Amid the cheers, Miyuki swung with everything he had.
He was in excellent form today. A home run and a base hit, one after another. It felt like no matter how he swung, the ball would fly and runs would score.
There was only a runner on first, but Miyuki was confident he could send Isashiki Jun home with one swing.
He watched the ball come in, stepped forward, and swung decisively.
"Ping!"
The bat found the ball and sent it flying on a straight line. From the recoil, Miyuki could tell it was a good hit.
Isashiki Jun, reading the swing, broke immediately for second base.
The ball shot out fast and hard. It looked like it was going to get through.
Then someone reached out and stopped it.
"Pop!"
The relief pitcher who had just entered the game.
Compared to Manaka, this pitcher had barely registered. Seido's players hadn't gathered much on him, and after watching him give up a run to both Yuuki and Isashiki Jun right after coming in, they had written him off entirely.
Respect on the field is earned by performance. When a pitcher performs poorly, it's natural for the opposing hitters to stop paying attention.
But this relief pitcher was actually quite good.
After the initial discomfort of his first two matchups, by the time he faced Miyuki he had settled into something close to desperate clarity. His movements were no longer stiff. His velocity was coming back.
Maybe giving up that run right away had freed him. There was nothing left to protect. No matter how much worse things got, he couldn't embarrass himself much more than he already had. He might as well let go and fight.
If he lost, it would just be adding one more layer to an embarrassment that was already deep enough. But if he won?
He could wipe the slate clean.
Not only had his delivery relaxed, his fielding had loosened up too.
He caught the ball cleanly and fired straight to first base.
Isashiki Jun, who had taken off the moment Miyuki swung, nearly choked. He had already gone seven or eight meters. Now he had to scramble back.
He didn't make it.
Ichidaisan's first baseman took the throw and tagged him before he could return.
Double play.
One line out to the pitcher, one tag out at first. The process was messy, but the result was exactly what Ichidaisan needed.
They had been teetering at the edge of the cliff. Somehow, they had pulled themselves back.
After the double play, they retired the seventh batter, Masuko, without issue. The relief pitcher had given up just one run and held Seido's offense in check against all expectations.
Back in the dugout, Isashiki Jun had no kind words for Miyuki.
"You're looking for death yourself, don't drag me down with you!"
Miyuki felt wronged.
He hadn't told Isashiki Jun to run. Isashiki Jun had made that call himself when he saw the opportunity. Miyuki getting thrown out was bad luck. Isashiki Jun getting caught in the double play was his own misjudgment.
Three outs. Side retired.
The game moved to the bottom of the seventh, and Ichidaisan Third High School began their offense.
Tanba came out for his rest, replaced by Kawakami.
Next to the tall Tanba, Kawakami was noticeably shorter and much thinner. Even without prior scouting, anyone looking at him could make a reasonable guess. This was not a power pitcher or a speed pitcher. His game was control and breaking balls.
Facing a pitcher without overpowering velocity, every batter in Ichidaisan's lineup felt confident they could put the ball in play.
Of course, making contact was one thing. Getting a base hit was another.
Kawakami was not a strikeout pitcher. He was a contact pitcher. He worked to get hitters off the sweet spot and trusted his defense to do the rest. Compared to pitchers with genuine high-velocity talent, that kind of pitcher looks far less imposing.
But underestimate them at your own risk.
Pitchers with elite velocity were rare. Most excellent pitchers, when you got down to it, worked the same way Kawakami did. They developed their velocity to a reasonable level, then relied on command and movement to get hitters out.
Miyuki had high expectations for his new battery partner. He believed Kawakami would quickly take control of the game's rhythm and help Seido through the inning.
Reality was less cooperative.
Kawakami handled the first two batters cleanly. Even Miyakawa had no answer for his control and movement. But when the third batter, Hoshida, stepped in, the entire stadium's energy shifted.
"Boom!"
A clean, unhesitating swing.
"Ping!"
The ball sailed straight into the center field stands.
Hoshida, who had come up through Matsukata just like Zhang Han, stood in front of millions of viewers on Tokyo Television and tens of thousands of fans in the stadium and showed a fighting spirit that matched anyone's.
"Hoshida! Hoshida!"
Ichidaisan's supporters erupted.
The score narrowed to 11 to 5. The gap was down to six runs.
The excitement in their section wasn't really about believing in a comeback. It was about dignity. Losing to a powerhouse was one thing. Being mercy-ruled by one was something Ichidaisan's supporters simply could not accept. Hoshida's home run had at least kept that fate at bay.
And it seemed to open a floodgate.
Omae and the hitters behind him kept it going, stringing together three consecutive base hits and pushing across two more runs.
It wasn't until the seventh batter that Kawakami, with help from his defense, finally recorded the last out.
Back in the dugout, Kawakami sat with his nerves showing.
He had given up three runs. The seven-run lead was now four. With two innings left and Ichidaisan's offense still very much alive, no one could say with confidence how this would end.
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