Chapter Twenty-Eight: The First Pitcher
"Good shot!"
"Good shot!"
"Good shot!"
"Strikeouts !!!"
Nagano Prefecture, quarterfinals, the second match between Akagi Junior High School and Daihoku Junior High School, in the end, Akagi Junior High School defeated the opponent 3:0.
When Sawamura scored the last good goal, thousands of fans in the stadium fell into an eerie silence.
Whether it is the brothers of the Red Heart Brotherhood, or the support group and cheerleaders who support Dabei Middle School, they are all silent.
They looked at the 18 people on the pitch in shock, watched them walk towards them, and then bent down to thank them.
For the brothers of the Brotherhood of the Red Heart, they have seen such a scene too many times. At the end of almost every game, the players of Akagi High School would thank the audience and the fans who came from afar to brave the scorching sun to cheer them on.
Why did the Brotherhood of Red Hearts develop so fast? There are various reasons for this, but the core reason is, of course, relying on the call of Sawamura's star.
In addition, there is another important reason that the people of Akagi Middle School really regard these fans of the Akagi Brotherhood as their closest comrades.
As fans, they can clearly feel the hearts of the players.
So every time the game ended, their applause was particularly warm, and the cheering sound was also very high.
But today, very strange today, everyone in the Brotherhood of Red Hearts stood up and applauded silently, without saying a word. They offered their highest respect to the 18 thin figures on the court.
As the most die-hard fans of Akagi Middle School, these brothers of the Akashin Brotherhood have witnessed the growth of these children in Akagi Middle School. They said unceremoniously that they had grown up watching Sawamura Yamaguchi step by step.
Now that Akagi Junior High School have reached the semi-finals of Nagano Prefecture, they are just one step away from the Kanto Conference, and this is not the first time that Akagi Junior High School has achieved this result, and they have also won the semi-finals in Nagano Prefecture in both last summer and autumn. Supposedly, such a ranking is not enough to make the brothers of the Red Heart Brotherhood feel so excited.
According to the real situation, this is not the case, and it is precisely because I have watched the children of Akagi Middle School grow up step by step that they will be more moved. Although Akagi Junior High School also reached the semi-finals of Nagano Prefecture a year ago, most of the teams they defeated at that time were ordinary teams, even if they played against the three kings, and occasionally won games, it was just luck, and in terms of overall strength, they were still far from the three kings of Nagano Prefecture, and there was still a significant gap.
That gap can be clearly seen with the naked eye.
Even if Akagi Middle School wins, it is only because of Sawamura's wonderful personal performance and benefits as a dark horse.
As a dark horse, there are benefits, of course, the first time the team participates in the competition, their own psychology must also be adjusted, and if the adjustment is not good, there are not a few who will never recover.
But at the same time, as a dark horse, it is also extremely advantageous, first of all, your opponent will not be too wary of you, and it is inevitable that you will make careless mistakes. The second is to talk about your own characteristics and tactics, which others are not familiar with, and there is no way to specifically target them.
In the NBA, the biggest event in basketball, there are only a few rookies who perform well every year, but in the second year, they often encounter extremely big obstacles, so that their performance is mediocre.
This is the effect of the dark horse, the obstacle ahead, like a fire refining, only real gold can withstand the test of fire.
Akagi is real gold with fire!
Facing the three kings last summer, Akagi Middle School, which was only able to play small tricks and steal the victory. Now it is a head-to-head battle with Dabei Middle School, one of the three kings, and the result is an overwhelming victory.
A score of 3:0 is definitely not an overwhelming score in a baseball game. But the gap represented by this score is far greater than people think.
If a team doesn't score any points, that in itself means that you can't break through the opponent's defense. At the very least, you won't take advantage of the opponent's garrison.
On the other hand, there's nothing you can do to stop yourself from losing points.
No matter how small the gap between the scores of the two teams is, it also shows that the difference in strength between them is very large. When one side has no way to overcome the opponent's defense, especially when Daihoku Middle School, known as the No. 1 team in Nagano Prefecture, did not win any decent hits from Akagi Middle School in this whole game.
The results speak for themselves!
Although in terms of individual strength, the vast majority of the players at Daihoku High School are better than those from Akagi Middle School.
But as far as the two teams are concerned, the strength of Dabei Middle School is probably not as good as that of Akagi Middle School.
Akagi Middle School, which was a dark horse in the past, crushed the three kings in strength for the first time.
As a fan of Nagano Prefecture, this feeling is too mysterious.
You must know that the three kings have occupied the first and second places in Nagano Prefecture, not for a year or two, but for a full 20 years.
Exactly 20 years!
It is almost the time for two generations to grow up, and how many people have witnessed the birth of the myth of the three kings.
Now the myth is shattered.
And it was strongly punctured.
Akagi High School is set to become one of the most competitive schools in Nagano Prefecture and they are bound to break the rule of the Three Kings.
Daihoku Middle School, known as the No. 1 line in Nagano Prefecture, couldn't overcome Sawamura Eijun's pitching, so what about changing to the other two schools, Tenryuji Middle School and Nagano Metropolitan Junior High School?
Although these three schools have not yet played each other, it feels like it will be difficult for even Tenryuji Junior High School and Nagano Metropolitan Junior High School to resist the strength of Akagi Junior High School.
At the very least, I'm afraid they will have a hard time conquering the pitcher named Eijun Sawamura!
Previously, among all the pitchers in junior high school and below, Nagano Prefecture was second to none, and it was Haruka Nanami who could still rank in the 12 Heavenly Kings.
After all, there are more than 40 counties in the country, and within these more than 40 counties, an average of four counties can be allocated a heavenly king quota.
In that case, with Haruka Nanami as the pride of Nagano Prefecture, there is no problem with being the first pitcher.
But everyone who watched the match between Akagi Middle School and Daihoku High School will ask themselves in their hearts, is Nanami really the No. 1 pitcher in Nagano?
The real No. 1 pitcher is probably someone else.
Strikeouts, although the person is on base, it cannot be counted as an effective hit. Sawamura Eijun faced Dahoku High School, the first line in Nagano Prefecture, and the result of his throw was that there were no hits and no points conceded in seven innings.
Such a thing, even Nanami Haruka, who is known as the pride of Nagano, can't do it.
The real No. 1 pitcher in the entire Nagano Prefecture, I'm afraid it's still Sawamura Eijun!