Chapter 45: Stray Cats And Dogs

In the third round of the Koshien tournament, the Seidou High School baseball team is playing against the Kanetsu-Norin Agricultural High School.

The game is underway and progressing passionately.

The excitement of this match was something no one had expected beforehand.

Although Kanetsu-Norin High School had previously defeated Seijitsu High School with a score of 4:0, demonstrating their overwhelming strength.

However, from the perspective of baseball professionals, they still hadn't shaken off their "underdog" status.

For such teams, when luck is on their side, defeating one or two strong teams is not an impossible feat.

There had been many such battles in the Koshien tournament before.

You can't judge the strength of Kanetsu-Norin High School based on just one game.

At this point, it could only be said that their strength was decent.

A decent underdog team facing off against the national powerhouse, Seidou High School baseball team.

Who would win? For many people, there seemed to be no suspense.

It was likely that Kanetsu-Norin High School would collapse the moment they met Seidou.

Such things had happened many times on the Koshien field before.

After all, they were an underdog, and being an underdog means certain things are unavoidable.

For example, strength, and some other factors.

It was all like this.

No one could escape such laws.

No one expected that when the two teams truly faced off, the underdog would fight this strongly.

In the dugout.

The teammates had lost their previous lighthearted atmosphere and were now focused.

"The opponent is far stronger than we thought," Miyuki said to Sawamura with a deep feeling.

According to their original pitching strategy, Sawamura planned to pitch seriously for two innings, and then use defense during the middle innings to get Outs.

This was his usual pitching strategy.

It guaranteed results without exhausting him too much.

But now, it seemed that trying to stick to this approach might not be so optimistic.

The opponent's strength was much greater than they had imagined.

"We probably can't relax either! Looking at the situation now, I think we really need to carefully consider our game against them," Miyuki added.

Though Seidou High School had scored a point, Kanetsu-Norin hadn't lost momentum.

"Let's go for it! If it's a pitching duel, I'm not afraid of anyone," Sawamura said, preparing to change his pitching strategy.

Since the opponent wanted to engage in a fierce pitching battle, he would meet them on their terms.

When it came to Strikeouts, who was afraid of who?

In the bottom of the first inning, Kanetsu-Norin took their turn to bat.

The first batter up was their first baseman, Okawa.

Seidou's players understood the strategy behind this arrangement.

From his previous defense, it was clear that he was a fast player.

Having him as the leadoff batter meant that Kanetsu-Norin's tactics were somewhat similar to Seidou's.

'In the previous two games, he had accumulated six hits and was walked once.'

The information about this opponent instantly appeared in Sawamura's mind.

Though they were underdogs, Sawamura had still prepared carefully for this match.

Kanetsu-Norin wasn't just Hoshitaru's team; there were several players worth paying attention to.

The most notable was the first baseman, Okawa.

His defensive efficiency was very high, and his offensive abilities were also impressive.

So far, his batting average was 57%, and his on-base rate exceeded 70%!

Such numbers were second only to their ace, Hoshitaru.

Even players from other teams found it hard to match such stunning stats.

Against an opponent like this, Sawamura didn't dare to be careless and immediately showcased his full power.

He lifted his right foot high, then dropped it fiercely like an axe.

His pitching motion was very large, and his body seemed like a moving cannon, ready to fire a projectile.

As his body shifted weight, the baseball in Sawamura's hand rocketed forward.

Videos of the "Great Demon King's" pitches had already appeared online, and many rumors surrounded his pitching.

Before the game, Kanetsu-Norin's players had gathered information and seen these rumors.

At first, they had carefully recorded everything, planning to devise a good strategy based on this information.

But after reading the descriptions, they abandoned the idea.

According to the articles, Sawamura's pitching seemed almost magical.

At the invisible release point, the ball seemed faster than its actual speed, like facing a 160 km/h fastball…

Endless breaking balls…

Invisible pitches…

Pitches that suddenly disappeared…

These outlandish stories were clearly written in articles.

Such descriptions made it seem like these were not pitches a real person could throw, but feats only magical beings from fictional worlds could accomplish.

If they based their strategy on these stories, they'd have no way to deal with Sawamura's pitches.

They had to abandon these unrealistic tactics.

They decided to observe Sawamura's pitches in person and then come up with a plan.

As the first batter, Okawa had the task of observing Sawamura's pitches and sharing his thoughts.

His teammates would then come up with countermeasures based on his description.

Okawa kept his eyes fixed on Sawamura, watching his pitch.

He saw Sawamura's body moving forward, but the baseball in his hand never seemed to appear.

His pitching arm was completely obscured by his mitt and body.

'The release point was truly invisible!'

At that moment, Okawa remembered the online rumors.

'Could it be that the stories were true?'

'Was Sawamura's pitching really like the legends described?'

'An invisible release point, endless types of breaking balls...'

'Could it be true, as everyone says, that he's born with an extremely unique body…?'

'This is too fantastical!'

Not being able to see Sawamura's release point was enough to leave Okawa stunned.

But what happened next surpassed his understanding of common sense.

By the time he saw the little baseball, it was already right beside him.

'What?! When?!'

The speed was beyond what could be described as fast or slow. Okawa didn't have time to react at all.

He could only wait for the baseball to fly past his eyes before he turned his head in shock.

'What…just happened?'

The baseball flew past him like lightning, vanishing in an instant.

Earlier, when the team was practicing, they had seen their Ace, Hoshitaru, pitch.

Hoshitaru's top pitch speed reached 150 kilometers per hour, and watching it from the Batter's Box felt incredibly fast.

It was like a bullet train passing by you in a split second.

It was so fast, it left them little time to react.

"Too fast!"

"That's definitely the fastest pitch in high school!"

Since their team didn't have a speed gun, they had never used a high-end baseball field in regional competitions.

So, they had no idea just how fast Hoshitaru's pitches really were.

But it felt like that was probably the fastest speed in high school.

Their limited imaginations couldn't even fathom a faster pitch.

It wasn't until the Regional Tournament that they learned how fast their own Ace's pitches really were.

Just as they had imagined, it was indeed astonishing.

It was among the top in the country.

Of course, it wasn't as terrifying as they thought. At least two pitchers had faster speeds than Hoshitaru. One was the country's fastest pitcher, Furuya Satoru, and the other was the Emperor of Hokkaido, Hongou Masamune.

Both of these guys had pitch speeds hitting 155 km/h.

155 kilometers per hour—faster than Hoshitaru's by a whole level.

When they found this out, the players from Kanetsu-Norin High School were utterly shocked.

To be honest, they couldn't even imagine what a pitch at that speed would feel like.

Sawamura's speed was also fast, his fastest pitch reaching 148 km/h, nearly 150.

It was said that his pitch looked even faster from the Batter's Box.

The players from Kanetsu-Norin High School's baseball team didn't have a clear concept of this description.

Was this "faster" a whole new level?

Did it mean that Sawamura could throw a 148 km/h pitch and make it feel like 150 km/h?

Just that was astonishing enough, and the Kanetsu-Norin players had trouble believing it.

But now, Okawa knew.

It wasn't nonsense on the internet—it was because they were too limited in their perspective.

They had no idea how vast and expansive the world was.

The pitch Sawamura threw didn't look like just 150 km/h.

It was probably even faster than 155 km/h.

From Okawa's own perspective, the pitch speed wasn't even on the same dimension as Hoshitaru's.

It was so fast that it nearly scared the piss out of him.

'Incredible!'

After seeing Sawamura's first pitch, the batter was completely dumbfounded on the field.

Sawamuraa continued his rhythm uncaring about his opponent's astonishment.

WHRROOSH!!

"STRIKE!!"

"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!!!"

Naturally, Sawamura's die-hard fans were thrilled with this change.

"Did they really think their big boss could be defeated by just any stray cat or dog?"

"Don't overestimate yourself!"

It wasn't just the die-hard fans who thought so, even the reporters from the Baseball Kingdom magazine felt the same way.

"These guys are so pitiful! The strength gap between the two teams is so wide, and Kanetsu-Norin's offense isn't that strong. It's going to be really hard for them to score any runs off Seidou."

Though Owada Akiko was a Seidou supporter, she couldn't help but feel a bit of sympathy for Kanetsu-Norin High.

Why do stories in manga or anime often focus on teams like these as the main characters?

The reason is very simple—they resonate the most with the audience.

There were many Seidou supporters in the stands.

However, they weren't particularly harsh on Kanetsu-Norin High.

Their feelings were the same as Akiko's.

Deep down, they truly appreciated a team like Kanetsu-Norin High.

"What's going on?"

Finally, it was Hoshitaru who asked the question.

Okawa still had a ghostly expression on his face.

"There were no breaking balls! Only fastballs!"

Fastballs!

Sawamura had used only fastballs to shut down his opponent, leaving them unable to even swing the bat.

When Hoshitaru heard this, his face was filled with disbelief.

…