The Old Baseball Player System

Shun was confused as to why Toru decided not to swing. He felt that something was wrong, but when Isamu stepped into the batter's box, he shook his head and dismissed those thoughts. He needed to focus on the batter now.

PAH

"Ball!"

PAH

"Ball!"

PAH

"Strike!"

Shun grew even more confused when Isamu also just watched his pitches. He still didn't fully understand what was happening, but he began to get an idea.

He quickly glanced at Hokuto's dugout and saw the white-haired boy looking at him with a disturbing smile.

"Don't tell me he's already figured out that my control is bad? No way, it's only been three innings, and I eliminated most of the batters with strikeouts..." - Shun tried to dismiss this thought, but the truth was staring him in the face.

PAH

"Ball!"

Shun took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. This had been his biggest concern. Although his unpredictable slider was great for making batters miss, it also meant that he had no control over where his pitches would end up.

He had spent a lot of time training with Daigo in recent days so that the boy would be able to catch Shun's pitches. To do this, they found a solution: Daigo would always place his glove in the same spot in the zone.

That way, Shun had a fixed target, and although the pitch's break was always different, Daigo could at least have an idea of where the pitch would end up, making it easier to catch them.

But of course, the only problem that was solved was Daigo being able to catch the pitches. Shun still couldn't control his pitches to make them land in the strike zone when he wanted to.

PAH

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"Ball Four!"

"Hahaha, I knew it!" - Sugawara laughed like a maniac as he looked at Shun wiping the sweat off his face after giving up a walk to Isamu.

"This guy has no control over where his pitch is going! It's time for you all to pay for scoring so many runs on us!" - Sugawara grinned, thinking about Shun's crying face after being destroyed by him.

"This guy..." - Kohei sighed as he saw Sugawara's maniacal side surface again, but he couldn't help but be impressed. It was amazing that Sugawara had recognized Shun's biggest flaw so quickly, especially considering Shun's performance in the game so far had been nearly perfect.

Kohei knew that to recognize this flaw, Sugawara had paid full attention to every move and every pitch Shun threw in the game, which was no easy feat. No matter how maniacal and arrogant his friend seemed, no one could say this guy didn't take baseball seriously.

PAH

"Ball Four!"

Shun ended up giving another walk to the third batter after six pitches, leaving runners on first and second as Sugawara stepped into the batter's box.

"Damn..." - Shun looked at the opposing team's best hitter and thought, fully understanding the situation he was in, but he really didn't have a solution. Thanks to his dear system, he couldn't throw any other type of pitch, all he could do now was pray for the pitch to land in the strike zone.

Shun pitched with determination, hoping the pitch would land in the zone. However, the architect of the plan to not swing at Shun's pitches and reach base through walks had other plans.

WOOSH

DOONG

In baseball, there is no such thing as an invincible pitch. Against a good hitter, you can strike him out with a pitch once, but in the next at-bat, he can send the same pitch out of the park. That's baseball, a game of details.

From the moment he knew exactly which pitch was coming, there was no reason for Sugawara to wait for four pitches to reach base. He swung with ease, but thanks to the pitch's unpredictable break, Sugawara didn't make solid contact, causing the ball that should have gone out of center field to stop at the fence.

Shun took a deep breath when he saw Sugawara stop at third base. That white-haired bastard had hit a triple and cleared the bases, bringing the score to 7-2. Shun then looked at Coach Yamada in the dugout, expecting the man to replace him.

However, Coach Yamada didn't move, he just smiled at Shun, making the boy laugh at himself.

"I'm so stupid! Even though I want to win this game, it's still just a practice game. I should be thinking about solving this problem, not sitting here waiting to be replaced!" - Shun realized his mistake and raised his head. He then silently thanked his coach.

The fifth batter, unlike Sugawara, continued to refrain from swinging. Shun filled the count but ended up giving up another walk on the sixth pitch of the duel.

With runners on the corners, the sixth batter stepped into the batter's box as Shun's mind searched for a solution to the problem.

Shun received the ball from Daigo, positioned himself on the mound, and looked at the ball in his glove when an idea popped into his head.

"What if I change my grip a little?" - Shun thought to himself. He then positioned the ball in his hand in a different way than he was used to.

PAH

"Strike!"

"What the hell is that?" - Daigo was surprised this pitch from Shun just now had broken entirely horizontally, something that had never happened before.

"What if I hold it like this?" - Shun got excited about the clear difference and began testing grips, ignoring the fact that he was in the middle of a game.

POFT

"Ball!"

This time the ball plummeted downward. Fortunately, Daigo managed to prevent the ball from passing him, otherwise, Sugawara would have scored on a wild pitch.

PAH

"Strike!"

"That's it!" - Shun said excitedly when he saw the pitch's effect. The ball had broken downward but not as much as the last time. Shun then repeated the same grip and threw.

"Damn it!" - The sixth batter felt cornered with two strikes and only one ball. When he saw the same pitch that had just fallen into the zone coming again, he couldn't hold back and swung the bat.

WOOSH

DING

He couldn't make good contact with the ball and ended up hitting it toward Kenta.

After the ball bounced once, Kenta quickly grabbed it and threw it to Ren at second base.

PAH

"Out!"

The young samurai stepped on the base, and after completing the out, he jumped and threw to first.

"Out! 3 outs, changeover!"

"Yeaaaaahhhh!!" - Shun roared as he returned to the dugout, pumped up.