Chapter 99: Newcomers’ Own Test

It seems that Seidou High School isn't as strong as they imagined.

In fact, when you get down to it, their strength feels somewhat lacking.

At this moment, the players from Kashiwagi High School were full of fighting spirit.

For strong teams, you don't need much time at the start of a match to gauge their strength. Just by observing their demeanor and posture, you can almost immediately tell where they stand.

From the perspective of Kashiwagi High School's Coach and players, Seidou High School's baseball team didn't seem very strong.

Despite the fact that their lineup and formation appeared impressive, they were soon exposed once they started playing.

Especially the freshmen, who moved awkwardly and reacted slowly.

The imposing demeanor of Seidou High School's baseball team, the Spring Koshien champions, seemed entirely absent.

Why was there such a huge contrast in performance from the team that just won the Spring Koshien? It didn't make sense, and the players from Kashiwagi High School couldn't help but wonder.

Why was Seidou High School's baseball team performing like this?

But they soon found a reason for it.

To put it simply, it was like picking at someone's flaws.

Kashiwagi High School believed that these players had just graduated from middle school and hadn't been training with the Seidou High School baseball team for even three months.

Seidou High School's winning spirit? They had barely scratched the surface.

It made sense for them to appear outwardly strong, but without substantial strength behind it, it was expected.

No wonder the new players from Seidou High School were performing so poorly.

'This is an opportunity!'

'We can do this!'

Now that Kashiwagi High School had pinpointed the weaknesses of Seidou High School's new players, the team and Coach were filled with excitement.

They didn't know what was going on in the mind of Seidou High School's Coach, Kataoka, but he ended up sending only freshmen players, who were still quite immature in terms of skill.

Their performance was clearly immature.

Given this situation, Kashiwagi High School had a chance to defeat Seidou High School's team.

As the most popular team in the country right now, Seidou High School has undeniably earned its reputation.

They had just defeated the American Dream Team, which put them at the peak of their fame.

In this crucial moment, if Kashiwagi High School could defeat Seidou High School's baseball team, it would be an incredible achievement.

The players of Kashiwagi High School almost lost control with excitement at the thought of this.

Although no media were present to cover the match, and only a few alumni from Seidou High School were watching, the news of a victory would still spread.

Even if Seidou High School didn't make any moves in this regard, they could still leak the information themselves.

Kashiwagi High School defeating Seidou High School… Even though it wasn't in an official competition, it would still be incredibly exciting.

The players from Kashiwagi High School could proudly brag to everyone about it afterward.

Moreover, with Seidou High School's influence and the future development of players like Sawamura, they knew their fame would only continue to grow for the next 20 or 30 years.

At that time, even if they weren't playing baseball anymore, they could still boast to their children, "Do you know the legendary Seidou High School? Do you know the team with that Ace pitcher or the players who made it to professional baseball? Back in the day, I played against them, and we managed to win—against all odds!"

They could even say, "It was easy, really!"

As long as they could defeat Seidou High School's baseball team, these dreams would become a reality.

But whether they defeated Seidou High School's main team or not? That didn't really matter.

That wasn't important at all.

With these thoughts in their minds, the players from Kashiwagi High School were fired up, and their morale soared.

In Seidou High School's rest area, Sawamura and Miyuki exchanged a look. Both saw concern in each other's eyes.

"These first-year kids were really struggling!"

They weren't like the seniors who had undergone the harshest training and had gradually adapted to playing under extreme physical exhaustion.

But these freshmen? They were pushing their limits for the first time, pushing themselves to the edge of exhaustion.

They didn't fully understand their own physical state.

How much more could they perform now? Would forcing themselves to keep going lead to worse consequences?

These were the troubling questions they were facing. If they couldn't overcome them, it would be hard for the first-years to perform well in this match.

Despite Seidou High School's two-run lead, it was anything but secure. It was extremely fragile.

Kashiwagi High School's players just needed to seize one opportunity to change the game.

"Looking back, it hasn't been easy to get this far!" Sawamura said, reflecting deeply.

The Seidou High School team nodded in agreement.

Who sweated more than anyone else? Who cried more than anyone else?

To an outsider, this might just seem like a heroic slogan. But who could understand the effort and helplessness behind it?

There's no denying it.

Whether it's second-year or third-year players at Seidou, no one made it to the main team without working exceptionally hard.

The effort they had put in was unimaginable to most people.

Now it was time for the freshmen to put in that same effort.

Sawamura and the others knew that unless one of the freshmen gave up, Kataoka would never substitute anyone during the match.

No matter how badly they lost, Kataoka would not intervene.

This was the test for the new players.

If they wanted to stay in the first team as first-years and replace the second or third-year players, they had to prove they had the confidence, courage, and strength to face any challenge.

These were the three things they needed, and they couldn't afford to lack any of them.

Kataoka's careful plans hadn't been fully understood by the freshmen at first.

At this point, they didn't have the energy to think about anything else. Just trying to control their awkward, exhausted bodies had drained all their strength.

There was no way they could consider Kataoka's intentions.

With no Outs and a runner on first base, the first batter from Kashiwagi High School managed to reach base. This gave Seidou High School's freshmen a major shock.

For the first time, they realized how much their physical condition was hindering their movements.

They couldn't keep going like this!

Although they were first-years, players like Nishiyama, Yui Kaoru, and Okumura were no ordinary freshmen.

They had made names for themselves as young talents, and their understanding of baseball and match situations often surpassed that of some professional players.

One warning sign was enough for them to realize things were not going well.

Standing on the mound, Nishiyama felt even more pressure.

'Had the fishing balls plan already failed?'

This realization left Nishiyama feeling powerless.

If all the players were in the same state as Hirota, then continuing to pitch those fishing balls would only lead to easy Outs for the opponents.

But if he didn't pitch those types of balls, how many more could he throw with his tired arm?

'That was another problem.'

When your mind is filled with too many thoughts, it's hard to maintain focus. And Nishiyama, too, was no exception.

Once his attention started to waver, his energy for pitching became less concentrated.

Whoosh!

Before he realized it, the baseball had slipped from his hand and flew off.

Nishiyama was stunned.

'Damn it! How did I throw the ball so carelessly?!'

When his concentration began to waver, his ability to focus on pitching naturally became compromised.

It was completely unintentional...

In Seidou High's dugout, Sawamura and Miyuki exchanged glances.

Their earlier concerns had come true.

When the body is extremely fatigued and muscles are overly exhausted, another serious issue arises—inertia.

When a person is in a state of extreme exhaustion, body control becomes significantly impaired.

Even controlling one's own body doesn't always go as intended.

Before fully processing everything, before the brain even gives the command, the body instinctively reacts on its own.

Right now, Nishiyama was clearly showing signs of this.

Ping!

Given the way he had just pitched, the quality of the ball was obvious.

The batter immediately smashed it out.

Tap!

The baseball hit the ground—this time, landing in the outfield.

Yui Kaoru rushed over, running toward the ball's landing point.

He prepared to field it.

But his body was trembling slightly as well, struggling just as much as Hirota had earlier.

Fortunately, his fundamentals were stronger than Hirota's. Though he didn't manage to catch the ball immediately, he still managed to block it before it bounced too far.

By the time he got control of the ball and tried to throw it—

It was already too late!

The batter reached first base. The runner advanced to second.

No Outs, runners on first and second.

Seidou had a rough start, allowing back-to-back runners on base.

At the same time, they were now facing an unprecedented crisis.

"What is happening?"

"They are this tired?"

"I know playing like that is harsh but come on man!"

Was it that their teammates were performing poorly? That didn't seem to be the case.

Given their current physical condition, these first-year players appeared to be giving everything they had.

Yet the results—were still unsatisfactory.

Why?

The biggest problem for the players on the field right now was that they didn't know what to do.

It felt like, in their current state, they simply weren't on the same level as the players from Kashiwagi High.

The overall strength difference was palpable.

'We can't rely on anyone else!'

On the pitcher's mound, with runners on first and second,

Nishiyama snapped!

He started pitching with full force, no longer relying on fishing pitches to secure Outs.

With a runner on second, it meant that Kashiwagi High's players had already entered the scoring position.

If Nishiyama's pitches got hit again, Kashiwagi High scoring would be inevitable.

So, he powered up, going all-out on his pitches.

This pitcher had improved significantly after months of training with Seidou.

Even without mentioning subtle, unseen changes, just in terms of sheer velocity, he had improved drastically.

His peak speed had now surpassed 140 km/h,

Even in a state of extreme fatigue, when pitching at full force, he could still maintain the intimidation factor of a fastball.

And this was still just the beginning of the game—his stamina hadn't been fully depleted yet.

"STRIKE!"

Watching the ball zip past, Kashiwagi High's third batter had an expression of disbelief in his eyes.

'Is this a joke?'

Why was it that when the first and second batters were up, Nishiyama's pitches were only around 130 km/h?

But when it was his turn—the speed suddenly jumped by 10 km/h.

'The difficulty level had skyrocketed in an instant!'

'Is that even fair?!'

Caught off guard by the sudden increase in speed, Kashiwagi High's third batter clearly struggled to adjust.

He gritted his teeth and held on, but ultimately—he failed to connect with the ball.

"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!!!"

With runners on first and second, Nishiyama fired back, securing the first Out with power.

But—this did not alleviate Seidou High's crisis.

Because up next—

Was Kashiwagi High's cleanup hitter.

The fourth batter!

Even though Kashiwagi High wasn't a particularly strong team overall, that didn't mean they had no exceptional players.

Their fourth batter—

Even Sawamura thought he looked somewhat familiar.

Though he couldn't recall the player's name, anyone who caught Sawamura's eye like this most likely ended up going pro and making a name for himself.

This meant—this player's achievements already surpassed those of Isashiki Jun and the others.

"This is going to be interesting."

In the dugout, Sawamura muttered to himself.

And almost as if in response—

Nishiyama's next pitch was smashed into the air.

Ping!

First pitch, and he swung immediately.

Targeting a standard fastball.

Nishiyama's pitch wasn't particularly well-executed.

Because his body control wasn't at its best, his command suffered as well.

This particular pitch—ended up drifting too close to the center.

And the batter locked onto it, crushing it.

Watching the baseball soaring through the air, Nishiyama's expression grew bitter.

Up until now, he had believed that his strength was already quite good.

That even when compared to the top high school players, he wouldn't be far behind.

But now he realized—he had been living in a small world.

There were plenty of outstanding players out there.

"It's… it's flying out!!!"

At Seidou's home field, right in their own stadium—

They had been blasted for a home run.

The score instantly flipped to 3-2.

For a moment, the entire field fell into an eerie silence.

A gust of wind blew past, rustling the newly sprouted leaves on the trees.

The tender buds swayed back and forth—seemingly on the verge of falling.

But in the end, they held firm—clinging to the branches without dropping.

…