"See through him - and strike!" Kento Motomi, who was standing in the batting area, raised his bat and turned his head to look at the pitcher in front of him.

"Whew!"

After the hitter re-prepared, Nagumo Shiyi raised his leg and stepped forward, waving his arm to throw the inside corner speed ball.

"Ping!"

Unable to grasp the timing of his swing, he changed his swing trajectory again and hit the bottom half of the baseball, which passed through the low inside corner in the process of falling vertically, causing it to smash forward to the ground in front of home plate.

"Smack!"

The baseball rebounded after hitting the ground and was grabbed directly by the pitcher's raised left hand.

"Second base!"

At the same time as Miyuki-san's shouting at him, Nagumo Shiichi turned and passed the ball to second base.

"Bang!"

After receiving the pitcher's pass and blocking the runner, shortstop Fumiya Kusunoki avoided the runner's slide and jumped to the side while swinging his arm to first base.

“out.“

First baseman Tetsuya Yuuki reached forward with his right hand to catch the shortstop pass, blocking the runner who had already run behind him.

"Good!"

"Double kill!"

"Well voted!"

To the unanimous praise of the seniors, Shiichi Mingumo, who had left the pitcher's hill, returned to the rest area with them.

"Nagumo is doing a good job!"

"Let's just win the game in one go!"

……

"Just my curveball... How does it feel? ”

Yukichi and Nagumo pass and receive the ball to each other in the cowshed area, and after just a few balls, in the face of Nagumo's inquiry, he said, "It's a good ball!" ”

“…… What kind of ball is a good ball? ”

"It's infused with the will of the pitcher-" In the face of such doubts, Yukiichi also gave a very stylish answer: "A strong ball." ”

"For example, Senior Yagami can definitely throw a ball infused with his will!"

"That's why I've been asking you to throw a curved ball, so that you can put your will if you want to throw a strong ball... Able to pour the ball into the spin. ”

"I've taken it with my own hands...", Miyukichiya said as he raised his left hand to him and said in an infectious tone, "Your strong will—"

"As long as you can throw a ball like that, you will replace Senior Yagami as the ace pitcher!"

"World," Miyukichi also stretched out his left hand to wrap his arm around Nangumo Shiichi's shoulder, and said to him, "We will win!" ”

"Definitely!" Nagumo Shiichi, who was infected by the catcher, replied in an affirmative tone.

"Let's win the game together——!!"

With the satisfaction and sense of accomplishment of successfully training the pitcher, Yukiichi returned to their rest area with the pitcher.

……

"Groove cake... I'm starting to get my heart pumping! ”

"Is there a way for the pitchers of Qingdao to make it through?"

“……”

The audience who supported Qingdao looked a little nervous.

"The pitch that is the key ball is only thrown at the last seat of the previous inning..."

"Before that, it was three consecutive bad balls with four bad balls and no bad shots in the good zone at all..."

"I don't think the pitcher's curveball is going to stabilize all of a sudden." There are also viewers who are keenly aware of the problem.

"Whew!"

In the second half of the ninth inning, Shiichi Nangumo followed the code given to him by the catcher and waved his arm to throw a longitudinal curved ball to home plate.

"Bang!"

The baseball, which flew at a speed of 113 km/h in front of the hitter, fell diagonally to the left and caught it with a glove extended by the captor behind the outside corner and in front of the hitter's knee.

“Strike.“ The right hand is raised above his head in a fist, and the referee announces the ball.

"The curveball is in the zone!"

"Now it's just the first goal..."

"How will Yokohama attack?"

"Try to get people on the base first... Because 5 points (because the trapper's guidance and ball distribution were too poor, Urakawa Lingren lost 4 points in 42/3 innings, and Yuki Rakuji lost 2 points in 41/3 innings) is not a gap that can be solved alone! ”

"The most important thing is not to let Qingdao feel that he is 5 points ahead, and in turn force them to gather on the crisis they are facing!" When hearing the audience who used to be a catcher give their opinions, many people showed a look of sudden realization: "Oh..."

"To achieve that effect, you have to put pressure on when no one is out, and the hitter just has to wait patiently for the ball or hit an out-of-bounds shake the pitcher—"

"After getting on base, I put pressure on the base and starting early—"

"As long as no one is out and scores, Qingdao without a trump card will begin to emerge with the imagination of 'not getting outs and may be reversed'!"

"Offense and defense before the first number of outs will determine the direction of the game!!"

(PS: You can think of this as a situation faced by Seichi and Komachi Otomaki in the first half of the ninth inning, once Yagami Yagama, who is the ace of Seido, is broken by the opponent's 2-point home run, Komatomakomai can easily achieve a comeback victory.) )

"Whew!"

After hitter Koichiro Matsumoto (one-year-old) recuperated with his bat held high, Shiichi Minamigumo stepped with his leg up and waved his arm to throw a straight ball into the home plate.

"Bang!"

Affected by the hitter's sudden change of grip on the bat, the pitcher's straight ball to home plate was a slightly high inside corner ball, and was caught by the left hand that was caught by the catcher Yukiichi Mikoi who was also stretched forward.

“Ball.“

……

Raise your head, Takahama-" Yuki Rakuji stretched out his hand and patted it, Takahama Takuya, who was secretly muttering, and said to him, "Those who lead the team must not be discouraged. ”

"Listen to me, everybody..."Yuki Rakuji turned to the others and said, "We have to be true to our style of play until the end-"

"As long as we follow through on that, we can definitely win this game!"

"Ping!"

At the same time, hitter Koichiro Matsumoto swung his bat into an inside corner pitch from the pitcher, causing the baseball to crash to the left on the sand in front of the batting area in a collision with the bat.

"Smack!"

The baseball bounced off the ground and ran behind third baseman Masuko's outstretched left hand.

"Third baseman error!"

"Yay! No one is out, there is someone on first base! ”

Yokohama's rest area was completely dull, with everyone waving their arms or clapping in celebration of Matsumoto's base.

"Because the hitter just took a surprise strike posture and let the infielder's position move forward two or three steps, it will not be too late to deal with the boccia ball knocked out by the hitter."

Yukiichi also reached out to put on the face guard and squatted again behind the home plate.

"It was my mistake... Yokohama's goal is still to play a change of speed. ”

At the same time, Naoya Kuruza, who was standing outside the iron net, looked at Nagumo Seichi on the pitcher's hill and asked his question from the bottom of his heart: "Nagumo... Are you okay? ”

"In the second half of the ninth inning, which led by 5 points, Yokohama entered the upper line at the beginning of the first stroke..."

"Qingdao backfired and let Yokohama get on the base—"

Some spectators were not optimistic that Seido would win the practice match.

"What kind of ball can a Qingdao pitcher throw after a teammate makes a mistake..."

"It's going to make a big difference on the field!"

On the pitcher's mound, Ayato Urakawa, who was a first-class Yokohama batter and was transferred to first base, was ready to strike, stepped forward with his left foot, waved his right arm and threw a pitch ball at home plate.

"Bang!"

The baseball flies past the baseball at a speed of 109 km/h high in the inside corner and catches it with a glove extended forward by the hand behind the outside corner, above the junction between the home plate and the batting area.

“Strike.“

Since Nan Yunshi threw a curved ball into the good ball area, he has never thrown a bad ball again.