"Captain!"
"Tanaka!"
"That's great!"
In the bottom of the third inning, with two outs already recorded, even the players of Seido High School Baseball Team had begun to believe that the inning was about to end quietly.
Their offense had been stalled for most of the game. Aside from Zhang Han's home run, they had struggled to generate any real threat.
It seemed likely that this inning would end just like the previous ones.
Unexpectedly, at this crucial moment, their captain stepped forward.
Tanaka Kakuei delivered a beautiful hit.
Two outs.
Runner on second base.
The situation suddenly became delicate.
With just one more hit, even a modest one, Seido could score again.
If they managed to bring Tanaka home, it would mean that Seido was far from finished.
The dugout erupted with renewed energy.
The players cheered loudly, their voices filled with both excitement and relief.
Coach Kataoka, though outwardly calm, understood exactly what Tanaka's hit represented.
When Tanaka first joined the team, he had been nothing more than a thin, almost fragile looking teenager.
At that time, the coaching staff had submitted a blunt evaluation to Coach Kataoka.
This boy, they said, was not suited for baseball.
In fact, he might not be suited for any sport requiring strength.
Aside from base running, he struggled to keep up with his peers. In nearly every other area, he lagged behind the other third year players.
Especially compared to talents like Hidezawa and Azuma Kiyokuni, who had shone brilliantly since their first year, Tanaka seemed insignificant.
The staff even suggested that it might be better for him to give up baseball and pursue something less demanding.
Coach Kataoka did not accept that suggestion.
Instead, he approached Tanaka privately.
"What do you want?" he had asked.
"I want to play baseball."
The boy's answer had been simple. But his eyes were steady and unwavering.
For reasons even he could not fully explain, Coach Kataoka chose to trust that gaze. When the staff questioned his decision, he replied calmly.
"What right do we have to stop a young man from pursuing the sport he loves? Even if he achieves nothing remarkable in three years, as long as he is willing to stay and train, we will let him."
Seido was a powerhouse. It never lacked talent.
But talent alone was not everything.
There were players who worked tirelessly and still never made the second team. There were players who trained for years and never stepped onto the field as regular starters.
From that moment onward, Coach Kataoka changed his approach. As long as a player was willing to stay and train, he would give them space.
Seido opened its doors. Soon, the number of club members approached triple digits.
Coach Kataoka had never imagined that the thin boy he once defended would one day stand at the center of such a moment.
In his second year, Tanaka underwent astonishing physical development.
His body filled out. His strength improved rapidly. His already impressive base running evolved into something extraordinary. He became the fastest runner on the team.
More than that, his batting and fielding transformed completely.
They were no longer merely improved.
They were refined.
In the autumn of his second year, at the peak of his growth, Coach Kataoka made a bold decision.
He appointed Tanaka as captain instead of Azuma Kiyokuni. For a powerhouse like Seido, that was not a trivial choice. Yet Coach Kataoka believed Tanaka embodied something essential.
Determination. Persistence. The refusal to accept limits.
Whether that spirit had fully spread through the team, he could not say with certainty.
But he knew one thing. He had made the correct choice.
The once fragile teenager had grown into a dependable pillar.
Other third year players were influenced by him as well. Hidezawa's journey had been different. When Hidezawa first joined, he was hailed as a future ace.
Expectations surrounded him from day one.
He carried that burden. He became the ace in the autumn of his second year.
Yet his performance remained inconsistent. The team often wavered because of it.
It was not until the Summer Tournament that he truly broke through.
After defeating fierce rivals such as Inashiro and Ichidai Third High School, he seemed reborn.
His confidence solidified.
His strength stabilized.
Though Tanaka and Hidezawa walked different paths, they arrived at the same destination.
Both had become indispensable pillars.
Yuuki Tetsuya.
Zhang Han.
Miyuki Kazuya.
These younger stars shone brightly.
But they were still developing.
They still relied on the stability and experience of their seniors.
Now, that senior stood on second base.
"Ping!"
The sound of contact stunned the stadium.
Hidezawa had swung at the first pitch.
Not only the spectators but even Seido's own players were momentarily shocked.
Another first pitch swing?
Were their seniors acting recklessly?
With two outs in such a critical moment, how could Hidezawa swing so boldly?
The younger players did not fully understand.
All they could do was hope.
The ball rose into the sky, tracing a gentle arc.
Then it dropped.
Right into a gap in Osaka Kiryuu's defensive alignment.
"Thud!"
The ball hit the grass.
Silence blanketed the field.
With two outs already recorded, Tanaka had not hesitated on second base.
He broke into a sprint the moment the bat connected.
By the time the ball touched the ground, he was already rounding third.
The outfielder rushed to retrieve it and launched a desperate throw toward home plate.
But it was too late.
"Safe!"
Almost simultaneously with Hidezawa reaching first base safely, Tanaka's foot struck home plate firmly.
The scoreboard changed.
Four to two.
For the second consecutive inning, Seido had scored.
The deficit was now two runs.
Yet the meaning of that two run gap had changed completely.
At the start of the game, Osaka Kiryuu's two run lead had felt suffocating.
Now, after three innings and six total runs scored between both teams, it felt different.
This was no longer a one sided suppression.
This was shaping into a full scale hitting battle.
Both teams possessed extraordinary offensive firepower.
And neither intended to retreat.
"Three hits," Matsumoto Takahiro muttered from the Osaka Kiryuu dugout, almost grinding his teeth.
This was precisely the situation he had hoped to avoid.
Seido had already produced three effective hits.
Even if Nakata retired the next batter, the original plan of using a smooth pitcher rotation to control the flow would become complicated.
The momentum was shifting.
"In that case, we will go head to head."
He turned toward the bullpen.
"Komochi, start warming up."
Matsumoto's expression hardened.
As cunning as he was, he understood the necessity of preparation.
Seido's offense was not finished.
And the battle had only just begun.
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