Saturday, the golden sun hung high in the sky.
A few scattered clouds dotted the azure sky; it was a rare good day.
A large bus drove unimpeded into Seido High School.
"The Baseball Club is finally having a practice game! Who are they playing today?"
"The practice game might start soon, let's hurry and grab a good spot."
"I wonder how the Coach will arrange the lineup this time?"
On the Seido High School Baseball Team's field.
As soon as the bus drove in, the passengers inside were already buzzing.
"Oh my goodness, what is that?"
"Haven't you seen a pitching machine? Our team has one too, you know."
A beautiful girl, arms crossed over her chest, looked down at the Seido High School Baseball Team's facilities.
She was the manager of the Yakushi High School Baseball Team, a girl who was a bit naturally clumsy but extremely protective of her team.
Mishima chuckled foolishly, scratching his head.
"Of course I've seen a pitching machine, but this must be the latest model, right? It's said to be very popular in the Major League. Even professional teams here don't all have them."
This latest model of pitching machine is said to be able to reach a maximum pitch speed of 180 kilometers per hour.
In addition to Fastball, it can also accurately simulate various breaking balls.
For Mishima, who loved hitting, this was simply a divine tool for practice swings.
Although their Yakushi High School was not poor, compared to a wealthy team like the Seido High School Baseball Team, they were far behind.
"Look, there's more than one."
The Seido High School Baseball Team had purchased a total of three of these luxury pitching machines.
"These facilities, this field, they're simply invincible!"
"If I could practice on a field like this, maybe I could also make it to Koshien."
The players of the Yakushi High School Baseball Team were incredibly envious of the Seido High School Baseball Team's field environment and facilities.
"I really envy these rich guys. They're so wealthy!"
It wasn't just their players; their Coach was the same.
Todoroki Raizo was practically glued to the window, drooling as he looked at the luxurious field in front of him.
"You're being too embarrassing, Coach."
If he weren't sitting on the same bus, Sanada would want to stay far away from his Coach, pretending not to know this guy.
His Coach, back in the day, was a figure who commanded great influence on the professional field.
What good things hadn't he seen?
Why stare at it like a country bumpkin?
"Look as much as you can for now; we can't take these things with us anyway. In terms of facilities, we're definitely going to lose."
"Whether the junk at our school can even last until the end of this Summer Tournament is debatable."
Todoroki Raizo was equally merciless when complaining about his own school.
"But in the game, I absolutely don't want to lose to these guys, no matter what."
Thinking about the Seido High School Baseball Team players' extravagant training habits, the eyes of the Yakushi High School Baseball Team players involuntarily reddened.
As standard commoners, a feeling of resentment towards the rich naturally arose within them.
During the Spring Tournament, losing was losing.
Being inferior in skill, the Yakushi High School Baseball Team players had nothing to say.
But now, they absolutely did not want to lose to the Seido High School Baseball Team again.
Today, they would do whatever it takes to pull this team, which had just won the Kanto Tournament, off its high horse.
Who told them they were so rich that they could buy such luxurious pitching equipment?
"They've arrived, let's go greet them."
Coach Kataoka attached great importance to the visit from the Yakushi High School Baseball Team.
He led a few of the top players directly to where the Yakushi bus was parked to greet them.
"Does the Coach really need to do this?"
The Seido boys, who were doing warm-up exercises, were a bit puzzled.
In their opinion, their own Coach had been coaching the Seido High School Baseball Team for several years. The Coach of the Yakushi High School Baseball Team, however, had only just taken office last year.
Although their ages might not differ much, Coach Kataoka was the senior.
As a senior, there was no need to do this, was there?
"What foolishness are you talking about? Mr. Todoroki Raizo was a well-known professional player more than a decade ago. In the baseball world, he has much more experience than our Coach."
Chris corrected them promptly.
Zhang Han felt incredibly surprised after hearing Chris's words.
Commanding great influence on the professional baseball field more than a decade ago? Doesn't that mean this seemingly scruffy guy is already over 40 now?
He was more than ten years older than their Coach.
But looking at them, you really couldn't tell that there was such a big age difference between the two.
But there was nothing they could do; their Coach, despite being only thirty, looked quite mature.
Some people at thirty still look like teenagers. Others at thirty look no different from forty.
"Thank you for coming!"
Coach Kataoka seemed very enthusiastic.
"It's our honor, actually. After all, being able to play against the Kanto Tournament champions is something we desperately want."
Todoroki Raizo's face was plastered with an insincere smile.
When facing the Seido High School Baseball Team, most strong teams, considering that they might encounter them in the Summer Tournament, were actually not very willing to play against the Seido High School Baseball Team beforehand.
Especially those traditional powerhouses, strong teams, ambitious teams like that.
This was also why the Seido High School Baseball Team had difficulty finding suitable practice game opponents before.
But Yakushi High School was different.
Compared to the Summer Tournament which would start in a little over a month, the most important task for the Yakushi High School Baseball Team at this time was to integrate the team.
Three of their main players were First-Years.
The Ace pitcher was also a second-year player.
In other words, nearly half of their core players had just joined the team not long ago.
The most effective way for these players to integrate into the team was to play more practice games.
The more they cooperated, the richer their experience would naturally become. Once their experience was rich, the team they wanted would be formed.
As for whether the Seido High School Baseball Team would spy on their team's information because of this practice game?
This was certain.
Facing an opponent they were very likely to meet in the summer, wouldn't it be strange if the Seido High School Baseball Team didn't do this?
But Todoroki Raizo didn't care at all.
After all, up to now, their team had not yet fully gelled together.
To put it bluntly, their team was still growing.
Even Todoroki Raizo himself didn't know what this team would look like a month later.
At this time, instead of considering the leakage of information, it was more important to play against strong teams and discover their own shortcomings.
After the Yakushi High School Baseball Team players arrived, they didn't waste much time talking.
After all, apart from playing one game during the Spring Tournament, the players from both teams had no interaction whatsoever.
The main players of the Yakushi High School Baseball Team in their second and third years basically had no reputation during their junior high school days.
After entering high school, their performance was just average.
It was naturally difficult for such players to be associated with the Seido High School Baseball Team players.
Their true core players were three first-year players.
Among these three first-year players, one was a complete wild card who had never played formal baseball in junior high school.
As for the remaining two, as upperclassmen who were one or two years older, the main players of the Seido High School Baseball Team had at most only heard of their names, but they certainly had no dealings with them.
They sized each other up, waiting for the practice game to begin.
Zhang Han was unwilling to waste time and was still racing against the clock to do hitting practice.
Although Coach Kataoka and the coaching staff took great care of Zhang Han, with three of the most luxurious pitching machines, Zhang Han could always practice with one of them.
But people always want to save face.
Even Zhang Han was embarrassed to monopolize one of them.
After all, the total number of players in the Seido High School Baseball Team reached three digits. Currently, there were as many as 24 official players practicing with the First string.
If he monopolized one, how would others practice?
Therefore, even though he received special training from the Coach and coaching staff, Zhang Han never received any special treatment.
He and the eight players in his group took turns using the pitching machine.
Now, it was just Zhang Han's turn to practice.
"Whoosh!"
The baseball thrown from the pitching machine was frighteningly fast; almost in the blink of an eye, it had already flown in front of Zhang Han.
The Yakushi players who had just gotten off the bus instantly stared wide-eyed when they saw the baseball.
One of the third-year players subconsciously swallowed his saliva, looking at the pitch in shock.
"This must be over 150 kilometers, right?"
"Ping!"
The incoming baseball was caught by Zhang Han's swing and then solidly hit out.
The white baseball drew an arc in the sky and was finally stopped by the protective net.
If the baseball hadn't been stopped by the net, judging by the feelings of those Yakushi High School Baseball Team players, they had no doubt that the ball hit out would fly directly out of the field.
"This is too terrifying!"
The somewhat naive baseball team manager looked at Zhang Han in the batter's box in shock.
Although she had long known about Zhang Han and had heard many of his glorious achievements, overall, this somewhat naive baseball team manager didn't take this information to heart.
In her opinion, Zhang Han was just lucky enough to join the Seido High School Baseball Team and quickly gain importance within the team.
That's why he was able to make a name for himself.
In terms of actual strength, if it were Raichi Todoroki from their team, he would be just as good.
If the opportunity given to Zhang Han were given to Raichi Todoroki, then the Yakushi High School Baseball Team manager believed that the achievements Raichi Todoroki could obtain would definitely not be inferior to Zhang Han.
Even now, she firmly believed that when the Summer Tournament began, Raichi Todoroki would definitely surprise everyone again.
Although her evaluation of Raichi Todoroki had not changed at all, this manager of the Yakushi High School Baseball Team had a drastic change in her view of Zhang Han compared to before.
This person was truly strong.
Although his swing would not be like Raichi Todoroki's, where one glance would reveal its extraordinary nature, in contrast, Zhang Han's swing seemed somewhat ordinary.
But it was this ordinary swing that could cleanly and easily hit out balls with a speed of over 150 kilometers.
If Raichi Todoroki's bat was like a sledgehammer, which could shatter anything it connected with, then Zhang Han's bat was more like a finely balanced tool, quiet but no less effective.
It seemed that the threat levels of the two were completely different.
But in fact, the quiet approach might even be more effective.
"Good luck in today's game!"
The confrontation between Raichi Todoroki and Zhang Han.
The Yakushi High School Baseball Team manager was already eager to see it.
Zhang Han hit several balls in a row, some of which he couldn't hit out, only hitting foul.
The fans outside the protective net looked at each other, and their brows furrowed simultaneously.
Today, Zhang Han's condition seemed a bit low.
On the other side, the Yakushi High School Baseball Team players all looked very grim.
Although they didn't see clearly what the ball speed was, judging from their own feelings, the ball speed definitely exceeded 150 kilometers.
Facing such a ball, Zhang Han didn't make a single mistake, hitting all of them cleanly.
Although some of the hit balls became foul balls, this itself was already very, very remarkable, wasn't it?
"Not a single mistake, he touched them all..."
Such a result made some people in the Yakushi High School Baseball Team feel uneasy.
"Practice game, start!"
Under people's gaze, the first practice game of the Seido High School Baseball Team after the training camp officially began.
The first to launch the offense were the teammates of the Seido High School Baseball Team.
Zhang Han shook his arms while returning to the dugout, preparing to go on the field.
In the practice game against the Yakushi High School Baseball Team, the Seido High School Baseball Team played with all its main players.
Although there were many drawbacks to doing so, there was no other way; this was the only decent practice game the Seido High School Baseball Team would get before the Summer Tournament.
If they didn't take advantage of this practice game to expose all problems and re-integrate the team, it would be difficult for the Seido High School Baseball Team to find such an opportunity once the Summer Tournament began.
"First Batter, Shortstop, Kuramochi Yoichi."
The first player from the Seido High School Baseball Team to step into the batter's box was their team's speedy First Batter.
"Hee-haw!"
Kuramochi firmly locked onto the pitcher's mound, ready to hit the ball out as soon as it flew over.
On the pitcher's mound, Sanada noticed the unusual behavior of his opponent.
At the same time, he also found that his own teammates were completely different from their usual practice and games.
Although everyone was chatting and laughing before the game started, when it came to truly facing the Seido High School Baseball Team, truly taking the Seido High School Baseball Team as an opponent, the situation was still different.
The players were a bit timid.
Sanada also didn't know why these guys, who usually acted like nothing could faze them, would suddenly be timid.
"No matter why, we must strike first now."
************************************
Upto 50 Chapters In Advance At: P@treon/Vividreader123