NOVEL NEXT Chapter 15: The Truth About ‘Magic Ball’
Chapter 15: The Truth About ‘Magic Ball’
After a fierce on-base duel, the freshman team attack ended and the teams switched, and the senior team’s fifth batter stepped out.
fifth Batter, second grade, Kawashima.
Kawashima is an outfielder and also a pitcher. Now that the pitcher is Tanpa, he can only shine in the outfielder position. Kawashima’s overall strength is very good, especially his attacking strength. Although he is only in the second year, his attack has already surpassed most of the third-year seniors.
Kawashima was followed by Miyauchi in sixth and Tanpa in seventh.
To a certain extent, these three people are more difficult to deal with than the combination of the cleanups and the Maezono.
Kawashima stood in the box, constantly recalling the information that Maezono had exchanged with him before.
“That kind of Pitch seems to be a Ball on purpose. I thought it would be a Straight ball at first, but I didn’t expect it to be a Ball or a Foul.”
A Moving Fastball!
Kawashima has never heard of it.
“What kind of ball is that?”
Just when he was thinking, Sawamura’s pitch came.
Whoosh!
the white ball flew straight into the Strike Zone.
The ball path is to the inside corner.
Kawashima didn’t hesitate and swung his Bat directly.
Ping!
In his days in Seidou, he has developed a habit of never letting go of sweet balls. Although Sawamura threw the ball into the inner corner, the position was very sweet.
This ball, Kawashima will never let go.
Ping!
The ball was hit and went straight between the third base and the shortstop.
“Third baseman!”
On the pitcher's mound, Sawamura reminded the fielder.
Snap!
Kanemaru jumped up and took the ball off.
“OUT!”
The alumni who saw this scene were filled with regret.
“It almost flew out.”
“The third baseman just now, why did he appear there?”
“I caught the ball!” said Kanemaru
On the pitcher's mound, Sawamura lifted the corner of his mouth.
‘YOU caught the ball? That ball was originally thrown for you, okay?’
One out, no one on the bases. The next batter is the sixth batter, Miyauchi.
Miyauchi looked like a bison, standing in the batting zone.
His remarkable feature is his strong striking power!
At this time, Kariba gave Sawamura a sign: Inside corner!
‘Inside corner?’
Sawamura frowned and shook his head slightly.
This is the first time that Sawamura has objected to Kariba’s distribution of the ball. The young Catcher thought for a while and gave Sawamura a signal for the outside corner.
This time, Sawamura nodded slightly.
Whoosh!
The sharp-pitched ball flew close to the outside corner.
“Hmmmm~”
As if a train was running at full power, Miyauchi stared at the ball thrown by Sawamura, and then unceremoniously swung the bat.
Buzz!
The loud sound of swinging the bat shocked Kariba, who was in the position of the catcher and couldn’t help but feel his heart skip a beat. He hadn’t found out before that this senior was this strong.
The bat was aimed at the baseball, and it missed the ball.
In front of the bat, there is no baseball at all.
Snap!
“STRIKE!”
The eyes of Miyauchi are almost red.
Soon enough another pitch was thrown.
“STRIKE!”
Two Strikes, zero Ball.
‘Weird, so weird, how did the ball suddenly get out of place when it was close to the bat?’
‘Is it a slider?’
‘No, no, if it’s a slider, the path of the ball should be visible. It feels like the ball just didn’t move.’
Just when Miyauchi was unclear, Sawamura’s third pitch came.
So caught off guard, the third-year batter who is chased could only bite the bullet and swing the club.
Whoosh!
As soon as he swung the bat, Miyauchi knew that he had missed the ball, and he didn’t aim at the baseball at all.
‘It’s over~’
he lamented in his heart, waiting to be struck out.
Ping!
What he didn’t expect was that, with a despairing swing, he hit the ball sharply.
The baseball keeps flying, keeps flying, and falls in the outfield.
On the pitcher's mound, Sawamura had a strange expression on his face.
“Takemoto!”
Stunned for a moment, Sawamura reminded the outfielder Takemoto to catch the ball.
Takemoto had been prepared for a long time, and at this time, he easily took the flying ball.
“OUT!”
Two outs, no one on base.
The straight ball that seems to be unremarkable is gaining Outs again and again, which is too weird.
The seniors and alumni are sinking into the water one by one, and they don’t know why.
What is happening with Sawamura’s pitching?
After Miyauchi was out, in the face of other’s gazes, he didn’t say a word.
He wanted to say it, but he also didn’t understand what was going on, so what could he say?
Miyauchi still didn’t understand what was going on, but a few onlookers raised their eyebrows.
“It’s his body!”
“It’s his form!”
Tetsuya and Ryosuke said almost at the same time. Although they said different things, they saw the mystery of Sawamura’s pitching almost at the same time.
Miyuki, who had partnered with Sawamura before, saw this more clearly.
“Naturally soft arms and joints give him the flexibility to throw the ball in any position. Then by changing the stance with the foot he steps out of, it creates a contrast that makes the hitter look like he’s throwing to the strike zone. But it is actually a Ball.”
Miyuki exclaimed in his mind: ‘Great idea!’
he has to say that Sawamura’s pitching style is very mature. He made the most of all his characteristics.
Like this pitch, it’s easier said than done.
But without a body like Sawamura’s, it’s impossible to do it without a lot of practice.
‘Simple is best!’
Like the Straight Fastball, this kind of ball was also one of Sawamura’s previous tricks to press the bottom of the box. Combined with Sawamura’s ever-changing pitching, it often leaves major league batters helpless.
Of course, it was the first time Sawamura used it continuously like this.
If Sawamura pitched like this in the major leagues, he would have been beaten long ago. In theory, the big league hitters don’t have any shots they are bad at, as long as you tell them what you will throw next. Then you waiting to be tortured!
At first, Sawamura didn’t want to Pitch like this.
But there is no other way, he has to cooperate with Kariba's catching capability, if the ball is too hard to catch then there is too much risk.
Unlike this kind of ball, almost anyone can catch it.
And, the ball has another benefit. Because Sawamura threw the ball according to Kariba’s instructions, Kariba continued to score the number of outs by matching the ball himself, and his confidence also came out.
In fact, Kariba, the first-year catcher is very excited now!
He couldn’t help but acknowledge how good he was.
‘Too good, really too good! You look at Toujou, who often shakes his head at his calling and loses six points. Sawamura’s ball speed is not much faster than Toujou’s, and he shoots according to his own call, also using Straight balls.’
‘And get five Outs in a row.’
‘My pitch calling is effective even for the Senpais.’
The increasing number of outs gave Kariba more confidence.
The fielders also showed some performance on the field, and their self-confidence began to build up little by little.
“STRIKE!”
“STRIKE!”
“STRIKE! BATTER OUT!”
After Striking out Tanpa, Sawamura shut out the senior’s team again.
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