Summary
The chapter opens with Seidou’s management team discussing to let the non first-string members return to the school to continue on their training. Furuya will be returning with them since Takashima wants him to rest after pitching in today’s match.
As Furuya walks past Sawamura, he tells Sawamura that he “connected them (to the next match)”. Sawamura replies in affirmation. As Furuya walks away, Sawamura begins a monologue to remind himself:
“Just because I received the ace number…
Does not mean I’ve beaten Furuya, or that I’ll be pitching on his part ….
Nori-senpai, and Kaneda… they are always preparing to be ready to go at any time…
So don’t you dare think it’s all about you!”
Back at the stadium, the first-string members are observing the match between Norikane Gakuen and Ichidai Gakuin. Although Ichigaku’s pitcher is carefully keeping his pitches low, Norikane seem to be hitting them far out with a hard upper swing. Apparently there is a recent “fly ball” revolution going on in the major leagues that involves hitting the ball hard at a approximately 30° angle (in the so-called barrel zone) in order to counter low pitches with extreme defense shiftings with an aim to produce grounders - as explained by Okumura (who suddenly appears behind Sawamura). Toujou notes that as expected, Okumura seems to know his stuff.
Toujou then asks Kominato if that was what he was doing at his 3rd at-bat today. Kominato responds that it could have been that upper swing, just that he knew they were aiming to get a grounder off him, so he aimed to get it above the second baseman’s head. Kanemaru seemed impressed by Kominato’s matter of factness in his response. However, Kominato continues that there aren’t many high schools who would employ those extreme defense shifts like in the major leagues, nor can they match in power, so the upper swing is a risky thing. Besides, most pitches are not suitable for the upper swing. Sawamura asks Okumura for confirmation and Okumura confirms that there are countermeasures for it even in the major leagues. Kominato then tells Sawamura that he better learn to counter those batters who may aim to hit high at his pitches. Sawamura replies that he will do so, calling him Master Haruichi.
However, Miyuki adds that if this was Seikou with a team of batters that hits hard enough to reach the stands, it would indeed be scary. However, he observes that Norikane batters tends to swing at first pitches even if they are difficult pitches and their defense seems rough around the edges. So he believes that Norikane batters may have trouble hitting Sawamura’s Numbers.
Hearing Miyuki say that, Sawamura responds that if Miyuki believes so, then it must be so. However, that is only assuming that he pitches as he should. So he wants to stand on the mount as soon as possible so that he can prove those words.
Back at the Seidou grounds, Masashi is praticing his batting in the indoor gym. He seems upset at himself for getting switched out in the middle of the match. Beside him, Yui is also praticing his swings. He flashes back to a conversation with Kataoka who tells him that since the pitcher for the match is a right side-thrower, lefty batters will be advantageous since it will be easier for them to see the pitching movement. So he wanted Yui to stay prepared at all times as he may switch him in depending on the game situation. Yui realizes that Kataoka does consider him to be a useful asset to the team so he wants to meet his expectations. Meanwhile, the other first years - Kuki, Asada, Taku - gets pumped up to catch up to the two as they watch them practice from the side.
The first string team members finally returns back to the dorm. It was a called game for Norikane Gakuen with a score of 11-3. Nabe comments that the right-handed pitcher that came out later in the game could be the real ace of the team. That pitcher had a curveball that needs to watched closely. Ochiai comments that they still have two days to Sunday’s match, so with Furuya only pitching 93 balls in 6 innings, they may want to consider letting him pitch in the upcoming match. Kataoka agrees with Ochiai, although Miyuki seems to have a different opinion about that decision, which he kept to himself.
Come Saturday, there will be multiple matches happening at the various stadiums with Inajitsu and Seikou playing so the plan is to send the third-years non-bench members out to watch those matches. There’s also the Yakushi vs Sankou match at Hachiouji Stadium from the D block, which Takashima and Nabe will go watch since she expects they will be sending out their best players in that match. Kataoka tells Watanabe to keep an eye on the first years since they do not have much information on them. Meanwhile, Ono tells Miyuki that he plans to go watch the Inajitsu match.
Suddenly Okumura interjects that he wants to go watch the match between Sankou and Yakushi, and promises to work on his training when he returns. He recalls his conversation with Yui where Yui tells him how he keeps thinking about what he can do to contribute to the team in his current state [lit. “my current self”]. Kataoka permits him and tells him to observe the match from a catcher’s standpoint.
Back at the dorms, we see Kuramochi leaving his room. He tells Sawamura that he’ll be heading out first. Just as Sawamura was about to follow him, his phone buzzes with a LINE message from “Sankou’s Amahisa-san” saying: “Looks like you guys won. Did you pitch today?”
Originally serialized in Shuukan Shounen Magazine Issue #27, 2019.
All images are copyrighted by Terajima Yuuji / Kodansha.
Thoughts
The fandom is once again upset that the author seems to be pitting Furuya against Sawamura as the “who is the ‘proper’ ace on the team”, and that people (both on the team and externally) may start to doubt Sawamura’s standing as the ace. Gosh, guys, move on. Please.
The fact that we are able to see Sawamura stumble makes him very human, and that has always been the charm of the series for me. Furuya had plenty of time to adjust to his ace number since the fall tournament started out with the block games which were less pressure compared to what Sawamura is facing currently where a single loss spells the retirement of all the third years.
Anyway, it sounds like Sawamura is in the proper mindset for his next appearance so I’m looking forward to his return to the mount.
The most unexpected twist for me would that Okumura will be going to watch the Sankou vs Yakushi match. I wonder if the author could be setting up a stage for Okumura to catch for Sawamura in a later game? I can’t imagine Miyuki being subbed out for any reason at all but we seem to see a lot of interaction between Okumura and Sawamura lately. Is it because he’s just fascinated by Sawamura’s pitching, or perhaps this is a build up to something else?