Chapter 74: The Right Conditions

Two Outs, no one on base!

The surprise attack tactics of Hoshiryu High School didn't have the desired effect.

After joining the Seidou High School baseball team, although the brilliance of Sawamura overshadowed him, the presence of Furuya wasn't particularly strong.

However, it must be said that his improvement was significant!

At this point, although Furuya had not yet fully developed his own pitching system, relying on his nation's fastest ball speed, he had already developed his own way of dealing with opponents.

Simply using ordinary tactics to beat him had become very difficult.

Moreover, with the cooperation of Miyuki, this difficulty was multiplied exponentially.

Just now, when they dealt with Tsuchihara, this was proven.

In the Seidou High School baseball team's resting area.

The teammates, seeing Furuya's impressive performance, were beyond excited.

On one hand, they were happy for the team—if the Ace, Sawamura, could save his strength here, their semi-final and final would be much easier.

This was a strategic victory for Seidou High School's baseball team, so of course, they had every reason to be happy.

Besides, they also had their own small selfish desires.

There was still a significant gap in strength between the main players and substitutes on the Seidou High School baseball team.

Normally, the chances for substitutes to play were few.

But now, as the top substitute, Furuya had taken the mound.

He performed so excellently.

Unknowingly, he gave confidence and opportunities to the other substitute players.

What would Coach Kataoka be thinking after seeing this scene?

Would he consider arranging for them to play during rotation time?

From that standpoint, they of course hoped Furuya's performance on the mound would be as excellent as possible.

On the stands.

Owada Akiko, the reporter from Baseball Kingdom magazine, looked at the teams playing and sighed.

"When I looked at the data earlier, these players from Hoshiryu High School were all rivals of Sawamura-kun during middle school. Their competition with Sawamura-kun was always back and forth, and it seemed that even if they weren't better than him, the gap wouldn't be too large. But I never expected…"

She didn't finish her sentence.

But anyone could understand what she meant.

She didn't expect that after just two or three years, the gap in strength between the two sides would have grown this much?

The Demon King, Sawamura, had now become the number one player in the country, with such brilliant achievements that it was hard to even look at them directly.

He had once challenged the American Dream Team and faced off against the "Son of Baseball," Allen, in a direct showdown.

Among players of his age, only Sawamura had achieved such feats.

With someone like Sawamura, it was hard not to take notice of him.

It seemed that wherever he went, the spotlight would follow.

In contrast, the players of Hoshiryu High School's baseball team, after joining the team, went from having nothing to becoming regulars in the Koshien tournament.

Their journey seemed quite legendary.

If it weren't for the comparison with Sawamura, purely talking about them, they had already done very well.

They truly were the golden generation of Nagano Prefecture.

But compared to Sawamura, the gap seemed a bit too obvious.

Under these circumstances, how could Hoshiryu High School still be struggling?

This didn't seem like the team that had caused so much trouble for Sawamura during middle school.

"Now is not the time to say this!"

Fujio, who had been resting with his eyes closed, couldn't help but open his eyes when he heard Akiko's statement, muttering softly.

"It's still too early to say that!"

Hoshiryu High School's players failed to execute the strategy they had come up with.

This should have been a huge blow to their baseball team.

But strangely enough, there wasn't a hint of this blow from their players' expressions.

Miyuki, who was preparing to catch the ball at the catcher position, had the same feeling.

Although the opponent's performance wasn't weak, compared to their Seidou High School baseball team, the gap was still quite large.

It should have been easy for Seidou to defeat them.

Yet the game dragged on for so long, and Hoshiryu High School kept falling into passive situations again and again.

But from start to finish, they never gave up on the game.

'This was so unusual!'

'It was almost unnatural.'

Things are too strange. There must be something going on.

Although Miyuki wasn't sure about Hoshiryu High School's full plan yet, at this moment, he began to vaguely sense that the players from Hoshiryu High School hadn't given up on the game.

On the contrary.

They were probably brewing a bigger conspiracy.

What could this plot be?

Miyuki didn't know.

But that didn't stop him from being on guard.

In the next confrontation, they faced Hoshiryu High School's third batter, Masamoto.

Masamoto is a tall, strong, and handsome guy.

It was clear that he had extraordinary strength!

He played as the core third batter of Hoshiryu High School, which showed the trust that Coach Hosho had in him.

At this moment, Masamoto took his position in the Batter's Box and raised his bat high.

He didn't use a bunt!

Masamoto's behavior made Miyuki both relieved and cautious.

He should have stuck with the strategy of forcing Furuya to throw more pitches, and more balls outside the strike zone.

Why did Masamoto change this strategy?

Was he confident he could do better? Or did Hoshiryu High School have another plan?

Thinking back to his last encounter with Masamoto, Miyuki shook his head secretly.

Looking back now, Masamoto's performance was quite impressive.

Hoshiryu High School's players had been weak when facing Furuya's pitches for the first time.

They barely made contact with the ball, which is why they got struck out.

It wasn't until the second round of encounters that Furuya's pitching speed slowed down.

Hoshiryu High School's players, having adapted after the previous encounters, finally started to make contact with the ball.

Oda, even so, still couldn't manage it.

Tsuchihara was a little better, but not by much.

In the end, both were dealt with.

These two Outs were achieved solely through Furuya's own strength.

Now, Furuya's performance was particularly powerful.

In this state, he didn't seem to be at a disadvantage even compared to Sawamura.

But Miyuki still couldn't feel completely at ease.

For some reason, he had a vague sense of unease.

It felt like something was about to happen.

Shaking his head, Miyuki pushed the absurd thought aside.

To be honest, for now, he really didn't have the mental space to think about such things.

All his attention was still on the opponent in front of him.

With just one more Put, they would close this inning.

Miyuki had a feeling that if they didn't concede any runs in this inning, their next games would be very smooth.

But if they did give up runs, this game might take some unexpected twists.

'Don't think about anything else. Just focus all your energy on taking down this opponent!'

Miyuki signaled to Furuya.

Furuya's thinking was still rather simple. Since the opponent hadn't used a bunt.

In this case, shouldn't he be able to perform however he wanted?

Shouldn't he be able to deal with the opponent however he wanted?

Furuya went through his pitching form and threw the baseball with all his strength.

Vrooooooo!

In Furuya's opinion, as long as the players from Hoshiryu High School do not adopt a bunt stance, he can completely ignore them and simply crush his opponents with his overwhelming ball velocity.

Although he had already dealt with two opponents earlier, there was still a lingering shadow in his mind regarding his opponents' bunting.

However, by now, Furuya has to some extent overcome the interference caused by his opponents' bunting.

Whenever an opponent actually assumes a bunt stance, his mind still becomes uneasy.

It's not that he's afraid, it's more like he feels uncomfortable.

It's a very strange feeling, one that's difficult to put into words.

It's simply a feeling of intense discomfort as if it's irritating.

When his opponent doesn't use a bunt and plans to hit normally, Furuya feels a sudden sense of clarity.

No matter how the opponent swings their bat, he's confident they won't be able to hit the ball.

At this point, Furuya is in a great state.

Although Miyuki still feels a bit uneasy inside.

He has a bad feeling, but if asked to explain it, he can't quite clarify it.

However, this feeling is very clear to him. Miyuki judges that the opponent is surely hiding some big move.

Since they don't know what tricks the opponent has up their sleeve, they can only respond with their own strategy unchanged.

'There's only one Out left; use your strongest pitch and solve the opponent!'

Whether it's Sawamura or Furuya.

These two rivals, despite being the same age, share a big similarity.

That is, their pitches, even without using any strategy, are already incredibly difficult to deal with.

To put it simply, even if the opponent knows what type of pitch they will throw, it's often helpless—they can't hit it, and there's simply nothing they can do.

In this situation, as their partner, Miyuki's game-calling strategy is very simple.

When you don't know what kind of trick the opponent is playing, just use the strongest weapon in their arsenal and crush the opponent with pure power!

In the past, Furuya had this flaw.

When he first joined the Seidou High School baseball team, the young man was incredibly cocky.

For a long time, he firmly believed that as long as he could perfectly showcase his pitching, he could beat any opponent, no matter who they were.

But after encountering Sawamura, he was heavily struck down.

Furuya began to tone down his cockiness a lot.

But it was only toned down—it wasn't that he stopped being this way.

Old habits die hard.

Perhaps it was because today's match was going so smoothly, and Furuya had never encountered any significant resistance.

That wild state inside him gradually began to revive.

He felt that as long as he could perfectly showcase his pitching, he could easily defeat his opponent.

This mental shift wasn't easy; it came after long and complicated inner struggles.

Moreover, no matter what he's thinking on the inside, Furuya's exterior gives no hint of it.

So, none of his Seidou High School teammates noticed.

Furuya's mentality had become inflated.

Whether this small level of overconfidence in his mindset is good or bad in a match, that's something no one can say for sure.

But for the Seidou High School baseball team, this small mental issue of Furuya caused quite a bit of trouble for the team.

Roaaar!

The baseball shot like a laser, instantly crossing the 18-meter distance and landing in Miyuki's glove.

The pitch, approaching 160 km/h, was so fast that even as an observer, you could feel its incredible speed.

It was even terrifyingly fast!

If you were standing as a batter or catcher, watching that pitch, the shock would be truly astonishing.

The pitcher just raised his hand, and the next second, the baseball was right in front of you.

Unbelievably fast!!

Before anyone could even react, the baseball had already flown across and landed in the catcher's glove.

This pitch, if you only look at the process and not the result, was absolutely perfect.

But as for the result... well, it wasn't as satisfying.

"BALL!"

Furuya's pitch looked incredibly sharp.

Any batter standing in the Batter's Box would find it extremely difficult to hit such a pitch.

But it was unfortunate that such a well-executed pitch didn't land in the strike zone.

Earlier, Hoshiryu High School's series of aggressive moves, although they didn't completely take down Furuya, had managed to rattle his control.

Furuya's control started to falter, and he couldn't consistently throw strikes like he had earlier.

In Seidou High School's dugout:

The teammates looked at each other, puzzled.

The first pitch was a Ball!

For a pitcher, this choice isn't unreasonable.

Not knowing the opponent's strength or condition, it's common to start with a pitch to probe.

This is a typical approach in baseball and pitching battles.

However, when it comes to Furuya, this is a bit unusual.

His pitching is incredibly strong right now.

There's absolutely no need to overcomplicate things here.

…