Coach Kataoka's passionate words took effect immediately.
When Zhang Han and his teammates stepped back onto the field, it felt as if their seniors were walking with swagger.
These guys are really simple-minded, Zhang Han thought. They believe whatever the Director says?
But he fully supported that mindset.
Being simple-minded had its advantages. If a baseball team of nine people all had their own agendas, problems would arise. If everyone was smart, their decisions would usually align. But if even one person was half-baked and insisted on acting independently, the whole team could fall into chaos.
The current situation was actually ideal.
Facing Inashiro Industrial's batters again, Hidezawa was completely convinced by Coach Kataoka's words.
The team can't do without you.
The team needs you.
Those two sentences felt like buffs stacking on him, red and blue swirling together.
His entire state changed, as if a halo had appeared behind his head.
As for pitch-calling, just as the Director said, his consumption in the previous game had been too great. It was no longer realistic to balance both pitching and calling pitches.
Wasn't it precisely because he tried to do both that he gave up the home run earlier?
Now, all he needed to do was trust Miyuki's calls and trust his teammates behind him.
Then, he just had to hold on until the end.
By then, victory would naturally belong to them.
The power of belief was limitless.
Once Hidezawa truly accepted this, his condition changed fundamentally.
The confusion from before vanished completely.
He focused on only one thing: throwing the ball in his hand into Miyuki's glove.
"Whoosh!"
Facing this sharp pitch, Inashiro Industrial's sixth batter nearly wanted to cry.
What kind of monster was standing on the mound?
By now, Hidezawa's pitch count had already exceeded sixty.
Everyone knew he had consumed a tremendous amount of energy in the game against Ichidai Third High School. His stamina should have been an issue.
Naturally, Inashiro's players wouldn't miss such an opportunity.
Even though most of them had been retired earlier with few hits, they had still forced Hidezawa to throw many pitches.
His pitch count was already approaching the limit of a normal pitcher.
Logically, his condition should have declined.
But it didn't.
Not only did it not drop, the ball felt even heavier than before.
With two strikes, the batter had no choice but to face him head-on.
The bat met the ball, and a massive force surged through the batter's arms.
It felt like his tiger mouths were about to split open.
What the hell? Why is it so heavy?
The ball rebounded quickly but landed poorly.
It dropped right in front of the second baseman.
Captain Tanaka charged forward, fielded it cleanly, and fired to first base.
"Thwack!"
"Out!"
Previously, Inashiro had scored two runs, and Hidezawa had been bailed out by Zhang Han's miraculous defense to end the inning.
Because of that, Inashiro's players believed that even if Hidezawa wasn't finished, he had to be severely weakened.
They expected to find more opportunities and score again.
Unexpectedly, that wasn't the case at all.
In Inashiro Industrial's dugout, the bald-headed baseball club president felt his brain cells dying at an alarming rate.
This was far too stressful.
When had Seido High School become this strong?
They had finally found a weakness and thought they could exploit it.
But after just a short break, Seido had already patched it up.
Finding a weakness was one thing. Fixing it this quickly was another matter entirely.
In the president's view, although Inashiro had faced many challengers over the years, when it came to pure strength, this Seido team was likely the strongest they had ever encountered.
Even in past losses, many were due to luck or individual mistakes.
Seido was the only team that had truly suppressed Inashiro from start to finish, leaving them no room to counterattack.
Coach Kunimoto's inaction was likely because he understood how futile it would be to force a turnaround.
To be fair, this year's Inashiro wasn't weak, but they weren't exceptionally strong either.
Their true strength was probably slightly below that of Ichidai Third High School and the current Seido.
This wasn't self-deprecation.
It was a rational conclusion drawn from repeated comparisons and direct confrontations.
Previously, whether through video analysis or comparing results, it was hard to judge which team was stronger.
Only a real head-to-head battle could reveal the truth.
Now, the answer was clear.
Seido High School was stronger.
If the game continued like this, the outcome would likely hold no suspense.
"Ping!"
"Out!"
"Nice pitch!"
"Nice pitch!"
"Nice pitch!"
"Strikeout!"
Under the despairing gaze of Inashiro's president, the game continued to develop in the worst possible direction.
Hidezawa showed no signs of fatigue.
In fact, because he focused solely on pitching and was willing to challenge batters in the strike zone, his pitch count for the inning actually decreased.
Previously, he needed fifteen or sixteen pitches per inning, averaging about five pitches per out.
This inning, he finished with only ten pitches.
Through five innings, he had thrown just seventy-one pitches total. At this point, no one dared say he couldn't last until the end of the game.
Based on the pitch count alone, he could finish the entire match with just over a hundred pitches.
Seido's rigorous training was famous nationwide. Even in a fatigued state, their ace throwing over a hundred pitches wasn't unrealistic.
Bottom of the fifth inning. Seido's turn to bat.
Although Nishimonji successfully retired Kou Shunmin, when he faced Seido's top of the lineup for the third time, his weaknesses were immediately exposed.
Seido had always been known for its powerful hitting, even before Zhang Han joined and Yuuki rose to prominence.
Their offensive reputation had long rivaled Ichidai Third High School.
Against such a lineup, by the third rotation, the batters already had a clear understanding of their opponent.
"Ping!"
Tanaka, stepping up, immediately singled.
One out.
Runner on first base.
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