Chapter 58: Not Only Him

By the end of the seventh inning, the Tokyo team still hadn't managed to get a hit off Conrad.

Especially at a time when the opponent's morale was low, they still hadn't been able to conquer him.

This was undoubtedly a blow to the Tokyo team's players.

On the other hand, the Tokyo representative team's defense was much more relaxed.

In the top of the eighth inning, Sawamura's opponent was now the American representative's cleanup hitter, Carlisle.

Sawamura threw a changeup as his first pitch.

Carlisle, who had a deep awe for Sawamura's pitching, surprisingly didn't swing at the Change-up.

Snap!

"STRIKE!"

Everyone watching was stunned!

They couldn't predict what was going to happen next.

"What is going on?"

"Could it be they planned to use three Change-ups to strike Out the batter in this duel?"

Fortunately, they weren't reckless enough to go that far.

After leaving a strong impression with the first Change-up, they followed up with a Ball outside the strike zone to coax Carlisle into swinging.

Paak!

"FOUL!!"

One Strike, one Foul.

With ease, Sawamura and Miyuki had managed to put pressure on their opponent.

WHRROOSH!!

After pressuring Carlisle, Sawamura didn't use another breaking ball but threw a Straight-Fastball to the inner corner.

Carlisle swung with all his might, his bat looking like it could launch the ball without even hitting the sweet spot.

But unfortunately, the bat never made contact with the ball.

Sawamura's fastball was like it had been accelerated, passing through the strike zone before Carlisle's bat even reached it, landing neatly in Miyuki's Mitt.

SNAP!

"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!!!"

"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!!!!"

"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!!!!!"

The shock from this moment was no less intense than the previous strikeout.

Not only were the American players stunned, but even the Tokyo team players felt like their worldview had been shattered.

Watching Sawamura strike out three batters in a row, they felt a tingling sensation on their scalps.

If one day they really faced Sawamura and the Seidou High School baseball team, would they have any confidence in getting a hit off him?

Thinking this way, the faces of the Tokyo players turned pale.

None of them could confidently say they could hit Sawamura's pitches.

It was simply unrealistic.

In the stands, Fujio, a senior journalist from Baseball Kingdom Magazine, excitedly scribbled notes in his notebook.

"Even with just fastballs and Change-ups, Sawamura's performance shows that his pitching ability has clearly reached a higher level."

Previously, Sawamura's pitching had relied heavily on his variety of breaking balls.

Of course, there was nothing wrong with that.

In head-to-head matchups, the most important thing is being able to get batters Out.

Other details are secondary.

But if Sawamura wants to take the next step in his development, everything changes.

He needs to take his pitching to another level.

Just like now, where he is able to simplify the complexity.

The legendary pitchers in Major League Baseball all have their signature pitches.

They may throw a variety of pitches, but the ones they use most regularly are just one or two.

For example, the Cutter ball or the ultra-fast fastball.

When you think of these pitches, you think of the pitcher who throws them.

In the future, Sawamura's Straight-Fastball will surely become his signature pitch.

When people talk about that pitch, they'll naturally think of Sawamura Eijun.

From this perspective, Sawamura has indeed far surpassed the level of a high school player.

Sawamura's outstanding performance was undoubtedly a good thing for both the Tokyo representative team and its individual players. The players had every reason to be happy and excited.

The team won the match, and they didn't expose too much of their own strength in the process. From this perspective, the players of the Tokyo representative team undoubtedly gained a significant advantage.

However, not everyone was happy.

This Tokyo representative team was primarily made up of players from Inashiro Industrial High School, who had gathered strong players from various top-tier teams in Tokyo to form the squad.

On the surface, the composition seemed complicated, but there was indeed a main component, and that was the Inashiro Industrial High School baseball team.

Without a core component, and if the players had been randomly paired, the Tokyo representative team would simply have been a loose, talented group and likely wouldn't have been able to showcase much strength.

As the core of the team, Inashiro Industrial High School's baseball team always had at least three players on the field. At times, they could field up to half of the total players on the team.

This represented a significant portion of the team's overall roster, from one-third to half.

One could say this was a team of all the strongest players from across Tokyo, and it could also be seen as an enhanced version of Inashiro Industrial High School's baseball team.

Normally, in such a team, players from Inashiro Industrial High School should be in their element.

However, on the field, almost all of the spotlight was stolen by Sawamura, and the Inashiro Industrial High School baseball team, as the host team, did not have any particularly outstanding performances in this match.

The most notable performance probably came from the earlier scene where Narumiya scored a Strikeout with his Change-ups, which was indeed a miracle and shocked the entire stadium.

But Narumiya didn't play that much, and his shining moment was limited to that single instance.

Meanwhile, Sawamura not only replicated this miracle but also added his own flair, performing brilliantly in all aspects.

It was like watching a stage performance, where all the spotlights were on Sawamura, making him the clear protagonist of this game.

Meanwhile, the players from Inashiro Industrial High School, who made up about one-third to nearly half of the team, had become mere bystanders.

With such personalities, could they just sit back and watch as Sawamura dominated the field?

Even a person with just a little bit of insight could figure out that the answer was definitely no.

"We have to defeat this pitcher, this is our last chance to make an impression," Narumiya said passionately as he approached his teammates, Carlos and Shirakawa, to encourage them before their at-bat.

If Eijun had made any mistakes in this game, it would probably be in his confrontation with Conrad in the Batter's Box.

Eijun hit a pop fly ball, which was caught, resulting in an Out.

That was one of the two mistakes Eijun made in the game.

The other mistake was allowing Johannesburg, who was a pinch hitter, to successfully get on base.

However, Eijun managed to solve that crisis through his perfect collaboration with Miyuki, preventing Johannesburg from posing any threat to the Tokyo representative team.

In Narumiya's opinion, this was a golden opportunity gifted to the Inashiro Industrial High School baseball team, a chance for them to regain their dignity.

If they missed it, even the gods wouldn't forgive them.

Eijun had made an error, and if the players from Inashiro Industrial High School could hit the ball out, wouldn't that restore their pride?

This was exactly why Narumiya energetically motivated his two teammates.

Carlos and Shirakawa understood Narumiya's intentions.

To be honest, this was also their true thought at the moment. In this game, other star players had already shown their worth in some way.

Only the two of them hadn't been able to find the opportunity to demonstrate their batting abilities due to the circumstances.

Now, in the bottom of the eighth inning, this could be seen as the Tokyo team's last chance to attack.

Otherwise, if the American team didn't score in the top of the ninth inning, the game would end early, and there would be no bottom of the ninth inning.

So, unless something unexpected happened, this was the Tokyo team's final chance to attack, and also their last chance to show their abilities.

"Don't worry. That pitcher might throw tricky pitches, but he's not the type you can't hit," Shirakawa muttered.

Even though he had worked well with Sawamura and Miyuki in the game, it didn't mean that Shirakawa had forgotten their positions.

In this game, they were close teammates, but after this match, they would inevitably become rivals.

In front of their opponents, they had to maintain their momentum.

So, this time, they had to show what they were capable of.

It wasn't just Narumiya and Shirakawa; Carlos also shared the same sentiment.

He casually walked to the Batter's Box, appearing particularly relaxed, as though he wasn't taking the game seriously.

Considering that the Tokyo representative team was already leading by six points, his attitude was understandable.

It was better to ease up a little and maintain appearances.

If someone didn't know Carlos, they would probably think that he was completely unconcerned.

However, anyone who knew Carlos even a little would understand that when he appeared the most relaxed, it was actually when he was the most focused.

'This guy was serious!'

Sawamura and Miyuki exchanged glances in the dugout, both realizing from each other's eyes that Inashiro players' behavior wasn't surprising.

The more outstanding the players were on the field, the more they couldn't accept being overshadowed.

The star players of Inashiro Industrial High School were even more unwilling to lose.

"However, how were they going to hit Conrad's pitches?"

"Those sudden sidearm deliveries from his body, whether for left-handed or right-handed batters, were on a completely unseen trajectory."

"Yeah, hitting the ball wasn't going to be easy," Umemiya added from the side.

If it were easy, there would have been plenty of monstrous batters in the Tokyo representative team who would have already hit the ball, and they wouldn't be waiting until now.

ROAAAR!!

The baseball suddenly shot to the inner corner like a diagonal line.

Carlos barely swung, making contact with the ball, but it flew foul.

Paak!

"FOUL!"

This was unavoidable!

'The angle of the ball was just too sharp.'

If it had been a normal hit, there was no way the ball would have stayed inside the field.

'Indeed, a monster!'

Even though Carlos understood Conrad's special pitching style, hitting the ball was still not an easy task.

This was Conrad's power.

This was the strength that had suppressed the entire Tokyo team's lineup.

'Well, this is tricky!'

To be honest, Carlos himself believed that in the entire country, no more than five pitchers could be compared to Conrad.

His strength was undeniable.

But even so, Carlos was determined to hit the ball.

Otherwise, it would be too embarrassing!

ROAAR!!

When the second ball came flying, Carlos consciously reduced the distance between his hands on the bat.

In doing so, he essentially suppressed his hitting power, forcing the bat to be accurate.

The angle at which the baseball rebounded also changed.

Paak!

After bouncing off, the ball finally landed fair.

Carlos didn't hesitate and immediately ran to first base.

The American fielders also tried their best to stop him.

But by the time he picked up the ball and looked at first base, it was already too late.

"Fast!"

Carlos's legs seemed as if they were equipped with turbo motors.

With a burst of speed, he dashed to first base.

"SAFE!"

…