Chapter 20: The Sad Senpai

At this moment, the hit from the pitching machine has concluded.

Sawamura hit all the balls, once again proving himself with his experienced swing.

Of course, his batting spree isn't over yet. But judging solely by the balls pitched by the machine, Sawamura's score in this test should currently be the highest.

Although Furuya missed a few pitches and struck out a few times during the test,

He also hit numerous home runs, and in the final tally, he unexpectedly tied with Sawamura Eijun for first place.

As for Sawamura, even in the previous national Champion team, he was a key offensive force. When it comes to on-base percentage, it's just slightly less than Captain Yuuki's, and among the best three on-base rates in the whole lineup.

Except for times when Sawamura focuses on pitching, where he's often placed lower in the batting order. Generally speaking, based on his skill level, Sawamura should be the team's third batter.

This batting order also indicates his position on the previous team.

Now that Captain Yuuki is essentially retired, although they're still training on the field, he and the third year no longer have anything to do with the main competitions of the team and are only preparing for their future.

With their retirement, Sawamura Eijun is now undoubtedly the team's top batting strength.

It's no surprise that he was able to secure the team's highest score.

After all, his nickname is 'The Demon King.' If he couldn't even do this, his name as The Demon King would be a big joke.

But Furuya is different.

In the previous team, Furuya was not even a main rotation pitcher, and his status was equivalent to that of a half-duties player.

If it weren't for the need to train new players, Furuya Satoru might not even have been able to participate in Koshien.

At that time, Seidou High School, with the complete revival of Tanpa-senpai, could be described as strong and mighty. Although Furuya himself had good combat power, he wasn't really necessary for that team at the time.

Even with the retirement of the third-year players, there are still players like Miyuki, Kuramochi, and Shiratsu among the main players.

No matter how you look at it, it's not Furuya's turn to be in the lead, right?

But in the real world, seniority and age don't matter in the field, only strength.

With the retirement of the third-year senpais, Furuya Satoru's presence has been increasing day by day, becoming more and more prominent.

Again, as they say, talent always shines.

Furuya Satoru definitely has a lot of talent. The more you dig, the more talents you find.

It is like he was born to play baseball.

Next, it's time for the human opponents.

First is Kaneda.

Like Sawamura and Furuya, he is a first-year pitcher.

With all the players from the original Second String promoted to the First String, Kaneda was also promoted to the combined first string from the Second String.

He wasn't among the first group promoted, but like Kawashima and Haruichi, he was promoted to the Second String in the second group with Toujou and Kanemaru, and his skills are clear to see.

When he first enrolled, the Senpais from the 2nd and 3rd grades harshly taught him a lesson.

Now, six months later, Kaneda has emerged from his previous setbacks and his skills have improved dramatically.

'I must perform well!'

Before taking the mound, he silently encouraged himself.

Although he's just an opponent to Sawamura and Furuya, as long as he performs well, there will be opportunities to stand out.

These two guys have been making headlines in the previous test. In fact, their batting prowess is among the best at Seidou High School right now, especially Sawamura, who is one of the top hitters.

It's naturally very difficult to defeat them, and that is not the point of the test.

But if he was consistent with his pitching, and threw his courses very well making it harder for Sawamura and Furuya to get a good hit...

Just imagining the scene with those two struggling with his pitching made him very excited and determined.

The scene would surely be shocking, even Coach Kataoka wouldn't be able to ignore it.

'Bring it on!'

Kaneda's first opponent is Furuya. At the moment of throwing the ball, he milked all the strength in his body into the ball.

He was absolutely going all out.

Whoosh!

The ball speed is beyond 130 km/h (80~83 mph), and the control is also very good, pitching sharply to the corners.

PANG!

Then, for no reason at all, Furuya just smashed the ball hard.

The small white ball drew a huge arc and hovered at high speed to the outfield

In the end, it hit the protective net hard, causing a loud sound.

One hit, home run!

Furuya Satoru's performance was astonishingly stunning.

"When this ends, let's redesign the training plan. We will have Furuya and Sawamura take turns guarding the outfield. This can be used as a plan. Not every game needs to be played this way, but we can use this in some games."

Furuya conquered Kataoka with his performance.

After Tanpa Koichiro left the team, Kataoka has been looking for a replacement.

Kawakami Norifumi or Furuya Satoru?

Relying solely on Sawamura Eijun to hold the entire Fall Tournament is very difficult.

The Fall Tournament is just a month-long, and sometimes there are two games a week.

Time is tight.

At this time, someone must share the firepower with Sawamura Eijun, which is to find a main rotation pitcher.

Originally, Kataoka hesitated. After all, Kawakami has more experience, and his previous performances have been good.

Unfortunately, compared with Furuya Satoru, the gap is a bit big.

Even if the two pitch at the same level, the difference in their batting is fatal.

Whether it's luck or skill. To a certain extent, Furuya even has a chance to compete with Sawamura.

Kawakami's batting power is relatively average when saying it nicely.

"This guy is really fierce!"

Seeing Furuya hit a home run from the beginning, Sawamura, who was already prepared, of course, would not hold back.

Sawamura accepted this challenge after all.

PANG!

He also beautifully hit a home run!

After being hit, the small white ball turned into an arc and hit the net accurately.

Sawamura tied with Furuya.

"It is really good luck!"

""""""AS IF!!!!""""""

Everyone around shouted at Sawamura's 'try' at being humble.

Actually, Kaneda's pitching is still very good.

That is to say, the speed is a little lacking, but the accuracy and break are not bad.

This kind of ball should be a problem for ordinary batters.

But to deal with Furuya and Sawamura, it's obviously not enough.

After Kaneda was dealt with, Kawashima, who played after him, frowned and looked at Sawamura and Furuya.

At this moment, in Kawashima's heart, it's inevitable to be a little shaken.

The talents and skills of Furuya and Sawamura far exceed his imagination.

'Are these two really first-year freshmen?'

Even though he has seen the performance of the two at Koshien and the West Tokyo competition more than once in the stands.

But when he really faced them, Kawashima still felt depressed.

'These two guys are really amazing. As their Senpai, especially a Senpai in the same position.'

'It's so sad'

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