Chapter 84: Mad Prince

Top of the ninth inning, two Outs!

The game between the baseball teams of Seidou High School and Inajitsu High School was a matchup between the strongest lineups of these two legendary teams, a direct collision that would be remembered by future generations.

In this game, the great demon king, Sawamura, set an unprecedented record with a double-digit strikeout performance.

Such a performance is enough to make any pitcher proud.

If a pitcher doesn't have a particularly distinctive style, it's impossible to achieve this in a lifetime.

And on top of that, Sawamura managed to double this achievement within the nine innings.

This means he got more than 20 strikeouts.

Such a feat is extremely rare in high school baseball. If the gap between the two teams is too large, the game will have ended early and won't last nine innings.

For a game to last nine innings, the strength of both teams must have reached a certain level.

In such cases, it's difficult for the pitcher to just rely on strikeouts to get the other team out.

Therefore, strikeout numbers are usually quite low!

In the history of West Tokyo, the highest strikeout record was only 17.

It is said that in non-battle zones, there was a record of 20 strikeouts some years ago, which was considered a spectacle!

At that time, the game was broadcasted and reported by TV stations and newspapers, and the pitcher became famous overnight.

Sawamura now has 21 strikeouts!

Not only did he break the West Tokyo Strikeout record, but he also set a new record for strikeouts in national competitions.

Truly, he created history with an unprecedented achievement.

He truly captured the attention of the crowd, and not just the tens of thousands of fans in the stadium, but those watching through TV or live streams were also incredibly excited.

They had just witnessed the birth of a piece of history.

The Great Demon King truly lived up to his name. Any rule in front of him seemed unreliable.

In this day and age, the fact that someone could achieve more than 20 strikeouts in a single game was beyond imagination.

The scouts from the professional leagues in the stands were all stunned.

They had no doubt about Sawamura's strength—his information had already filled their offices over the years.

What surprised them was the approach of the Inajitsu High School team.

They had not tried to stop Sawamura from getting more strikeouts, as if they had completely given up!

If that hadn't been the case, even Sawamura's terrifying power wouldn't have allowed him to rack up so many strikeouts against Inajitsu High School.

Little did they know, Coach Kunitomo's plan.

Coach Kunitomo wanted to distract Sawamura with the strikeout record.

For him, strikeouts didn't matter at all; the important thing was to win the game.

Allowing Sawamura to take the strikeout record from Inajitsu High School was humiliating, but as long as they won, everything would be worth it.

Even if people later praised Sawamura, they wouldn't overly criticize Inajitsu High School.

They might even make fun of Seidou High School.

With such a pitcher, and still unable to win, it would be embarrassing!

But he didn't expect Sawamura to remain so calm, not at all distracted by the strikeout record!

It seemed that achieving such an incredible record didn't matter to Sawamura at all.

All his pitching was based on the team's benefit.

Having such an Ace in the team really was a relief.

Coach Kunitomo even envied Kataoka.

As the game entered the final inning, he already knew this tactic wouldn't work on Sawamura, but he still let his players continue!

What else could he do?

After all, Sawamura had already set the record, so he might as well give Seidou High School and Sawamura a big surprise!

He just hoped that in the final moments, Sawamura would be slightly distracted and give Carlos a chance.

But Coach Kunitomo was bound to be disappointed.

Despite getting two consecutive strikeouts, each strikeout was a piece of history.

However, when facing Carlos, Sawamura didn't hesitate to abandon the strikeout strategy.

He used a bait pitch!

This wasn't because Sawamura wasn't interested in getting one more strikeout.

Even with decades of extra memories, he still desired to shine on the field—it had almost become his instinct as a pitcher.

However, Sawamura knew better that if he struck Carlos out, it would be impossible for Ono to catch that pitch.

What was the point of that?

The game had progressed to this point, and Sawamura couldn't afford any mistakes.

So, he decisively used the bait pitch to tempt Carlos to swing.

Carlos, though talented, couldn't avoid feeling nervous with two Outs.

Even though he knew the pitch was meant to lure him to swing, he couldn't control his urge to take a swing.

The pressure Sawamura put on him from the mound was immense!

This made Carlos second-guess himself.

If he didn't swing at this pitch, would he get another chance to swing?

The bait pitch wasn't a big deal; as long as he swung thoroughly, he could force the ball out.

Carlos thought this way and swung.

Ping!

The baseball was struck, soaring high into the air.

The moment the ball made contact, Carlos froze!

The tricky fastball unexpectedly started rising!

The pitch Sawamura threw was quite slow, about 140 km/h.

Considering Sawamura's overall pitching speed, this pitch was slow.

Normally, such a pitch would never rise, but this one did, and it rose more than any pitch before.

As a result, Carlos, trying to force the ball out, could only hit a high fly.

The ball flew for quite a while before coming down.

Though it flew high, it wasn't as far as expected.

At second base, Kominato Haruichi raised his mitt and effortlessly caught the ball.

Snap!

"OUT!!!"

Three Outs, offense and defense.

After the top of the ninth inning, the score was still tied at 1-1.

The game was now tied between Seidou High School and Inajitsu High School.

Bottom of the ninth inning, Seidou High School was up to bat.

In this inning, as long as they scored one run, the game would be over.

If they failed to score, the game would go into extra innings.

Even then, the situation would still be very unfavorable for Inajitsu High School.

Because their Ace, Narumiya Mei, had already thrown over 130 pitches by this point.

Even if his speed and power didn't drop, it was already terrifying.

If the game went into extra innings, unless Narumiya was possessed by aliens, his pitching would definitely falter.

In stark contrast was Seidou High School's Sawamura.

After pitching nine innings, Sawamura had thrown only 86 pitches!

He had hardly wasted any pitches, with only a few Fouled balls.

At Sawamura's level, he could have thrown at least 40 more pitches!

That's if he maintained his current state—if you count his spirit and persistence, he could even pitch 60 or 70 more pitches.

Based on his efficiency, even if this game went into the 15th inning, Sawamura would likely still be able to hold on.

At first, everyone thought that Sawamura's strength was on par with Narumiya.

From the outcome of this game, the two of them were evenly matched.

So far, Sawamura had only allowed one effective hit from Inajitsu High School.

Narumiya, including the Walk to Sawamura, had only allowed three effective base runners.

Both teams had scored one run.

In this pitcher's duel, both pitchers showed terrifying strength.

But the difference was still clear!

Sawamura had completed 27 outs with just 86 pitches.

His efficiency was so frightening that it was unprecedented and will likely never be seen again.

Narumiya, on the other hand, had thrown 130 pitches! Considering the strikeouts, he had to throw more balls outside the strike zone, so his efficiency was still very good.

However, compared to Sawamura's efficiency, it was immediately overshadowed.

It's not about not recognizing quality—it's about comparing the quality to each other.

When comparing Sawamura and Narumiya, it was clear that last year they were evenly matched, whether in pitching performance or strikeouts…

Though Sawamura had a slight advantage, it wasn't obvious.

But this time was different. Both had clearly surpassed the level of high school players. Facing the best in the nation, they could still toy with their opponents.

Their strength was unquestionable!

But it was obvious that Sawamura was far more relaxed than Narumiya Mei.

If Inajitsu High School had put more pressure on Sawamura, there's no way he would have gotten so many outs with only 86 pitches.

This was clear to the onlookers.

And even more so to Narumiya, the person involved!

It seemed that ever since middle school, Sawamura had always been ahead of him.

But before, though Sawamura led, Narumiya could always catch up.

Now, Narumiya found that no matter how far he reached, he couldn't catch up to Sawamura anymore.

'This kid, his strength has surpassed mine!'

Having this realization, Narumiya refused to accept it.

His eyes narrowed sharply, and his entire demeanor turned wild.

'No! This can't end like this!!!'

'The game isn't over yet, and Inashiro isn't losing yet.'

Narumiya absolutely refused to accept the defeat against Sawamura.

If he didn't explode now, he would die in silence.

Faced with Seidou High School's pressure, the Tokyo Prince, Narumiya Mei, chose to explode.

He seemed like a madman, his eyes full of terror.

On the mound, it felt like the entire world was at his feet.

...

T/N: Alright, this game will be completed Tomorrow!

As always, Thank you all for reading!!

And I hope you all have a good day!

You also can check my Patre0n for extra Chapters.

https://www.patre0n.com/ColdColt

There are +180 Chapters there.