Chapter 330: The Commander Returns to His Post
"Match point—an outside curveball!"
Right after Tetsu was driven into a corner, Sendo suddenly spoke up.
"What?" Miyuki heard him but wasn't sure, so he asked.
Ping!
Before Miyuki could even turn his head, the sound of the ball being hit rang out.
"The right fielder is already in position! It won't drop—out! The batter is retired! Yuki Tetsuya has been perfectly shut down!"
In the end, the right fielder didn't have to move at all, calmly making the catch.
The deciding pitch was exactly what Sendo had said—a curveball on the outside, just off the strike zone.
"Alright!!!"
"One out!!!"
Getting Tetsu's out sent Yokohama's morale soaring.
"What you just said… outside curveball, right?"
"Yeah."
Hearing the confirmation, Miyuki fell into thought and quickly figured it out.
Once you knew the result, it was easy to work backward and understand why they chose a curveball to finish him.
They'd been wearing Tetsu down with inside and outside pitches, mixing balls and strikes to dull his hitting instincts and expand what he perceived as the "strike zone."
The pitch before the finisher had been an inside fastball—143 km/h, according to the big screen.
Then came the slowest pitch of all, a curveball, thrown on the opposite diagonal.
Once you thought about it that way, the logic was clear.
The curveball wasn't a true slow curve, still clocking in the 120s, but with the inside–outside contrast, the change of pace, and the break, getting Tetsu out wasn't unreasonable.
People might say 150 km/h pitchers aren't rare at Koshien, but for high school baseball, anything over 140 km/h already counts as a true power fastball—especially with this level of control.
An average around 145 km/h with solid command—even a precise four-quadrant pitcher—could be an ace in pro baseball, or even on the national team.
That's why third-years like Amahisa and Narumiya Mei were called "super–high school level" in the original story.
Plainly put, they were already professional caliber—good enough to be aces right away on weaker pro teams.
Azuma would've been a first-team pro if he weren't so heavy.
Yokohama's offense wasn't much, but their defense was solid.
"Sixth batter, third baseman, Masuko!"
"Use fastballs to get strikes, then finish him with a breaking ball," Shiraha said, setting his glove.
Seeing that, Sendo gave a faint, knowing smile.
Unfortunately, Miyuki had already gone to the on-deck circle—otherwise he definitely would've wondered what that expression meant.
"Our Pudding-senpai isn't the same as he was four months ago."
Ping!
"The slider is hit—and it slips through the infield!
Sixth batter Masuko is on base!"
"Alright! Masuko-senpai!"
"Nice hit!"
"He's gained a bit more resistance against breaking balls. Still didn't square that one up, though," Sendo muttered as Masuko reached first.
"Seventh batter, catcher, Miyuki!"
"Anyway, keep the offense going, Miyuki Kazuya!
I'll take care of things later—when there's no one in scoring position, you're useless anyway! Hahahaha!"
Sawamura laughed loudly from the on-deck area.
"…!"
On the bench, Coach Kataoka, Chris-senpai, and Manager Ota were all speechless.
This guy… it's like he already forgot what just happened, everyone thought.
Sawamura had just humiliated himself in front of a massive crowd, yet he'd recovered absurdly fast. The seniors couldn't wrap their heads around it.
But it wasn't that Sawamura had forgotten—this was how he covered it up.
"Is that supposed to be cheering me on?" Miyuki glanced back at Sawamura.
He was annoyed. He really wanted to get a hit.
Whoosh!
Smack!
"Strike!"
Yokohama's battery opened with an inside fastball.
A high-speed pitch near Miyuki's chest—he flinched instinctively.
"That startled me… felt like it was coming at my face.
That's over 140 km/h—better be careful."
Whoosh!
"Same course!"
Smack!
"Strike!"
"A forkball! They completely changed their pitch selection!"
Whoosh!
"Inside again?"
Smack!
"Strike! Batter out!"
Miyuki swung and missed at a high-speed slider that slid from the strike zone into a ball.
It was a clean exploit of his slow swing speed, combined with the sudden change in pitch calling that left him unable to guess.
"No helping it—who told you to be useless with no runners in scoring position? I'll take care of the rest!!!
Ahahahaha—huh?"
Sawamura stopped laughing mid-laugh when he saw the sign from the bench.
Tap!
"You're telling me—to bunt?!"
"Perfect!"
Smack!
"Safe!"
"Seidou uses a bunt here to advance the runner into scoring position—but the batter unexpectedly reaches base as well! That's bad news for Yokohama!"
"More importantly, there's now a runner in scoring position—huge pressure for Yokohama. One mistake and they'll give up a run!"
What the commentators never imagined was that even without a sacrifice bunt, Sawamura would've given the opponent a free out anyway.
Advancing the runner was better—and Furuya was a more reliable hitter than either Miyuki or Sawamura at this point.
The successful bunt was pure luck.
"Why do you look so dissatisfied? Even if you swung, you wouldn't have hit it anyway!"
With so many people in Koshien, yelling wouldn't leak any signals—and Sawamura had nothing left to hide anyway. His batting ability was already well known.
"Ninth batter, left fielder, Furuya!"
"Furuya! Hit it! Time to show some manly spirit!"
Standing at first base, Sawamura hovered by the bag like a field commander, with no intention of stealing—completely different from the sulking version of himself moments ago.
"Idiot…"
Sendo watched the energetic Sawamura, speechless.
But looking on the bright side, at least it meant his pitching probably wouldn't be affected anymore.
Ping!
"He connects with the fastball! The center fielder is retreating fast!"
Smack!
"Out!"
"A fine play by the center fielder! Once again, defense saves the team!"
"Seidou's offense comes up empty this inning as well, leaving a runner stranded on second. The fourth inning is over, and the score remains 2–0!"
"We're still ahead! Go on the attack, Sawamura!"
"Take them out one by one!"
"Get the first out!"
"Let's go!!!"
"Oh!!!"
...
"Shut them down here—please, Sawamura!"
"Keep attacking!"
"This is all you can do—don't think about anything weird!"
As Seidou took the field, the bench cheered Sawamura on with everything they had—questionable wording aside.
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