Chapter 13: The Demon King’s Force

If the Coach of the Texas team noticed something was wrong and immediately replaced Lincoln with a fresh substitute pitcher, then the situation would be different.

A team like Texas was never going to rely on just one ace pitcher.

If they brought in a new, formidable pitcher, it wouldn't be easy for the Seidou High School team to figure out how to deal with them in such a short time.

But first, they had to take down the current opponent in front of them.

"FOUL!!"

"FOUL!!!"

Miyuki was still quite capable, having been locked in a five- or six-pitch duel with Lincoln.

Paak!

But in the end, the pressure from Lincoln's pitching forced Miyuki to weakly hit a bouncing infield ball.

Such a hit was bound to be useless to reach base.

Snap!

"OUT!!"

So, Miyuki was quickly retired.

Paak!

"OUT!!!"

Three Outs, offense and defense exchange.

The same result happened to Maezono!

Seidou High School baseball team didn't manage to score in this inning.

After the substitution, the effects were not ideal.

The pressure inevitably returned to Seidou High School.

Trailing by four runs and are unable to get their offense going.

This was a real test for the pitcher and the defense of the team.

If the pitcher could perform well in this critical moment, they might be able to turn the game around.

The pressure was enormous!!!

This was the burden on Sawamura and Miyuki's shoulders right now.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, both of them prepared to pitch.

Miyuki suddenly said playfully to Sawamura:

"It's time to show our real skills and let these guys from The U.S. see what level players of Tokyo really have!"

"That sounds cool!" Sawamura nodded at Miyuki with enthusiasm.

He was already eager to get on the mound and show what he could do.

The two bumped their mitts and entered the field.

The third batter from Texas Lone-Star Academy Team the one who had gotten a hit off Nishiyama earlier, came up to bat.

Although he wasn't as famous as Lincoln, he was undoubtedly an exceptional player.

Unfortunately for him, he was about to face an opponent that wouldn't let him continue his rampage.

In the rest area of the Seidou High School baseball team.

Coach Kataoka, wearing sunglasses, had no expression on his face.

Nishiyama, who was substituted, slouched helplessly in the rest chair.

Seeing Nishiyama in such a dispirited state, none of his teammates approached him to offer comfort.

In fact, it wasn't just Nishiyama; his teammates also felt that the standard of this match was too high.

They were probably going to have a hard time making an impact in such a game, and if they went up, they might fare even worse than Nishiyama.

In this situation, what right did they have to comfort Nishiyama?

Coach Ochiai was holding a stack of papers, containing the information they had previously gathered.

The Texas team had once played against the American representative team in the Little League World Series.

The result was utterly devastating.

Nine innings, 17-0 it could be described as a complete rout.

Compared to the young talents of the junior team, these semi-professional players from Texas were on a completely different level.

In contrast, Nishiyama had pitched for four innings and only gave up four runs.

'That was still quite impressive.'

Should he go over and comfort the boy, telling him not to carry such a heavy burden?

Perhaps he could gently pat Nishiyama's head. Although with Ochiai's height, patting Nishiyama's head would be quite a stretch.

But this didn't stop Coach Ochiai from imagining it.

'You've improved a lot over these past few months. Compared to the American players who competed with you, you can already be considered an excellent high school player,' Ochiai thought to himself.

But Coach Kataoka, standing ahead, still had his arms crossed and showed no reaction.

Ochiai hesitated for a moment but eventually dispelled the idea.

Coach Kataoka had already made many decisions on this American trip that they hadn't even considered before.

Regarding this, Coach Kataoka had already discussed things with the coaching team.

To avoid disturbing Kataoka from executing his plan, Coach Ochiai decided to keep quiet at this moment.

But before that, he could still add a little fuel to the fire.

Coach Ochiai casually set the papers aside and walked over to Nishiyama.

Nishiyama, ever so sharp, immediately noticed someone approaching and lifted his head.

"Coach!"

Seeing Coach Ochiai take the initiative to approach him, even though he wasn't sure what the coach had in mind, Nishiyama still stood up.

Coach Ochiai laughed twice, then said directly:

"You don't have time to be defeated. If you truly want to challenge for the position of Ace on Seidou's baseball team, why not go and see how your teammates are doing?"

These words were like a sudden revelation to Nishiyama.

Indeed, what was he even thinking, wallowing in defeat?

Since he had recognized his shortcomings, he had to find ways to make up for them.

For things he couldn't do right now, he might as well watch Sawamura-senpai and see how he handled them.

As a rotation player on the first team, even if he was just a bench player, being able to watch first-team games in the rest area was quite a valuable experience.

At this time, on the pitcher's mound, Sawamura had already started going head-to-head with his opponent.

The first batter from The U.S. was their third batter, the one who had been the first to hit Nishiyama's pitch earlier.

Nishiyama remembered this opponent very well.

The previous two times they faced each other, both times he was hit by this batter.

In Nishiyama's eyes, this guy seemed like someone sent by the heavens to punish him.

'Even Sawamura-senpai would probably have a hard time dealing with him.'

Just as Nishiyama was thinking this, Sawamura on the pitcher's mound had already started his pitch.

WHRROOSH!

It seemed like Sawamura was using all his strength on this pitch.

He had an extremely wide stance, and the pitch was astonishingly fast.

In the blink of an eye, the baseball shot out.

Even from the side, watching from the rest area, one could tell that Sawamura's pitching velocity was quite terrifying.

That sharp speed seemed like it would overwhelm everything in its path.

It was easy to imagine how incredible Sawamura's pitch would look from the Batter's Box.

However, the batter on the field appeared calm.

The American third batter didn't swing at first.

Instead, he patiently waited for the baseball to come, then chose to let it pass.

"Eh?"

'How could this be?'

In Nishiyama's memory, this batter never waited before.

'He would always swing if it was a good pitch.'

Why, then, did he let this pitch pass?

Nishiyama couldn't figure it out, and he unconsciously began to focus more on the game.

After observing for a while, he finally realized what was going on.

"It was the game calling!"

Unlike the game calling of Yui, Miyuki's game calling seems to target the opponent's weaknesses with every move.

At this moment, Yui, who was also watching the game with wide eyes, displayed a look of surprise in his eyes.

Earlier in the break area, it was clear that Miyuki had already prepared himself.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so well-informed about the batter's little habits.

"Just by observing the opposing batter's performance twice, he could make such insightful observations."

Yui couldn't help but admire him.

He was indeed their senior, and his skill level was on a completely different tier compared to theirs.

These are the men who stand at the top of the world at the high school level.

The level of exposure is different, so the players' perceptions naturally differ as well.

WHRROOSH!!

For the next pitch, Sawamura threw another sharp fastball.

The previously active third batter from the Texas team, when facing this pitch, was unable to swing the bat.

He was forced into a desperate situation, just watching as he got trapped.

"STRIKE!"

With a count of two Strikes and no Balls, the batter appeared to be easily cornered.

"Why isn't he swinging?"

Nishiyama murmured to himself.

Watching himself being forced into a corner like this didn't seem like the usual style of the batter from before.

Nishiyama couldn't figure it out.

Suddenly, a voice spoke up beside him.

"The batter isn't unwilling to swing; he simply can't do so."

The person who spoke had golden hair and appeared very cool and handsome.

It was Okumura Koushuu!

Looking at the figure before him, Nishiyama suddenly felt a thought in his mind.

He wanted to team up with this guy.

'Maybe it would feel different from teaming up with Yui.'

On the Batter's Box, the Texas team's third batter.

Beads of sweat began to form on his forehead.

Before stepping into the Batter's Box, he was full of confidence, thinking he could perform well.

But now, it seemed like he was wrong.

'Dude, what the hell?!'

The opponent before him was far stronger than he had imagined.

He wasn't even able to hit the ball, let alone send it out of the field.

After the count was two Strikes, he saw the pitcher on the mound lift his leg high and then powerfully throw the ball.

'Wait, something didn't seem right.'

Quickly, the batter realized something strange.

He suddenly couldn't see where the ball was coming from.

'What was going on?'

At the moment the batter was confused, the baseball suddenly shot out.

'Ugh, So Fast!'

Looking at the baseball coming toward him, the batter's eyes instantly widened.

That sharp pitch still caught him off guard.

By the time he reacted and tried to swing, it was too late.

His bat hadn't even completed half of the swing when the baseball passed through the strike zone!

SNAP!!

"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!!!"

"YEEEAAAAAHH!!!!"

"GOOO SAWAMURAAAA!!!!!"

"ONE OUT!!!"

"SHOW THEM WHO IS THE BOSS!!!!!"

With the first Out and no one on base, Eijun's excellent performance on the mound energized the entire team.

A pitcher's good performance on the mound can lead a team.

Sawamura's pitching had such an effect.

Not just the American players, but even the teammates in the dugout were amazed.

To be honest, they weren't surprised that Sawamura struck out the opponent with three pitches.

The Great Demon King had already shown many similar incredible performances in previous games, so they were somewhat immune to it.

But they never expected Sawamura would manage to strike out the batter using only three fastballs.

The difficulty of this feat was far more challenging than they had imagined.

"Only three fastballs!"

Not just anyone, even Nishiyama, who had been observing the game, couldn't help but sigh.

He knew Sawamura was strong, but there should be a limit, right?

The opponent was the Texas team, which could be called semi-professional players.

With one out and no one on base, Sawamura Eijun was now facing the Ace of the Texas team, Howard Lincoln.

Even for the fans watching the game, this was an electrifying scene.

Those who initially thought Sawamura and Miyuki were just bench players for the team, and that Seidou High School was throwing away the game, now realized that Sawamura was the true Ace of the team.

This was truly a battle of Aces.

…

T/N: Well, That's it for now!

As always, Thank you all for reading guys!

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