"Narumiya Mei's fastball is getting faster!"
Just as people were marveling at Narumiya Mei's pitching, Manager Ota murmured to himself among the gathered Seido High School Baseball Team players.
"What was the speed just now?"
For their Manager to be that surprised, the speed of that last pitch had to be truly extraordinary.
In fact, there was no need for a speed gun. Just by watching, the Seido players could feel it themselves.
This guy's fastball had gotten faster compared to before.
They couldn't guess by how much, but an increase was certain. Even if his top speed hadn't changed, his average speed had risen significantly.
"149.5 kilometers..."
Although everyone had already suspected it, their hearts still tightened when they heard it from Manager Ota.
That much of an increase?
Just a hair's breadth away from 150 kilometers.
Had Koshien made him grow that much?
"He's become a complete monster."
Although many people still wouldn't openly acknowledge it, in the days immediately after the Spring Koshien ended, some newspapers and media had already begun calling Narumiya Mei the strongest pitcher of this era.
Even though he was only a second-year student, looking across the nation, other top pitchers were at most on par with him. Not one was clearly superior.
Calling Narumiya Mei the number one pitcher didn't seem unreasonable.
Of course, rivals like Seido would never admit that, no matter what.
Number one of the era?
They had managed to score five full runs off Narumiya Mei.
But now, watching the confident young man on the pitcher's mound, the Seido players felt a tremor of doubt for the first time.
Was Narumiya Mei truly unworthy of being the number one pitcher of this era?
It didn't seem that way.
He was far more powerful than when they had faced him in the Autumn Tournament.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he had been reborn.
Could he truly be worthy of that title now?
It was hard to say.
Ever since Narumiya Mei took the mound, the entire dynamic of the game had changed.
The fact that the Inashiro Industrial High School Baseball Team was currently trailing was deceptive. Their momentum was not weak at all.
On the contrary, they were putting pressure on the leading Yakushi.
Perhaps the intense competition at the Spring Koshien had drained too much of their stamina and composure.
In the subsequent innings, Inashiro's players got on base one after another but still couldn't score.
The pitcher named Sanada kept forcing the batters to hit ground balls. Once a ground ball appeared, Yakushi could easily record outs, or even turn double plays.
The Seido players watched from the stands in quiet awe.
"It shouldn't be an ordinary fastball. It looks a bit like a screwball."
As expected of Chris. Even from the stands, his analytical eye could pick out the essence of Sanada's pitching.
Later, when they watched the game recording, Chris's judgment was confirmed. That pitch was indeed a screwball, a demon pitch.
Inashiro's preparation for today's game had clearly been insufficient, and their own rhythm had begun to suffer.
This was the key reason Inashiro had been unable to score for so long.
The one who felt this most keenly was, of course, Coach Kunimoto of the Inashiro Industrial High School Baseball Team.
Yakushi High School truly lived up to its reputation as a traditional powerhouse. Their defense was well-organized. While not comparable to a top-tier team, it was already quite tight.
Combined with that pitcher, it was a formidable combination.
However, their defense was not without flaws.
There were still areas where coordination wasn't smooth enough.
This team had probably not been together for very long.
The coordination between the three first-year students and the rest of the lineup seemed somewhat disjointed at times.
Raichi Todoroki in particular was an interesting case. His hitting was extraordinary, but his defensive movements looked raw, almost like a beginner's.
Such a swing, while requiring exceptional natural talent, also demanded practice. Without countless repetitions, without hundreds of thousands of swings, it couldn't be done.
Coach Kunimoto couldn't reconcile the two.
But not understanding didn't matter. It didn't stop him from acting.
At this point, the after-effects of the intense Koshien battles had begun to surface.
In two weeks, Inashiro had played six intense games. The semifinals and finals in particular had been deeply draining.
Especially for the pitchers.
Their Spring Koshien run hadn't ended until after other schools had already returned to regular schedules. After winning the championship, they had to participate in interview activities. By the time they returned, there was barely any time to rest before the Spring Tournament began.
No adjustment period. No buffer.
When the opponent was weak, it hadn't mattered. Inashiro had cruised through.
But once they encountered an evenly matched opponent, the fatigue from Koshien had started to surface like a ticking time bomb.
The games were simply too close together.
At least for the Autumn Tournament there had been a month of adjustment time. Between the Spring Koshien and the Spring Tournament, there was none.
Why had the players made so many small errors today, leading to such a long scoring drought?
On one hand, bad luck. On the other, their rhythm was off.
Adjusting rhythm at this stage was clearly too late. The better move was to strike directly at the opponent's weaknesses.
"Ping!"
In the eighth inning, Carlos, who had been substituted in, hit a bunt toward Third Base.
Coach Kunimoto truly had a sharp eye.
Facing the sudden bunt, Raichi Todoroki, defending Third Base, was completely caught off guard.
By the time he ran up and picked up the ball, Carlos was already approaching First Base. He hurried the throw, and it was an error.
Carlos, on a single bunt, reached Second Base.
With Shirakawa's cooperation immediately after, the two of them combined to score the tying run.
The score became 3-3.
The two third-year seniors, Yoshizawa and Harada, were not to be outdone.
They seized the opportunity while Yakushi was in disarray and hit consecutive base hits, completing the comeback.
By the bottom of the eighth inning, the score had flipped again.
Inashiro Industrial had retaken the lead.
In the Yakushi High School Baseball Team dugout, the middle-aged coach could only sigh.
"As expected of Kunimoto. He saw it immediately."
He had spotted the weakness at a glance and attacked without hesitation.
There was nothing to do but admire it.
After giving up two runs, Sanada gritted his teeth and kept pitching inside. This time, fortunately, he managed to get the third out.
Three outs, side retired.
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