Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

Chapter 7: A Once-in-a-lifetime Opportunity!

In the Quarterfinals of the Tokyo Spring Competition, Seidou High School played against their old rival Sankou High School.

Coach Kataoka attaches great importance to this game.

In the last Tokyo Fall Tournament, it was the Sankou High School that blocked the road for Seidou High School to Koshien.

It’s their chance for revenge!

Now that they will play against Sankou High School, Kataoka will of course bring his students to avenge their defeat.

“Needless to say, the other party has just returned from Koshien, so they have the wind in their sails. Then we will let them experience the fighting spirit of those of us, a team who failed to make it into the Koshien!”

Before departure, Kataoka specially gave instructions to the players.

“Yuuki, do it.”

“Yes!”

Yuuki nodded, and then the player of the first string all formed a circle. Then Yuuki pointed to his chest with his thumb and asked, “Who are we?”

“Seidou!”

All the Players around shouted in unison.

This huge shout directly stunned the first-year students.

‘This sh*t is so cool!’

Kanemaru looked at it in confusion, and the young players of Seidou’s First year said, “I came to Seidou because of this.”

More than him, Seidou who hadn’t entered Koshien for five years still attracts a lot of good seedlings who have achieved good results in youth clubs. Why?

This team has an intense attraction.

Sawamura’s face darkened.

It is a lie to say that he has no regrets now. If he hadn’t woken up late, he might be among the people who shout slogans together now.

“Tsk!”

While Sawamura secretly blamed himself, the slogan of the First String continued.

“Who sweats more than anyone else?”

“Seidou!”

“Who sheds more tears than anyone else?”

“Seidou!”

“Are you ready for the fight?”

“Ooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!”

“Swear by the dignity of the school, we have only one goal: No. 1 in the Nation! Go!”

“Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!”

All the fingers of the first string pointed to the sky.

As if at this moment, they are the protagonists of the whole world.

“Do you want to watch the game? You can take the bus.”

In the baseball department, President Ota arranged for two buses, one for the first string and one for the cheerleaders. After all, this is a Famous school!

Furuya didn’t want to go but was pulled by Sawamura.

“No, no, you have to go too!”

‘Um?’

Furuya looked at Sawamura in confusion.

“Go and see how cruel the West Tokyo competition area is.”

This sentence successfully convinced Furuya, and he followed him on the bus.

***

“Tokyo Spring Tournament, Quarterfinals, Seidou High School’s vs Sankou High School, officially started.”

At the beginning of the game, Seidou attacked.

Seidou hit the first pitch, Kuramochi, hit the ball from the Sankou high school with the first swing and then used his unparalleled speed to hit the base.

Next, Kominato Ryosuke cooperated with Kuramochi to let Kuramochi steal the second base, and then Ryosuke chose four balls to walk.

No one out, runners at first and second base.

The third batter, Isashiki Jun, hit an infield grounder.

Ryosuke and Kuramochi each advanced one base.

And then, it was the turn of Yuuki Tetsuya, the fourth Batter, who hit a beautiful double, which directly sent Ryosuke and Kuramochi back to home plate.

Seidou leads 2:0.

Then Masuko, the Fifth Batter, was solved.

One Out, runners at first and third base, and it was Miyuki’s turn as the sixth batter.

After tangled up with a few balls, two Strike, and two Balls, Miyuki was chased.

After chasing Miyuki, the Catcher of Sankou High School gave Manaka the sign for the winning shot, a slider to the outside corner.

Ping!

This ball was guessed by the crafty Miyuki and flew directly out of the field.

Three-point home run, the total score extended to 5:0!

The audience cheered wildly.

Sawamura glanced at Furuya who was beside him, and said, “Did you see, this is Seidou’s lineup.”

“Um!”

Furuya was shocked and speechless.

“Even with such a powerful lineup, Seidou has not entered Koshien for five years. It is imaginable what kind of monsters the opponents that they face up against. On the pitching mound of Seidou, imagine how you would respond when the opponent is them. Your unstable Fastball alone may not work.” Sawamura said to him.

“I’m not going to let anyone hit my pitch,” Furuya replied firmly.

Sawamura glanced at him and smiled bitterly in his heart, the boy still didn’t know how high was the sky.

This era of High school baseball is an era of strong players, and it is not easy for a good pitcher to perform well.

In the first inning, Seidou scored a full eight points, making the first inning a super big inning.

It seemed that there was no reason for Seidou not to win, but the subsequent innings did not develop that way.

The Ace, Tanpa, who had been performing well this spring, suddenly collapsed in the second inning and lost four points in a row. Then he dropped another three in the third inning.

Tanpa, the Ace, was substituted.

Kawakami, the substitute, played well and stabilized the situation, only lost two points, and withstood the luxurious lineup of the Sankou High.

In this game, Seidou scored 13 points, and the Sankou scored 9 points!

Even with an eight-point lead in the first inning, Seidou was almost overturned by the Sankou High School.

“Oh man, it’s really hard to win!”

“The opponent’s attack is so ferocious; it feels like it’s hard to get rid of the opponent’s pursuit.”

“Sankou is well-deserved.”

There were such exclamations from the surrounding friends.

“The bigger problem lies with us. We are eight points ahead, and we are being chased like this?”

Kominato Haruichi looked friendly usually, but in baseball, he was very strict. Even if the other party is a senior, no strength means no strength.

Seidou still played so embarrassed after scoring 13 points, because the Ace’s pitching was unstable.

“Tanpa-senpai!”

Sawamura looked at Tanpa, who had walked away in a decadent manner, and a trace of worry flashed in his eyes.

With Tanpa’s character, it is difficult to deal with such a situation.

Thinking, Sawamura stood up and prepared to leave.

“Are you going?”

Haruichi asked a question and also stood up.

Furuya didn’t say anything and stood up.

“By the way, Eijun-kun, you haven’t said your thoughts yet.”

Kominato looked at Sawamura curiously.

“I’m very worried about Tanpa-senpai. He has thrown a lot of wide balls and he was probably uncomfortable.”

Sawamura sighed.

Kominato looked at Sawamura stupidly, he didn’t expect Sawamura to have such a side. He also thought that Sawamura would be the more determined kind of person.

“I’m sorry to Tanpa-senpai, but for us, this might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Given the opportunity, Sawamura would never give up that spot on the mound.

…

T/N: This Chapter has been Revised.