Chapter 82: Broken

On the pitcher's mound, Sawamura still had his style.

Whether it was his rhythm or anything else, Sawamura maintained everything exactly the same as before.

'It felt as if he had never changed his partner.'

On the Batter's Box, Tadano's mind was racing fast.

The situation was already clear. If they played an extra inning, the Inashiro Industrial High School baseball team didn't have much of a chance.

To put it simply, the longer the game dragged on, the more unfavorable it became for them.

In this situation, the only thing they could do was stick with Sawamura and try to catch a mistake from Seidou to rush onto base.

'Though Sawamura seemed unfazed, his partner had changed, and this would affect him in some way, both in terms of feel and reality.'

The more someone acts like they have everything under control, the more it reveals what they're lacking.

This statement applied perfectly to Sawamura at this moment.

The more he acted unfazed, the more it showed that after the change of his partner, he had more limitations.

In such a situation, as long as they persevered, an opportunity would certainly arise.

Tadano believed in this and had unwavering confidence.

So he clung tightly to Sawamura, hoping to find that tiny opening.

Ping!

After some back-and-forth, Tadano sent Sawamura's pitch flying out of bounds.

"FOUL!!"

Although Tadano was one grade lower than the likes of Narumiya and the others, his strength was by no means inferior.

Last summer, he was the only first-year player promoted by Inashiro.

A player highly regarded by Coach Kunitomo, naturally, wasn't an ordinary player.

After a year and a half of training with Inashiro's baseball team, his strength had begun to show.

Facing the Great Demon King Sawamura, his momentum was not lacking at all.

Through the previous few pitches, Tadano noticed that after changing partners, Sawamura had indeed been significantly restricted.

'Some tricky breaking balls were no longer thrown.'

This made his job a lot easier.

As long as he focused, he believed he could find an opportunity.

On the pitcher's mound, Sawamura wasn't affected at all by the Foul ball and once again threw the ball with precision.

Whrroosh!

This pitch was clearly different from the previous ones. Its movement was much sharper.

'It is that disappearing Cut ball!'

Tadano immediately recognized it.

Then he desperately locked in on the inside corner, ready to swing.

Through their prior observations, Inashiro's players already understood that the Cutter ball's evolution, it was a version that had more movement and could suddenly break into the batter's blind spot on the inside corner.

So the batter would instinctively think the ball had disappeared!

But in reality, the ball never disappeared.

So as long as they were prepared and kept their eyes on the inside corner from the start, this type of pitch could still be hit.

'Here it comes!'

Seeing the ball enter his sight, Tadano swung.

It looked like he was about to hit the baseball, but the ball veered back another two ball lengths at an incredible angle.

'The break is huge!'

Tadano had been confident, but now his heart sank completely.

In fact, during their team meeting, the Inashiro Industrial High School baseball team carefully studied Sawamura's breaking balls.

Even though they all understood the trajectory of his pitch, not everyone could hit it.

It required not only excellent eyesight but also a very fast swing speed.

Carlos, the leadoff batter, did well in this regard. He was able to match Sawamura's pitching speed and hit the ball.

Tadano wasn't bad, but compared to Carlos, he was a bit weaker.

As a result, he couldn't touch the ball and could only watch helplessly as the ball passed by his bat.

'It's over!'

With that swing and miss, Tadano felt hopeless.

If he struck out here, the opportunity for Inashiro would be even slimmer.

Tak!

Suddenly, amidst his despair, Tadano heard his teammates cheer, followed by a loud shout from Mei-san,

"RUN!!!"

Tadano froze for a moment, then understood what had happened.

Sawamura's Cutter Change had such a large movement that it surprised not only him but also the catcher, who failed to secure the ball. The baseball grazed the edge of his Mitt and flew out.

A strikeout was avoided!

Tadano felt as if he had been pardoned and sprinted toward first base.

By the time Ono retrieved the ball and threw it to first base, he had already safely reached the base.

"SAFE!!"

If there was any situation the Seidou High School baseball team didn't want to see, it was definitely this one.

The thing they were most worried about before the substitution had happened.

The world sometimes worked in such frustrating ways—whatever you feared most was exactly what would happen.

No Outs, a runner on first base!

In Inashiro Industrial's dugout, Coach Kunitomo's eyes gleamed with wisdom.

'No matter how calm Sawamura had been before, at the end of the day, he was still just a 16-year-old boy.'

With the temptation of getting a Strikeout and breaking records, he would instinctively throw a game-deciding pitch whenever the chance arose.

"Just like now!"

Sawamura, despite knowing there was a risk in throwing such a tricky breaking ball, threw it anyway.

And of course, the catcher failed to catch it.

It seemed that the luck was favoring Inashiro Industrial's baseball team today.

In Seidou's dugout, Miyuki stood up, uneasy.

He wasn't used to sitting in the dugout watching his teammates play on the field.

"Catching this pitch or not makes all the difference."

In practice, Ono could catch at least 8 out of 10 of Sawamura's Cutter Kai.

To put it simply, if the partner was Ono, this pitch was usable.

Sawamura must have thought so, which is why he threw the Cutter Change. He didn't throw it specifically to get a strikeout.

But Sawamura clearly overlooked one thing.

'That was, the Sawamura in an actual game was completely different from the one in practice.'

In an actual game, Sawamura's pitching speed was faster, and his power was greater.

But aside from Miyuki, no one else knew this.

The Seidou catchers had only caught SSawamura'spitch in actual games a few times.

In those games, Sawamura certainly held back a bit.

So they hadn't seen the full power of Sawamura's pitching yet.

"Sixth batter, third baseman, Yabe-kun!"

At this point, the batter was Yabe.

He was also invited by Narumiya but had not shown much performance in previous games.

Yabe was naturally dissatisfied.

If given a chance, he wanted to contribute to the team.

But now, he knew his responsibility.

Instead of focusing on performing, his current priority was to find Sawamura's weakness and hit all the hittable balls.

Otherwise, he would at least need to deal with Sawamura's tricky breaking balls!

The more the catcher missed, the less trust there was between them. Once the opportunity arose, the weakness would be found.

For the team's victory, Yabe temporarily set aside his grievances with Sawamura.

He decided not to challenge Sawamura head-on but to focus on fulfilling his Coach's task.

On the mound, Sawamura kicked some dirt and took a deep breath before pitching again.

He even glanced at Tadano, holding him with his gaze.

Ono gave a signal, apologized to Sawamura, and expressed his determination.

'I'll catch the next one for sure!'

Sawamura wanted to tell him that the mistake wasn't his. It was just that Sawamura had thrown the pitch too casually, forgetting to control the speed, which nearly made the Cutter Kai miss its mark.

But since they were partners, Sawamura couldn't just say that—it would seem like he was looking down on him.

So, he said nothing.

Tadano at first base was restless, as if preparing to steal.

It looked like he was trying to distract Sawamura.

But once Sawamura focused on first base, Tadano immediately backed off, just like a rat seeing a cat.

It was inevitable—the Great Demon King had a notorious reputation.

Standing on the pitcher's mound, Sawamura was nearly invincible.

If Tadano had strayed more than two meters from the base, he would have been truly afraid of not getting back!

Sawamura's pickoff was no joke.

He really could throw it, and his pickoffs were terrifying.

He forced Tadano back to his position, then set up and threw the pitch.

Tadano didn't dare to make any further moves.

Sawamura had the privilege of Last Moment Adjustment, and if Tadano tried to steal, it would be suicide.

After all, he wasn't Carlos, and even if Sawamura's partner wasn't Miyuki, he could still control him.

Originally, Yabe hadn't intended to swing at the first pitch, but Sawamura threw him a meatball right down the middle.

This felt like bullying!

Although Yabe knew there could be a trick, the ball either rose or dropped.

He only had to guess, and he had a chance.

The probability of getting it right was about 50%.

This chance was already pretty good in normal circumstances, not to mention his opponent was Sawamura.

Yabe couldn't ignore it and chose to bet on the breaking ball.

At that moment, Yabe seemed careless, but in the crucial moment, he was actually quite observant.

Although his plan was simple, it was spot on.

However, he clearly underestimated Sawamura's skills.

When the bat was swung, Yabe's face turned pale.

'I swung too early!'

'Damn it!'

He tried to delay his swing and managed to make contact with the ball.

Ping!

But by the time the bat made contact, he had nearly hit the ball with the top of the bat.

'Just a normal Changeup!'

Sawamura smiled.

He loved dealing with players who didn't think and felt a sense of intellectual superiority when solving them.

Snap!

The ball was sent flying, but Sawamura barely moved and caught it with ease.

Then he quickly threw it to second base.

"Hyaa-ha-haa!"

A quick figure was already at second base, ready to field.

After catching it, the figure stepped on second base and then threw it to first.

Snap!

"OUT!"

Snap!

"OUT!!"

Sawamura swiftly recorded two Outs.

Although he allowed a hit, his performance was just as stellar as usual, even more dazzling.

This is the Great Demon King!

When he had the best partner, it was great, but without one, he could still perform at a high level on his own.

If he didn't have this kind of ability, he never would have led Akagi Middle School's baseball team to dominate the country.

In Inashiro Industrial High's dugout, Coach Kunitomo looked shocked and surprised.

He wasn't surprised that Sawamura managed a double play, he had never imagined that Inashiro's lower batting lineup would be the ones to defeat Sawamura.

What surprised him most was Sawamura's choice.

He had assumed that after Sawamura had struck out 18 batters, he would focus on getting more strikeouts to break records.

This was one of the weaknesses Coach Kunitomo had identified.

Sawamura loved breaking records!

But unexpectedly, Sawamura remained calm and seemed unconcerned about breaking records.

This was not something a 16-year-old could usually do.

If Sawamura knew what Coach Kunitomo thought, he would be impressed by his sharp eyes!

Without his past experiences, Sawamura might have been obsessed with breaking records. Especially in a favorable situation, he might have pursued more strikeouts.

But with his years of baseball experience, Sawamura had learned not to make that mistake.

So, Coach Kunitomo had miscalculated.

"STRIKE!"

"STRIKE!!"

"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!!!!"

After getting Tadano and Yabe Out, Sawamura continued to dominate and secured the last Out.

Three Outs, offense and defense exchange.

On the last pitch, Sawamura used his Changeup to force Inashiro's batter to swing and miss.

This earned him his 19th strikeout of the game.

The record for strikeouts in West Tokyo that was just broken?

It was broken again!

The person who broke the record? None other than Sawamura himself.

After this game, the title of the Great Demon King would undoubtedly reach a whole new level.

...