In the sixth inning, aside from Zhang Han's home run, Seido High School Baseball Team failed to score any additional runs.
Coach Kunimoto's decisive substitution dealt Seido a heavy blow.
They had clearly been in a position to press their advantage, but now that opportunity was gone.
The pitcher had been changed. How could they continue beating a downed dog?
The Inashiro players returned to the dugout, where Coach Kunimoto immediately called Narumiya Mei over.
"Coach, I was wrong!"
Narumiya stared up with wide, innocent eyes, like a child who had made a careless mistake.
Coach Kunimoto wasn't fooled.
Though he hadn't coached this boy for long, he had already seen enough. If you took Narumiya Mei's words at face value, he could create a massive disaster in the blink of an eye.
"Your choice just now wasn't necessarily wrong," Coach Kunimoto said calmly. "Trying to defeat an opponent with their strongest pitch isn't a bad idea. But before you act on that impulse, you need to think about what happens if you fail. Don't stand there on the pitcher's mound like an idiot. That's not just embarrassing for you, it's embarrassing for Inashiro Industrial."
His tone wasn't harsh.
But every word felt like a knife cutting into flesh.
Narumiya Mei's face turned pale, as if he might collapse at any moment.
These words hit him deeply.
Narumiya's life had been far too smooth. Even losing to Matsukata in middle school hadn't shaken him much. At the time, Matsukata Little League was simply overwhelming. They crushed everyone in their path, and every team they faced lost.
Narumiya had merely been one of those victims.
In fact, because he had caused Matsukata so much trouble, high school recruiters had actually raised their evaluation of him afterward.
With experiences like that, it was hard for Narumiya Mei to truly learn from failure.
This time was different.
This time, he had been full of confidence. He believed he could defeat Zhang Han with his fastball.
And the result was a brutal slap to the face.
The blow was enormous, especially because guilt weighed heavily on him.
Under Coach Kunimoto's guidance, Narumiya suddenly broke through.
If the game had already ended, it might have taken him a very long time to reach this realization. By then, there would be no chance to start over, and the consequences would have been dozens of times more severe.
But the game wasn't over yet.
There was still time.
Top of the seventh inning. Inashiro Industrial attacked.
Hidezawa's pitching speed had clearly dropped.
Even if he were made of iron, he couldn't withstand this level of exertion forever. Yesterday's fatigue hadn't fully recovered, and today he had continued pitching at a high frequency.
If he could still maintain his original speed, that would have been a miracle.
The Inashiro batters noticed it immediately. They tried to take advantage of the drop in velocity to score.
Unfortunately for them, while Hidezawa's speed declined, his control remained sharp.
With Miyuki's guidance and his teammates' support, even after giving up two hits, Hidezawa held firm at the most critical moment and secured the final out.
Three outs. Sides change.
The scoreboard still read 4–2, Seido High School leading by two runs.
In the stands, someone voiced a concern.
"Seido's ace… it's obvious his stamina is failing."
Shouldn't he be replaced at this point?
If they had a choice, Coach Kataoka and the other coaches would have gladly let Hidezawa rest. Even moving him to the outfield would have been better.
But it wasn't possible.
The gap between Seido's ace and the substitute pitchers was already frighteningly large. After Hidezawa's complete evolution, that gap had become almost impossible to bridge.
As long as Hidezawa stayed on the mound, even at less than full strength, Seido's players still felt secure.
But if he were replaced by Tanba now?
Then frankly, the team wouldn't have that confidence.
Bottom of the seventh inning.
Seido High School went on the offensive.
The batting order returned to the leadoff hitter, Tanaka, who stepped into the batter's box. From him onward, this was Seido's most dangerous offensive sequence.
In the stands, someone couldn't help but exclaim.
"Seido's batting lineup is terrifying."
This wasn't flattery. It was fact.
So far, Seido's lineup had already gone through four full rotations. It was almost guaranteed that this game would reach a fifth.
And this wasn't against weak teams, but against powerhouses like Ichidai Third and Inashiro Industrial.
That level of offensive consistency was astonishing.
Was Seido High School the strongest team in West Tokyo?
That depended on how you defined "strongest."
But if the question was about offense, then the answer was clear.
It was Seido.
Against both Ichidai Third and Inashiro Industrial, Seido had held a clear advantage at the plate. Tanaka raised his bat with ambition, eager to knock down the pitcher and get on base.
On Inashiro's side, they switched the pitcher and outfielder back again.
Narumiya Mei, after resting for an inning in the outfield, returned to the mound.
Tanaka stared wide-eyed as Inashiro completed this series of maneuvers.
What exactly were they trying to do?
Did they really think that this first-year pitcher, who had just been crushed by Zhang Han, could still create a miracle in the final innings?
Stop dreaming.
Narumiya Mei might be exceptionally talented and skilled, nothing like an ordinary freshman, but he was still a first-year.
He wasn't so powerful that Seido had no answer. Tanaka defiantly raised his bat, waiting for the ball to come.
And then it did.
Fast. Much faster than before. That speed was unreasonable.
Narumiya's velocity had already exceeded 140 earlier. A pitcher at that level shouldn't be able to suddenly increase it by such a margin.
That required extreme talent and relentless training.
It shouldn't be happening now.
"Thwack!"
"Strike!"
Tanaka didn't swing.
"Strike!"
Still didn't swing. Two consecutive pitches like that. There was no way this wasn't a problem.
The Narumiya Mei who had looked nearly broken just moments ago had fully recovered at this critical juncture.
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