Volume 10, Chapter 18 - The Third Round, Part 2

Suyama says the coach’s screwball is much sharper than the Sakitama's pitcher's who throws one with a really large break
Abe's up next and he thinks how seeing the release of ball is easy, but it's hard to hit if you don’t know whether it’s going to fall or not. But thanks to all that practice, he was able to notice that. The Sakitama pitcher must twist his arm when he throws to get such a big acceleration on the screwball and that puts a lot of strain on the elbow. He won’t be able to use it too often, but that's all he’ll throw on the deciding count. Abe plans to hit it early in the count.

Abe’s mom arrives late. Hanai's mom seems to know her. Abe's mom is mad at her son because he ate Shun’s eggs at breakfast. She mentions how Abe and his father talking about walking Sakitama's fifth batter and how they both smirked. Mihashi's mom thinks so that’s (intentional walk) something Abe gets to decide. Abe's mom apologizes to Mihasi's mom, saying how he always ends up doing whatever he wants.

Meanwhile, the Sakitama pitcher shakes his head at the signs again. Abe notes the pitcher is calling the shots and thinks the catcher should make it easier on the pitcher. The heat is bad enough, but he's even making the decisions. Abe gets a hit to center - no outs, man on first.

Oki is up. He's lefthanded so Momoe thinks they have a chance to steal. She signals Oki to pretend to bunt, but actually it's to block the catcher’s view so Abe is safe! Barely. Tajima yells, "Way to go Abe! That was sweet. I don’t think I could have done it!"

The Sakitama pitcher's mad because he tells the catcher every game that when they set up to bunt there might a stolen base. Daichi's memory for advice lasts one game. If he would watch out for it stolen bases, the count would be zero.

Oki bunts, and now there's one out with the runner on third. Mizutani's up. Tai-san signals for a squeeze and the infield comes in. Mizutani walks on four pitches. Now there's runners on first and third. Mihashi's up. Momoe thinks there's still a chance for a doupleplay with Mihashi and Mizutani probably can’t steal second, so she allows Mihashi to hit. Mihashi hits what looks like a caught liner, but Abe tells Mizutani to keep going. The ball hits the ground! Mizutani's safe at second. Mihashi slides, out at first but there's runners on first and third. Abe's mad because Mihashi could have gotten hurt by sliding. He should have just overrun the base. Someone yells out, "Hey batter, nice run!" really loudly. It’s Abe’s dad sitting behind and to the side of the mothers. Abe's mom calls themselves beauty and the beast.

Tai-san checks on Sugi the third baseman who panicked when thinking about the double play. Tai-san says, "It’s okay, don’t worry about it." This makes the pitcher mad because he thinks the first years won’t improve that way and that's why they’re not a better team.

Tajima's up. he's excited and wants to hit. Momoe wants to let him hit, but knows it can make his injury worse so she signals for a safety bunt with runners on second and third with two outs. Tajima bunts and Abe scores. Daichi tells the thirdbaseman to throw to first and wonders if he’ll make it in time. The firstbaseman throws home after Tajima is safe at first. Mizutani is thrown out at home. Momoe notes the firstbaseman did a good job.

Top of third:
Sakitama three straight outs:
#7 Harada grounder to SS
#8 Sawamura grounder to third
#9 Ichihara fly to right
Sakitama pitcher wonders about Mihashi winning against Tosei and even if they played Toseia a hundred times they’d still lose.

Bottom of third:
Sakaeguchi's up. He notes it's been a while since he can actually hit freely. He gets a hit pass secondbase.
Izumi's up, batting on his left side which confuses the pitcher. They ready for a bunt, but Izumi hits it to front of center, no outs runners on first and second.
Hanai is up, still obsessing about Tajima. The pitcher is annoyed at the captain's laidback attitude.
Hanai hits a fly ball to right for an out.
Suyama up. Hanai's upset at himself then Suyama gets a hit past centerfield. Abe's up, looks at the coach. He wants to get a forced run for a walk. Right now bases are loaded with no outs. Abe gets three balls. He thinks how the catcher is not fulfilling his role. Abe sends a fake signal to Sakaeguchi.

Icchan used to be a rightfielder and thinks how being a pitcher is tiring and he has too many responsibilities, and he's sick of it. Abe walks, thinking the catcher’s horrible, not fulfilling even half his duties as catcher.

Tai-san calls for a time out and tells his infielders not to worry about the squeeze play and it doesn’t matter if they score a couple of more runs. The pitcher gets mad and says if we lose today, you’re the only one who’s done for good. (Tai-san's last year.) Daichi starts crying it's his fault because he keeps getting walked. Tai-san apologizes, but Icchan says he’s too soft on them.
Tai-san was traumatized by players quitting so he couldn’t act strictly.

Oki batting seventh, gets a strike. Momoe signals to him to bunt, but Daichi gets it steps on home and throws to first for a double play! Abe impressed by Daichi's arm. Icchan thinks how he’s not fond of pitching, but on the mound there’s definitely something there no one else can feel. Nishiura now leads 4-0.

Momoe thinks how they failed to score and about Hanai’s popup. Based on the current level of power, competitiveness, and skill at baseball, Hanai is their number two, but number one Tajima is still far beyond that. She thinks Tajima’s injury puts pressure on Hanai and it's his chance to shine. Even if the game goes nine innings, it's okay for Mihashi since his pitch count is now low, and it's more important for Hanai to step up.

Top of the 4th inning:
Right fielder Tanaka pops out to the outfield
Thirdbaseman Sugita swings, two strikes, then a hit to center. Abe thinks it’s a lucky hit since he swung at everything - guys that swing at everything are really anoying.
Next guy sets to bunt. Abe calls for a high in the middle fastball, pops up, out at third.
Tai-san up next; fastball strike, watched the ball; the a curveball for a ball; next a foul; next high inside fastball bounces and pops up for a hit. Two outs, man on first and second
Sakura up, walked again.

No heckling observed by Mihashi's mom. Hanai's mom explains and complains. Abe's mom is nicers and seems to be more bothered by the possibility of heckling.

Next is center fielder Kamimura, Ryo - pops up easy out. Tai-san thinks how their strategy was to put runners in front of Daichi, but if he’s walked, the plan backfires.

Bottom of fourth:
Icchan thinks how the score reflects how little thought they’ve put into playing baseball until now.
Mizutani's up and singles to rightfield.
Mihashi's bunt pops up and is caught by the catcher.
Tajima tells Mihashi he’ll steal to make up for it.
Momoe signals for a safety bunt. Tajima beats the throw. Nishihiro waves Mizutani over to third. Runners on first and third with one out. Tai-san wonders why Tajima is just bunting today when he used to be cleanup, maybe he's injured. He thinks about Nishiura's shift in positions, but they're all still playing their positions well.

Hanai hears Mihashi rooting for Tajima instead of Sakaeguchi which he finds strange. Then Abe calls out secondbase is no good!
The pitcher throws back to firstbase, safe. He starts to think too much, because he hates having runners on first and third. Sakaeguchi walks, bases are loaded. Tajima signals Sakaeguchi to lead further out from first.

Izumi bats right this time. Tai-san thinks it's because he can only hit it far on that side. A screwball comes in for a strike. Izumi tries for the next screball, but misses, two strikes. Mizutani screams, "runner on third!" and grins. Izumi hits the fastball to the shortstop, one run scores, throws to first for an out, and then throws home. Tajima slides in and avoids the tag, another run scores! 6-0 Nishiura. Momoe lectures Tajima on such a dangerous, close play. Hanai thinks they did it because they couldn’t rely on him. Even with Tajima injured they’re still counting on him. Even today Hanai is not the real cleanup hitter.

Roka from the Bijou team sits next to an old guy. Bijou has just passed their fourth round (this is Nishiura's third round).

Pressure gets to Hanai and he swings and misses twice. Tajima yells out, “Swing wide! Give it some space!” which makes Hanai feel worse and he strikes out. Hanai apologizes to Mihashi, who acts all confused and mutters about missing the bunt, but Hanai says loudly, "It’s not you!" because he’s frustrated with himself. But he scares Mihashi. Momoe decides to leave Hanai alone to work it out. Hanai feels bad about taking it out on Mihashi and decides to talk to him about it later. Mihashi's heart races like it did in junior high, but he settles down to pitch.

Roka looks at the scorecard from the old man and sees that Tajima bunted three times in a row. He thinks if Tajima is injured at the start of the tournament then he isn’t all that. If Sakitama hasn’t realize it then they’re retarded and if they realize it and can’t do anything then they’re super retarded.

Top of the fifth:
Batting 7th second baseman Harada safety bunt towards Tajima who scoops it up with his glove to pass to Mihashi who throws to first (Oki) for an out.
Tai-san signals the next batter, firstbaseman Sawamura. He hits a grounder between first and second. Abe realizes they know Tajima is injured. Meanwhile Tajima is calling out, "bring it on!" Abe decides to trust him. Batter hits the ball, caught by Tajima, but instead of throwing it to first, he runs and tags the base. Runner out!
Icchan is up next. Tai-san knows there’s something wrong with Tajima, but they haven’t been able to do anything about it. Icchan hits it foul down firstbase. Tajima makes a difficult catch for the third out.

Roka’s impressed that one shrimp got three outs. Hanai thinks how Tajima’s great at fielding too and how Tajima and Mihashi are not satisfied.

Bottom of the fifth inning:
Suyama walks.
Abe bunts a screwball foul. Next pitch, another screwball for a strike. Next, foul tip caught for strikeout.
Icchan thinks there’s no more games for Tai-san and he wants to extend the game. Pitches screwball again to Oki for a total of 7 screwballs in a row (2 Suyama, 3 Abe, 2 Oki), then another and Oki strikesout. Daichi thinks Icchan can only throw 10 in a row or his elbow hurts.
Mizutani up, strikesout. Time for ground maintenance after fifth.

Mihashi runs out - Abe tries to call him back. Abe's mad because the pitcher doesn’t have to do maintenance. Hanai says he’ll call him back. Hanai takes the rake, walks toward Mihashi, and apologizes for before. But Mihashi doesn’t seem to understand why he’s apologizing. Hanai says you’re a good pitcher, but then Mihashi says Hanai is amazing. Hanai takes this opportunity to ask, "Isn’t Tajima better?" Mihashi somehow avoids answering by asking if Tajima was going to pitch too. He says if Tajima pitches, he (Mihashi) wouldn’t compare. Hanai has fast pitches, Oki is left handed. So if Hanai were serious about it he would lose. Hanai gets more and more frustrated with Mihashi. Hanai realizes Mihashi still feels he has to fight to keep his position as team ace. He decides that it’s better for him to think that way even though he and Oki are not his competition. He thinks how comparing yourself to someone else may be a good thing like he was always trying to think of how to surpass Tajima.

Tajima sees Mihashi looking upset and accuses Hanai of picking on Mihashi. Mihashi says very loudly that Hanai is not picking on him and it’s all a misunderstanding. Tajima and Mihashi run back to the dugout together. Hanai resolves to compete against Tajima.

Abe asks Mihashi why he didn’t come back. Mihashi stutters and Tajima says Hanai was bullying him. Mihashi says that’s not true and runs after Tajima. Mihashi wonders if Hanai had something he wanted to say.

Top of sixth:
Sakitama back to top of lineup.
Tanaka grounder to third.
Sugita strikes out.
Furusawa fly to first. The team is in tears.

Bottom of 6th: 2:20pm
Mihashi is up. He hangs over the plate. First pitch is a ball. Abe yells at him to stop fooling around - worried he’ll get hurt. Another ball. Mihashi thinks the pitcher is bothered by his stance and is avoiding hitting him. Mihashi notices that pitcher is not getting a sign and thinks if it were him he’d throw the pitch most easy to control, a fastball. Mihashi gets a hit!

Icchan decides to throw a screwball to Tajima even though he’s bunting. Tajima gets a sac bunt, but is not satisfied. Sakaeguchi is up next (so far he has a hit, sac fly, and a walk). Momoe calls for another bunt. The pitcher is worn out. Sakaeguchi bunts Mihansi over to third. With 2 outs, Izumi is up batting right. (Izumi has two hits including the triple).

The pitcher signals for an intentional walk of Izumi to get to Hanai. Hanai realizes he’s less than a threat than Izumi and he has to compete with everyone, not just Tajima. He wonders who Tajima is competing with. Hanai watches the first screwball strike. He hits the next pitch deep. Mihashi scores, Izumi scores, but Hanai is out at third. 8-0 Nishiura! As Hanai returns to dugout, Tajima tells him nice hit, then does an impersonation of Momoe, “But think about the score, there are good times and bad times to start running.” When Hanai reaches the dugout that’s exactly what Momoe says!

Top of 7th
Sakitama pitcher ices his elbow. Tai-san at bat, pops up. This is his last at bat.
Daichi's up, and the fielders move back. Abe thinks it’s important to face Daichi seriously. Abe asks for Mihashi's full power fastball. Daichi Hits it back to the wall - caught by Hanai. Next guy strikes out. Nishiura wins 8-0, a called game.

Hanai says to Tajima he wasn’t satisfied with the squeeze play. Tajima says something about taking back the cleanup spot, but it’s boring. Then he says he hates tall guys, because he’s short, but it doesn’t matter if he grows. Tajima runs off to get popsicles.

Roka notes they have today's game, the Tosei game and the upcoming fourth round, so they’re prepared to meet them in the fifth round. The way to bring these guys down is to crush the catcher.

END of Vol 10.
Omake: Daichi’s youth - too strong and energetic, enrolled in little league then middle school soccer, than back to baseball.

NOTES:
Sakitama High is a Prefectural Agricultural School 40 min away from Nishiura by bike.
Tai-san is a nick name from Oyama no Taishou, king of the mountain kids game from elementary school, fromTai-chan to Tai-san