Chapter 20: Smallest On The Field

"This pitcher Fujita has a really big pitching motion!"

When Watanabe casually mentioned this, several of his teammates on the Seidou High School baseball team immediately understood what he was trying to convey.

It must be said that anyone who is a regular on the Seidou High School baseball team is no simple character.

The problem Watanabe had been thinking about was something that everyone else had also been considering, but no one had an accurate answer, and no one had found the right direction.

They all turned their gaze to Watanabe, waiting for him to give a more detailed explanation.

At that moment, there was a change on the field.

The batter Kuramochi had been swiftly dealt with.

Ping!

The small baseball was hit and bounced on the ground before being stopped by the fielder and thrown to first base.

"OUT!"

Two Outs, no one on base.

Although Fujita's performance had not been very impressive when he pitched last inning, this time, it was clear he was a bit different.

Not only was his momentum fiercer, but the unique characteristics of his pitching were also more pronounced.

Even Kuramochi had unknowingly fallen for it.

When the Cheetah-sama returned to the bench, he was visibly furious.

He was frustrated!

Earlier, he had made up his mind not to hit the ball into the field. Just like the previous pitch, he originally wanted to hit the ball foul.

But for some reason…

After the small baseball made contact with the bat, it actually bounced into the field!

By the time Kuramochi reacted, it was too late…

The small baseball had already been hit and was bouncing away.

Fortunately, the ball landed in a decent spot, so it wasn't directly caught.

For others, this might not have mattered much, but for Kuramochi, as long as the ball wasn't caught directly, and it hit the ground, he still had a chance.

When he saw the ball bounce away, it was already beyond his control.

Kuramochi quickly let go of his bat and sprinted toward first base.

He didn't even need to think about it. His desire to attack was already ingrained in his blood.

Unfortunately, he was still a step too slow.

The ball he hit was too close, and soon, the second baseman from Nanakyo High School intercepted it and threw it to first base.

At that, there were two Outs, and no one was on base.

Kuramochi returned to the bench, seething with anger.

Next up to bat was Kominato Haruichi, and Sawamura was also preparing for his turn at bat.

However, his attention is on Watanabe who is explaining his theory about Fujita's pitching.

Finding Fujita's flaw as quickly as possible and establishing a big advantage early on would allow the substitute players a chance to get on the field.

That was everyone's wish.

They were all wracking their brains, each trying to find a solution to Fujita with their batting skills according to what Watanabe told them.

This pitcher's motion was huge!

While they had noticed it before, they hadn't given it much thought.

Fujita was barely over 1.6 meters tall and quite thin. Given his physical build, throwing the ball at around 140 kilometers per hour would take a lot of effort.

It made sense that his pitching motion would be bigger.

And because it made so much sense, it was easy to overlook this most obvious phenomenon.

The teammates in the dugout were deep in thought.

In the Batter's Box, Kominato Haruichi didn't look too relaxed either.

At least those in the dugout had gotten a hint from Watanabe.

Haruichi had none of this at all.

He looked at Fujita on the mound, and the scene of Kuramochi being dealt with earlier kept flashing through his mind.

Kuramochi had been tangled up in several pitches. What was he trying to do? It wasn't hard for his familiar teammates to guess.

Realizing that he couldn't resolve it in a short time, Kuramochi had planned to battle for a few more pitches, to gauge the opponent's skill.

Unfortunately, that was just wishful thinking. For some reason, the ball he had intended to hit Foul had ended up in the fair territory.

The moment they faced each other, Kuramochi hadn't offered any useful advice.

This meant that even after a round of exchanges, Kuramochi had sensed that something was off with Fujita's pitching, but hadn't figured out what was happening, let alone how to solve it.

Haruichi carefully sized up the small, slender boy on the mound.

He looked like he was about 5 to 6 centimeters shorter than Kominato.

Haruichi was rarely the smallest guy on the field.

He himself was one of the slimmest players.

To see someone even smaller, it felt like Fujita was like a weak, frail figure, sent to the front lines.

That had to mean he had extraordinary characteristics.

This was clear in Kominato's mind. He didn't dare underestimate him. He focused all his attention, preparing to watch Fujita's pitch.

Snap!

"STRIKE!"

"STRIKE!!"

Two Strikes in a row, and Haruichi didn't swing.

His patience was excellent, and he kept watching the pitcher's movements.

The ball was fast!

140 kilometers per hour was a very fast speed, even in high school baseball.

Normally, this kind of speed would already be considered fast.

But Fujita's pitch?

If you were standing at the side or in the Batter's Box, it felt much faster!

In the blink of an eye, the baseball was right in front of him.

Honestly, Haruichi wasn't completely sure he could hit the ball accurately.

All he could do was try his best and leave the rest to fate.

When the ball was within reach, he swung.

'Here it came!'

Without letting Haruichi wait too long, the ball came hurtling toward him.

Haruichi raised his bat high and swung hard at the incoming pitch.

Paak!

The bat made precise contact with the baseball, sending it flying far to the outfield.

'I see!'

A relaxed smile appeared on Haruichi's face.

The timing of the opponent's pitch was hard to catch!

But luckily, he had finally nailed it.

…