After two innings, Toyosaki High School quickly adjusted their tactics under the guidance of their coach.
Unfortunately—
It was completely useless.
In the third inning, Seido scored four runs.
In the fourth inning, Seido added another six.
In the fifth inning, they piled on five more.
It was a complete massacre.
Toyosaki High School simply had no power to resist against Seido.
As the starting pitcher, Sawamura Eijun not only prevented Toyosaki from scoring a single run, but also limited them to a pitiful number of hits.
In the end, Seido crushed Toyosaki 24–0 in five innings, ending the game early via the mercy rule and securing the new team's first official victory of the Autumn Tournament.
The overwhelming strength displayed by Seido greatly reassured the fans in the stands.
Originally, many supporters had worried that Seido would experience instability after the retirement of the third-years.
After all, this was common for defending Koshien champions.
Compared to other schools, the championship team always lost an extra month for rebuilding and adjustments because of the extended summer schedule. On top of that, integrating an entirely new lineup was never easy.
That was precisely why so many former champions stumbled during the Autumn Tournament.
But from this game against Toyosaki, Seido's new team still displayed frightening offensive firepower.
Of course, part of that was because Toyosaki was simply too weak.
At the same time, Seido's defense had barely been tested throughout the game.
Or rather—
They never even had the opportunity to showcase it.
The coordination and chemistry of the new lineup would only truly be tested against elite schools.
For example—
Teito High School.
Inashiro Industrial.
Ichidai Third High.
The batting lineups of those powerhouse schools were on an entirely different level from teams like Toyosaki.
Against opponents like them, even the smallest defensive mistake could immediately be exploited.
And at critical moments, a single error could directly decide the outcome of a game.
Still, the new team had only just been formed.
They needed time to properly develop chemistry.
Fortunately, every player in this game had played seriously and responsibly.
Even Maezono Kenta, whose performance had clearly suffered due to nervousness, wasn't slacking intentionally.
After returning to school, Coach Kataoka and Coach Ochiai held a brief postgame review.
Among all the players, Coach Kataoka only criticized Maezono for a few sentences, mainly reminding him to adapt to official games as quickly as possible and regain his normal form.
Ochiai Hiromitsu, however, was far less optimistic.
He openly admitted that he didn't have high expectations for Maezono Kenta.
Hearing that, the other players couldn't help but feel worried for him.
As for Maezono himself—
He could only lower his head silently.
After the meeting ended, the twenty first-string players returned to their dormitories.
"Arima, want to go take a bath?" Kanzaki Ryou asked while carrying a washbasin.
"Sure."
The two walked toward the bathhouse together and soon ran into Maezono Kenta, who was also carrying a basin with a gloomy expression on his face.
After rinsing off, Kanzaki entered the bath and immediately noticed Maezono still soaking quietly in the corner, looking depressed.
"Alright, stop making that miserable face already," Kanzaki Ryou said lazily. "Your performance today really was pretty bad."
Maezono looked up at him with a complicated expression full of frustration and irritation.
"Your biggest issue today was nerves," Kanzaki continued. "It was your first official game, so your performance became unstable. That part is easy to fix. Once you play more games, you'll naturally get used to it."
"But your real problem…"
Kanzaki narrowed his eyes slightly.
"…is your batting mechanics themselves."
Maezono froze.
No one on Seido doubted Kanzaki Ryou's batting ability.
If even he said there was a problem, then there definitely was a problem.
That was the level of trust Kanzaki's strength inspired.
So Maezono immediately asked seriously:
"What problem?"
"You're using too much force," Kanzaki replied calmly.
"Too much force?"
Maezono looked confused.
Wasn't power a good thing?
Didn't stronger swings produce farther hits?
Seeing his reaction, Kanzaki sighed inwardly.
This was actually a very common problem.
Especially among players who spent a long time unable to make the first string or earn game appearances.
Because they were so desperate to become stronger and finally get playing time, they unconsciously started over-swinging during practice.
Eventually, that bad habit carried into actual games.
Clearly, Ochiai had already noticed this issue too.
That was probably why he didn't think highly of Maezono's future.
After all, habits like this couldn't be corrected overnight.
Instead of waiting for Maezono to adjust, it was often easier to simply give another player a chance.
This was Seido.
If one player couldn't perform, there would always be someone else ready to take his place.
The strong advanced.
The weak fell behind.
Even though Coach Kataoka was still giving Maezono opportunities now, if he continued performing like this, losing his starting spot would only be a matter of time.
"When you swing too hard," Kanzaki explained patiently, "your body becomes stiff. A lot of pitches you should be able to hit cleanly end up turning into misses instead."
Maezono immediately straightened up.
"Then what should I do?"
Kanzaki shook his head.
"I already told you the problem. As for how to fix it, you should ask the coaches."
Maezono stared at him silently for a moment before lowering his head deeply.
"Thank you… Captain."
The moment he finished speaking, Maezono climbed out of the bath without even soaking any longer and hurried away.
During the following week of training, Kanzaki noticed that Maezono's batting mechanics were gradually changing little by little.
Clearly, the coaches had already started helping him adjust.
Soon, Saturday arrived once again.
At nine in the morning, Seido welcomed their second opponent in the Autumn Tournament qualifiers—
Tokyo Metropolitan Sanno High School.
The previous night, Coach Kataoka had already announced the starting lineup.
Seido High School Starting Lineup
Kuramochi Yoichi — Shortstop
Kominato Haruichi — Second Baseman
Miyuki Kazuya — Catcher
Kanzaki Ryou — Left Fielder
Shirasu Kenjiro — Right Fielder
Furuya Satoru — Pitcher
Maezono Kenta — First Baseman
Higasa Shoji — Third Baseman
Tojo Hideaki — Center Fielder
For this game, Coach Kataoka's demand for Furuya Satoru was the same as Sawamura's previously—
Pitch a complete game.
After witnessing Sawamura's excellent performance in the previous match, Furuya was now completely fired up.
He was determined to deliver an even more dominant showing.
Besides the pitcher change, there were also a few adjustments in the lineup.
Third base shifted from Arima Kazusa to the second-year Higasa Shoji.
Meanwhile, Shirasu Kenjiro moved up from seventh batter to fifth, entering the heart of the lineup.
Maezono dropped to seventh.
And Furuya himself occupied the sixth batting spot.
Clearly, Coach Kataoka and Coach Ochiai were still experimenting with the lineup.
As for Maezono Kenta—
Although he had performed poorly in the previous game, he still received another starting opportunity.
But this time, he was too preoccupied to even feel nervous anymore.
Because he understood one thing very clearly:
If he failed to contribute again in this match…
He would probably lose his starting position entirely.
After all, behind him stood another first baseman—
Yamaguchi Ken.
And Yamaguchi was staring at that position with obvious ambition.