Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

"Nice pitch!"

Renji passed the ball back.

As he did, he glanced at Francis in the Batter's Box.

The batter seemed dazed!

Standing in the Batter's Box, he was completely rigid.

'That pitch Sawamura just threw had probably scared him.'

Renji wasn't surprised at all.

If you didn't do enough preparation, you simply couldn't face Sawamura's pitches.

Just by watching, Sawamura's pitching felt like it could be faster than 160 km/h.

It was like a cheat!

If they tried to hit Sawamura's pitches with that mindset, it would be a miracle if they hit the ball.

And not only would they struggle to hit the ball, but just following the trajectory of the ball would be difficult for them.

Of course, this didn't mean Sawamura's pitches were invincible.

In fact, Sawamura's pitching also had shortcomings, and very obvious ones.

Otherwise, others wouldn't even stand a chance.

The speed of Sawamura's ball only seemed like 160 km/h, but in reality, it was obviously not that fast.

If the opponent had enough talent, they could still discern the ball's speed.

But unfortunately, Francis was either too shocked or for some other reason.

For a moment, he couldn't react in time, much less adjust his vision.

Taking advantage of his shock, Sawamura went for the kill.

'The same pitch, continue!!!'

Seeing this, Renji didn't plan to go easy.

He immediately signaled to Sawamura to continue.

On the mound, Sawamura wasn't holding back.

He threw pitch after pitch, relentlessly sending out that little baseball.

"STRIKE!!"

"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!!!"

"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!!!!"

"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!!!!!"

Nine pitches, three strikeouts.

Even though they were facing America, the team with the world's true number one strength.

Sawamura still showcased his own style.

Against the world's number one, Sawamura held his ground, performing with stability.

He dealt with his opponents cleanly and decisively.

During the pitching, he boldly threw many dangerous pitches.

This fully demonstrated his trust in his control.

Three Outs, offense and defense exchange!

At the bottom of the inning, it was Japan's turn to bat.

The players from both teams return to their respective resting areas, listening to their respective Coaches' instructions.

Hans, the American Coach, looks at his players and nods slightly.

"You must have already seen the strength of Sawamura. How was it?"

Upon hearing this question, the three players who had just been up to bat fell silent.

Other players, too, are not as boastful as they were before the game started.

One by one, they are all quiet, clearly feeling the different atmosphere from Sawamura's pitching, even though they hadn't had the chance to bat.

"Just standing on the side and watching, the intensity was on a completely different level from what we saw on the video."

One player speaks candidly.

Before facing the Japanese team, the American players had speculated somewhat about Sawamura's strength.

Because Sawamura had previously played against the American Dream Team and performed well in that game, it was hard not to pay attention to him.

They were very focused, even developing strategies specifically targeting him.

For the American players, they thought they had already done everything they could.

But clearly, they hadn't. They were still far off.

Only after actually witnessing Sawamura's pitching did they realize how strong this man, who could rival the "Son of Baseball" Allen, really was.

This strength didn't even require them to step into the Batter's Box to experience it themselves.

Just standing by the sidelines, they could feel the difference.

It was overwhelmingly powerful!

Whether it was the pitching power, speed, or precision.

On paper, or when watching game footage, you could only see the surface.

But when you actually saw Sawamura pitch, it felt like he was glowing, completely drawing the attention of everyone in the stadium.

Normally, cheerleaders only cheer when their team is attacking, encouraging the batters while also applying pressure to the opposing pitcher.

This is the usual routine.

But just now, when Sawamura was pitching, the supporters from Japan in the stands couldn't contain their excitement.

They were even cheering directly for Sawamura during his pitching.

Honestly, it was incredibly crazy!

Every pitch Sawamura made was met with cheers from the stands.

It felt as if each pitch determined the direction of the game.

This made the American players not think highly of it.

They originally thought that the Japanese fans were overreacting, getting so excited over such trivial things.

But soon, they realized they were wrong.

The fans' craziness wasn't just because of trivial matters.

The reason they were so crazy was entirely due to Sawamura's unique pitching style.

This guy seemed to have no idea how to throw a Ball. Every pitch he threw was in the strike zone, and each pitch had its own unique meaning. It felt like every pitch was a battle to determine the outcome.

This sense of a battle was undoubtedly Sawamura's favorite atmosphere.

He hated flashy, showy pitches. In contrast, he preferred this straightforward, direct approach.

Proving everything with overwhelming strength.

Sawamura threw every pitch into the strike zone, confronting the opponent head-on to decide the outcome.

He loved the passionate, energetic feeling.

But this was hard on the American players.

The game they studied, compared to today's game, felt completely different.

How did the two even get compared?

If there's any similarity, it's that the pitcher in both games was Sawamura.

Even though it was the same person, he pitched with two completely different styles at different times.

This was something only Sawamura could achieve.

For most pitchers, forming their own style is already a difficult task.

Let alone having two completely different styles.

Styles tend to conflict with each other, and if a pitcher has more than one style, the likelihood of conflict increases.

Sawamura was no exception.

Theoretically, if Sawamura had two completely different styles, his pitching would definitely be affected by both.

But did Sawamura really have two styles?

No.

He just controlled his own pitching rhythm and then decided which pitch to focus on.

From Sawamura's perspective, it was just a change in his pitching method.

It was just one of his basic routines.

But for others, it felt like a completely different person was pitching.

And that pitcher's strength was likely not inferior to Sawamura's.

This made things awkward...

Facing a single Sawamura was already enough to give American players a headache. Now they had to face so many different versions of him, and no one knew when Sawamura would transform into another version of himself.

The American Coach was also very clear about this.

He stared seriously at his players and said, "You've all seen Sawamura's strength now, so you have a general idea. According to our original plan, it might be unrealistic to try to tackle this player. You need new weapons."

After saying this, the American Coach turned his serious gaze toward one particular, short young player in his resting area.

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