Summary
It’s the bottom of the 4th with one out and Maezono on second, Toujou at-bat. He hits to the center field, and Maezono starts running. The third-base coach signals to Maezono to round home. However, Hachiya-ouji’s center, Sakashita, throws the ball back home like an “arrow”, and Maezono is tagged out. As expected, Hachiya-ouji’s defense is top-notch and according to the audience, that was the fifth hit by Seidou that never made it through. Their pitcher throws weak breaking balls that when not hit hard enough, will go to the center field.
So far, Hachiya-ouji is able to keep Seidou from scoring more than one run. Yuuki is up next, but he gets struck out all three times. His bat does make some seriously intimidating sounds unheard before. Kawabata comments to himself that that first year sure has a scary swing. He recalls Miyuki hitting really hard earlier and Kawabata just barely managed to catch it:
“The speed of their hits.
Their ability to maintaing their swing regardless of any pitch.
This is the offense strength of a team aiming for national championship.”
He concedes that he didn’t think their team’s one year effort to strengthen their batting lineup would have been able to see them through to the end. However, they still have their defense to fall back on. The team huddles up and Kawabata instructs them to keep targeting anything that comes near the belt level and not be concerned about the breaking balls. He believes a chance will eventually open up now that they are used to the speed of Furuya’s pitches. In his mind, he convinces himself that they just have to slowly perservere and keep perservering because there surely is light shining at the end.
However, Furuya’s pitches just gets better and better, his fastballs completely overwhelming Hachiya-ouji’s batters. Miyuki comments that Furuya does not look like he is straining much, his breaking balls seems sharp - in fact, the condition of his pitching today is his best of late. Furuya’s last pitch was clocked at 154 km/h.
The chapter ends with Sawamura looking completely impressed/excited from the dugout.
Originally serialized in Shuukan Shounen Magazine Issue #21・22, 2019.
All images are copyrighted by Terajima Yuuji / Kodansha.
Scoreboard
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 計 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 八弥王子 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 青道 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Thoughts
Okay, I seriously have to give Kawabata mad props for his positivity. He has a balanced view of his team’s strength, understands his team quite well, and he does not under- nor over-estimate his opponents. His positivity in light of the current game flow is quite amazing. I think in terms of team captains introduced so far, he’s got to be one of the top ones that I respect.
One of the things I enjoy about Daiya no Ace is the author’s ability to introduce all sorts of teams with differing circumstances but sharing the same level of drive and motivation to make it to Koshien. The next match will also be with a “new” school, before we see the familar teams again. I certainly can’t wait to see what that team would bring to the mix.
Back to the game, despite Furuya’s impressive pitching so far, the score is still a little too close for comfort. If Seidou is unable to break away soon, they may just lose the lead and considering Hachiya-ouji’s defense, it’s going to be tough to score more runs after.
Then there is Sawamura’s expression at the end of the chapter! I don’t know how to express it but he seems totally excited to see Furuya doing so well! I’m still speculating that he probably won’t have a chance to pitch in this game at all, but well, we’ll just have to see if Hachiya-ouji hits off Furuya soon.
There will be no new chapter next week, due to Golden Week in Japan.