After two good and two bad, Yono's first-year pitcher Oe threw a high, fast straight shot. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info Masaoka standing in the strike zone didn't have time to swing the bat.

Such strikeouts without swinging the baton are called sleek strikeouts in Japan.

Li Yuanrang, who was sitting on the sidelines, looked at the speed record on his mobile phone, and the ball reached a speed of 143 kilometers. It is the highest record of the three people of Ken Oe.

"Why are students like Yono playing baseball?"

Li Yuanrang asked Akio Yabe, who was sitting next to him.

"To go to Koshien, of course!"

Yabe replied.

"Koshien? Yono: Are they also aiming at Koshien? ”

There are two national competitions in college baseball in Japan, the selection meeting in the spring and the player rights meeting in the summer. Both tournaments are held at the Hanshin Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture. Therefore, in the college baseball world, the word "Koshien" is often used as the synonym of the national competition.

For Li Yuanrang, who has read baseball comics since he was a child, of course, these are also understood.

"Actually, Yono appeared in Koshien more than 20 years ago."

Yono's debut in Koshien was more than 20 years ago in the spring.

In the spring Koshien selection meeting, the qualifications are mainly determined by the results of the autumn meeting in each region of the previous year.

Yono, who has always been a first- and second-year student, is only on the same page as other teams in the fall season.

"If a player like Oe wants to go to Koshien, there is a better choice than Yono."

On the court, Kenzo Oe threw a curved ball with a beautiful trajectory. The ball landed on the edge of the good zone, earning the team another out.

Although not mature enough, it is not difficult for a pitcher of this level to become a member of the team if he attends a strong baseball school.

In such an environment, not only will your skills improve faster, but you will also have a much better chance of winning in Koshien or even in Koshien.

"For the likes of Oe, I'm afraid Yono is a more challenging target than a strong school in baseball, right?"

Yabe replied.

Yono is not a middle and high school school, and there is no direct pipeline. We will not use sports or the like to recruit students.

No matter how prominent it is in other fields, the only way to get into such a school is to get in.

Now that you can play on the pitch in Yono's jersey, everyone on this team is the winner of the entrance exam.

"What about you, what are you for?"

Li Yuanrang then asked.

"Of course, it's Koshien!"

"Didn't think of anything else?"

"Something else? Like what? ”

"Like making more friends, exercising, etc., ......"

Li Yuanrang has not set himself such a lofty goal for Koshien yet. He just felt that it was enough to engage in sports that he was interested in outside of class and make a few new friends in an unfamiliar environment

"I can do all of this by the way, but since I'm playing high school baseball, I don't put a 'target Koshien!!' in the room. Slogans like that don't always look like words, right? ”

Li Yuanrang recalled that there seemed to be such a slogan in the department of the baseball club.

At this time, the sound of a metal bat hitting the ball came from the court.

Fukushima, the four-batter of the Peace Academy, hit a flying ball that is not far away. The shortstop from Yono High School took a few steps back and caught the ball steadily.

At the end of the second half of the first game, the offense and defense are exchanged.

Li Yuanrang's defense in the second game was generally not dangerous.

There was a pitch that barely got over the first baseman's head and landed in the right field. According to the pre-game instructions, and in order not to mess up the first baseman, Li Yuanrang only advanced a few steps in his defensive position and stopped chasing the boccia.

First baseman Masaoka arrived in time, picked up the ball, and passed it to the pitcher who was on first base.

Although the original first-base hits became second-base hits, they still didn't become third-base hits.

In the second half of the second game, when the Peace School Park attacked, the score remained 0-0 on the court.

This half-game starts with a five, six, and seven strokes. As long as one of the three people is out of the base, Li Yuanrang has a chance to stand in the strike zone.

The five-batter Honda hit the first ball through the second game and went to first base. The next six Kawasaki strikes are successful.

Once out of the game, there are people on second base, which is a great opportunity to get the first point.

Seven bats walked into the strike zone with the bat in his hand, saluted the referee and went through the content of his opponent's previous pitch in his mind.

Most of them are fast straight balls, and the only curved balls that are not low quality are variable balls. The most important point is that anyone with a discerning eye can see that the ball is unstable.

"This kind of pitcher is the hardest to play."

Yabe thought to himself.

Basically, every baseball player has their own unique hitting habits.

For example, Fukushima Ippei, if it is not a key occasion, before the two good balls, he generally likes to pick up his favorite outside corner high ball to play. After two good shots, when you see a straight ball in the good ball area, you will swing your bat with all your might.

Li Yuanrang, who doesn't have any hitting theory, temporarily belongs to the type of playing only after keeping an eye on the trajectory of each ball.

And Yabe's blow is basically guessed.

Akio Yabe has good baton control skills, but his eyesight is a bottleneck in his striking.

He has a high degree of myopia and astigmatism, and because his eyes are not adapted to contact lenses, he can only play with glasses.

As a result, the field of vision that can be seen clearly in front of you becomes very narrow. Especially when standing in the strike zone and facing the pitcher from the side, there is actually a large area that is a blind spot.

Yabe's response was to guess the pattern of the opponent's catcher, and then wait for the rabbit to keep his eyes on the range that the ball would pass.

But this habit has a very big drawback, that is, the opponent's shooting partner must really be attentive to the ball, and the pitcher's ball control can really throw the ball into the range that the catcher wants to be useful.

Kenzo Oe in front of him doesn't seem to be very reliable in his control of the ball, but at the same time he has a lot of power in his pitching, and this kind of pitcher is the type that Yabe is not good at dealing with.

Yabe raises the bat and prepares to strike. The first ball he was going to put in and look at it.

Oe on the pitcher's mound waved his arm hard, and a straight ball went straight to the outside corner. Catcher Shirakawa took a step to the right to catch the ball. Obviously a bad ball.

The next second ball was a straight ball. The ball lands in the good zone, but not in the range that Yabe sets to hit.

On the third ball, Yabe waited for the straight ball he wanted with a high inside corner, and swung it hard. But the incoming ball seemed to be a little higher than he had predicted. Nothing hit.

"Next up is the curveball."

Yabe thought to himself.

After a few quick straight balls, if the ball is ahead, a curveball will be thrown, and it depends on luck whether the ball can fool the opponent or throw it into the good zone.

This is one of the typical pattern of Yono's catchers in today's game.

Kenzo Oe's possession of the ball is not solid, and if you want to get a good number of balls, you can't aim for the bottom of the good ball area.

Yabe guesses that the ball will land in the middle of the good zone.

Kenzo Oe made a shot, and sure enough, it was a curved ball. Although the position is a bit out of the corner, it is still within the set target range.

Yabe swung his bat hard, and the ball was not very strong, but with the power of the metal bat, the white ball flew in a high parabolic trajectory to the far part of the middle of the field.

Yono's stalwart kept backing and backing back. Finally, he caught the ball not far before hitting the wall at home run.

Honda on second base started at this point and ran to third base before the ball was passed back to the infield.

"If it's on another school field, it's a home run."

When Yabe left the field, he said this to Li Yuanrang, who was hitting the next blow.

The size of the baseball field at the Peace Gakuen is based on the size of the Meiji Jingu Stadium, which was used for the Nishi-Tokyo Games finals. The deepest part of the midfield is 120 meters. Most high school baseball fields aren't that big.

"But if you want to hit a home run in Koshien, you have to go further."

Li Yuanrang responded.

Listening to each other's words, Yabe smiled knowingly, and the two high-fived each other.

"Yes, the target is Koshien......

Yabe muttered to himself as he walked to the rest area.