The original intention of the diamond ace

I walked up to the manager who was busy recording, lowered my head and asked her, "Sister Meiben, how many pitches have I got?"

"It's 78 balls now." She looked up at me.

"Thank you!"

"fine."

He walked up to Supervisor Kataoka.

"Supervisor, I don't have enough physical strength, and my ball control was not stable in the last round. Please start preparing to change shots in the next round."

The people around immediately looked over in surprise.

'This kid actually asked for a change of vote? !Aren't normal pitchers unwilling to be replaced?And didn't he shoot well, why is he about to end all of a sudden? '

' Directly and supervise the proposed personnel exchange!This guy Oda is so courageous that he doesn't look like a first grader. '

'Isn't he working very hard recently? Why did he ask to end the game himself?But recently, his words seem to have changed a lot. I didn’t expect that he dared to ask the supervisor directly. I haven’t dared to speak to the supervisor for two years...'

... Everyone had different expressions, but no one made a sound, and the bench area became a little quiet for a while.

Supervisor Kataoka's sunglasses flickered, but he didn't say anything.

He looked back at the other pitchers.

Kawakami clenched his fist and took a step forward seemingly calmly, "Supervisor! I was ready in the bullpen before, and I can play!"

Supervisor Kataoka looked at him for a while, "The next game starts, Kawakami, you come."

Senior Kawakami immediately replied excitedly: "Yes!!"

"Oda, after you go back to school, come to the office."

"Yes!"

People around looked at me with sympathetic eyes.

After that, I went to the back of the bench area and sat down.

After applying the ice pack, I put the towel over my face and slumped back in the chair.

Miyuki walked up to me, "Why did you suddenly ask to end, and you don't want to continue to vote?"

"How is it possible~" I replied lightly, "The opponent is unexpectedly interesting!"

Taking off the towel, I looked at him, "But you know, my form has declined, but the opponent's fighting spirit is getting higher and higher. If I stay on the mound, I may be thrown out in the next inning."

"Such an important game, I don't want any twists and turns in the game~" I lay back lazily, but the hands beside me were clenched.

"But you don't know when the next time you play~"

"Hurry up and get ready to play." I closed my eyes and waved to him.

Of course I know...

The opponents behind are getting stronger and stronger, so the possibility of me playing is getting lower and lower.

But if I put the team in crisis because of me, then this kind of small thing is not a big deal.

That being said, I still want to continue.

A rare match, a rare start, a rare opponent...

Ugh…………

In the second half of the fourth inning, as I thought, the pitcher brought in from the back of Hokan Gakuen stabilized the situation, and this inning failed to allow us to continue scoring.

"Qingdao chose to switch votes at this time, and now No. 10 Kawakami is dispatched."

Kawakami tidied up the ground in front of the mound seriously, "This is the last big game. I have finally seized this opportunity. I don't want to leave any regrets!" '

Kawakami, who has rarely become tougher, has more precise ball control and sharp changes, making it impossible for hitters to grasp the timing of strikes.

Seeing this, I also sat back with peace of mind, my choice was right.

"Yah! You voted well today!"

"It's time to vote like this."

"Senior Kawakami, nice pitch!"

…………

The offense and defense behind, the two sides fell into a stalemate.

In the first half of the sixth inning, the play went back to the top line.

Yoshioka's expression on the third bat was obviously much more serious. He grabbed the bat tightly and glared fiercely at the pitcher, "It won't just end like this, Senior Yitang's summer is still a long time away!"I won't let it end like this! '

"Pong!"

"Pass to second base!!"

"Snapped!"

"safe!"

"Oooo!"

"The long-awaited second hit by Hokan Gakuen! Now it's no out, and the runner goes to second base!"

"Snapped!"

"Hokan Gakuen unexpectedly chose to use bunt. Unfortunately, he didn't hit it well. He was directly blocked on first base, and the runner on second base couldn't move at all."

Although the third bat hit an outfield fly ball, Yoshioka, who was on second base, ran to third base smoothly because of the distance.

'The infielder goes up, the outfielder goes home. 'Miyuki calmly typed out the signal.

"At this time, Qingdao chose to go forward and defend, which means not giving up a single point!" Sato said excitedly.

"Oh! Fakan finally has a runner on third base!"

"Their strike style, once hit, is very powerful—"

"The game is finally starting to be interesting! The next stick is the turn, four sticks!"

"Fajian's four sticks are still pretty good, it seems that Qingdao is about to lose a point."

"Don't underestimate that pitcher. Although he is not as famous as those two pitchers, he is still very strong."

…………

At this time, the atmosphere in the venue became quite tense.

But the four sticks that came up were strangely calm.

The same preparation, the same expression, the same staring at the pitcher...

Chuankami gritted his teeth and threw the ball in his hand with all his strength.

After the two sides entangled with five goals.

"The sixth ball!"

Yitang's pupils shrank suddenly, and he swung the bat decisively.

"Pong!"

"Fly in!"

"Fourth stick Osamu Ido of Hokan Gakuen hit a two-run home run! The score is now 8:2!"

Kawakami looked behind with a pale face, then lowered his head and lowered the brim of his hat.

"It's okay! Let's deal with the next hitter!"

"Vote for him!"

…………

Miyuki called a timeout and trotted to the mound.

Before he had time to speak, Kawakami raised his head, "Miyuki, I'm fine. If it was the past, I might panic. Now I'm in the third grade anyway, a home run won't matter."

'Although his complexion was a bit ugly, his tone was quite stable.Kawakami, you have also grown a lot.Although I haven't told you all this time, you are the veritable trump card of our grade! '

…………

Later, Kawakami was not too affected by the home run, and smoothly resolved the batter, ending the half of the inning.After that, Kawakami stabilized and didn't let another hitter hit base.

Offensively, we finally caught Miura's pitch in the sixth inning. Although he shot tenaciously, in the seventh inning of the game, the man stepped into the strike zone.

"It's out! Outfielder Shoji Yuki hit a two-run home run to end the game!"

"The game is over! Seidou defeated Hokan Gakuen with a score of 9:2 and advanced to the quarterfinals!"

…………

"I will definitely defeat you next time!" Yoshioka cried with snot and tears all over his face, and ran over to grab me and said.

I looked at him helplessly.

"We will become stronger next year! We won't lose to you again!!"

"You should have said that a long time ago!" The teammate next to him yelled at him tacitly in a crying voice.

The four sticks ran over and took Yoshioka aside, "I'm sorry to trouble you." He then looked at me with red eyes and said, "We must fight in from now on, Koshien!"

I said seriously: "Well! We have been working hard with this goal in mind."

People in the stands are still excitedly discussing the game just now.

"So Qingdou won. The home run in the sixth inning was really exciting. I thought there would be a chance for French and French."

"The strength is still too bad. This year's Qingdao has fully complemented the pitchers and lineups. It seems that we can expect them to enter Koshien again."

"Speaking of which, those two freshmen are very good, especially the pitcher Qingdao, not only pitching, but also batting is very good."

"After all, you can beat your seniors and become a starter in the first grade. You can't do that if you're not much better than others."

"Fa Jian's one and four bats are pretty good, but it's a pity that the starting pitcher is not stable, otherwise the game will still be played."

"It's a pity that Oda ended in the fifth game. I want to see more of his curveball."

"Anyway, he is still in the first grade. Supervisor Kataoka mainly wants to train him, and he won't let him vote too much."

…………

***

Back at school, I tidied up a bit and went to the office.

Inside the office.

The supervisor looked at me, "Oda, have you ever thought about what will happen if you continue to vote?"

I sorted out my language a bit, and replied cautiously: "I don't think the situation is better than letting Sawamura or Kawakami-senpai vote, at least that's what I judged at that time."

After a pause, he continued, "Because at that time, I could already clearly feel that my state was declining, and the hitters also began to adapt to my pitching. Besides, I would explain my state to you in advance, so it would be easier for me to decide to change. The timing of the shot. After all, there are still many good pitchers on the team, and there is no reason for me to continue to shoot in that state."

"What if no one can replace you?"

"Then I wouldn't pitch like that from the very beginning. Before the game started, I would suggest Miyuki-senpai to change the ball distribution plan."

His sunglasses flickered, "It's good to be able to calmly analyze the state of yourself and your opponent, but you have to remember that the team doesn't need someone who will retreat on the spot. In the future, the coaching staff and the catcher will judge."

I replied seriously: "Yes!"

"take a break."

"Yes."