Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

Chapter 17: The Almighty Demon!

Sawamura has the experience of his previous life, but what he lacks is the proficiency of the body and the power to strike.

In addition, there is another point, that is, Sawamura’s body.

All strong players have a common feature, their body is 'hard' enough! On the contrary, Sawamura’s body is very ‘soft’.

This characteristic gives Sawamura unparalleled pitching talent, but it also limits Sawamura’s Batting. The greater his range of motion, the greater his power, whether it’s Batting or pitching, it’s multiplied.

Especially when pitching, when Sawamura’s body pulls a lot, he can directly improve his ball speed and break. (At the expense of ball control, the greater the range of motion, the worse Sawamura’s ball control.)

The same is true of Batting. Sawamura, who turned his body with all his strength, was no worse than any strong Batters simply speaking of strength. But in the same way, if he swings too widely, it will affect his aiming.

He can see the ball with his eyes, but his body will deviate when he swings the bat.

After entering the professional league, to improve his batting power, Sawamura deliberately honed his narrow swinging technique. This greatly improved his attacking strength. But in the same way, this swing also limited Sawamura’s strength.

Right now, Sawamura’s Batting power is not even 60% of his full strength.

This is also the reason why he is often powerless in the face of the straight ball with a lot of power.

Heaven is fair. While bestowing Sawamura’s unparalleled talent, it also limits Sawamura’s other strengths!

The data collected by Seidou’s third grade before is not wrong. Sawamura’s Straight-ball hitting rate is indeed not as high as that of Breaking-balls. But they didn’t know that the reason why Sawamura was bad at hitting Straights was not because he was not good at hitting Straights.

But because of his lack of strength!

On the mound, Kawakami threw his second pitch.

Sawamura is hitting from the left, so for him, Kawakami’s pitch didn’t look like it was coming around behind him, but rather like a wide crossfire pitch.

This kind of ball, it seems, is very prone to visual misalignment.

Honestly, Kawakami’s side throws are still pretty good. If his level is not that high, he will not be selected for Seidou's First String.

Even with Sawamura’s experience, he had to be careful with Kawakami’s pitching.

He put his eyes firmly on Kawakami’s body, waiting to see Kawakami’s every move.

Originally, he was asked to throw a Straight by the third-year Catcher, and Kawakami felt confused, but when Sawamura saw it, it was even more hairy.

Whoosh!

The pitch is good, the angle is not bad, but the ball does not have momentum at all.

On the batting zone, Sawamura felt his eyes lit up.

Here’s his chance!

The bat in his hand was raised high, and Sawamura’s body leaned forward slightly so that he reduced his swing to a certain extent.

And! It’s now.

At the right moment, the bat in Sawamura’s hand roared out.

Ping!

The white ball was hit and flew out.

The speed of this ball is so fast that people can only see the afterimage of the white ball.

Snap!

Like a shooting star, the ball flew out of the field at a very fast speed and hit the fence net.

Home run!

It was a home run!

The first home run of the game was not hit by a senior but by a freshman.

“Oshi-osh!”

Sawamura himself was also very excited. Although he felt that he was hitting well, he did not expect it to be a home run.

“Oww!!”

The first-year players are a little excited.

Regardless of the previous two innings, the score of the two sides from the third inning has been the same.

They didn’t expect that the first to break the deadlock was not the seniors, but them.

Kominato Ryosuke, who was on the sidelines, looked at Sawamura enviously.

“After he got in, played two at Bat, hit a double and a home run, his performance was eye-catching.”

“This brat is too strong.”

Kuramochi looked at Sawamura in disbelief. He shared a dormitory with Sawamura, and he had never heard the name of Sawamura before.

(Most high school players have a hard time paying attention to middle school games. For them, it is too childish.)

Later, when a girl in the same class asked him to send a love letter to Sawamura, he vaguely knew that Sawamura should be famous in middle school.

Although he withheld all the love letters, his ‘jealousy’ towards Sawamura was secretly buried in his heart.

“At first I thought this guy was just a little bit strong, but now it looks like he’s strong. He’s really powerful!”

“Pitching, Batting, Fielding.”

“Looks like it’s time for Seidou to turn around.”

“The Great Demon King Sawamura really deserves his reputation.”

Those Seidou seniors and alumni were also full of admiration.

As fans of Seidou High School, they will naturally love Sawamura.

Total score: 18-1!

The freshman team recovered a point.

Sawamura glanced at the score: “The gap is really big!”

'I originally thought that by mobilizing the enthusiasm of freshmen, we could get a few points. I can’t think of a tie, but three or four points should be okay, right?'

The result, of course, is not that simple.

Whether it’s Tanpa or Kawakami, it’s not something that the current rookies can handle. Coupled with the iron wall of defense in the back, it is even more difficult for them to recover the score.

“A long way to go!”

With a sigh, Sawamura returned to the bench and watched the game continue.

Miyauchi and Kawakami are indeed members of the Seidou First String. After being hit with a home run, they did not panic, but quickly stabilized the situation.

Takemoto the third Batter was Shutout easily and also struck out the fourth Batter Kanemaru afterward.

Three outs, offense, and defense exchange.

In the second half of the seventh inning, the second/third-year team attacked.

After all, this is the second time that Sawamura has fought against the cleaners and Maezono.

This time Sawamura showed a brand new pitch, and his pitches seemed to be sweet, making it easy for the batter to swing.

But after hitting the ball with the bat, the balls became very weird, looking erratic and without a good contact.

Freshmen can easily pick up the baseball and shut the batter out.

“OUT!”

“OUT!”

“OUT!”

One Strike out, two grounders for the infielders to block.

Three outs, offense, and defense exchange.

Since Sawamura came on the field, the senior's team has not even hit a single hit, let alone a score.

Now these older students looked at Sawamura with almost a trace of fear in their eyes.

“Good, very good!”

Sawamura is not discouraged, as the acting coach he commanded: “We still have two innings. As long as the pitcher collapses, we will definitely have a chance.”

What chance?

Sawamura didn’t say it, and the Players didn’t ask.

They just felt like they were following Sawamura and were full of energy.

“Awesome!”

Miyuki, who was watching, was a little itchy.

Sawamura and a group of freshmen who were at least two grades weaker than the older students, and the seniors were powerless to fight back.

“It’s said that this guy is a little monster, but it’s as simple as a little monster there. He’s just almighty and super big demon!”

Miyuki’s eyes lit up, and he was a little excited, thinking excitedly, how should he attack this big beast himself?

…