So heavy!
The instant the bat met the baseball, the second batter of Inashiro Industrial felt as if the tiger's mouth of both hands was about to split apart.
Terrifying.
That overwhelming force completely destroyed his hitting posture. If his swing hadn't collapsed at that moment, he might have had a chance to drive the ball out. But with his posture broken, the baseball was knocked high into the air instead.
Everyone at the scene tracked the soaring fly ball as it descended neatly into the glove of Seido's third baseman, Azuma Kiyokuni.
Azuma grinned, showing his gapped teeth.
"Haha, Hidezawa, that was nasty!"
"Nice pitch!"
"Hidezawa-senpai!!"
The cheers from Seido's players were sincere and loud.
One out. No runners on base.
Only two more outs.
Seido High School Baseball Team was that much closer to victory.
Closer and closer.
Yet Zhang Han couldn't shake the unease in his chest.
Inashiro Industrial.
Such a heavyweight name. One of the two teams he had most wanted to join.
Could they really be eliminated this easily? It felt unreal. Almost like a joke.
"Third batter, outfielder, Nishimonji!"
As the announcement rang out, the rainbow-like momentum of Seido's cheering paused for a moment.
All eyes returned to the field.
The nearer victory drew, the tighter the atmosphere became.
If someone calmed down enough to listen carefully, they might even hear the heartbeats of the people beside them.
On the mound, Hidezawa, whose stamina was already close to exhaustion, suddenly felt a surge of power rise from deep within.
Whether it was adrenaline, stubborn will, or sheer instinct, even he couldn't tell.
But right now, his body felt full of strength. He had just used that power to take care of Inashiro's second batter.
And it had worked. Facing Nishimonji, Hidezawa maintained the same rhythm.
He stopped worrying about precise control and poured everything into his arm, focusing solely on maximizing the power of each pitch.
Originally, Hidezawa's fastball velocity was already among the best in all of Tokyo.
Now, for reasons even he didn't understand, his pitching had grown even sharper.
As his stamina approached collapse, his ball speed didn't drop at all.
It rose.
Every pitch carried crushing force.
Nishimonji watched the ball flash past him, followed by the dull thud of it slamming into the catcher's mitt.
His brows knitted tightly.
It felt like chewing on grass.
This was wrong.
Normally, a pitcher who burned through his stamina like Hidezawa—especially after two consecutive high-intensity games—should have seen his velocity and sharpness fall off dramatically by now.
Even if he stayed on the mound, the decline should've been obvious.
So why was this guy's ball faster than before?
Was this what people called a final burst?
If this had happened a few innings earlier, even a final burst wouldn't have been bad news for Inashiro. As long as they endured it, there would eventually be an opening. Everyone knew steel couldn't stay hardened forever.
But now?
The situation was completely different.
The game was at its end.
Seido only needed two more outs.
If this really was Hidezawa's final burst, then once the game ended, he could rest without consequence.
What kind of bad luck was this?
A leaking roof, and now it rains.
Inashiro's situation fit that phrase perfectly.
But unlucky or not, when the time came, they still had to face it.
Nishimonji took a deep breath, his eyes cold as he studied Hidezawa on the mound, searching for any opportunity.
Hidezawa's velocity was terrifying.
But in comparison, his control had clearly suffered.
Most of his pitches were drifting into very hittable zones.
If Nishimonji could generate enough power, hitting the ball out wasn't impossible.
The real problem was that this wasn't a pure duel.
Hidezawa wasn't fighting alone.
Behind him stood a full defense, ready to close any gap.
Hitting the ball was only half the battle. Avoiding those defenders was the real challenge.
"Whoosh!"
The baseball screamed toward the plate.
Just judging by its quality, no one would believe this pitch came from a pitcher on the verge of physical collapse.
If there was any flaw at all, it was the location.
Too close to the center of the strike zone.
About two or three balls above dead center.
In the batter's box, Nishimonji clenched his teeth and swung.
"Ping!"
The instant the bat made contact, a massive recoil surged through his arms.
Even though the previous batter had warned him about the heaviness of the pitch, Nishimonji was still shocked.
The bat nearly flew from his hands. Fortunately, he had been prepared. Gripping tightly with both hands, he managed to send the ball out.
That alone was already a blessing.
Expecting perfect placement was unrealistic.
The baseball landed five or six meters to the side of Seido's second baseman.
Tanaka charged forward immediately. Even among Seido's strong defenders, Tanaka's fielding easily ranked in the top three. Under normal circumstances, handling a ball like this would've been trivial.
But it was as if fate decided to toy with Seido.
Just as the ball hit the ground, it suddenly changed direction.
The immense power of the pitcher and batter had collided, causing the baseball to spin wildly and irregularly. The moment it bounced, it shot off along that chaotic spin.
Tanaka could only watch helplessly as the ball slipped past him and rolled toward the sideline.
By the time the covering fielder rushed over to retrieve it, it was already too late.
Nishimonji reached first base safely.
Miyuki Kazuya felt a surge of irritation, but he still calmly signaled to Hidezawa.
That hit couldn't be helped. All they needed now was to get the remaining batters out.
Miyuki had already calculated it.
With a runner on first, as long as they secured the final two outs, it would amount to nothing more than a stranded runner.
Even if Inashiro managed to send that runner home, it wouldn't change much.
Seido was still leading by three runs. But almost immediately, Miyuki realized he couldn't smile anymore.
"Ping!"
Inashiro's fourth batter, Fujita, struck a hit at the most critical moment.
In an instant, the situation turned into one out, runners on first and third.
As the game approached its end, Inashiro Industrial High School Baseball Team suddenly launched a ferocious counterattack.
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