At the top of the eighth inning, Toujou took the plate
He raised his bat and was ready to swing at any moment.
Toujou didn't have to wait long. Hoshitaru kept his usual rhythm and decisively threw the pitch.
Contrary to what Toujou had expected, Hoshitaru didn't care that they had no chance of winning.
Once he was on the mound, all Hoshitaru thought about was pitching.
And as usual, his pitches were sharp.
Against such an opponent, Toujou was completely at a loss.
He could only grit his teeth and swing his bat at the ball.
Ping!
Toujou made contact with the ball and hit it.
However, the ball seemed weak and lacked power.
The Kanetsu-Norin High School infielders seemed a bit surprised by this and hesitated before rushing to pick up the ball.
They then threw it to first base.
Snap!
"OUT!"
And just like that, Toujou was Out.
One Out, no runners on base.
Under such circumstances, the chances of Seidou High School scoring in this inning were already very slim.
They could only pin their hopes on the 9th inning.
In the 9th inning, Seidou High School's top hitters would have another chance.
With that, there was still hope of scoring.
Looking at the situation, relying on the lower-order batters to score seemed unlikely.
However, Coach Kataoka in the dugout didn't seem to think so.
After Toujou was out, he suddenly turned around and looked at the players in the dugout.
Furuya, Yamaguchi, Yuuki.
His eyes traveled back and forth among these three before finally landing on Furuya.
Coach Kataoka wasn't a man of many words. Without any unnecessary remarks, he simply looked at Furuya and said, "Get ready to play!"
"Seidou High School Baseball Team chooses to substitute! Batting in place of the eighth batter Asou, number 11, Furuya comes on as a pinch hitter."
As for Furuya, who had been entrusted with high expectations by Coach Kataoka, he stepped into the Batter's Box, looking calm.
He didn't look at Hoshitaru any differently because of his excellent performance earlier.
To Furuya, all opponents were the same.
His only goal in the Batter's Box was to hit the pitched ball.
Ping!
"FOUL!"
Ping!
"FOUL!!"
Their confrontation seemed like a battle of wits.
Furuya had exceptional baseball talent. Although he had never seen Hoshitaru's pitching live before,
he was able to hit the ball with ease now.
Although he hadn't yet been able to hit the ball exactly where he wanted,
his performance was already stunning enough.
Moreover, during his swings, he displayed unparalleled strength.
As long as he had one pitch that he could hit perfectly,
based on the strength he had shown, he would have a chance to knock the ball out.
On the pitcher's mound.
Despite facing such a formidable opponent, Hoshitaru remained calm.
He wasn't flustered by Furuya's power. Instead, he chose to face him head-on.
Rooar!
Watching the baseball fly toward him, Furuya decisively swung his bat.
But after he swung, he realized.
The baseball suddenly dropped just before reaching the strike zone.
Furuya was caught off guard.
He missed!
"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!!!!"
He was struck out.
Two Outs, no runners on base.
Even when facing such a formidable opponent, Hoshitaru didn't crumble. Instead, he gave a strong counterattack.
His strikeout count had now reached 12.
Ping!
Snap!
"OUT!!!"
After Furuya was out, Coach Kataoka sent Yuuki Masashi onto the field.
However, his outcome was much the same as Furuya's.
He was also Out!
The only difference was that he managed to make contact with the ball, but it turned into a high-fly ball.
It was caught by the opponent for the final Out!
Bottom of the 8th inning, Kanetsu-Norin High School's turn to bat.
Earlier, they had already lost their last chance to score.
Now, their only remaining hope was probably to get a hit.
The reason they still had such delusions was that in the bottom of the 8th inning, the first batter up was their 4th batter, Hoshitaru.
He was the spiritual leader of the Kanetsu-Norin High School team, and even though the game was practically decided, the other players still believed in him.
Before going up to pitch, Sawamura made a throat-slashing gesture to Miyuki.
Miyuki hesitated for a moment.
In his view, even though they had already faced Hoshitaru three times, based on Hoshitaru's performance, he still hadn't fully adjusted to Sawamura's pitching.
He hadn't even gotten used to it, let alone come up with an effective hitting strategy.
Was this opponent worth all the trouble?
"Well, the intel is already out from the previous games. Even if we show it again, what's the harm? Besides, we've evolved a lot recently. Maybe mixing the old and new data will confuse the opponent's judgment."
Confuse their judgment!
Miyuki was quite interested in this idea.
"Let's do it!"
With Sawamura using his fourth-level breaking ball, dealing with Hoshitaru wasn't a problem at all.
Plus, Hoshitaru had never thought of using a bunt.
The outcome was decided in no time.
"Strike!"
"Strike!!"
"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!!!"
With Hoshitaru out, Kanetsu-Norin High School's last hope was extinguished.
In addition, there was something very important.
The Koshien single-game strikeout record has been evened again!
Unbelievable!
The entire Koshien stadium seems to have gone crazy.
People couldn't even begin to comprehend how such a situation could occur.
This is a record!
Yet, with Sawamura Eijun, it seems to have become surprisingly easy.
He always manages to astonish everyone present with ease.
Why do people love watching the great ace pitch? It's largely because of this. If you're lucky enough, you might witness history in the making.
Just like now, the fans in the stands are witnessing this historic moment firsthand, aren't they?
Even the ordinary fans are thrilled.
Let alone Sawamura Eijun's fan clubs.
As Sawamura's devoted supporters, every excellent performance of his is amplified in their eyes.
Now, this legendary performance that transcends time has driven these fan clubs wild.
"SAWAMURA!"
"KEEP IT UP!!!"
"ONE MORE TIME!"
"SAWAMURA!"
"YOU CAN DO IT!!!"
…