"You're not going to be pitching all nine innings today. So, you can go all out in the starting. Want to strike everyone out?", said Miyuki smiling while walking towards the mound alongside Rei.
"Of course", said Rei oozing with confidence.
Miyuki chuckled in response.
"Sheesh. He doesn't seem nervous at all", thought Miyuki.
The audience was confused about not seeing Tanba as the starting pitcher.
Rei prepared his hands with a rosin bag to pitch.
"PLAY!", yelled the umpire.
"OSHA!", roared the player in the batter's box taking his batting stance.
Miyuki signaled Rei for an out-course fastball.
Rei nodded and Miyuki positioned his mitt for an out-course.
Rei threw the rosin bag down to the ground.
Rei winded up his glove, took his pitching position, swung back his arm with force, and released the ball aiming toward the mitt.
The ball went 150 KM hitting the strike zone.
*Thud**Thud* The sound of the ball hitting the mitt echoed on the field.
"STRIKE!", yelled the umpire.
The audience and the players went silent seeing Rei's pitch.
After coming back to their senses, the audience was riled up and cheered for the new 1st-year pitcher.
"D-did you see that?"
"Is he really a 1st year?"
"Seido is lucky to have such a monstrous pitcher"
Discussed the audience.
In Maimon High School's Dugout.
All the players were shocked seeing the monster pitcher they had to bat against.
"How can we even hit that fastball?"
"Does coach expect us to hit this monster's pitch?"
Chiba who was overhearing his player's conversation was irritated not knowing what to do in this situation.
In the field.
The batter's legs were trembling after seeing the ball that fast coming toward him.
"I've never seen such pitches. He pitches like a machine. I'm scared just standing up here", thought the batter sweat rolling down his cheeks.
Rei pitched another out-course as called by Miyuki senpai.
"STRIKE!", said the umpire.
The batter missed it and swung wide.
Rei pitched a 3rd out-course as called by Miyuki senpai yet again.
"STRIKE!", said the umpire.
The batter missed it and swung wide again.
"THAT IDIOT!", yelled Chiba coach from his dugout frustrated seeing his batter struck out.
"All out from the start!"
"All right! 3 up, 3 down!"
Seido's audience celebrated at the struck outs.
Rei walked back to the dugout picking up his hat from the ground.
"NICE PITCHING!", yelled Sawamura and Furuya praising Rei.
"Thank you", said Rei grinning at them condescendingly.
Seeing the grin on Rei's face, Sawamura was irritated.
"Eijun-kun your true colors are showing!", said Haruichi seeing Sawamura's expression.
"He's pitching well today", thought Miyuki walking back to the dugout.
In Maimon High's Dugout.
"There should be a way to beat that monster's fastball", thought Chiba Coach.
In the Field.
Maimon High's battery was planning for their first pitch since now Miyuki was up to bat.
The pitcher threw a slider to the in-course.
Miyuki casually hit the 1st pitch, hitting it towards the left field. He ran to the 1st base.
Next up to bat was Jun.
The catcher threw an in-course for him and on each pitch, Jun swung hard and missed.
"OUT!", yelled the umpire.
"Don't mind, Jun-san", said Masuko in the dugout.
Next up to bat was Masuko. He hit the ball to the outfield and made it to the 1st base while Miyuki ran to the 2nd base.
Next Rei was up to bat, he grabbed a metal bat and walked to the batter's box.
"It's his turn and I haven't seen him bat yet", thought some players in the dugout.
Rei took his batting stance and his stance seemed like a newbie's which is why the catcher took him lightly.
Rei's current level of his hitting skill was 7 so he was pretty confident.
The pitcher threw a slider to an in-course.
Without thinking much when Rei saw the first pitch coming toward him, he swung the bat with all his power. He made contact with the ball, and it went over the left field's fence resulting in another home run.
"OOOOOOO", gasped Seido players in the dugout. They didn't expect Rei to hit a home run.
Hearing his teammate's reaction Rei laughed awkwardly while touching the bases.
Miyuki and Masuko made it to the home plate resulting in 2 more runes.
"Our Offence is so strong. We keep getting runs", said Sawamura in the dugout.
Haruichi nodded in response.
Next Kadota and Shirasu came to bat, and both were struck out by in-course sliders.
Rei came to pitch the next inning and struck out all the batters.
All the 3rd years scored some runs by batting.
[Score
Seido-1-3-8-3-
Maimon-0-0-0-]
In Maimon High Dugout.
Chiba coach was frustrated looking at the score.
In the field.
The pitcher was sweating continuously and gasping for breath. Looked like he was near the end of his stamina.
In Seido's dugout.
Kataoka coach decided that they were cycling pitchers this summer. So, they asked Kawakami to warm up and prepare to close the game.
"Come here Sawamura", said Kataoka coach gesturing for Sawamura to come near him.
Sawamura stomped there in a hurry.
"You can pitch in the next inning", said Kataoka Coach shocking everyone.
"Don't be scared on the mound and trip", said Rei mocking Sawamura.
"I WON'T!", exclaimed Sawamura.
In the Field.
Sawamura was pitching this inning and he prepared to pitch.
Maimon High School players were disappointed in themselves for not getting 1 run throughout the whole game. They thought they were the best.
Rei was in the left outfield chilling not doing anything.
Sawamura said his catchphrase and started pitching. He let 2 people on base in the starting but was fine later on.
Meanwhile, Tachikawa Municipal Stadium with Takashima.
She was observing Ichidai High's match.
Ichidai and Seido were matched against each other for semifinals.
In the Summer Tournament.
Kawakami threw the last pitch and the umpire yelled, "STRIKE! BATTER OUT! GAME SET!".
Only 5 innings and the game was over.
Rei saw the crying opponent's team when they said bye to each other while bowing. He thought it was probably the 3rd years who would be leaving and were disappointed at the last chance of baseball for them. Seeing this sight Rei felt like Seido's 3rd years shouldn't ever feel like this and yet again another reason to win this tournament.
Seido Indoor Field at night.
"Sawamura you were too tense and have you ever heard of control before", said Chris and Kuramochi lecturing Sawamura.
"What about him?", said Sawamura pointing at Rei.
"What about him, he pitched fine unlike you", said Kuramochi giving Sawamura a critical hit.
"Master, you must not worry. I Sawamura will beat his cool pitching someday", said Sawamura pointing at Rei.
"You?", questioned Rei.
Hearing Rei's response Sawamura got pissed and they both started bickering.
The next day, Rei was doing his homework in class 1-A.
In class 1-C Sawamura was sleeping while making weird noises and in class, 1-B girls were looking at Haruichi and Furuya.
Morning Practice in the Field.
"You just need to practice your pitches more and raise your stamina", said Chris advising Rei.
Rei nodded sincerely even though he already knew this.
"Good luck. If you keep this up you might get the ace number next year", said Takashima.
"Thank you", said Rei sincerely while bowing and leaving to train.
Furuya and Sawamura who overheard this were shocked. Furuya started to run feeling motivated, and Sawamura was lectured by Chris about his pitches.
