Summary
The chapter opens with the crowd being surprised that Kataoka would throw away his ace at this point, considering that it is just the 4th inning. Kawakami approaches the mount and tells Sawamura that his feelings have definitely reached them and to leave the rest to him. Sawamura wordlessly “puts his soul” into the ball and pases it to Kawakami and leaves the mount.
As he approaches the dugout, Kataoka tells Sawamura that he did not want to give their opponents any further openings and to let them handle the rest. We see Kaneda and Okumura in the background, presumably getting ready to warm up.
Furuya then hands a cup over to Sawamura who accepts it. He retorts that in the end Furuya didn’t even warm up his shoulder. Furuya reponds that he didn’t expect the change to be this fast and that he could always start now (no mincing your words, eh?). Yui offers to accompany Sawamura for his cool down which Sawamura accepts, but he adds that he will do so after this inning ends. Having said that, he shouts to the field that “Now’s the real beginning. What you’ve seen so far isn’t the real Seidou baseball.”. Then he proceeds to add that “the deadweight is now gone so don’t hold back anymore. Just go all out!”.
On the mount, Miyuki comments to Kawamura that Sawamura’s pitches didn’t have his usual strength but he did throw them with the weight of his feelings, and that he wished he could have helped him overcome his situation.
Sakaki comments that he had expected things to drag out a little longer with Sawamura on the mount but Kataoka has made a move. He wonders if they switched pitchers because they were panicking, or that it was actually the result of a decisive move. He then continues that eventually, they will find an opening to attack. After all, if things don’t go well with this change, this would just deal a huge blow on Seidou.
Kawakami gets ready to throw his first pitch. Miyuki tells him to just focus on the batter and leave the runners to him. Kawakami switches to a monologue where he thanks Sawamura for carrying things so far and that since they are the third years, they are ready to take on the challenge. His first pitch is a clean strike.
Sakaki comments that it was an unexpectedly a good pitch for a first. He signals to the batter to expect a pitch to the inside. However, Kawakami gets a strike with an unexpected front door slider, surprising Yurakou.
Originally serialized in Shuukan Shounen Magazine Issue #9, 2019.
All images are copyrighted by Terajima Yuuji / Kodansha.
Scoreboard
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 計 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 由良 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||||||
| 青道 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Thoughts
Kawakami is definitely owning it in this chapter. I’ve always wanted a spotlight on him and I’m glad he had an amazing start relieving Sawamura. Even his expression on the mount has changed. Can we say that no one would have realized Seidou had three ace pitches this year? I definitely can’t wait to see how the rest of the third years perform in this match.
It was frustrating to see Sawamura belittling himself, calling himself a deadweight to the team. However, it also depicts his current state of mind in that he is probably not thinking about the game objectively anymore. It took me awhile to understand why none of his teammates were saying anything back - Sawamura is completely doing this to himself. Hence Kataoka had to switch him out because by leaving him on the mount, the opponents is taking advantage of his state of mind and in doing so, is holding the momentum of the game.
On a complete tangent (following last week’s chapter), here is a close-up of Nori-senpai’s cap:
Definitely not a great angle, but it might become clearer in the weeks to come, I’m guessing it carries a phrase ending with “待ち” since he is usually the closing pitcher in the team. Though there is the possibility that it could be “持ち” as well.