Diamond No Ace: The Strongest Hitter

Chapter 226: The Yakushi Battle (9)

"First pitch, focus."

"Tanba-san."

"You absolutely have to get on base, Ota."

"Alright!"

"Ah..."

"There's no way I'm letting it end like this.

I have to get on base. Absolutely."

Ota knew that this inning was the best opportunity for Raichi with runners on base—no one even considered the possibility of him missing.

Moreover, with strong hitters like Akiba and Mishima following him, if Ota could get on base, the chances of the opponent intentionally walking Raichi would be much lower. That was his reasoning.

He had no idea that Seidou had no intention of walking Raichi, but his mindset was correct—always prepare for the worst-case scenario.

"Bring it on, Tanba-san.

First pitch."

"Whoosh!"

"Pop!"

"Ball."

A first-pitch curveball.

"You're seeing it clearly, Ota. Keep it up."

"Keep attacking, Tanba-san!"

"It's a bit unfortunate that it missed the strike zone, but that pitch helped set up the next one. The next pitch—a fastball inside. I need to be careful. Now he won't be sure whether it's a fastball or a curveball."

"Whoosh!"

"Damn it, that was too easy to hit!"

Miyuki could only lament the misplaced pitch. He couldn't just stop throwing fastballs altogether.

"Ping!"

"Alright!"

"Ahh, damn!"

For a brief moment, the entire Yakushi dugout and the base coaches erupted with excitement.

"Batting first, third baseman—Todoroki-kun!"

"Todoroki-kun!"

"Crush it"

"Turn the game around again!"

"Hahaha!"

Raichi laughed loudly, listening to the cheers directed at him.

"Send it flying, Raichi. Even the Baseball Gods want to see you hit."

Raizou thought to himself.

"Give them something spectacular!"

"The batters behind him—the second and third in the lineup—aren't easy to deal with either. They cannot let them hit for extra bases," Oomae warned.

"They have a three-run lead anyway, so let's settle this head-on. No need to be afraid, Tanba," Hirakawa said nonchalantly before raising his voice.

"Hey, four-eyes! Make sure Tanba-san never throws a fastball in the strike zone! His fastball right now... If it lands in a hittable spot, we're in trouble."

Sendo thought to himself.

Miyuki, after receiving a nod from the coach, prepared to go head-to-head with Raichi.

The Seidou cheering section, overwhelming in numbers, drowned out Yakushi's voices.

"Seidou! Seidou! Seidou!"

"Raichi, send it flying!"

"If you don't hit it out, no bananas for you!"

Despite the overpowering cheers, Yakushi's supporters still tried to encourage Raichi in the background.

Miyuki recalled the two home runs Raichi had hit today—both were high fastballs. That's why he decided to settle this at the bottom of the strike zone.

Because of their matchup history, Miyuki felt that Raichi was easier to handle than Sendo.

"Pop!"

"Ball."

"He didn't even flinch." Miyuki glanced at Raichi.

"What a shame."

"That pitch had good movement."

"It had a lot of power, too."

"Tanba-san's fastball is fast!"

"Keep attacking!"

"Finish him, Tanba-san!"

"Come on, come on, come on!" Raichi's mind was like a broken record, repeating the same thought.

Second pitch—

"Whoosh!"

"That curveball!"

"Ping!"

"Ah!" Tanba gasped, turning around.

"Foul!"

"Whew." Seeing the result, Tanba exhaled in relief.

"Whew." From the dugout, Sawamura and the first-years let out a collective breath, as if trying to share their senpai's burden.

"That scared me, but with that pitch location, a foul ball was the best he could do." Even Miyuki had been momentarily startled.

"Another pitch outside, it doesn't need to be a strike."

"Whoosh!"

"Damn, he's going opposite field—this could be bad!"

"Pop!"

"Ball."

"He didn't swing? What's up with this guy?"

Miyuki, despite knowing Raichi played by instinct, still found himself trying to analyze his approach.

"His condition is perfect right now... but sorry, looks like I'll have to use some tricks."

Sendo, on the other hand, understood Raichi completely. If he sees a pitch he wants to hit, he swings. It's that simple.

But Tanba's current form made facing Raichi too risky, so Sendo decided to pull something to help the team.

"Tanba-san."

"Sendo?" Tanba turned sharply at the unexpected call.

"Stay cautious. Take him down. If we get this out, we've won. The batters after him are facing you for the first time—you will get them out. Raichi is their last real threat."

Sendo's words seemed almost meaningless—so much so that even Coach Kataoka furrowed his brows.

Chris and Miyuki also found it odd.

This wasn't like Sendo at all.

He never says pointless things.

But there was no time to dwell on it.

Yet, strangely, Sendo's words helped ease the pressure Tanba felt from his previous misfire.

Sendo wasn't a mind reader—he had no way of knowing what effect his words would have on Tanba.

His real target was Raichi, the simple-minded slugger.

"We still have a hidden ace up our sleeve. If this gets us just one more strike—just one more good count—" Sendou thought as he looked at Raichi.

"Final out."

Raichi's mind wavered for a moment.

He instinctively turned to center field, looking at Sendo with a blank expression.

Then, it hit him.

"Sendo is right. Akiba and Mishima haven't seen Tanba's pitching yet."

And just like that, his focus shifted.

He completely forgot about Tanba's control issues.

Raichi wasn't the type to overthink things—so he fell for it.

"Send it flying!"

"Raichi!"

"I can see it, I can see it!"

"Lock in!"

Raichi glanced at his teammates, who were desperately cheering him on.

At that moment, he felt the weight of responsibility—the expectations placed on him.

"I have to hit this. No matter what. No matter how, I need to get on base. As long as I can respond to my team's expectations... I'll do whatever it takes."

"Whoosh!"

"Pop!"

"Ball."

A pitch outside the strike zone.

"Still not swinging. If only he'd go after these bad pitches, this would be easier. Now we have no choice but to aim for tricky locations."

"Come on, Tanba-san!"

"Whoosh!"

"Damn, that was too easy to hit!"

"Ping!"

"Foul ball!"

Raichi's body stiffened, causing him to mis-hit the ball.

In his previous life, his final at-bat ended in failure because of the overwhelming pressure—he was the last hope of his team, and everything rested on his shoulders. He swung for the team, burdened by the weight of victory.

He had abandoned the joy of facing a pitcher in a one-on-one battle.

But this time, he didn't have that fear. There was still one more inning left. The batters behind him were reliable.

So, from the very start, his mindset was unaffected.

Sendo hadn't consciously remembered Raichi's past collapse—he was just gambling based on his understanding of Raichi's personality.

But when this foul ball happened, it triggered Sendo's memory of Raichi's past struggles.

Not that it mattered anymore.

By sheer accident, Sendo had unknowingly corrected the course of events.

"He actually mis-hit that?" Miyuki looked up at Raichi.

All he heard was Raichi, muttering to himself like he was possessed.

"Hit it out. Hit it out."

Then, all of a sudden, Raichi snapped out of it and looked toward center field.

"Was that guy's shout meant for this? Putting pressure on the batter this way? Someone actually fell for such a lame trick?"

Miyuki had to ask himself three times.

"Well, with this guy, who knows..." He then recalled Raichi's simple-minded nature.

"Either way, thanks, Sendo. Now we can finish this. No need to hold back anymore—let's end it with this pitch."

"Yeah."

Raizou had no idea what had just happened—it all came down to a single pitch.

"Tanba-san!"

"Let him hit it, Tanba!"

"Finish him off!"

"Ugala!"

"Push him to the edge!"

"The game isn't over yet—we still have one more inning to attack."

Raizou snapped back to reality, realizing what had just happened to Raichi. Then, he turned toward the outfield, where that voice had come from.

Raichi's final thought before striking out wasn't wrong. Even if he didn't score here, the next inning still had strong batters who wouldn't go down easily.

But seeing Raichi strike out right in front of them—how much would that affect the rest of the team? That was the unknown factor.

"Strike three!"

"Batter out! Change sides!"

"Aaaaah!"

Tanba threw his arms open and roared.

The infielders rushed over, taking advantage of his excitement to snatch his cap and pat his head in celebration.

After a brief moment of rejoicing, they ran off the field—it was their turn to bat now.

If Seidou could hold their lead, this would be their final offensive inning.

A three-run lead wasn't exactly safe against Yakushi, and with the top of the order coming up, Seidou stepped into the box with a win-or-die mentality.

"Still a three-run difference, huh?" Raizou thought.

"Sanada, we're counting on you. Raichi, quit crying—we're not going down that easy. We still have one more inning!"

As their coach, Raizou had no time to explain Sendo's little mind games.

"Mm." Raichi nodded, still a bit dazed.

"Bottom of the eighth, Seidou High School's offense. Leading off, shortstop—Kuramochi-kun!"

"Kuramochi, get on base!"

"Use your speed to disrupt them!"

"I know! My job is to get on base, no matter what!"

"Sanada, shut them down!"

"Shunpei!"

"Let them hit it!"

"We haven't lost yet!"

Hearing the encouragement from his teammates, Sanada's mind filled with countless memories as he wound up and threw the first pitch with full force.

"Ping!"

"Foul ball!"

"Pop!"

"Strike!"

The third pitch—he took a deep breath.

"Ping!"

"A cutter..."

Kuramochi watched the ball leave his bat with frustration.

"Pop!"

The shortstop handled it cleanly and secured the out.

"One down! One down!"

"Keep going, Sanada!"

"Next up, second batter—second baseman, Kominato Ryousuke-kun!"

"Sendo."

Just as Kominato's older brother stepped up to bat, Coach Kataoka called out to Sendo.

"Yeah?"

"It's good to have your own ideas, but don't carry those thoughts into the batter's box."

Sendo looked at Coach Kataoka, a bit puzzled.

"Raichi struck out because of the pressure—he wavered in his swing. You're in the same situation. Let go of all distractions and focus entirely on your own swing."

"Thoughts?"

"What is the swing you truly want? How do you bring out your best self? Think carefully."

Coach Kataoka extended his fist with a rare smile.

"Sunglasses old man..." Sendo mumbled in surprise.

Coach Kataoka frowned slightly at the nickname but didn't say anything.

Sendo quickly snapped out of it, shifting his focus away from the game and instead diving deep into his coach's words.

"Coach," Chris spoke up after Sendo left.

"Leave him be. The rest is up to him to figure out. It's great that he's willing to think, but he still has so much to learn. What he needs now is a more pure swing. We encourage players to think, but I don't want that interfere with his ability to fully commit to his swing in the batter's box. Balancing thought and instinct—that's something he has to figure out on his own."

"If he overcomes this, it won't just be about technique—this will be a breakthrough in how he controls his mind and body. Skills can be refined over time. Opportunities like this? They don't come often."

Coach Kataoka might not be the best when it comes to technical guidance, but in other aspects, he was undoubtedly a top-tier mentor.

And he was right—Sendo, in this game, was somewhat like Raichi. He was so fixated on certain thoughts that he overlooked other crucial things.

Perhaps even Sendo himself didn't fully understand what his obsession was.

But having an obsession wasn't necessarily a bad thing. If anything, Sendo's personality made it easier for him to turn that obsession into motivation.

The issue was that he was too smart. His instinct was to rely on thinking his way through problems. But baseball was, at its core, a sport—not a purely strategic game like shogi.

His drive led him to overuse his intellect, trying to control every situation with logic. But excessive control suppressed his instincts, dulled his reflexes, and ultimately prevented him from performing at his best.

If he could fully grasp this concept and find a balance between instinct and rationality, then even if his technique wasn't perfect, he could still become a batter that any pitcher would fear.

After all, a batting average of .300 to .400 was already enough to make someone a threat.

Coach Kataoka had brought it up now because he wasn't sure if Sendo would get a chance to bat in this game. So, he took the opportunity to say it while he could, letting Sendo reflect on it during the game.

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