No outs, runners on First Base and Third Base.
The Senior Team's consecutive hits clearly rattled Toujou's pitching.
"Time out!"
Ochiai, who had been sitting calmly, suddenly stood up and called a timeout.
At the same time, all the Freshman Team's infield players gathered on the pitcher's mound.
"If you only have this much determination, you might as well give up the pitcher's mound to someone else. This isn't your own game; this is a game for all of us freshmen. Shouldn't you trust us more? We are very reliable too."
Jinguuji patted Toujou and said in a stern tone.
"Your middle school achievements mean nothing on this team. If we want to replace the upperclassmen, we must perform better than them."
Kominato Haruichi, who wasn't tall and seemed shy, spoke without any hesitation.
Under the pressure from the two of them, Toujou's expression changed several times.
Even his good friend Kanemaru didn't know what to say at this moment.
Finally, Toujou let out a long sigh.
"I'm sorry for making you worry. Next, I'll have to rely on everyone for the defense behind me."
Toujou was indeed a pitcher who had participated in the national tournament and won a national runner-up title with his team.
He quickly adjusted his mindset, forced himself to calm down, and re-evaluated the game.
After calming down, Toujou finally understood his problem.
He had let his competitive pride get the better of him, trying to prove himself worthy of a national runner-up Ace Pitcher instead of simply pitching the way he knew how.
In the rest of the game, he absolutely could not do that again.
Just as Jinguuji said, this was not just his own game; it was also a challenge for all the first-year players.
Toujou, having regained his composure, began to pitch.
The third-year player on Third Base certainly wouldn't give up so easily; he still maintained an aggressive stance, ready to steal.
However, this time, Toujou obviously wouldn't fall for his trick again.
In this situation, it was the core batter's turn. The upperclassmen would absolutely not attempt to steal actively at this time.
They would definitely not be satisfied with just one run.
They would certainly choose to let the batter confront the pitcher head-on.
After figuring things out, Toujou was in surprisingly good form, and he directly confronted the batter with an inside pitch.
"Ping!"
The Senior Team's 3rd batter did not let go even when facing an inside pitching.
He directly swung his bat and successfully hit the ball.
The baseball flew directly towards Third Base.
Kanemaru, guarding there, leaped up and caught the small white ball in his glove.
"Thwack!"
"Out!"
The Freshman Team finally got their first out, and all the freshmen's morale was greatly boosted.
"That's it, well done!"
A silly idiot stood at the front of the Freshman Team's dugout, clapping earnestly, summarizing for Toujou and Kanemaru.
He looked as if he were the Director of this team.
So much so that Ochiai couldn't help but roll his eyes at him.
After all, Ochiai had finally caught an opportunity to guide a game as a Director.
Even if his players were a bit weaker, he was still the legitimate commander of the team.
The game continued, and just as the Fourth batter was about to step up, the Umpire suddenly said.
"Zhang Han, you bat!"
Kataoka actually instructed Zhang Han to go up to bat at this moment.
Manager Ota, who was watching the game, was completely stunned.
"You're still letting Zhang Han bat?"
He had thought that Zhang Han would only pitch in today's game.
"The Coach probably saw some talent in that pitcher and wanted to test his mettle, right?"
"Even so, you can't let Zhang Han bat. That pitcher finally gained some confidence; after today, he might never have the courage to stand on the pitcher's mound again."
"If he doesn't even have the courage to face Zhang Han, how will he face Omae, Harada, and Raichi Todoroki in the future? We are selecting combat power, not playing house."
Takashima Rei held her head high.
When this woman talked about baseball, she was as frighteningly serious as Kataoka.
Manager Ota still felt a pang of pity; he even turned his head, watching the confrontation on the field only with his peripheral vision.
Most of the people present had the same thought. They did not believe that Toujou had any chance of winning against Zhang Han.
One should know that Toujou hadn't even been able to get outs against the second team batters before, so how could he possibly win directly against Zhang Han now?
Toujou himself was actually fine.
He had waited for this moment for too long, and he had even meticulously prepared a trump card for it.
This trump card was specifically designed to deal with Zhang Han.
Toujou himself was not as fearful of Zhang Han as other freshmen, to the point of not daring to act.
He and Zhang Han were former teammates and once competitors, and he knew Zhang Han's weaknesses as well as his strengths.
Even if Zhang Han's strength now was far beyond what it was two years ago, it had largely evolved along the original path.
So Toujou was not unfamiliar with it at all.
It was precisely because of this familiarity that he had the courage to compete against Zhang Han here.
"This is a grand gift I've meticulously prepared for you, please accept it, Han-san!"
Toujou on the pitcher's mound felt as if he was pouring his entire life into this one pitch.
He threw his most confident pitching since the start of this game.
The small white ball whistled in, directly to the inside corner, with a slight slide during its flight.
Yuuki, who was watching the game, raised his eyebrows slightly.
A Slider?
For a freshman's level, this pitching was pretty good.
Zhang Han, at the batting plate, had not even warmed up before stepping directly into the batter's box.
Now, watching the baseball fly towards him, he seemed to casually swing his bat.
The bat precisely caught the sliding baseball, and then directly sent the small white ball flying.
"Ping!"
The small ball flew straight for over a hundred meters, still showing no signs of stopping.
It finally hit the protective net outside the field with a solid thud, causing four or five waves on the net before falling down.
A Homerun!
A Super Homerun!
Zhang Han's first hitting at-bat easily resulted in a three-run Homerun.
The Freshman Team's dugout, which had a good atmosphere before, suddenly felt as if they had swallowed bitter herbs, unable to express their bitterness.
Even the idiot standing in the front row looked stunned.
That hit was too powerful, wasn't it?
If it weren't for the net, they even felt that the ball would fly to the ends of the earth.
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