Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

Before the match against Inashiro Industrial High School's baseball team, the players of Sousei High School's baseball team gathered in their own resting area, exchanging glances.

This game had received a lot of attention, with all three teams that had made it into the top four coming to watch.

Some teams had all their members present, while others sent scouts and team managers.

As the next opponent, Seidou High School's baseball team sent their vice president, Takashima Rei, and Watanabe, who was responsible for scouting intelligence.

Their players did not appear in the stands for this game.

The players of Seidou High School's baseball team were not curious about this match.

They were sure that Inashiro Industrial High School's baseball team had kept some trump cards hidden, and their teammates in Seidou felt the same way.

If that was the case, why didn't they come to the game in person to watch it?

Didn't they want to discover Inashiro Industrial High School's trump cards in advance?

Of course, they did.

As the primary rival identified by Seidou High School in this tournament, Seidou's baseball team members would have loved to know what kind of trump cards Inashiro had prepared.

But what's the use of just thinking about it?

They didn't believe that Sousei High School's abilities could reveal Inashiro Industrial's secrets.

Rather than holding onto unrealistic hopes, they thought it was better to focus on preparing for the match against their opponent.

Inashiro Industrial's baseball team had the same mentality, so even though they had enough time, they didn't go to watch Seidou's team perform.

After all, even with their Ace pitcher, Sawamura Eijun, not pitching, what would they gain from watching?

They already knew everything there was to know about their opponent's potential.

The two teams had faced each other before, so knowing each other inside and out wasn't an exaggeration.

Any information leaked in the game wouldn't be more than what they already knew.

So, what reason did they have to sit in the stands watching their opponent flaunt their prowess?

Besides these three teams, many other teams that had been eliminated also came to watch the game. Not to mention the reporters, media, and scouts from professional teams present.

Aside from Seidou High School's match, this was, without a doubt, the most highly anticipated game.

The stands, which had over ten thousand seats, were almost fully occupied.

Sousei High School had a strong team, and in Tokyo, they were considered a powerhouse.

But even so, they had never experienced such an intense atmosphere before.

It felt as though they themselves were about to be melted into the scene.

"No one here probably thinks we can win, right?" a player from Sousei High School said with a bitter smile.

His teammates nearby rolled their eyes.

They didn't want to answer such a stupid question.

In fact, the most attention-grabbing team in this tournament wasn't Seidou High School's baseball team but Inashiro Industrial, who had lost in the spring tournament.

As the runner-up in the Spring Koshien, they were considered the most likely team to challenge Seidou High School's baseball team.

But in the spring tournament, they lost early.

They had to start over from scratch.

Having lost their seeded spot, they began the tournament in the first round.

Their performance initially was impressive, but that was expected.

The opponents they faced were just too weak. Any stronger team could easily have beaten them.

However, as the tournament progressed, Inashiro Industrial's baseball team performed even better.

Sometimes, their main players didn't even play, and they still won easily.

As their Ace pitcher, Narumiya was more often in the outfield than on the mound. It was mainly their other players like Hirano and the newly joined freshman, Akamatsu, who carried the team.

Even with their Ace pitcher in reserve, Inashiro's baseball team was crushing opponents in every game, easily advancing.

Media and experts online were buzzing with analysis.

Their conclusion was that, in terms of overall strength, Inashiro Industrial's baseball team was just as strong as Seidou High School's.

This wasn't breaking news, though.

Such an analysis had been made back when the Spring Koshien started.

Had Inashiro Industrial been in a different group or if Narumiya hadn't burned out before the match against Seidou, the Spring Koshien final could have been rewritten.

At present, if anyone could challenge Seidou High School's baseball team in the West Tokyo regional tournament, it was definitely Inashiro.

Such a team naturally had everyone's attention.

No wonder the scene was so lively.

The match's process and result went mostly as expected.

In this game, Inashiro Industrial's baseball team broke with tradition and sent all their main players onto the field.

This terrifying team, which had previously been conserving strength to crush their opponents, showed its true power before facing Seidou High School's baseball team.

If their match against Seidou was the final showdown, this game was like their opening salvo.

They used Sousei High School's baseball team as a test subject for their strength.

Ace pitcher Narumiya struck out three batters in a row.

From start to finish, none of Sousei's batters could touch his pitches.

On the other side, during Inashiro's offensive, they unleashed their full power.

The first batter, Carlos, hit a home run straight away.

He helped his team lead 1-0.

The batters behind him were no less eager, hitting the ball one after another, scoring continuously.

In just the first inning, they scored seven runs.

The score became 7-0.

Later, they would learn of Yakushi High School's performance, but at that point, they had already created a small miracle in this tournament.

Both teams' performances in the first inning seemed similar at first.

But in reality, they were quite different.

Yakushi High School had managed to score so many runs after completely breaking their opponent's Ace pitcher.

In other words, there was an element of luck in how they scored so much in the first inning.

But Inashiro Industrial was different!

Sousei High School's Ace pitcher wasn't as powerful as Maki, but he was incredibly stubborn. Even though he was being pummeled, he never gave up.

Instead, he fought fiercely.

Inashiro Industrial's baseball team scored those seven runs entirely based on their strength.

First inning: 7-0.

In the second inning, Inashiro continued the offensive, scoring two more runs.

The score became 9-0.

In the third inning, even though Narumiya was replaced, Akamatsu stepped in and performed just as strongly, holding the line without allowing any runs.

Not only that, they also scored another run, making it 10-0.

In the fourth inning, they added three more runs, bringing the score to 13-0.

This was the final score for Inashiro Industrial's baseball team.

Without showing any hidden cards, they scored a full 13 runs purely based on their overwhelming strength.

Sousei High School's top players couldn't even last five innings against them.

Inashiro Industrial's dominance was clear.

At this point, the quarterfinals of the West Tokyo region had concluded.

The four teams advancing were set.

Actually, the top four teams in West Tokyo had already been determined when the groupings were announced.

And thank goodness, there were no public lottery sales for high school baseball.

Otherwise, the lottery agencies would have been in trouble.

Anyone with even a slight knowledge of high school baseball could easily guess the four teams advancing from each district.

Looking at how these teams played, it's no surprise.

Forget their earlier games; just looking at their final match results is terrifying.

Yakushi High School 15:2, effective after five innings.

Sankou 7:0, effective after seven innings.

Inashiro Industrial 13:0, effective after five innings.

Champion Seidou High School 11:2, effective after seven innings.

From these scores, it's obvious that the four teams in West Tokyo are far stronger than their opponents.

To be blunt, there's a clear gap between these teams.

The next day's report by Baseball Kingdom Magazine highlighted this point.

"West Tokyo's strong teams have already entered a phase of polarization. Teams making it to the top four would be competitive even in the national Koshien tournament."

Earlier in the Spring Koshien, three teams from West Tokyo participated.

They took the championship, runner-up, and reached the top eight.

This indirectly supported Fujio's statement.

Tokyo fans were proud!

They always say the West Tokyo games are like a small Koshien.

From their perspective, the West Tokyo games are no less impressive than Koshien.

Looking at the four teams about to face off, every match could very well be of Koshien's final caliber.

As Tokyo residents, they were proud of these teams.

Of course, some busybodies went ahead and ranked these four teams.

Based on their past performance, even though Inashiro Industrial's baseball team was just as strong as Seidou High School, Seidou High School had won two consecutive Koshien titles and had beaten Inashiro twice head-on.

So Seidou High School still ranked first.

Inashiro, despite being the runner-up in the Spring Koshien, ranked second.

Besides this record, one more thing showed Inashiro's power clearly.

They were the only team this year that had ever defeated Seidou in an official match.

From last spring to this tournament, Seidou's only loss was to Inashiro Industrial.

Because of this, they missed out on the Fall Tournament championship and the Jingu Tournament qualification.

The remaining two rankings were Sankou, which, though prestigious, had lost to Yakushi twice.

So they ranked fourth, while Yakushi was third.

Of course, depending on different ranking rules, these positions might change.

For example, based on the 1/4 final results, rankings could be reversed.

Inashiro and Yakushi were both teams that finished their games in five innings.

Thus, they ranked first and second.

Next up were Sankou and Seidou High School's baseball team.

Sankou won 7:0, while Seidou won 11:2.

Although Seidou had a higher margin of victory than Sankou, they allowed runs.

Sankou, on the other hand, didn't allow any runs.

If we rank based on this, Sankou would be ahead of Seidou.

As a result, Seidou High School's baseball team was now the weakest of these four teams.

[The Weakest Of The Four Finalists, The Champion, Seidou!]

The next day, this post inexplicably went viral.

Although the content of the post had little to no connection with the title.

After analyzing it, everyone didn't really think the Seidou High School baseball team was the weakest. On the contrary, most media outlets still gave Seidou High School a positive review.

Although the three other opponents were indeed very strong, if you had to argue who was the strongest, it would probably still be Seidou High School's baseball team.

Despite this, the media still used the title "The Weakest Among the Final Four, Champion Seidou."

There was nothing to be done about it; this title was the most attention-grabbing.

In this age of information, every second, countless pieces of news flash past everyone's eyes.

How does one stand out from this flood of information? By being eye-catching enough.

Compared to professional analysis titles, this one was undoubtedly more eye-catching.

Especially for Tokyo fans, who loved showing off this title when chatting with fans from other regions.

"What's so great about it? Did you see the level here?"

The unbeatable Seidou High School baseball team is considered the weakest in our area.

Although they knew the content of the title was completely irrelevant to the actual content,

it still felt quite satisfying.

Especially when they saw the envious expressions from others, it felt even better.

As the media said, this era belongs to Tokyo.

And more specifically, it belongs to West Tokyo!

The Seidou High School baseball team's teammates, after reading this article, were initially furious and clicked on it.

To be honest, they didn't disagree with the content of the article.

But the title was infuriating!

"These annoying clickbaiters! Our team is clearly the strongest."

"Don't forget, our Ace pitcher, Sawamura Eijun-sama, hasn't even played yet."

"The media knows they did this on purpose. Their goal was to get us to click and read."

The Seidou teammates weren't fools and quickly realized the malicious intent behind the title.

These pesky clickbait titles were the worst.

Nevertheless, they still read the entire analysis article with interest.

There was nothing they could do. Even though they didn't like the title, the content inside was filled with praise for Seidou High School's baseball team, to the point where it was almost excessive.

For this reason, they decided not to dwell on the mistake.

"Koushuu, look!!"

Takuma, as if presenting a treasure, handed his phone to Okumura.

Under the same title, the Seidou High School baseball team received all-around praise.

One paragraph read:

[Aside from the Ace pitcher, Sawamura Eijun, who hasn't played, Seidou High School's baseball team has almost used a fixed lineup in the past few games. This clearly shows that in the past six months, the Seidou High School baseball team has adjusted their roster to a very perfect state. They no longer need to make temporary changes to their players and can bring out their full potential. It is believed that in the remaining two matches, Seidou High School's baseball team will face their opponents with this fixed lineup!]

In this article, the journalist described the strength of Seidou High School's baseball team in great detail.

They even bluntly pointed out that Seidou High School's baseball team had the advantage of perfect timing, location, and human factors.

Even though their opponents were very formidable,

the team that would likely reach the finals and secure a place in the Koshien tournament would still be Seidou High School.

The majority of Seidou High School's baseball team members, whether or not they were in the first team, felt incredibly excited after reading the article.

There's no one who doesn't like hearing good things about themselves.

And not to mention, the media's points were all true.

At this stage, Seidou High School's baseball team was still the team with the best chance of winning the national championship.

As members of Seidou's baseball team, seeing such an article naturally made them feel proud.

Of course, not everyone was in a good mood.

For example, Okumura, who was reading the article, felt uncomfortable.

This wasn't because he disagreed with the article's content but because he felt his position was awkward.

It was definitely a good thing that the team's main lineup was becoming fixed, especially for Seidou's baseball team.

The same situation, when viewed from different perspectives, yields very different answers.

As a substitute player and more importantly, the backup catcher, Okumura felt his situation in the team was very awkward.

The team's adjustment was certainly a good thing, but for substitutes, it meant fewer opportunities to play.

And he wasn't even the first substitute.

Even if something happened to the main catcher, Miyuki, and the team needed a replacement, it still wouldn't be his turn to play.

This situation made Okumura feel like he was nothing more than a decoration in the first team.

Seeing the third-year seniors who had already retired but still showed up to cheer for the team, Okumura felt deep guilt.

After all, they all stayed in the rest area and didn't actually play in the games. Was it really any different who was in the first team?

If everyone was equal, why weren't the third-year seniors who contributed more to the team chosen? Why were they, the first-year students, picked instead?

Among the five first-year students, only Nishiyama had played in a game.

The others, including Okumura, hadn't had a chance to contribute in the previous three games.

To be honest, there was no need for them to play.

Okumura felt useless and like he was occupying the spot that should have gone to the third-year seniors.

This made him feel down.

With Okumura's personality, while he wanted to stay in the first team, he also wanted to prove himself through his own abilities, not just because the team was nurturing a new player.

Seeing his friend's unhappy expression, Takuma felt helpless.

He wasn't unaware of his friend's concerns, but the problem was, wasn't this something that could be solved?

In those previous three games, Coach Kataoka and the coaching staff didn't let them play.

And the upcoming matches were even more important.

The opponents were Inashiro Industrial and the winner of the match between Yakushi High and Sankou High School.

No matter how you looked at it, Coach Kataoka and the coaching staff weren't going to replace Miyuki with a substitute in such important games.

Had they lost their minds? How could they make such a decision?

This problem wasn't just for Okumura. Other teammates were also feeling the same.

Masashi, for example, was always eager to get a chance to bat in the rest area during every game.

To be honest, even though Seidou High School's baseball team had won easily in these recent games,

if you looked closely at the process, it wasn't as smooth as it seemed.

There hadn't been a single game that Coach Kataoka truly relaxed during.

There were no garbage-time games, so Coach Kataoka and the coaching staff found it hard to substitute players and let them find their rhythm.

Thus, players like Masashi didn't get a chance to play.

The newcomer with the best mindset was Yui Kaoru.

During his time as a substitute, he had been studying everything about Miyuki, the captain of the national team and the main catcher.

Although Yui Kaoru might not have the best talent among the newcomers,

his attitude and eagerness to learn were the best among them.

In the world of baseball, players like him are often the ones who achieve the most success.

The most conflicted newcomers were Okumura and Lee-Hyun.

Okumura was anxious because he hadn't had a chance to play.

If he could play, he was confident he could prove himself.

He absolutely had the qualifications to stay in the first team.

Lee-Hyun, on the other hand, lacked confidence...

He didn't even think he deserved to be in the first team.

…

T/N: That's it for Today.

As always, Thank you all for reading!!

See you Tomorrow!

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