American players are not inferior to Japanese players in talent.
Several outstanding ones, like Francis now at the Batter's Box, have talent that even exceeds half of the Japanese players.
In this situation, it's easy to imagine that the American team was not harmonious inside.
They also had competition and grudges.
As for why now everyone suppresses such competitive awareness, this is also very normal!
Because they have met a new enemy and opponent.
This opponent's threat is enough to temporarily make them set aside internal competition and disagreements.
Instead, they focus more attention on their current opponents.
This is the role Japan team currently plays.
No matter the situation on the field or the current score, Japan team leads the opponent by two runs.
As the trailing Americans, their players clearly understand what they should do.
So they unite, even more tightly than the Japanese team.
In contrast, although Japan team holds the absolute advantage, because that advantage is almost all earned by Sawamura alone, the other players' confidence has been severely damaged.
They already knew their strength lagged far behind Sawamura's.
But knowing is one thing; witnessing it with their own eyes is another.
Now they have seen those players tricked by Sawamura, playing against them without losing ground.
This expression is mild; in fact, those American star players had certain advantages against the Japanese players.
Otherwise, the current state wouldn't be like this.
American team was clearly behind, but the impression was that they were leading.
The whole team showed a strong, aggressive momentum.
It looked like they were determined to overthrow the Japanese team.
This feeling is very unpleasant, like running a race where you clearly lead but your opponent is chasing close behind and even looks like about to overtake.
Japanese players certainly did not want this.
But if they didn't want it, what could they do?
Given the current situation, they had no choice.
Because of such a negative mindset, the Japanese players were very dispirited.
Sawamura and Renji clearly saw this.
But they had no good solution.
Some things must be figured out by oneself; others can only assist and guide.
Forget about guidance.
What Sawamura can do now is only be an assistant.
Before Japan players regain their state, they must stabilize the score on the field.
Even if they don't reverse or anything, at least ensure Japan's chances remain until the end.
Even if ultimately tied or overtaken, they must ensure the score difference does not widen.
Of course, this is all the worst-case scenario.
Currently, it's far from that.
Japan team still has hope.
Sawamura's next task is to continue this hope and find opportunities to expand it!
Make these opportunities easier to achieve.
To deal with Francis, Sawamura thought of some strategies.
Currently, the most reliable method is, of course, using a new breaking ball.
To overwhelm the opponent in one go.
Considering the probability of success, it should be about 25%.
Sawamura and Renji simultaneously gave up on this tempting plan.
The risk was too high! Whether they could overwhelm the opponent in one go was still unknown.
In this situation, they themselves had been trapped first.
And this was exactly what the Japanese players could not accept.
They could only think of other methods.
Renji kept staring at the opponent before him.
Francis radiated a strong aura, looking eager and ready to act anytime.
Those who knew him well definitely knew this guy was not bluffing.
For him, everything was ready, but one last critical thing was missing.
It seemed that as long as Sawamura could throw some hittable balls, he would definitely swing his bat mercilessly.
At that moment, where would the ball land?
No one knew.
No one dared to guarantee.
If it really got to that point, it would mean Japan team had lost the hard-won initiative.
The course of the game would have to follow the opponent's arrangements.
Neither Sawamura nor Renji could accept such an arrangement, so they did their best to prevent it.
To do so, they first had to understand their opponent.
This guy called Francis.
What were his traits? His current state? His current thoughts?
They had to know all of this.
Though Sawamura could guess some, it wasn't his forte.
He couldn't know the details.
So he entrusted this important task to his current partner, Renji.
As the on-field brain of the Komadai Fujimaki High School baseball team, Renji's ability might not be as good as Miyuki's, but it was definitely not bad, top-tier nationwide.
Not to mention nationwide, even globally among players of the same age, he should rank highly.
Sawamura could only vaguely sense some signs, but he already had some guesses and ideas.
Then he used signals to convey his plan to Sawamura.
'These tactical catchers were really something else, all having dirty minds.'
After understanding Renji's plan, Sawamura's face looked very bad.
But in his eyes was also a bit of relaxation.
One must say, this tactic may not be entirely upright, but it should be effective against the current crisis.
With a plan in mind, Sawamura nodded subtly, then took his stride and decisively threw out the baseball.
To cooperate with Renji, an ordinary pitch would not be effective.
It had to be a stronger, sharper pitch.
Currently, Sawamura threw an inside corner Straight-Fastball.
With his strange pitching style, the ball was very fast, arriving at the batter's chest in the blink of an eye.
This was a difficult spot to hit.
Even now, with Francis in the Batter's Box, he had no good solution.
This position was too tricky!
The batter found it very hard to swing.
Even if he barely swung his bat, it would be hard to hit the ball, and even if he did, hard to unleash his full power.
Boom!
"STRIKE!"
As Sawamura and Renji expected, faced with this sudden pitch, Francis did not swing on the first ball.
Obviously, this was not the opportunity he was waiting for.
Francis was waiting for a hit, if not a decisive blow, at least a successful hit.
He clearly didn't want to waste the opportunity now.
Otherwise, swinging and missing would be bad enough.
If he accidentally touched the ball and it was weak, that would waste a good offensive chance.
Second ball!
Sawamura suddenly threw a Changeup!
At a time like this, with Renji as partner, this was basically Sawamura's strongest finishing pitch.
But he didn't save it for the last duel.
Instead, he suddenly used it.
The baseball seemed to whistle towards the plate.
Francis's eyes changed upon seeing this pitch.
'NOW!!!'
Renji and Sawamura obviously did not expect that the Changeup was exactly one of the pitches Francis was waiting for.
...
T/N: As always, Thank you all for reading!!
And I hope you all have a nice day!
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