The pitch was quick.
Based on Kuramochi's estimation, the ball speed also exceeded 140 kilometers per hour.
Was the intelligence Seido High School Baseball Team gathered before incorrect? Or was Aoki currently overperforming on the field?
The catcher was so excited that tears were about to fall.
Aoki's weakness of an unstable start had almost become an incurable disease. For a while, Coach Mikura even considered replacing him as the Ace and making him a relief pitcher.
But this guy wasn't just unstable at the beginning of a game; he was slow to get into form when he came on.
Even if he was brought in for the last inning, he would still need a warm-up to get into form.
After much deliberation, Coach Mikura could only grit his teeth and endure this point.
After all, even with the flaw of an unstable start, Aoki's overall strength still made him the team's top pitcher.
It was precisely because of this that Aoki's position was essentially set.
Compared to bringing him in when the game was tied or in the final stages, which would add unpredictable variables to the game.
It was better to bring this kid up from the start; since runs would be given up anyway, it was better to give them up early than late.
Shonan Gakuen had already anticipated this game.
They could accept any runs given up at the start, as long as it was within three runs.
But what they didn't expect was that Aoki, who just came on today, was in excellent form from the beginning.
This had never happened before when they played against other opponents.
If the situation continued like this, perhaps they really had a chance in today's game.
"Pop!"
"Strike!"
Kuramochi didn't swing at the first pitch.
The teammates in the Seido High School Baseball Team dugout all had extremely grim expressions.
The intelligence they had received before seemed a bit inaccurate.
That big, silly guy named Aoki didn't look like he was in poor form at all.
His pitching location was a bit too sweet, but everything else, whether it was ball speed or ball power, looked very dangerous.
"Did this guy hold back his strength in previous games?"
"Did he deliberately show a weakness just to deal with us?"
"It shouldn't just be us; it's just to deal with strong opponents he might encounter."
The Seido teammates muttered a few words, and unknowingly, Aoki's image in their minds grew quite a bit.
The seemingly silly big guy even began to exude an aura of profound mystery.
Zhang Han was also preparing for his hitting. While checking his hitting helmet and gloves, he was also observing Aoki.
Aoki was quite famous during his junior high school days; at that time, his height was already nearly 1.9 meters.
But for a player like Zhang Han, who had dealt with Aoki before, Aoki's height had barely changed in the past two years.
At most, he had only grown two centimeters.
For someone in their teens, only growing two centimeters in two years. If his original height wasn't already terrifying, his parents might have taken him for a check-up.
Compared to now, Aoki was even more terrifying back then.
But his weaknesses at that time were equally obvious.
This guy was a natural airhead, standing foolishly on the pitcher's mound, as if he didn't know what he was supposed to do?
It was easy to score off him at the beginning.
But as soon as the opponent scored in the first inning, in the next inning, this guy would be like he was woken up from a nap.
His entire mental state would do a 180-degree turn.
At that time, his pitching was the most terrifying.
While Aoki's current pitching looked shocking, compared to the full-effort pitching state Zhang Han remembered.
Perhaps the current ball speed wasn't slow, and the quality of the pitch wasn't bad.
But his overall state and aura were definitely not as good as two years ago.
Did this guy not only fail to improve after entering high school but also regress? This possibility is almost non-existent.
"No!"
Zhang Han shook his head, denying everyone's previous guess.
"This guy hasn't gotten into form yet; he hasn't truly unleashed his power."
What?
The teammates looked at Zhang Han with complex expressions.
If what Zhang Han said was true?
What would this guy's pitching look like when he truly unleashed his power?
The teammates didn't dare to guess such a scene.
Zhang Han saw that everyone had misunderstood and quickly explained.
"What I mean is, it shouldn't be difficult for us to score now."
"There's not much of a chance!"
"This is just us watching from the side; it should be different when you're in the batter's box."
Miyuki spoke.
At the same time, Kuramochi, standing in the batter's box, observed one pitch, and a hint of understanding flashed in his eyes.
The ball speed wasn't slow, and the ball power wasn't bad; it was just that his control was a bit off, and the location was a bit too sweet.
But if viewed purely from the data, the opponent's pitch was still very good.
But looking at this good pitch, Kuramochi's heart felt no ripple.
This guy's pitching looked a bit like Zhang Han's right-handed pitching...
Purely looking at the data, it's very good.
But in the pitch, there's no soul.
To put it plainly, it's not difficult to hit such a ball.
The key is to find the right location and then successfully get a hit.
Kuramochi began to observe Shonan Gakuen's fielders on the field.
Just as Shonan Gakuen's players were celebrating that their Ace hadn't shown weaknesses at the start like before, and were ready to go all out to get the batter out.
Kuramochi swung his bat without hesitation at the second pitch from Aoki.
"Ping!"
The white ball solidly hit the baseball, sending it flying.
Kuramochi's face showed a satisfied expression, and then he jogged to First Base.
During the stolen base attempt, the speed he displayed also startled the Shonan Gakuen players.
"So fast!"
Just like a blur, he broke through instantly.
No outs, runner on First Base.
In the Seido High School Baseball Team dugout.
The teammates looked at Zhang Han as if he were a psychic.
This was too amazing!
How did he know that the opponent's pitching wouldn't be so difficult to deal with when seen from the batter's box?
"Our two junior high teams were relatively close, and we played many practice games. This guy is also from Tokyo, so we're fairly familiar with each other."
Zhang Han explained with a smile.
He knew several people at Shonan Gakuen, but the most familiar one was definitely Aoki.
It wasn't that their personalities were particularly compatible.
It was mainly because their teams were close and interacted a lot, so they naturally became familiar.
Although they were familiar with each other, they didn't talk much. They had known each other for four or five years, and their conversations combined wouldn't even reach double digits.
But this didn't prevent them from being familiar with each other.
After all, they were baseball players; they only needed to communicate through baseball.
Next up was Kominato Ryosuke, the second batter for Seido High School Baseball Team.
After Kominato Ryosuke came up to bat, he didn't rush to attack.
Instead, he patiently waited for the opponent to pitch.
Just as Aoki set up to pitch, Kuramochi, who had been behaving well on First Base, immediately started aiming for the next base.
"Runner!"
"Throw to Second Base!"
In the Shonan Gakuen dugout, the teammates were so excited they could have flown up and bitten someone.
Seido High School Baseball Team was too arrogant, attempting a direct stolen base.
Akiyama gritted his teeth and moved his bulky body.
Don't let his weight fool you; he also had great strength.
This time, he was determined to teach the Seido High School players a good lesson...
"Pop..."
Just as Akiyama caught the ball and stood up to throw.
He suddenly realized with surprise that Kuramochi was only five or six meters away from Second Base.
Given Kuramochi's speed, that distance wouldn't even take a second.
And for Akiyama to throw the ball to Second Base, the time would far exceed one second.
"Safe!"
Akiyama held the baseball in his hand, just staring blankly as a huge cheer erupted from the opposing dugout.
"Safe!"
Now it was no outs, runner on Second Base.
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