Matsumoto!
Shimojō!
Higashikuni
Tetsuya Yūki!!
These nas are true benchmarks within the Seidou High School baseball team.
They form the powerful core batting lineup of Seidou High.
Although in recent years they haven't made it to Koshien, they consistently send players to professional teams every year. And those players, once in the pros, also perform remarkably well.
Because of that, Seidou's strength has always been highly regarded externally.
Among these, people especially praise Seidou's batting lineup.
Seidou is famous for its power hitters.
Everyone agrees that if this team had an outstanding pitcher, they would absolutely be contenders for Koshien.
Yet now, the very core lineup of such a team has been completely shut down by a re freshman.
While everyone around was shocked and excited, there was also a subtle sense of discomfort in their hearts.
"Damn it, how could we be suppressed like this by a first-year brat?"
The fifth batter up had a tall fra and a mature appearance. What stood out the most was the two thin mustaches he had grown on his upper lip.
He already looked quite mature, but with that, he resembled a man in his thirties.
This player's na was Isashiki Jun.
He was an outfielder, usually batting eighth in the lineup.
But today, Coach Kataoka had promoted him unusually to bat fifth.
The few senpai before him had all failed.
Seeing Isashiki Jun take the plate, no one held much hope.
But Kataoka, who was serving as ho plate umpire, thought differently.
While Isashiki Jun's batting skills weren't quite on par with the team's core lineup, he had one advantage over them—
His swing was highly unpredictable.
"If you think you've already got this in the bag, you're dead wrong."
Chris, crouched in the catcher's position, was well aware of Isashiki Jun's capabilities, and he certainly wasn't going to underestimate his sa-grade teammate.
"His batting is irregular. The more off the edges a pitch is, the more likely he'll hit it. Let's go head-on!"
To show his resolve, Chris set his mitt right in the middle of the strike zone.
A head-on battle.
Coach Kataoka caught this with the corner of his eye.
To be honest, he felt a little sorry for the batter.
Chris was an outstanding catcher, and on top of that, he was intimately familiar with all the team's hitters.
His pitch calling directly targeted each batter's weaknesses.
That ant Zhou Hao only needed to do one thing—
Throw the pitch exactly where Chris wanted it.
Originally, Kataoka had wanted to see a showdown between Isashiki Jun and Zhou Hao. But now, it seed unnecessary.
He could already see how it would end.
Standing on the mound, Zhou Hao received Chris's signal without any hesitation.
Even if it was a pitch right down the middle, he threw it without a second thought.
"Boom!"
Empowered by the spiral pitch, the white baseball spun rapidly and appeared before Isashiki Jun almost in the blink of an eye.
"A fastball right down the middle—are you looking down on ?!"
Isashiki Jun felt his blood boil.
Had it been any other pitch, he might have hesitated.
Even though he was a swing-happy batter, against tricky opponents, he would still play the patience ga.
But now, his opponent had thrown it right down the middle.
That was sothing Isashiki Jun couldn't forgive.
If he let that pitch go, he'd be smacking himself over it in bed that night.
"Don't look down on !"
Muttering under his breath, his hands moved without delay.
The bat swung and connected precisely with the ball.
"Ping!"
The mont the bat hit the ball, Isashiki Jun's expression turned pale.
So heavy!
Though he had already been warned by his seniors about how heavy Zhou Hao's pitches were…
Despite his unimpressive build, the pitches coming from Zhou Hao had imnse force behind them.
So seniors had even lost control of their bats when hitting against him.
Isashiki Jun had ntally prepared himself before going up to bat.
He lowered his stance and used all his strength.
In his mind, as long as he was ready, no matter how heavy the pitch was, he could still hit it well.
But reality gave him a harsh slap in the face.
The mont he actually made contact, Isashiki Jun realized just how wrong he was.
He clearly felt the rebound force from the ball.
Even though he gritted his teeth and managed to make contact—
He had no control over the speed or direction of the ball once it left the bat.
In fact, while he did manage to hit it, the ball didn't travel far.
The second baseman had to run up several steps just to field it and threw it to first base.
"Pop!"
"Out!"
Zhou Hao had now taken out five upperclassn in a row—a five-win streak.
"A pitch right down the middle… and he still couldn't hit it well?"
"Just how strong is that freshman's pitching power?!"
Before, the players might not have had a clear understanding.
But now they saw it plain as day.
Zhou Hao hadn't done anything fancy—just a spiral pitch straight down the middle.
That kind of pitch was supposed to be the sweet spot for any batter.
Isashiki Jun had reacted swiftly. Even though it was his first ti seeing it, he had pinpointed the hitting zone accurately.
He had swung with all his might.
Against a normal pitch, the ball might have already flown out of the field.
But now, even with a perfect hit, the ball barely flew twenty ters before losing montum and dropping.
This was a clear loss in a head-on clash.
To the batters who were still waiting their turn, this was an unspoken intimidation.
Even when going head-to-head, they couldn't get the ball out.
What more could they hope for?
At that mont, standing on the pitcher's mound, Zhou Hao appeared incredibly tall and imposing.
Everyone present was stunned by him.
Sending out more batters now seed aningless.
"You five—go again."
Coach Kataoka's gaze returned to the players who had just batted.
He wanted the team's core hitters to test Zhou Hao one more ti.
"Coach!"
Chris felt this was a bit unfair.
But Zhou Hao readily agreed: "Let's go again."
If a freshman was the one challenging them, what reason did they have to back down?
The sixth batter up—was once again Matsumoto.
This ti, he had a much clearer idea of what Zhou Hao's pitching was like.
He was no longer going in blind.
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