Chapter 46: Bunch of Fools

While studying Sawamura's data, the players on Kanetsu-Norin High School's baseball team marveled at his strength.

He seemed like a character who had stepped out of a manga.

He's just too perfect, too dominant!

But no matter how perfect or dominant he is, he is still their opponent.

They had to come up with a way to deal with him.

There's always a way to overcome difficulties.

At that time, the players on Kanetsu-Norin High School's baseball team had indeed found quite a few methods.

As for whether these methods would be effective?

They would only know once the real game started.

But having a plan was better than having no plan.

So, before the game, the players on Kanetsu-Norin High School's baseball team believed they were fully prepared.

Now, they just had to see if the tactics they had planned would work against Sawamura.

After studying Sawamura's pitching, it was easy to draw one conclusion.

Although his fastball is sharp, he rarely uses it.

He mainly relies on his Moving ball and his colorful Breaking Balls.

The fastball, which only appears occasionally, is mainly used to disrupt the batter's rhythm. Sawamura never seems to use his fastball as his main weapon.

When the players on Kanetsu-Norin High School's baseball team figured this out, they were incredibly excited.

Through their hard work, the players on Kanetsu-Norin High School's baseball team had figured out some of Sawamura's habits.

Although these habits might seem insignificant, it's still a good sign, right?

What's more, besides this, they also noticed other things.

For example, Sawamura seems to enjoy showing off.

There are many times when he doesn't have to do something, but he still does it.

Sawamura will do unnecessary things for his own goals or just because of some small whim.

He likes to show up to his opponents!

There were many times when he could have easily struck out his opponent but instead deliberately allowed them to hit a high fly ball, which he then caught on the mound himself.

It looked very cool.

Sawamura's fans even gave this move a nickname.

They call it "The Swallow's Homecoming!"

This has become Sawamura's trademark move.

But honestly, what's the point of this move?

Besides showcasing his precise control and showing that he has fully read his opponent,

is there any real practical use for it?

No, not at all.

Based on these two points, the players on Kanetsu-Norin High School's baseball team made a strategy that focused on countering the Breaking balls and Moving balls.

On the surface, this strategy seemed messy.

It appeared to have no clear logic!

But honestly, this idea isn't completely impossible.

In baseball, the more breaks applied to a pitch, the more the pitch speed will be affected.

Theoretically, the sharper the pitch movement, the slower the pitch speed will be.

This is in line with the laws of physics.

If Sawamura focuses on throwing Moving balls and breaking balls,

then maintaining a fastball speed of 147 km/h is already quite difficult.

It could even drop below 140 km/h.

These pitches, even the players from Kanetsu-Norin High School's baseball team, could afford to wait for these.

They could wait until the ball was closer to them before swinging.

With this approach, they might be able to hit the ball.

The players on Kanetsu-Norin High School's baseball team had thought about this strategy countless times in their minds.

They even simulated the situation many times in their minds.

The results of their simulations were pretty good.

Although the "Demon King's" pitching was no joke, they all had two arms and a head.

They weren't necessarily afraid of Sawamura.

They had imagined it well, and when Okawa went to bat, he was determined to use this approach.

He would ignore Sawamura's fastball and wait for his breaking balls.

If the ball was slower, he would wait until it was close and then swing.

The plan seemed very well thought out.

Now, it was time to face off against the legendary national No. 1 player in a direct showdown.

Okawa, fully prepared, almost collapsed when he saw Sawamura's first pitch.

They thought their plan was flawless and that, theoretically, they could deal with Sawamura.

But when they actually faced him, they realized they had overestimated themselves!

Things were not as simple as they had imagined.

The first issue was Sawamura's strange pitching form.

They had seen descriptions of this online many times, and from the videos, they could tell that Sawamura's arm was quite low when he threw.

However, from an overhead view, it's hard to see how terrifying this is.

Only when you stand in the Batter's Box and experience it firsthand can you truly understand the terror of Sawamura.

Forget 140 km/h!

In that situation, even Sawamura's slowest breaking ball might look like they're over 150 km/h.

That's not even the scariest part.

What was truly terrifying was that they had thought they could just focus on the breaking ball.

After the shock of the first pitch, Okawa quickly regained his composure.

He wasn't as fragile as he looked.

He still wanted to try and hit Sawamura's changeup.

Maybe he'd get lucky and hit it.

At least that would send a message to his teammates that their strategy wasn't useless.

Okawa thought things through, and he truly considered his teammates.

But unfortunately, he overestimated his own ability.

Facing Sawamura's sharp pitching, he quickly lost.

From start to finish, Sawamura didn't throw a single breaking ball or Moving ball.

He only threw fastballs!''

This left Okawa, who was determined to focus on the breaking balls, helpless to swing at the ball.

He was quickly struck out.

And it was a strikeout without swinging.

Unknowingly, this put immense psychological pressure on his teammates.

It turns out the "Demon King" really is that terrifying.

The people online weren't exaggerating; if anything, they had been conservative in their descriptions.

Based on how they were feeling right now,

Sawamura's strength seemed to be even greater than they had imagined.

Sawamura had no idea what his opponents were planning; he simply noticed that Okawa didn't react to his fastball on the first pitch.

So he guessed that his opponent would have difficulty hitting his fastball.

'This was his weakness!'

In a battle, when you discover an opponent's weakness, what should you do?

You should attack it relentlessly.

So Sawamura threw three consecutive fastballs and struck Okawa out.

One Out, no runners on base.

At this point, the second batter from Kanetsu-Norin High School's baseball team came up to bat.

After he stepped up to the plate, he showed a lot of the same traits as Okawa.

For example, he seemed to completely miss Sawamura's fastball.

SNAP!

"STRIKE!"

Miyuki, the catcher, furrowed his brows slightly.

'Was the second batter also intimidated, just like Okawa?'

He turned to look at the batter's face.

It was clear that the batter was shocked by Sawamura's pitch.

'His eyes had a hint of confusion.'

'But he wasn't panicking…'

That meant he wasn't truly frightened, but rather deliberately ignoring Sawamura's fastball and choosing not to swing at it.

'So that was their plan!'

Miyuki's face showed a devilish smile.

Then he signaled to Sawamura to throw the fastball.

The previous opponents of Seidou High School's baseball team always loved to focus on Sawamura's normal Moving balls and Fastballs.

As a result, they had thrown those pitches less often themselves.

Especially when trying to strike out batters, they rarely used those pitches.

But now.

Who knew what was going on in the minds of the Kanetsu-Norin High School players?

They decided to give up on Sawamura's fastball and focus on his breaking balls.

Was that a good idea?

Although Miyuki didn't understand why the opponent would make such a FOOLISH!!! decision, he didn't let them get away with it.

He decisively signaled Sawamura to throw the fastball.

Then,

"STRIKE!!"

"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!!!!"

"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!!!!!"

...

T/N: Well, That's it for now

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