Changeup!
Standing in the dugout, one could see even more clearly.
The Seido batters all had grim expressions.
Narumiya Mei's pitching, ever since Kameshima, a third-year from Ichidai Third High School, graduated, has been second to none in all of Tokyo. Although there isn't an official ranking, in the hearts of most players in Tokyo, despite being only a first-year, Narumiya Mei is already the strongest pitcher in the city.
Even for Seido, besides Yuuki and Zhang Han, everyone else was helpless against his pitches.
And now, this pitcher who was already almost the strongest in Tokyo had evolved again.
"Not just changes up, down, left, and right, but now depth changes too?"
With his newly acquired breaking ball, Narumiya Mei's pitching was almost flawless. His Fastball reached a maximum speed of 147 kilometers per hour. His horizontal Slider was enough to catch people off guard. And his vertical Forkball, even among professional pitchers, very few could likely surpass it.
Now there were not only horizontal and vertical changes, but speed changes too. The difficulty of timing a hit had increased several times over.
At this point, it wasn't just the batters who had struggled against Narumiya Mei before. Even Zhang Han and Yuuki, who had managed to hit him previously, would likely encounter considerable trouble.
"This guy, his progress is too fast..."
Manager Ota was dumbfounded. "He's only a first-year?"
It was hard to imagine what a pitcher like Narumiya Mei would evolve into by his third year.
Although Seido's players had also shown astonishing progress, compared to Narumiya Mei, they seemed somewhat lacking.
Forget the future.
Even now, dealing with him had become extremely difficult.
Yuuki, in the batter's box, furrowed his brows.
As the team's fourth batter, the burden on him was the heaviest. If he couldn't hit Narumiya Mei's ball, it would have a very negative impact on the batters behind him.
He had to observe carefully. He had to hit it.
Yuuki stood ready.
Narumiya Mei on the pitcher's mound showed no hesitation and immediately threw his third pitch.
The white ball whistled in.
Yuuki's eyes widened and he swung.
But just like before, after Yuuki finished his swing, the white ball arrived late.
Even Zhang Han at Second Base felt a shiver down his spine.
The ball speed was even slower than before? Where did the pitcher and catcher duo of Inashiro get such boldness?
A Changeup that obvious, if read, had a seventy to eighty percent chance of flying directly out. Of course, the premise was that the batter could read it.
Yuuki, already cornered, had no chance to wait for the ball. He could only swing.
Harada and Narumiya Mei had calculated this precisely, which was why they decided to use consecutive Changeups. And it wasn't just their pitching. These two guys' understanding of baseball and their coordination were top-notch among prestigious high schools.
"Strike!"
"Strikeout!"
Yuuki swung and missed.
The atmosphere of the entire ballpark immediately turned 180 degrees. Many fans who had been optimistic about Seido seemed to suddenly lose their voices. Those supporting Inashiro had already begun to cheer.
The score was three to two, and the game had only just reached the third inning. Through their confrontation so far, the two teams had been evenly matched, neither suppressing the other. But those fans had an inexplicable feeling that today's game, for the Seido team that had made such a splash at Koshien, was probably in jeopardy.
Many scouts who had come specifically to watch Yuuki had terrifyingly bright eyes at this moment.
Excellent batters and sluggers were certainly what every team wanted. But excellent pitchers were even more sought after.
Narumiya Mei was only a first-year, and precisely because of that, his value was even higher. If handled well, his commercial value might not fall short of Zhang Han's.
Besides his baseball skills, Zhang Han had a very marketable face. Narumiya Mei was not bad in that regard either. Many people had no resistance to players with his baby face.
These professional scouts had already quietly noted Narumiya Mei's name, and would certainly begin building rapport with him afterward.
But that was for later. Back to the game.
Yuuki's strikeout was a blow to Seido that others could not imagine. In the eyes of many Seido players, it was no less than their spiritual pillar collapsing.
Isashiki Jun stepped up to the batter's box under those circumstances.
Two consecutive Changeups, and both had made Yuuki miss.
"This kid is simply a monster!"
Isashiki Jun had to admit Narumiya Mei's terrifying skill. But precisely because of that, he was even more eager to hit the ball. There was not only his desire to compete with Yuuki in that feeling, but also the thought of helping the entire team out of trouble.
"Whoosh!"
The white ball whistled in.
A Fastball!
Isashiki Jun felt it immediately. The ball was coming fast.
He decisively swung.
But as the ball approached the strike zone, it suddenly dropped sharply.
"Thwack!"
The baseball bypassed the bat and slammed heavily into Harada Masatoshi's open mitt.
"Strike!"
Isashiki Jun's face turned grim.
A Changeup? There had been no discernible difference in Narumiya Mei's delivery at all.
It seemed that not only the Changeup, but even the Forkball had no visible difference from the Fastball in his pitching motion. Otherwise, Yuuki and he wouldn't have been fooled repeatedly.
This kid's skill was truly unfathomable.
Isashiki Jun felt a sudden sense of powerlessness. For someone as fiercely competitive as him, that was almost impossible. But it had truly happened.
In Seido's dugout, the players fell completely silent. Their minds were like paste, in a state of total bewilderment.
Before the game, they had thought it might be difficult. They had not expected it to be this difficult.
The man on the pitcher's mound stood like an unbeatable figure, unchallenged.
"Strike!"
"Thwack!"
"Strike!"
"Strikeout!"
Not only Yuuki Tetsuya, but the fifth batter, Isashiki Jun, was also struck out.
Three outs. Side retired.
On the bases, only Zhang Han's lonely figure remained.
The score stood at three to two. The game moved to the fourth inning, with Inashiro on offense.
Before the players went out to field, Coach Kataoka opened his mouth as if to say something. In the end, he closed it again.
Getting the team fired up would certainly be effective once or twice, but if used too often, the effect would wear thin. The game had only just reached the fourth inning. It was far from the decisive moment, and he couldn't afford to spend that card here.
He only patted Kawakami and Miyuki on the shoulders, placing his hopes on this first-year duo.
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