"Whew... Luckily, it was a throw-in. Kenta Ogawa, who was resting on the bench, breathed a sigh of relief.

"Huh?" The teammates who heard this were very puzzled.

"I hope that Mr. Rakuji didn't hit that goal." Faced with the doubts of his teammates, Kenta Ogawa immediately gave his own reasons, after all, Senior Rakuji was originally a person who was good at observation.

"I believe... Senior Loji may have a way to see the secret of that kind of ball..."

Nagumo can throw a variable ball in an almost identical pitching stance to a straight ball, giving the hitter no way to predict the speed of the ball in the short time after he throws it. If you can't predict the speed of the ball, you can't match the speed strike.

But the problem is that his speed ball is a two-sided blade, this kind of ball can only be judged after it is actually thrown, and the high-precision speed ball is a powerful weapon. However, it is a pure slow ball with a mere change of the name of the ball, and it is a gambling ball that does not make the player think that "the next ball may come straight".

"From the pitcher's standpoint, you have to throw a slow ball against such a strong shot..."Yagami Yagama, who learned about Nagumo's situation from Kuraza, gave his opinion, "It takes a lot of courage. ”

"Huh!"

After the batter swung missed, the pitcher's pitch to home plate dropped longitudinally at 90 km/h in the outside corner before being caught by the man's open glove low behind the outside corner.

"Bang!"

"Good shot!"

"Strikeout! Offensive and defensive exchanges—"

After successfully finishing out the five batters, Nagumo Shiichi breathed a long sigh of relief, turned around and ran back to the rest area on the third base.

"What was the ball just now..."Superintendent Watanabe asked Yuki Rakuji, who was returning to the rest area, "What is it?" ”

"I'm sorry......" did not answer the question, and Yuki Rakuji apologized directly to the superintendent.

"I don't actually mean to blame you..."Looking at the back of the trump card that was gradually moving away, Inspector Watanabe felt a little headache.

"Senior Luoji!" Kenta Ogawa patted Yuki Rakuji on the back of the shoulder and said, "Let's play and see who hits his ball first!" ”

……

"You... It's so powerful..."

"Why do you, a layman, have such a skill!"

"What the hell are you doing!"

"You lucky boy! Ha ha! ”

The first and second graders surrounded Nanyun Shiichi who had returned to the pitcher hill, and the same grade student Kuramochi Yoichi even lay directly on his back, hugging his neck with both hands, and laughed strangely.

"Hey, hey, don't be so rude to him!" Daiki Muraksuke, who was watching the game outside the iron net, shouted at the juniors after noticing the movement.

……

"I think..."

In the first half of the eighth inning, when Aomichi and Yokohama were engaged in fierce offense and defense on the court, in the rest area on the side of third base, Yukiichi Mikumo, who had always been next to him, said, "Change the way I pitch." ”

"Yagami Senpai, Rakuji Senpai, and Kimura-san... They all feel like their balls are very imposing. ”

"I want to throw a ball like that, too."

"Miyuki-san, how can I throw a ball like that?"

"They... How did you learn to throw that kind of ball? ”

"I'm not a pitcher, so I can't answer the question of feelings." Yukiichi also stood up from the bench and said to the pitcher next to him, "I already understand what you want to do..."

"But now the most important thing is... It's about winning this game—"

"For the next two and a half innings, I will never allow you to shoot that kind of unwinnable ball—"

"So, I have a proposal..."

……

In the second half of the eighth inning, with only six outs left to end the game, the ready Minamigumo Shiichi followed the plan he had agreed with the catcher earlier, stretched forward his left foot, and waved his arm to the home plate to throw the curveball he had learned from Takigawa senior not long ago.

"Smack!"

The baseball, which swerved outward in front of the right-hand hitter, fell diagonally to the ground in the left-hand zone at a speed of 113 km/h, and then hit the catcher's abdomen in a rebound after landing.

“Ball.“

Yukiichi also reached out to pick up the baseball that had stopped in the outside corner of the left hitting area, and with the surprised expressions of the players on both sides, he got up and passed the ball back to Shiichi Nagumo.

"What's wrong?"

"Nagumo..."

"You have a good ball control level..."

"What did you just do?"

Faced with the doubts of his teammates, Nangumo Shiichi didn't explain much, opened his gloves to catch the baseball passed back by Miyuki, and recalled the plan he proposed to himself when he was in the rest area just now.

"Let's throw a curved ball!"

"Huh? Curveball!? Nanyun Shiichi was very puzzled by this, and said: "Although I have been practicing recently, Senior Takikawa said that I can't control the ball and can't use ......."

"Kimura-san aside, Yagami-senpai and Rakuji-senpai... You said that the two people you want to approach are all ace pitchers. ”

"Ace pitcher - you have to be able to curve!!" Miyuki's tone was very affirmative.

"The curveball is meant to affect the batsman's feel... An indispensable type of ball, and then Yokohama they will definitely target your speed ball strategy, put the curveball in it, and it will definitely give full play to the effect! ”

"In that case..."Although such a good person as Miyuki-san would definitely not lie to himself, Nangumo Shiichi still asked him his question: "Wouldn't it be better to put a faster ball with a higher degree of completion in it?" ”

"Hmm...... What's this? ”

"Anyway, in the last game, you shot a good shot at the strikeout, it was a ball with a very good speed, tail momentum, and drop range..."

"You just push hard, as hard as you want... Throw a curveball full of spins——!! ”

Yukiichi also diverted his gaze and finally fooled Nagumo's question just now.

In fact, it is very difficult to survive the second round of the line when facing a strong school like Yokohama with only straight balls and speed balls, but with only two and a half games left in the game, it is very easy to survive the first round of the line.

Even if Nagumo Shiichi needs to face Yokohama 2~3 rounds of playing, as long as the fast ball with a ball speed of no more than 110km/h is added to the catcher's matching, it is also easy to survive the first 2 rounds of playing, and only the third round of playing, will test the catcher's matching and guidance.

The fundamental reason why Yukiichi allowed Nagumo Shiichi to throw a curved ball with no control at all was that he was addicted to training and teasing the pitcher.

……

"Hahaha! It's inferior! ”

"Shoot the first ball!"

Many of the spectators on the sidelines burst out laughing.

"What's the point of that big shot just now?" Yuki Rakuji, who was standing on the partition in the rest area, was puzzled: "He wants the opponent to realize that he can also throw a curved ball?" ”

On the field, the second ball thrown by Shiichi Nagumo to home plate was still a curveball that fell diagonally downwards from the top of the good ball area, and the ball speed was 112km/h.

"Smack!"

Miyukichi also placed his gloves on the sideline behind the left hitting area and successfully caught the curveball thrown by Nagumo.

“Ball.“

"It's not like a speed ball... The pitching stance is too stiff..."Riki Iwama, the sixth-batter, put down the bat he had raised and re-prepared, and thought to himself, "I knew he was going to throw the ball at a glance." ”