Diamond No Ace: The Strongest Hitter

Chapter 220: The Yakushi Battle (3)

"Give me a break! The pressure is killing me."

"Batting fifth! Center fielder, Sendo-kun!"

"Batting fifth! Center fielder, Sendo-kun!"

"Sendo! We just need a hit, we're counting on you!"

"Let's go on the attack!"

"This guy's pitches are so wild! His breaking balls are sharp, and his fastball isn't much slower than his regular pitch. How am I supposed to make solid contact?"

Sendo couldn't help but internally complain about the shouts from the stands.

Even so, despite the countless complaints running through his mind, his expression remained unfazed. In fact, he was getting excited.

From a young age, he'd always been number one. To put it simply—I haven't even gone all out, and you've already lost.

This was the first time Sendo felt like he was in a true head-to-head battle.

It wasn't that Sanada was superior to other pitchers. In fact, compared to pitchers like Tachi and Manaka, he was actually weaker.

But for some reason, Sendo just didn't match up well against him. Facing Sanada was much more troublesome than the other two.

So, this time, Sendo decided to throw caution to the wind. He cleared his mind of unnecessary thoughts and resolved to rely purely on instinct in this battle.

"This kind of showdown... that's what makes baseball fun!" His smile was now completely unrestrained.

From the pitcher's perspective, this version of Sendo brought an overwhelming sense of pressure.

Even when he was calm and silent, his batting average alone made pitchers overthink and hesitate.

And in a game where every split-second decision matters, hesitation leads to defeat. If you're too scared of his power-hitting ability, how can you possibly pitch effectively?

Now, seeing Sendo's eager expression, Sanada was suddenly reminded of his own teammate—Raichi.

"One after another, these guys never give me a break!"

"Fine, then!"

After confirming the sign, Sanada threw his first pitch with full power.

"Pop!"

"Ball!"

"Coming straight for my face right from the start?! This guy!"

Sendo took a deep breath and straightened up. To dodge that pitch, he had instinctively stepped back with his right leg, bending slightly.

"Where will the next pitch go?"

"Whoosh!"

"Outside corner?"

"Ping!"

"Thud!"

"Foul ball!"

The ball landed behind third base, kicking up a cloud of dust that nearly scared Raichi out of his wits!

Usually, he was the one terrifying people with his swings, so he had never really thought about it. But now, facing someone who could hit just as hard, Raichi was sweating bullets.

"That was close! Just a few centimeters to the inside, and it would've been a fair ball!"

Raizou's face twitched slightly, his mind racing with thoughts.

The bases serve as markers dividing the infield and outfield. If the ball lands fair in the infield and then rolls out, it's a foul ball. But if it lands fair in the outfield and then goes out, it's still considered a fair hit.

That last hit—if it had landed just a little further inside—it would have been ruled a fair ball under outfield rules. Sendou could have easily made it to second base.

"Was that his 'Shuuto'? Judging by the speed, I couldn't tell it apart from his fastball at all! I really got lucky to make contact with that one."

Sendo knew his own abilities well enough.

"That makes it one ball, one strike."

"Your pitches have some serious heat, Sanada!"

"The batter is feeling the pressure now!"

...

"Sendo!"

"Hit it out, Sendo!"

"Don't lose!!!"

From the stands, Fumino shouted with a fierce expression, nothing like a typical girl—but that was part of her charm.

Third Pitch!

"Pop!"

"Ball!"

"The pitcher's scared!"

"He can't get it into the strike zone at all!" Maezono called out from the Seidou dugout, trying to cheer Sendou on.

"You're so damn loud, Maezono-san! This pitcher isn't that kind of guy!"

The Yakushi battery didn't give Sendo a moment to breathe, immediately throwing the fourth pitch!

"Here it comes! A hittable fastball! ...Wait? Damn it!"

In just a split second, Sendo's mind changed multiple times as the ball moved.

"Ping!"

"Foul ball!"

At first, he thought it was an easy fastball to hit. With his mind completely emptied, the adrenaline rush made him completely forget about the cutter.

By the time the ball started breaking near home plate, he had no time to adjust.

He couldn't pull back the bat—but in that last desperate moment, he forced his wrists to adjust the swing angle, barely managing to pull the ball foul.

"Huff! Huff! Huff!"

Sendo panted heavily after making contact.

"So that was a cutter, huh? I totally forgot about it. These kinds of pitches that look exactly like fastballs are the most annoying. They don't give me any time to prepare!"

Of course, what Sendo considered "preparation time" was something unique to him. His insane dynamic vision and spatial awareness let him judge pitches based on speed alone, distinguishing fastballs from breaking balls.

His talent covered up his lack of experience—but Sanada's pitching style was a perfect counter to that talent.

That's why Sendo always said their matchup was awful for him. No matter how many games Seidou gave him, there was no way he could gain enough experience in a short time.

This was a lesson he simply had to learn the hard way.

...

From the Seidou dugout, his teammates were puzzled.

"What was that pitch?"

From their vantage point, they couldn't see the ball's movement clearly. It looked like a fastball, but Sendo's reaction was too strange.

It was just like Sawamura's breaking pitches—most people needed to experience them firsthand in the batter's box to understand them.

"That bastard… he actually guessed right!"

"But seriously, how the hell do you pull a move like that on your first time seeing a breaking ball? Adjusting your swing at the last second like that—doesn't that break the laws of physics?"

Miyuki marveled at Sendo's absurd ability to use just his wrists to change his swing angle mid-motion.

It was exactly like he had predicted in their meeting—Sendo had correctly suspected that Sanada was hiding a pitch.

Even though Miyuki couldn't see the ball's movement either, it was obvious: if it had been a regular fastball, Sendo would have crushed it into the outfield.

"We'll only know for sure when Sendo gets back from the batter's box."

Chris sighed.

"So there really was a hidden pitch."

Yakushi had played against Ichidaisan before, but Sanada had barely pitched in those games. It made perfect sense that he could have been hiding something.

...

"He's being backed into a corner!"

Sendo rested the bat on his shoulder, locking eyes with Sanada on the mound.

"Even so… it should be tough for him to pitch right now too, right?"

...

"No way! He even managed to hit that pitch?!"

"I get that he was just trying to foul it off to avoid striking out, but still… if that were Raichi in the box, he would've been out just now!"

Normally, Sanada held the upper hand against Raichi in their matchups—but when Raichi did manage to make contact, it was never good news.

...

"What do we do, Sanada?"

Watanabe signaled for instructions.

"This batter's speed is insane. A single, a walk—it's no different from a triple with him. And with no outs, there's no reason to just give them a free run. Plus, we've got the pitch count advantage!"

Sanada thought for a moment, then shook his head at Watanabe, locking eyes with him.

He didn't need to say anything—his intent was crystal clear.

"Let's do this!"

...

"Fastball? Shuuto? Not good!"

That cutter hadn't struck him out, but it had definitely shaken his focus.

And with his natural difficulty in maintaining full concentration—

"Ping!"

"Shortstop!"

The moment the grounder left the bat, Sendo turned into a black blur sprinting toward first base.

"Alright! That's a—"

The shortstop only managed to look toward first base after making the throw—only to be shocked by how far Sendo had already advanced!

"Pop!"

"Safe!"

"Ahhh!!!"

"No way!!!"

"A routine grounder to the shortstop, and he still managed to reach base?!"

"He's so fast! Is that guy even human?!"

"Is this even fair?"

The entire stadium erupted in excitement over the seemingly impossible infield hit.

Even seeing it happen with their own eyes, many fans still found it hard to believe.

Sure, Yakushi's defensive awareness and reaction time weren't the best, but this was a ball hit directly at the shortstop!

Not to mention, Sendo's baserunning technique wasn't anywhere near as polished as Kuramochi's—otherwise, this wouldn't have even been a close play.

"Hahh… hahh… hahh… I really gave it everything on that one."

"How pathetic… I had to reach base in such an ugly way."

After safely making it to first, Sendo tilted his head back, gazing up at the sky as he caught his breath.

"This baserunner is crucial," Chris said softly.

"Yeah," Coach Kataoka nodded as he glanced at the scoreboard. We need to apply as much pressure as possible before their pitcher finds his rhythm.

Yakushi's lineup was dangerous—when they got hot, they could put up runs in a hurry.

Against Ichidaisan, Yakushi had scored 13 runs. If they exploded against Seidou's pitching, things could get ugly fast.

And compared to Ichidaisan's ace, Seidou's pitchers were even more vulnerable to mental breakdowns.

...

"Still… we won't be able to ask about that breaking ball now."

Miyuki's thoughts were elsewhere.

Before the game, he and Sendo had talked about their approach. Since they were both left-handed batters, the ideal scenario was for Sendo to be the first to face Sanada's hidden pitches, then relay what he learned.

But now that plan was out the window. They had no choice but to focus on scoring runs the hard way.

...

"Batting sixth! Third baseman, Masuko-kun!"

"No outs, runners on second!

The batter is a power hitter—the former fifth batter!

"My mission is to crush their momentum!"

Sanada lowered his head slightly, revealing a grin filled with determination.

This kind of high-stakes moment only fueled his competitive spirit.

On the mound, Sanada had one of the strongest mentalities in high school baseball.

...

"So, you're fired up too, huh?"

"This tension… it really is the best, isn't it?"

"You, me, and You Shunshin—we're all the same kind of players."

Sendo couldn't help but smile as he watched Sanada's fighting spirit blaze to life.

...

"Whoosh!"

"Stolen base attempt!"

Sanada completely ignored Sendo's steal attempt. He knew he couldn't stop it, so he didn't even try.

"Huh?"

"Pop!"

As if dictated by fate—or rather, by Sanada's fiery spirit—the pitch veered out of control!

...

"Huh?"

Even Sanada himself was dumbfounded. His surprised voice sounded almost… cute.

"Hit by pitch!"

...

It was bound to happen sooner or later.

No one expected Masuko to be the one to take a hit.

...

"Where the hell are you aiming?! That pitcher—"

"Good thing he had his gear on!" Sawamura scowled.

"You're the last person who should be saying that," Kuramochi immediately shot back.

Kominato nodded in agreement.

"Who's the one that keeps beaning Kanemaru during practice, huh?"

...

"Alright! That means runners on first and second! And the one on second is Sendo!"

Maezono grinned ear to ear.

"Let's take this whole inning in one go!"

...

"That idiot! What's he doing increasing the danger right away?!"

Even Raizou was exasperated with Sanada.

But at the same time—this was exactly what made Sanada who he was.

...

"Wait… then I ran for nothing?"

Sendo pointed at himself, looking utterly dejected.

Baserunning at full sprint was exhausting!

...

"Oh well—I'll leave it to you now, you sneaky glasses bastard!"

"This is your favorite situation—runners in scoring position!"

"And standing in scoring position… is me!"

...

Sanada, however, had a completely different thought process.

"Not good… the next batter is someone we really need to watch out for."

But despite the serious thought in his mind—his face was practically glowing with excitement.

...

"Batting seventh! Catcher, Miyuki-kun!"

"Batting seventh! Catcher, Miyuki-kun!"

"It's rare for you to be in scoring position during my at-bat."

"But if we don't score here, you're never going to let me hear the end of it!"

Thinking this, Miyuki choked up on the bat, knowing this was a huge opportunity.

Despite all their constant bickering, he and Sendo had an uncanny level of synchronization. Understanding the situation, Sendo took an even bigger lead off second base.

"I'm ready! As long as the ball isn't hit directly at an infielder, I can make it home, Four-Eyes!"

"But if you screw up, I'll be waiting for you at third!"

Yakushi's defense didn't react much to Sendo's aggressive lead.

They had already studied his baserunning tendencies on video—for him, this lead was still within normal limits. Even Miyuki himself couldn't stop Sendo from making these kinds of plays.

So why should they even bother?

Out of sight, out of mind.

...

"I can't get enough of this!"

As Sanada wound up for his pitch, that was the only thought in his mind.

...

"Stolen base attempt!"

...

"Here it comes! A hittable pitch!"

Just as Sendo and Miyuki predicted, Sanada's aggressive pitching style left him vulnerable.

Earlier, Yuuki had crushed a home run off a similar pitch.

...

"No—it's a hit-and-run!"

Yakushi's defense immediately warned each other as they saw Miyuki swinging.

...

"What—"

...

"Ping!"

"Second base!"

"Pop!"

"First base!"

"Pop!"

...

The first baseman's face lit up in excitement as he completed the double play.

"Oh, hell yeah!"

Even Yakushi's assistant coach lost all composure, celebrating wildly.

"Yes! Double play!"

"Beautiful pitching, Sanada!"

"Two outs, runner on third!"

"Let's focus on the batter!"

In an instant, Yakushi's momentum came roaring back.

They had completely ignored Sendo advancing to third—it was too risky to try for an out.

Instead, securing outs at first and second was the safer play.

With two outs, even with a runner on third, Yakushi's defense had much more room to maneuver.

Now, Seidou's next batter had no choice but to get a hit.

A sacrifice fly or a groundout wouldn't be enough—only a clean base hit could score a run.

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