In the blink of an eye, all the freshmen, including Sendo, completed the introductions.
Thereupon, led by the assistant coach, everyone entered the stadium for training.
During Sendo's self-introduction, he mentioned that he wanted to be a pitcher, so the training he did was related to pitching.
But—say it's training.
In fact, it was just a rough process.
To put it simply, it was meant to familiarize the new students with the training routine.
Soon, half an hour passed in the blink of an eye.
Sendo, along with many members, entered the dining hall and enjoyed a delicious breakfast with all kinds of flavors.
It had to be said—baseball giants are really different from regular schools.
In addition to the school being equipped with a cafeteria dedicated to the baseball club…
And!
The food prepared was both nutritious and delicious!
After breakfast, Sendo and the freshmen returned to the court for training.
As for the second- and third-years, they were already used to the amount of training here. So, after breakfast, they immediately plunged into formal practice.
About ten minutes later, the two assistant coaches in charge of the new students walked over to where the freshmen were.
"First-years, from now on, you will test your ability in your desired defensive position. Change into spikes and assemble at Court B!"
Hearing this, all the freshmen, including Sendo, quickly ran to change into their spikes.
Oh no!
Eijun Sawamura was not among them!
He had been late for morning exercise, and since he didn't apologize to Head Coach Kataoka, he was sent to run laps.
But—
As the protagonist in the original work, Sawamura Eijun was naturally unwilling to accept this.
So he enthusiastically voiced his heart to Head Coach Kataoka:
—"I came here to be an ace pitcher!"
The head coach may have been touched.
Therefore, out of tolerance, he gave a condition:
—As long as Sawamura could throw a baseball from home plate to the outfield fence, 90 meters away, he would be allowed to participate in baseball practice.
When Sendo finished changing into spikes and walked out, he happened to see Eijun Sawamura, standing at home plate, throwing a baseball toward the left field fence.
Whoosh!
The baseball rushed into the sky!
But just as it was about to hit the fence, it suddenly dropped!
"Now it's going to miss again."
Sendo, who had read the original work, naturally knew that Sawamura Eijun's pitches were unstable—drifting up and down, left and right.
And the pitch this time… had a downward drift.
So the baseball, which could have hit the fence, fell on the ground quite close to it instead.
"But he doesn't know this himself. I'll remind him when I rest in the evening."
When Sendo watched the anime, his impression of Sawamura had been good, so he planned to help him.
After a while, Sendo and the other freshmen entered Court B.
Then, following the assistant coach's instructions, they walked toward their respective testing positions.
A baseball team field has a total of 9 defensive positions: pitcher, catcher, first baseman, second baseman, third baseman, shortstop, left fielder, center fielder, and right fielder.
Therefore, the pitcher is often seen as the soul of the game—the one who decides victory or defeat.
If the game is live, basically the most shots are always of the pitcher.
Sendo's first-day check-in reward was a world-class four-seam fastball.
So, the defensive position he had chosen was naturally pitcher.
Therefore, Sendo walked to the bullpen with other freshmen who wanted to pitch.
The so-called bullpen is next to the baseball field, a warm-up area before a relief or rescue pitcher enters the game.
And now, it was apparently being used as a testing ground for pitchers.
"I'll read the names, and then you'll come up."
After the assistant coach finished explaining, he looked at the list in his hand.
"Pitchers: Hideaki Tojo, Tadai Kaneda.Catchers: Koishikawa Quick, Reiyo Fukawa."
The four freshmen whose names were called walked to the pitcher/catcher positions in the bullpen with serious, slightly nervous expressions.
"The pitcher will show what he does best, and the catcher will catch it." The assistant coach briefly explained the rules and announced the start.
Soon, the four freshmen began their performances.
But in the assistant coach's eyes, everyone's strength was mediocre.
"Have you shown all the balls you're good at?"
After waiting for two or three minutes, the middle-aged assistant coach asked.
"Mm… Mm…"
Hideaki Tojo and Tadai Kaneda responded weakly.
From the assistant coach's bland reaction, they already knew their proud pitches hadn't impressed him.
"Step down when you're done."
After the middle-aged assistant coach finished speaking, he looked at the list in his hand and continued:
"Furuya Satoru, Sendo Akira."
Hearing the name Furuya Satoru, Sendo's eyebrows rose slightly.
"I didn't expect to face him so soon. How would he feel if he knew my pitch was faster than his?"
With curiosity in his heart, Sendo walked to the pitcher's position alongside the expressionless Furuya.
"Show what you do best," the assistant coach said lightly.
Sendo nodded slightly.
Then—
He stepped onto the pitcher's mound, gripping the hard baseball in his right hand.
Almost at the same time as Furuya, he wound up and threw.
Whoosh!
After leaving their hands, the baseballs shot toward the catcher's mitts.
Boom! Boom!!
The next moment, two thuds echoed as the balls smacked into the catchers' gloves!
But—due to the excessive speed—both pitches exceeded the catchers' reaction time.
As a result, though the balls hit the gloves, they weren't properly caught, rolling right out.
"So fast!!"
The assistant coach, who had been careless a moment before, suddenly had his pupils shrink sharply.
He had only caught two flashes of white lightning—before he could even process them, the balls were already at the catcher's position.
"I've found treasures!!"
When the assistant coach came back to his senses, his expression was full of surprise.
Because!
The weakness in their path to a championship was the lack of an ace pitcher—the foundation for victory.
And now…
Two had popped up at once!
"This guy is actually faster than me?!"
On the mound, Furuya's icy expression finally cracked. He looked at Sendo in disbelief.
All this time, Furuya thought he was the fastest in high school.
He had even run all the way to Seidou High in Tokyo because no one in his hometown could handle his high-speed pitch.
However!
Not even on the First Team yet—
At the freshman test itself—
He had met someone faster!
"Sure enough… control is still poor."
Sendo shook his head slightly, showing a little dissatisfaction.
He had clearly aimed for the center of the glove.
But because his ball control wasn't strong enough, the pitch ended up hitting the upper-left corner instead.