Narumiya Mei smoothed the dirt on the pitcher's mound with his foot; the opponent before him was his imaginary rival for pitching practice recently.
Kiriyama Ren's batting couldn't be described as particularly strong, yet he frequently hit the ball when he was in the batting center.
However, now he had a reliable catcher guiding him, which was something he didn't usually have.
Today, following his pitch calls, the first eight batters had been retired without success; solving this current batter would perfectly conclude this practice game.
A score of 1-0 might not be glorious, but winning was all that mattered.
Stepping into the batter's box, Harada greeted Kiriyama Ren: "Your catching is decent, but do you know why I'm able to hit you?"
"I don't want to know. I just want to know how to hit this ball."
Facing Harada's simple psychological tactic, Kiriyama Ren didn't fall for it; his attention was focused on this at-bat.
If he could just hit the ball, he could extend the game.
He took a deep breath.
Facing the first pitch, a high Fastball aimed at the inside corner, Kiriyama Ren didn't swing.
He understood that the first pitch would never be easy to hit, and might not even be in the strike zone.
"Ball!"
As expected, the pitch was called a ball.
"He didn't fall for it after all," Harada snorted inwardly.
Seeing Kiriyama Ren remain calm and not eager to swing, he secretly thought this opponent was not simple.
He wasn't impatient despite being potentially the last batter, but rather very calmly selected his pitches.
Such a batter could invisibly put pressure on the pitcher.
The second pitch, still attacking the inside corner, was another Fastball; at a similar location, with Harada's slight adjustment, this time it was a strike.
The third pitch was thrown.
He privately thought that after two consecutive pitches attacking the inside, the next pitch, by force of habit, would adjust the attack direction to the outside corner.
He stretched his bat to aim for the outside but could only swing and miss, watching the ball land in the catcher's mitt.
All three consecutive pitches attacked the inside corner.
With a count of two strikes and one ball, it was an absolutely disadvantageous count for the batter.
Kiriyama Ren calmed himself down; the previous three pitches were Fastballs, so next it should be time for a Changeup to entice him to swing.
Currently, the only Changeup Narumiya Mei knew was a Slider, and knowing the pitch type made it easier.
No!
The previous eight batters were dealt with primarily by Fastballs, which proved that Harada Senior was still a bit rusty with catching Narumiya Mei's Changeup.
The next pitch might still be a Fastball.
If it's a Fastball, hit it; if it's a Changeup, foul it off.
Kiriyama Ren decided on his approach for the showdown.
Without giving him time to hesitate, Narumiya Mei threw the ball.
Kiriyama Ren's gaze was fixed on the ball's movement, and he finally saw clearly that this pitch was still a Fastball.
And it was still an inside Fastball.
"Harada was careless," Coach Kunimoto saw Kiriyama Ren's swing and knew that Harada's pitch calling had been read.
"His pitch calling was the same as Kiriyama Ren's just now.
Harada had been aiming for the outside corner, so it was normal for him to struggle with inside pitches, and he naturally welcomed the final outside pitch.
Now he himself has called four consecutive inside pitches, a counter-psychology tactic.
Both are extremes."
Bang!
The ball was hit with a resounding crack.
Upon hearing the sound, Narumiya Mei, who had maintained a confident smile, froze.
As a pitcher, he only needed to hear the sound of the ball being hit to know something was seriously wrong.
Ultimately, the ball flew a certain distance into right field before crashing heavily against the fence; it was, without a doubt, a Home run.
1-1!
What was initially thought to be a one-sided game turned into a tie after one round of batting by the selection team.
"Game over!" At this moment, Coach Kunimoto's voice rang out, stopping the selection team's leadoff hitter, who was happy to get an extra at-bat.
Someone wanted to say something, but under Coach Kunimoto's stern expression, they ultimately remained silent.
Both teams lined up on either side of Home plate, bowing to their opponents.
"Thank you for the instruction!"
Most people were happy with the tie.
They had tied with the special recruitment team, which consisted of specially recruited students from Inashiro Industrial, one of West Tokyo's three major powerhouses, plus a few first-year seniors who had played in the autumn tournament.
In their minds, they were already imagining receiving acceptance letters from Inashiro in a few days, and perhaps even making a name for themselves by being included in the Summer Tournament roster during their first year.
"I won't give up the catcher's position to you!" Harada extended his right hand, expressing hostile friendliness to Kiriyama Ren.
He knew that their inability to pull ahead in the score was entirely due to this catcher's game plan and his ability to soothe the players' emotions.
"Now everyone has hit a Home run, so it seems I was laughing at you too soon."
"Just luck," Kiriyama Ren maintained humility towards his senior, extending his right hand to shake Harada's: "I still have a lot to learn from you, Senior."
"I look forward to your enrollment."
"First, I need to pass the entrance exam successfully, after all, my academic scores aren't that great."
In Harada's mind, there was no possibility of Kiriyama Ren not being selected for Coach Kunimoto's roster.
And his choice to participate in the selection, which offered reduced scores for the entrance exam, also proved his eagerness to come to Inashiro.
Coach Kunimoto closed his notebook of records; he had already decided on the selected players for this tryout.
His original goal was just to find some overlooked talents, but the quality of the players was higher than he expected.
Four players received his high praise, and the one who impressed him the most was Kiriyama Ren.
As a catcher, he did everything he could do.
The selection of candidates was set, and he didn't ask the others to specifically gather.
When he spoke, the players wisely quieted down to listen to what Coach Kunimoto had to say: "Thank you all for your hard work.
I know you might wonder why I stopped the game when the selection team hit a Home run.
It's because our coaching staff has been grading you since the very first test.
Based on our scoring, even if you were to get a hit now, it would only be by luck.
What we want to see are solid hits, not a lucky lineup connection."
He paused, then delivered the message everyone most wanted to hear: "Today's tryout is over.
We will now deliberate and notify the shortlisted players by phone.
Thank you all for your hard work.
You are now dismissed!"
After Coach Kunimoto's speech ended, everyone walked back to the sidelines to pack their belongings.
"Coach Kunimoto wants to see you!" A voice sounded behind Kiriyama Ren as he was packing.
He turned around to see Narumiya Mei's displeased face.
It seemed that Kiriyama Ren's Home run earlier still bothered him, but he dared not disobey what Coach Kunimoto asked him to do, so he could only go against his conscience to call Kiriyama Ren over.
"Oh!"
Looking at Narumiya Mei's expression, Kiriyama Ren found it somewhat amusing, but hearing that Coach Kunimoto called him, he simply stuffed his belongings into his bag and followed Narumiya Mei.