With just one substitution, the Seido High School Baseball Team gave up three runs.
The impact on the team was enormous.
Originally, Seido's players had been extremely confident about the Koshien games, especially today's match. Although Hosen High School had managed to get some hits during the game, those situations were always resolved through Seido's tenacious defense and the ace pitcher's exquisite control.
From the beginning to the middle of the game, even though there was pressure, Seido's players never doubted that victory was within their grasp.
Unexpectedly, everything changed after a single substitution.
Only then did they realize that their earlier sense of ease was not because the opponent was weak, but because someone else had been carrying an overwhelming amount of pressure. Or rather, someone had been performing at an extraordinary level.
Once that person left the mound, the situation immediately reversed.
To be blunt, even if Koichiro Tanba had not been completely overpowered, with his current pitching ability, it would have been extremely difficult for him to lead Seido High School Baseball Team in a head-on battle against Hosen High School.
At this moment, the players truly understood what an ace pitcher meant to a team.
They also realized just how terrifying the perennial winners of Koshien really were. These teams were not weak at all. On the contrary, they were extremely strong.
Zhang Han felt this most directly.
Even though Seido had been leading earlier, underestimating Hosen High School because of that would have been a fatal mistake.
Hosen's players were strong. In fact, they were not much inferior even compared to Ichidai Third High School or Inashiro Industrial.
The main reason Seido's players had felt relatively relaxed before was the growth of Ace Pitcher Hidezawa.
To be honest, during this period, Hidezawa had undergone a tremendous transformation. He was no longer the unstable pitcher of the past, but a true ace capable of leading the team on the Koshien stage.
At the same time, the overall strength of Seido's other players had also increased.
Only because of this had they been able to suppress Hosen High School.
If Ichidai Third High School and Inashiro Industrial had not improved significantly during this same period, the current Seido High School Baseball Team would have defeated them far more easily.
Once Hidezawa was replaced, the weaknesses of Seido's pitching staff were immediately exposed.
In the Tokyo regional tournament, as long as they did not face other powerhouse teams, Seido could rely on their ironclad defense and powerful batting lineup to overwhelm their opponents.
But Koshien was different.
There were certainly weak teams at Koshien, teams Seido could defeat even without Hidezawa on the mound.
However, there were also many teams that could compete with Seido evenly, or even suppress them in return.
Hosen High School was one of those teams.
At this moment, Hosen High School's coach was filled with delight.
He had originally believed that today's game was already lost.
Now, it seemed otherwise.
As the saying goes, heaven never seals off all exits.
The Seido High School Baseball Team, which he both envied and felt jealous of, was not as flawless as it appeared.
They also had problems, and very serious ones.
Aside from their ace pitcher, the rest of their pitching staff was simply unreliable.
"This truly is heaven leaving a way out," he muttered to himself.
The atmosphere on the field had completely shifted.
In the stands, Hosen High School's supporters, along with many neutral spectators, began cheering loudly for Hosen. The three runs scored in the bottom of the sixth inning reignited their hope. They believed that if the game continued like this, something even more exciting would happen.
"The more it is at a moment like this, the more you must not be careless. The burden ahead will be heavy. You will be facing the core of their batting order, starting from the second batter, and the pressure will be immense."
"But no matter how great the pressure is, we must not concede any runs this inning."
"As long as we hold this inning, the situation will surely turn in our favor."
The Hosen coach continued to drill these thoughts into his players.
He forced them to believe that as long as they could endure this inning, the goddess of victory would eventually smile upon them.
"Yes!"
Hosen High School's players were all carefully selected by their Director.
Their skills were excellent, but more importantly, they were obedient. Even without this kind of motivational speech, as long as the instructions came from their Director, they would believe them without hesitation.
The game moved into the top of the seventh inning, with Seido High School on offense.
The first to step into the batter's box was Hidezawa, batting second. If looks could kill, the glare in Hidezawa's eyes at this moment would have tortured Hosen's players countless times.
He had originally believed that once he returned to the mound, he would be able to reverse the situation. Unexpectedly, even after stepping back onto the mound, he could not prevent the loss of runs.
Although he managed to secure the final three outs cleanly, the runs had already been conceded. That was an undeniable fact.
Hidezawa felt that those runs were his responsibility.
As his strength improved, his sense of responsibility grew with it.
He completely regarded the team's victory or defeat as his own burden.
At this moment, he urgently wanted to get a hit.
A home run would be even better.
He believed that the runs he had given up should be reclaimed by himself.
He did not swing at the first pitch, as it was too far outside the strike zone.
Even though he was eager to contribute, Hidezawa did not lose his composure.
On the second pitch, he swung decisively.
The ball entered the strike zone, and he was determined not to let it pass.
"Ping!"
The bat struck the ball, sending it in a shallow arc that fell behind the pitcher.
Damn it, I didn't hit it well.
Hidezawa felt frustrated.
Even so, the hit was not entirely hopeless.
He dropped the bat and sprinted toward first base.
Before he could reach the bag, the ball had already been thrown back.
"Thud!"
"Out!"
In the Seido High School cheering section, the second-string players seated in the front row exchanged glances.
Kuramochi spoke thoughtfully.
"These guys from Hosen have pretty solid defense."
No one replied, silently agreeing with him.
In truth, Hosen High School's defensive ability was indeed outstanding.
Even while being suppressed by Seido, they managed to avoid giving up too many runs in critical situations.
Ten effective hits had resulted in only three runs.
That conversion rate was shockingly low.
Especially for Seido, this could almost be considered their worst run efficiency in recent memory.
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