Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

Chapter 23: Pitching with the ‘New Form’

The next day, early morning.

The players of the baseball club come to the baseball club early in the morning to train.

Seidou’s training is very strict. They gather at 5:30 in the morning and start running at 5:40, running for 20 minutes first. This is a warm-up. After the warm-up is over, practice swinging and pitching.

Match simulation exercises and fielding exercises are usually arranged in the afternoon.

After the morning run this morning, Director Kataoka called everyone together.

At six o’clock, the sky was already bright.

Kataoka stood alone in front of all the Seidou players and said in a serious tone.

“Listen, there are less than three months until the start of the summer competition. Aimless training is just a waste of time and is of no use.”

“The first step taken to climb a hill and the first step taken to climb Mount Fuji seem to be no different on the surface. But in fact, the mentality required by the two is absolutely different. You must be clear, which one that we have to climb?”

“Only goals give your training a momentum, improve your fighting spirit to practice, don’t neglect that, do you understand?”

“Yes!!”

The Seidou young players a hundred contestants responded in unison, and the momentum seemed to shake the world.

Including freshmen, there are 93 Seidou players this year.

As the head Coach, even if Kataoka has some background, he is also a graduate of Seidou. But he did not lead the team into Koshien for five consecutive years, and he was under great pressure.

This morning, the principal and the dean came to cheer on the team, but they were actually putting pressure on Kataoka in disguise.

Honestly, no wonder they. After all, they are also working for the Takashima family, and if they can’t get into Koshien continuously, not to mention that Kataoka’s character is not pleasing, even if it is pleasing, they will still dismiss him.

Otherwise, how can they explain to the school board?

In fact, secretly, they have begun to contact new coach candidates. If Kataoka can make it to Koshien this summer, there’s not much to say. If not, it’s his fault.

“I don’t know if there is any hope for our players this year?”

The headmaster asked with a smile.

Kataoka was also in good spirits: “Yuuki Tetsuya, Kominato Ryosuke, Isashiki Jun, Masuko Toru, Miyuki Kazuya, these are all on the level of top players in the nation, and we have an unexpected harvest this year.”

“Is that Sawamura-kun?” The headmaster cheerfully said.

Kataoka turned to look at him and said nothing.

“Sawamura-kun, please come to the dugout.”

Just as everyone was about to train, Sawamura heard a call coming from a small speaker.

Sawamura hurriedly rushed to the dugout.

He thought it was Chris who was there, but he didn’t expect that Kataoka’s iceberg face was waiting for him.

“Starting today, during morning practice, you’ll be here to pitch.”

“Yes!”

How ‘dare’ Sawamura refuse to obey the Coach’s orders.

“Try to pitch the ball again, as you used to.”

Then Kataoka very patiently instructed Sawamura to pitch.

Sawamura didn’t know why, but he still followed the instructions of Kataoka and made a pitching form according to his own rhythm.

Stride, swing, pitch, very fluid.

Kataoka nodded and said.

“What’s your current fastest ball speed, have you measured it?”

Sawamura answered honestly: “Less than 140km/h, normal pitching is about 135-6km/h.”

Kataoka said, it really is.

“Now I will teach you how to pitch, but when you practice, don’t use a real ball, use a towel instead. If you throw too much, your fingers will hurt.”

“Now, look carefully!”

After Kataoka finished speaking, he used his hand as a wall and then came a standard pitch.

Whoosh!

Like a whirlwind, Kataoka’s motion made an extraordinary aura like wind.

It has to be said that even though he is thirty, Kataoka still retains the skills and spirit of a professional player. Even if he is in the professional field now, he could still be very effective.

Sawamura was embarrassed to see such a shocking scene.

He finally understood what Kataoka wanted. It was nothing more than the pleasure to teach him how to pitch.

In the previous life, this pitching form was also taught to Sawamura by Kataoka.

To be honest, this form helped Sawamura a lot and greatly improved Sawamura’s pitching level.

But now learning, will not be a bit embarrassing.

This posture, which Sawamura has honed in his previous life, has been perfected, and now he can use it as he pleases.

It’s like someone who has graduated from college, going back to elementary school and learning basic math, it’s a strange feeling.

But now, Sawamura couldn’t say that he wouldn’t do it, otherwise, he would be refusing Kataoka’s kindness.

In desperation, this morning, Sawamura could only obediently practice the pitching form he had already mastered by heart.

High-legged, heroic stance (right-handed wall, the ball point of view is blocked), which Sawamura knew so well he could use in middle school but he didn’t otherwise he would be famous for it.

There were several reasons why it didn’t use it at that time.

The first is that the catcher does not easily catch the ball and can’t see from where the ball is released.

Of course, this is not the main reason. The main reason is that such a pitching form increases Sawamura’s physical exertion.

Sawamura’s most powerful pitching form is the high-legged pitching form!

But such a big movement, especially with his fast rhythm, also increased Sawamura’s physical exertion. Originally in middle school, he was able to throw forty or fifty balls with all his strength, but it is no problem to push it to seventy balls.

But with high-legged form added, Sawamura’s full 30 balls will be the limit. Even if he pays attention to keeping his stamina, it will only be fifty or sixty balls.

Fifty or sixty pitches are far from enough in high school games.

The current Sawamura, if he throws every ball with all his strength, he may not end up much better than his previous life.

That’s the real reason he seals this form.

Now that Kataoka kindly taught him, he also unlocked this form.

But this form, he already knew how to do it.

Since he can, Sawamura’s training will inevitably not be serious.

This was quickly discovered by Kataoka.

“Didn’t you get it?”

Kataoka had misunderstood, and it was no wonder he did. Based on Sawamura’s current skills, Kataoka firmly does not believe that Sawamura isn’t working hard.

Sawamura must be working extremely hard, and the reason why he hasn’t performed it well was probably because he didn’t find the trick.

“It seems that I need to find a teacher for him.”

Turning around, Kataoka found the assistant coach.

“Where’s Chris? Call Chris here, I have a task for him.”

“Because Chris has just recovered and is now being tested, he has to be tested first before he can come.”

the assistant coach said.

“Then wait for him to come.”

Kataoka nodded and left.

The gears of fate have already begun to turn, but the meeting between master and Kohai was a little later than Sawamura had expected.

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