Kawakami Norifumi's dominant performance immediately reignited the atmosphere inside Seido's dugout.
The tension caused by Furuya Satoru's injury had finally eased a little.
Three up, three down.
It had been a long time since they had seen Kawakami pitch with such authority.
"Good start," Kataoka Tesshin said with a firm nod.
"Keep this rhythm going. Don't give them any openings."
"Yes, Coach!"
Bottom of the first inning.
Seido's offense stepped onto the field.
Leading off was Seido's speedster, Kuramochi Yoichi.
On the mound stood Ugumori's ace, Umemiya Seiichi.
A right-handed pitcher and batter.
His specialty—
a painfully slow curveball.
Whoosh!
The moment Kuramochi settled into the batter's box, Umemiya released the pitch without hesitation.
So slow!
Even though he had prepared himself mentally beforehand, Kuramochi still nearly stumbled over the timing.
And the break on the pitch was absurdly large.
Smack!
"Strike!"
The curveball barely exceeded 100 km/h, yet it completely disrupted Kuramochi's rhythm.
After spending so long facing blazing fastballs, suddenly encountering a pitcher like this felt incredibly uncomfortable.
As he stared at Umemiya, Kuramochi quickly analyzed the information he had gathered.
First—
the pitch speed was extremely slow.
Second—
the movement was strangely deceptive.
The ball looked as though it would miss the zone entirely, only to drop perfectly onto the corner at the last moment.
Luck?
Maybe.
Kuramochi couldn't tell yet.
As Seido's leadoff batter, part of his responsibility was to expose as much information about the opposing pitcher as possible.
Soon, Umemiya threw again.
Another slow curveball.
This time, Kuramochi resisted the urge to swing and focused entirely on observing the trajectory.
"Ball!"
Again, it barely missed the edge of the strike zone.
Kuramochi curled his lips slightly.
Interesting.
In an era where velocity often dominated baseball, this guy had intentionally developed a style centered around absurdly slow pitches—
and somehow turned it into a genuine weapon.
Alright then.
Let's see if I can blast one of those floating meatballs into the outfield.
Whoosh!
Just as Kuramochi prepared himself for another slow curveball—
Umemiya suddenly fired a fastball.
Damn it!
Kuramochi's eyes widened.
His timing was completely disrupted.
Bang!
He barely managed to get the bat on the ball, chopping it weakly into the infield.
"Tch!"
Kuramochi instantly threw down the bat and sprinted toward first base.
Glancing toward the bouncing ball, he immediately judged the distance.
I can make it!
Ugumori's defense reacted quickly and relayed the ball to first—
but it was too late.
"Safe!"
Despite the poor contact, Kuramochi still reached safely using nothing but pure speed.
"…Those pitches are seriously annoying to hit," Miyuki Kazuya muttered while tightening his batting gloves as he walked toward the on-deck circle.
"Oi! If you strike out against something that slow, I'll laugh at you for the rest of your life!" Kanzaki Ryou shouted from the bench.
At the plate, Kominato Haruichi calmly stepped in with his wooden bat resting on his shoulder.
If it were my brother, he'd probably drag this into a long battle…
But I'm different.
Whoosh!
Crack!
Without hesitation, Haruichi swung at the very first pitch.
Single.
"Beautiful, Haruichi!"
"Nice batting!"
"Haruichi!!"
"AWOOOOOO!"
The final howl naturally came from Sawamura Eijun.
Haruichi's clean hit instantly ignited the Seido supporters.
Now with runners on first and second, Seido's scoring pressure increased dramatically.
Especially with Kuramochi's speed—
one solid extra-base hit could easily bring him all the way home.
"Miyuki!!"
"Miyuki!!"
As Miyuki stepped into the batter's box, the cheers from the stands became even louder.
After more than a year of growth, Miyuki's batting had become extremely reliable.
And now, two runners were already on base.
Even Ugumori's catcher immediately felt overwhelming pressure.
Miyuki merely smiled and gave the catcher a casual nod before settling into his stance.
On the mound, Umemiya clenched his teeth.
Before facing Seido, he had already prepared himself mentally.
But only now did he truly understand just how terrifying Seido's batting lineup was.
Whoosh!
First pitch—
slow curveball.
Miyuki didn't swing.
"Ball!"
Heh.
Come on.
Keep throwing it.
Don't self-destruct on your own.
Miyuki maintained a relaxed smile.
Second pitch.
Another slow curveball.
Still no swing.
"Strike!"
Third pitch.
Another slow curveball.
Ball.
One strike, two balls.
Miyuki remained completely calm.
His intentions were painfully obvious:
I'm not swinging at those slow curveballs.
Throw me a fastball instead.
Normally, such a straightforward approach should have been easy to exploit.
But strangely enough, both Ugumori's battery partners only felt the pressure increasing.
"…One more curveball. Put this one closer to the middle," the catcher signaled cautiously.
With two balls already in the count, they couldn't risk missing badly again.
Umemiya nodded.
Then he threw.
Whoosh!
The baseball floated toward the plate.
Miyuki's lips curled upward instantly.
His front foot planted firmly.
The bat whipped forward violently.
BOOM!
The ball exploded off the bat.
Fast.
Flat.
Gone.
Home run.
The entire stadium erupted.
"Miyuki!!!"
"Miyuki!!!"
Amid the deafening cheers, Miyuki triumphantly raised his fist while jogging around the bases.
Even he looked slightly surprised.
He hadn't expected the ball to carry that far.
Three-run homer.
Standing in the on-deck circle, Kanzaki could only smile helplessly.
Although the home run gave Seido three runs—
it was terrible news for him personally.
Because now there was absolutely no chance Ugumori would pitch to him.
Sure enough, the moment Kanzaki entered the batter's box, Umemiya immediately threw four straight balls.
Intentional walk.
The fans groaned in disappointment.
In their eyes, Umemiya's slow curveballs looked like the perfect batting practice pitches for Kanzaki to launch into orbit.
Yet Ugumori refused to challenge him at all.
After Kanzaki reached first base, Arima Kazusa lined a clean single to get on base as well.
Next came Shirasu Kenjirou.
Using his excellent bunting ability, Shirasu calmly laid down a sacrifice bunt, advancing Kanzaki to third and Arima to second.
Scoring opportunity.
Now it was Maezono Kenta's turn.
This time, Maezono came through quickly.
Crack!
A sharp single into right field.
Kanzaki scored easily from third.
The throw came back quickly, preventing Arima from attempting home, but he still advanced safely to third base.
Maezono himself was thrown out trying to stretch the play.
Two outs.
Runner on third.
The batter stepping up next—
Kawakami Norifumi.
Unfortunately, Kawakami's batting ability could only be described as "acceptable."
Swing and miss.
Foul ball.
Fly out.
Three simple steps to ending the inning.
Still—
by the end of the first inning, Seido already held a commanding 4–0 lead.
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