The outfielder was just about to throw, and Sawamura suddenly spoke from the pitcher's mound.
"SECOND BASE!!!"
At that moment, he did not have the outfielder throw directly to third base but to second base.
At the same time, Sawamura himself moved back to cover second base.
Why second base?
It's very simple because the batter was also very fast.
In a very short time, he had already passed first base and was lunging toward second.
Logically speaking, Francis, who was about to advance to third, was undoubtedly the bigger threat.
After all, he was about to reach home plate.
And judging from the current situation, if the ball were passed to second base, Francis would definitely try to rush home.
Sawamura was essentially giving up that run!
The baseball field changes in the blink of an eye.
Without true baseball knowledge, it's hard to grasp the subtleties.
Even if some things are noticed, it's only superficial.
There are definitely fewer than 100 people who can analyze it thoroughly.
Among them was Fujio.
Owada Akiko's heart was pounding nervously.
In her opinion, passing the ball to second base at this time was suicidal.
Completely irrational!
"Sawamura?"
She wanted to ask why Sawamura did that.
In her original impression, Sawamura was always very calm, almost the epitome of a mature youth!
She could hardly imagine Sawamura making such a mistake.
Could it be that Sawamura thought they could no longer stop Francis?
Even if Francis reached third base, they couldn't stop him from scoring.
So he simply gave up that run and focused on getting a clean Out.
To Akiko, this was probably the only reasonable explanation.
Otherwise, she could not imagine Sawamura's real purpose.
Although the Japanese outfielder wanted to throw directly to third base, He also knew that doing so was not very meaningful.
With Francis's speed, he was 100% sure to reach the base.
Even if the throw and catch were successful, the distance was at least 40 to 50 meters.
At such a distance, throwing errors were possible.
If the throw failed, they would definitely concede a run.
Since both were very risky, it was better to secure the out steadily.
Though it wasn't a winning strategy, it was the best defensive strategy.
The Japan team was leading now.
Using the best defense was not wrong.
The outfielder finally did not go against Sawamura's idea and obediently threw to second base.
The American runner sprinting hard toward second base was originally acting as a decoy.
So he did not return to first but directly lunged toward second.
By this time, the American team's plan was clear.
Their most important task was not to catch up with many runs at once.
But to score first.
At this point, the American players had not scored yet and were obviously anxious.
To defeat the Japan team, the prerequisite was to score off Sawamura.
Everyone originally thought it was all over here.
The Japan team exchanged one run for the second out.
Meanwhile, the threat at third base was gone.
By then, though the score was 2-1, all runners on base had been dealt with.
The Japan team had effectively solved all hidden dangers by conceding one run.
Almost everyone who understood baseball thought so.
Even those who knew Sawamura believed he might make such a choice.
Sawamura cared about the overall situation very much, so if necessary, temporarily swallowing bitterness was not difficult for him.
But just as everyone thought so, Sawamura opened his mitt to receive the ball.
Faced with the runner about to reach second base, a sure out was at hand.
Sawamura completely ignored it.
After catching the ball, using his flexible body, he powerfully threw it out.
A fast throw exceeding 150 km/h, even across a distance of more than 30 meters, was just the blink of an eye.
The baseball appeared in the catcher's Mitt.
Boom!
Renji was prepared and steadily caught the ball.
Francis, who had left third base, was now about five or six meters from home.
He had completed all acceleration and was running at roughly a 10-second 100-meter sprint pace.
That means he could run about 10 meters per second.
This distance equaled a 0.5-second showdown.
For Renji, this challenge was no small matter.
But he was confident.
Since Sawamura had already set the trap and the opponent obediently took the bait, He could not afford to mess up halfway!
At home plate, an incredibly thrilling showdown was unfolding.
Sawamura deliberately moved to second base, and almost everyone believed he had given up that run.
In the minds of many, Sawamura was a very mature and calm player. When the situation was extremely unfavorable, he was likely to make that kind of choice.
No one expected that Sawamura's move to second base was just a decoy; he had no interest in the runner who had advanced to second.
Even though it would have been easy to tag the opponent out, Sawamura did not do so.
This was a carefully planned trap, designed to capture the prey before him, Francis, who had already advanced to home plate.
Before Sawamura made his throw, no one thought the Japanese team had any hope of stopping America.
The distance was too far, combined with the throwing deviation and the catcher's preparation time.
Roughly calculated, the Japan team needed at least two seconds.
That was already extremely fast!
But at that moment, Francis was only about ten meters from home.
Having fully accelerated, his speed was nearly the equivalent of running 100 meters in 10 seconds. Ten meters took him just over a second.
Judging by the time, it was absolutely impossible for the Japan team to stop Francis.
However, Sawamura's throw overturned everyone's assumptions.
The throw traveled over 150 km/h, taking only fractions of a second.
And more importantly, there was no deviation—the baseball landed directly into Renji's Mitt, so much so that Renji didn't need to do much before turning and tagging the opponent Out.
This gained them a whole extra second.
In a game where every fraction of a second counts, this one second brought a game-changing result.
Originally, Japan team had little hope of stopping Francis. But now, not only did they have hope—they had a very strong chance.
"What was that?"
"A surgical-precision throw, player Sawamura rewrote the situation on the field with a single, extremely simple throw..."
The commentator unleashed his imagination freely.
As he spoke, he fixed his gaze on the ongoing showdown.
It was truly spectacular!
'As expected from a World Championship!'
Both this game today and this very confrontation...
Even this experienced commentator had only occasionally encountered something like this during major league broadcasts.
Now, he witnessed it firsthand.
The surge of excitement and thrill was unimaginable for ordinary people.
At that moment, he felt infinite power surging through his body.
He couldn't wait to see more thrilling moments.
To be honest, he hadn't felt this passionate in a long time!
Even the commentator, just a bystander, was electrified with excitement.
Not to mention the players on the field—two teams locked in a razor-sharp contest.
At this time, all players' thoughts were fully absorbed by the two contenders.
They eagerly wanted to see who would win.
Renji and Francis were about to collide.
The outcome of their confrontation would directly determine the direction of the game.
…