his own habitual movements, resulting in the deviation of the ball path after the ball, so that the pitcher's ball control power decreases. And ball control is undoubtedly the first life for a pitcher, and if a pitcher can't even shoot the ball, then there is nothing else.

So generally speaking, unless you are a professional or a pitcher who is used to this type of arm throw, few people will use this arm throw method. ”

"No wonder~~ I said how the ball is so fast, it has reached 131 km / h! It's quite capable~" At this time, Hisachi Watanabe, who was full of logistics on the side and was standing next to the strike zone with a speed gun, said excitedly.

But as soon as Watanabe's words were finished, he was struck by the strong beater of the First Army, Jun Ogata: "Hurry up, it's only 131!" And the pitching is not accurate, what's the use!? ”

"Not necessarily!" At this time, the coach Kawano on the side seemed to see something, and commanded: "Nakamura, go teach that kid how to throw a slideball, and then let him throw a few balls next!" ”

"Department~" Koji Nakamura agreed.

So, for the next period of time, Koji Nakamura taught Kasuga Cloud the basic throwing action essentials of the slide ball on the spot here in the cowshed.

After about half an hour had passed, Koji Nakamura watched Kasugamo probably master the basic essentials of the slideball, and immediately walked behind the catcher in the strike zone, Inato Domoto, and shouted, "Yo Xi, Kasuga-kun, please prepare to throw this kind of ball I taught you just now!" ”

"Yes! ~Attention seniors, I'm going to pitch! ”

It is still a vibrating arm throw, but this time Kasugamo has changed slightly in the way he catches the ball, and the index and middle fingers that originally held the middle of the ball have shifted to the left a little at this time.

So when the ball is thrown, the speed of the ball is still the same, but when the baseball is about to crash into the strike zone, the sudden change of direction of the ball becomes more violent and sudden than before!

"Whew~~"

"Smack~"

"Nani~"

This time, Catcher Domoto Inato was unable to catch the baseball that flew by.

Because the change of direction was so drastic that it was beyond his imagination, the movement of Domoto Inato's gloves did not keep up, causing the baseball to suddenly change from the direction of his face and go backwards towards the upper right of his head as high as the shoulder of the hitter Kiyoshi Kobayashi.

This change immediately frightened everyone present: hiss~~ What a scary change of direction!! ~

At this time, coach Kawano, who quickly withdrew his surprised expression, continued to order, "A few more shots." ”

"Yes! ~”

So, after hearing the coach's orders, Kasugayun threw a few amazing slides one after another.

The ball path that suddenly turned in the memory, and the people present were stunned, maybe only coach Kawano, who had seen too many big scenes, could still be calm at this time!

………………

One morning of training, Kasugamo spent his time pitching, pitching, and throwing in the cowshed.

Because he doesn't know much about pitchers, he doesn't really know whether the ball he throws is good or bad. The only thing he knows is that it seems that these seniors and coaches in the department attach great importance to his pitching.

It wasn't until lunchtime that Kasugamo learned from his friend Watanabe Hisachi why his pitching attracted the attention of many seniors and coaches in the department.

"yes, I see, it's the Kinky Ball Road that's doing it! …… But why don't I think the ball I'm throwing weird!? "Kasuga's last sentence was a bit white-eyed, and the anger was too much to pay.

But it's also angry enough that Watanabe Hisachi almost didn't swallow a bite of rice he just ate: "Pounce~~coughcough~~~"

After a while, Watanabe Kuchichi complained angrily: "Stupid, are you called no change!?" …… Think about the balls you threw in the morning, did you not fly towards the face of Kobayashi's seniors, was that a speedball!? You super big fool~~"

Kasugayun was a little frightened and whispered back: "It's just a little bit higher!" ~”

"You're tall~~" Watanabe Hisatochi was no longer able to complain.

……………………

At noon, all the students in the baseball club were given a one-hour lunch break.

On a harsh autumn afternoon, although it was too hot on the mountain, the students in the baseball club slept soundly in the hostel because of the fan blowing and the shade in the house.

It wasn't until early 2 p.m. that everyone woke up and began to put on their uniforms, pick up their equipment, and walk out of the cool and refreshing hostel to the hot court to start warm-up practice and prepare for the upcoming foreign game.

"Hey~~ Shirasugi High School in Tsutsuki!? I heard that their baseball club is also quite famous this year! ”

"Yes, I heard that it is a well-known strong team nearby, and the coach specially found us to be an opponent, so we have to play today's game!"

"That's fun! ~~ I can't wait! ～”

"Me too! ～”

Since all the students in the baseball club had been notified by their coaches beforehand, many people were filled with the baseball club of Tsuzuki Shirasugi High School that would be coming to the hilltop hostel this afternoon.

Among them, the first-year rookies who are going to play the game first seem to be even more excited, because this is the first official game for all first-year freshmen after joining the baseball club!

So at this time, Watanabe Hisachi, Akai, Horibe, Hasegawa and other first-year rookies were running around the court with joy.

At around 3 p.m., a big bus drove up from the bottom of the hill towards the Peak Lodge.

When the bus finally stopped in front of the hostel, Hideyuki Tanaka, the head of the Aoba Road Baseball Club, led by coach Kazuo Kawano, received the Tozuki Shirasugi High School Baseball Club, who had come to be their opponents.

"Nice to meet you, Coach Kawano! Please advise me today~~" The baseball coach of Baishan High School is a fat man, and his fat body is very happy.

Kazuo Kawano shook hands with him very politely and said, "I'm glad that Coach Takahashi can lead the team here, you have worked hard all the way!" ”

"No, no, hehe~~" Takahashi Ikuma, the coach of the baseball club of Shirasugi High School, smiled politely.

At this time, a group of students from the baseball club of Baishan High School on the bus slowly got off the bus.

I saw that this was a group of students who were almost all strong young people, and Tanaka Hideyuki looked at it, except for a few students who seemed to be in the lower grades, almost none of the others were thin and weak people, so I couldn't help but think in my heart: It seems that Baishan's line is very strong, and it is not a waste of fame!

After a pleasantry, coach Kawano and the head of the baseball department, Tanaka, directly led Shirasugi High School and others to the courtside, and drove everyone on the field back to the rest area to make way for the people from Shirasugi High School to come into the field for warm-up practice.

At this time, looking at the opponents they were about to face in the court, the first-year rookies of Aoba Dodai High School were all a little nervous, because the people from Shirasugi High School were obviously bigger than them, so they ......

"Well, it looks like there's going to be a tough battle this time, the other party is so strong!"

"Eun~~ I heard that the White Cedar team is a famous strong baseball team nearby!"

"Watanabe-kun, today's line of their play will depend on you to suppress it, leave the garrison to us, we will definitely help you defend against them."

"That's right, you can deal with the beaters with peace of mind!"

"Come on, Watanabe-kun! ～”

Hearing the encouragement from his teammates, Watanabe Hisachi was also in a relaxed mood at this time, and said encouragement to his teammates: "Then please leave everything to everyone!" Come on~"

"Oh! ～”

……………………

Soon, the warm-up ended.

The game is about to start, and the first half of the first game is mainly defended by the side of Aoba Dodai High School, and the pitcher is Hisachi Watanabe.

And the main attack of Shirasugi High School at this time out of their first bat, from the first-year rookie pitcher, Inuya Akihisa.

I only heard the sideline radio read out: "In the first half of the first game of the practice game, the first batter of Baishan High School, the pitcher Akihisa Inuya!" ”

As soon as he heard this name, Kuchi Watanabe, who was standing on the pitcher's mound at this time and moved his arms, immediately changed his face: "Nani!! ～～”

And Inuya Akihisa, who had already stepped forward to the strike zone, also greeted Watanabe at this time and said, "Yo~~ Long time no see, my old classmate! Hey~~"