"It's even!"
"He's really done it!!!"
"The ace pitcher of the Seidou High School baseball team, Sawamura, has tied the previous Koshien single-game strikeout record. He struck out a total of 18 batters!"
"And remember, the game has only just entered the 6th inning. Seidou High School's baseball team still has three more innings to play, so it's safe to say, breaking this record is just a matter of time."
The commentator on the field was energetically promoting Sawamura.
At this point, however, there was no need for such a promotion. The cheers from the stands rang out in waves, creating a festive atmosphere.
The all-powerful Sawamura had done it again, accomplishing something truly incredible.
Sawamura, who had just performed his strikeout show, was now back on the field.
But now, he wasn't on the mound; he was the batter.
This was Sawamura's third confrontation with Hoshitaru.
On the stands, the seasoned reporter Fujio from Baseball Kingdom magazine, observing the scene, was deeply moved.
"Such a pity!"
Beside him, Owada Akiko, who had been captivated by the duel on the field, was suddenly curious when she heard her senior's remark.
Her curiosity was instantly piqued.
"Senpai, what do you mean by 'such a pity'? Sawamura is about to break a record!"
Breaking a record!
This kind of topic was undeniably hot.
Since Sawamura had already set such an achievement, it gave the media a story to report.
Whoever reports on this game will only be able to mention one or maybe two record-breaking achievements.
Fujio turned to look at the not-a-rookie-anymore-reporter next to him after hearing her question and gently shook his head.
"I wasn't talking about Seidou; I was talking about Kanetsu-Norin."
When Akiko heard Fujio's answer, it suddenly dawned on her.
Now that she thought about it, it really was a pity.
This was, of course, referring to Kanetsu-Norin High.
Up until now, the game had already passed the 6th inning.
And in those 6 innings, Kanetsu-Norin High's performance had been outstanding.
Their ace pitcher, Hoshitaru, managed to suppress the mighty Seidou High School baseball team's batting lineup for two rounds.
And he had even achieved over 10 strikeouts.
This was a remarkable feat in any game.
Considering the game wasn't over yet, Hoshitaru's total strikeouts might increase further.
This was a genius!
But unfortunately, this was destined to be for nothing.
Sadly, they had to face Seidou.
Although Hoshitaru performed well, especially considering his dominance in the game, it was clear that the Seidou High School baseball team, led by Demon King Sawamura, was superior.
But the confidence gained from it is inevitable.
After playing those six innings against the best team in the country, Hoshitaru now carried himself with the air of a top-tier pitcher.
'I'm strong! I can go head-to-head with Sawamura.'
With this newfound confidence, his pitching seemed to elevate.
His fastballs, which were already quick, now seemed to increase in speed even more.
The baseball flew out like a laser, picking up speed even as it left his hand.
Despite the engine seeming to have shut off, the baseball seemed to accelerate on its own.
Especially as it cut through the air with a whooshing sound, the ball was in Sawamura's face in the blink of an eye.
'fast!'
Sawamura hadn't even entered that magical state yet when the ball already zoomed past him.
Hoshitaru had calculated well—he had no intention of giving Sawamura any time to react.
Sawamura wisely chose not to swing.
As the batter, Sawamura had three chances.
There was no need to rush into a swing.
He could patiently wait and take his time.
In this situation, impatience was the worst thing you could do.
'Patience is key.'
The more you rush, the more likely you are to make a mistake.
Sawamura had already waited up to this point, and he wasn't bothered by waiting just a little longer.
Boom!
"STRIKE!"
Sawamura didn't swing at the first pitch.
Though this wasn't unusual in a showdown, it was surprising because this wasn't their first time facing off.
There was no need to gather more information.
After the pitch, Sawamura reined in his thought, took his usual deep breath, and prepared to enter that state.
Through research over time, Sawamura gradually figured out how to enter that state.
He needed to focus completely and focus on the pitcher's delivery.
The more powerful the opponent, the more focused Sawamura was.
This made it easier for him to enter the zone.
On the other hand, if the opponent was weak, Sawamura had a harder time maintaining that focus.
Without that intense pressure, his body struggled to react naturally.
Luckily, Hoshitaru was strong enough to put Sawamura under that kind of pressure.
Even if not, if you gave him 3-4 seconds, Sawamura could enter that state easily.
With Sawamura's current reputation, any opponent facing him would be cautious and careful.
Usually, Sawamura had about 5-6 seconds to prepare.
If the opponent was really careful, that time could even be longer.
That's why, up until now, Sawamura had never had trouble entering that state when he needed to.
As long as his opponent was strong enough to trigger his focus, he could easily enter that state.
Even Sawamura himself never thought there was any flaw in this.
If there was a weakness, it was its uncertainty.
When the opponent wasn't strong enough, Sawamura had a hard time triggering that state passively.
It was, after all, a semi-active thing.
Sawamura couldn't fully control it.
But now, Sawamura was shocked to realize that this Zone might have another weakness.
That was the preparation time was too long…
And it couldn't always be maintained.
Every time the opponent pitched, Sawamura had to re-enter that state.
This wasn't usually a problem!
Once he entered that state, Sawamura could end the battle in one strike, never dragging things out.
But now, unable to enter that state in time, Sawamura finally discovered the flaw in his "cheat" skill.
This skill was powerful, but its weakness was also significant.
Its flaw was the long preparation time.
Hoshitaru was completely different from those previous opponents.
He was a unique case, He didn't hesitate at all—he just threw the ball straight away.
If it was just the first pitch, that would be fine!
Sawamura could wait for the next pitch to recover.
But the problem was, that Hoshitaru wasn't doing this just for the first pitch.
He maintained that pace consistently.
And when facing other players, Hoshitaru used his weird breaking ball.
But against Sawamura, he didn't bother with those trick pitches.
Instead, he kept it simple and threw straight fastballs.
He didn't even try to use a breaking ball to trick Sawamura, instead relying purely on power.
Sawamura could only feel frustration, but there was no place to argue.
He can't say to the opponent, "Hey wait for me, I need to enter my cheat code!"
This was really aggravating.
Sawamura's feeling of annoyance nearly overwhelmed him.
It took him quite some time to calm down.
With his extensive experience in competitions, and having participated in national tournaments multiple times, Sawamura had long developed a mindset that feared nothing.
He had to admit that the miraculous state was indeed convenient.
But it was not because he had that miraculous state that his batting power had improved.
Even before he had that miraculous state, Eijun's batting skills were already well-developed.
Even now, his technique has not been forgotten.
And it couldn't be forgotten!
These skills had already been ingrained in his bones and soul through years of practice and experience.
Without relying on that miraculous state, Sawamura actually felt a sense of clarity.
The world is so vast, why should he be fixated on the Zone?
Why not just focus on hitting the ball?
As long as he could hit the baseball flying toward him, what kind of hitting strategy wouldn't work?
Just like now.
Without relying on that State, no longer dependent on the coordination between his eyes and body, Eijun's mind became much sharper.
Earlier, Hoshitaru threw a fastball, followed by another fastball.
In their previous encounter, Hoshitaru had also thrown only fastballs.
What did this mean?
Sawamura quickly guessed their intentions without much effort.
Although he didn't know exactly how they had gathered their data, their analysis, or their strategies, he had a clear conclusion.
They intended to defeat him with powerful fastballs.
At least, that's what the players from the Kanetsu-Norin Baseball Team seemed to believe was the most reliable method.
Sawamura couldn't help but smile a devilish grin.
Perhaps people had forgotten the fear his bat had instilled in them because he hadn't used it in so long.
Sawamura raised his bat and twisted his body like a robe.
When the fans saw this batting stance, they got excited.
"Looks like the guys from Kanetsu-Norin High School's baseball team really managed to provoke the Demon King. They've even forced him to start using his spiral-hitting technique!"
Fans who weren't familiar with Sawamura might have forgotten that when he first joined Seidou High School's baseball team, his body hadn't yet fully developed, and his hitting was still quite immature.
Especially in terms of power.
At that time, Sawamura was at the bottom of the Seidou First Team.
Against pitchers with extraordinary strength, he often had no choice but to surrender.
But this situation didn't last long. Sawamura soon developed his spiral-hitting technique.
By increasing the rotation of his body, he could enhance the power of his swing.
For others, this idea seemed impossible!
But for Sawamura, it worked wonders.
Only someone like Eijun, with naturally flexible joints, could swing fluidly even in such an awkward position.
After getting ahead with two Strikes, Hoshitaru threw the third pitch without hesitation.
The fast-paced rhythm of his pitching left him no time to think about anything else.
It was a tricky fastball aimed straight at the strike zone.
'It's on!'
'A fastball!!!'
Even without the miraculous state to help him, Sawamura saw the pitch clearly.
For a hitter of his caliber, a 150 km/h fastball was nothing.
He locked in on the ball and timed his swing perfectly.
'Now!'
With everything calculated, as the baseball neared his hands, Eijun's body spun like a windmill.
The twisting of his body generated momentum for his arm, and his arm powered the bat.
The bat completed a near 360-degree rotation, from behind Sawamura to in front of him.
He struck the incoming baseball with all his might.
PPAAAAAAKKKKK!
As the bat collided with the ball, Sawamura still felt the weight in his arms.
So heavy!
Eijun tried to send the ball flying out of the park. In this swinging stance, his power had increased by at least 30-50%.
What seemed like an unreachable goal now felt within his grasp.
Eijun was, of course, excited. He had every reason to go for a home run.
But things didn't go as he hoped.
The baseball was much heavier than he had anticipated.
Compared to their first encounter, it felt completely different.
'Could it be that last time wasn't Hoshitaru's peak?'
Sawamura subconsciously guessed, he knew that this guess was ridiculous.
Sawamura had to abandon the idea of a home run.
He simply sent the ball flying out.
A home run wasn't possible.
Hitting Hoshitaru's pitch for a home run required too much power.
'Forget it. Even if someone known for power hitting came in, it wouldn't be easy to hit Hoshitaru's pitch out.'
Not being able to hit a home run didn't mean Sawamura had lost.
He succeeded in making contact with the ball and sent it flying.
After making contact, the baseball shot off faster than it came.
The infielders of Kanetsu-Norin High School's baseball team tried their best to intercept it.
But unfortunately, they were doomed to disappointment.
The ball was too fast for them to stop.
It passed through their infielders and bounced toward the outfield.
In the dugout of the Kanetsu-Norin High School baseball team, the Coach, who looked fat and round with a chubby face, slightly furrowed his brows.
Then, a faint smile appeared on his face.
He didn't seem to mind his team encountering such difficulties.
On the contrary, he seemed to express some admiration for Sawamura.
"Young people are really great!"
At first, he, like the other players, thought that the Kanetsu-Norin High School baseball team had no chance anymore.
Even though they were always prepared, and still had a trump card they hadn't used it.
Looking at the previous games, it seemed like they had no chance.
Seidou High School's baseball team wouldn't give them an opportunity.
But after seeing Sawamura's performance.
The chubby coach suddenly felt that maybe it wasn't completely hopeless.
The weaknesses they had summarized about Sawamura.
On the surface, it seemed to have no use at all.
But in reality, if they carefully studied it, they would find that the opportunity wasn't as slim as they thought.
As long as they managed it well, it was possible to take a bite out of Seidou High School's team.
The chubby coach saw the opportunity to turn things around through Sawamura's on-base performance.
"It wouldn't be long now!"
When the bottom of the seventh inning came and it was their turn to attack, they would give Seidou High School's team a good challenge.
Although the chubby coach wasn't sure whether their plan would succeed in the end.
But having a chance was better than having no chance, right?
At least now, hadn't they seen a chance?
At this moment, the Seidou High School baseball team.
More specifically, Sawamura, standing on first base, and Miyuki, standing in the Batter's Box were thinking about something else.
Up to this point, besides the bunt that Sawamura had made earlier, the only hit Seidou High had was the one Sawamura had just gotten.
In the rest of the innings, the Seidou High School team's players had been at a disadvantage when facing Kanetsu-Norin's ace, Hoshitaru.
This included Miyuki as well.
So, even though Sawamura was standing on first base, the probability of Seidou High School scoring wasn't high.
Hoshitaru was strong and desperate!
He had previously suppressed the Seidou High School lineup.
Seidou High thought that his stamina would definitely fail in the later innings.
Although they hadn't gotten on base, they had at least worked him for a few pitches.
By now, Hoshitaru had passed his first peak of stamina at 70 pitches.
He had already thrown close to 80 pitches!
But what the Seidou High team didn't expect was that Hoshitaru's pitching power hadn't diminished at all despite the increased pitch count.
On the contrary, It had become even more intense.
No Outs, runner on first.
The hit Sawamura just made had a great placement.
If Sawamura had taken just a small risk, he could've possibly tried for second base.
But he conservatively stayed on first base.
It seemed he had concerns about Kanetsu-Norin's defense.
After all, the players from Kanetsu-Norin High School had performed quite well before.
So Sawamura stayed on first base, not advancing.
He pinned his hopes for advancing on the batter behind him.
In the Seidou High School dugout,
The team members were shouting as loud as they could, cheering for Sawamura and Miyuki on the field.
Even though they were already leading by one point, the Seidou High team wasn't satisfied.
Who were they?
The national champions, Seidou High.
And their opponent?
Kanetsu-Norin, a previously obscure team that had almost disbanded.
Playing evenly with such a team and only leading by one point?
The Seidou High players felt deeply that they couldn't afford to let it continue like this.
They should! And they must.
This mindset was shared by Miyuki in the Batter's Box as well.
He also didn't think Seidou High should stop here.
They should continue attacking until they have thoroughly crushed their opponents.
So, in the Batter's Box, Miyuki subtly gave Sawamura on first base a signal.
'How about trying that tactic that didn't work in the first inning again?'
Thinking back to the previous close call, Sawamura still remembered it clearly.
To be honest, Kanetsu-Norin High School had indeed posed a significant obstacle for them earlier.
If they didn't teach them a lesson, it felt like they would be letting them off too easily.
'But would this risky move actually work?'
Sawamura took a deep breath from first base.
…