Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

No one is Out, and there's a runner on second base!

In the rest area of Japan.

Sawamura leisurely sat there.

Miyuki, who was originally preparing to warm up, stopped at this moment and sat down calmly.

"Why aren't you continuing your warm-up?"

Hearing Sawamura's mocking, Miyuki wasn't fooled.

"If necessary, of course, I would warm up. But right now, it doesn't seem necessary."

Not everyone was as rational as Miyuki.

It was just like the fool standing by and swinging his bat vigorously.

"Keha-ha-ha! Keha-ha-ha-ha!!!"

'What kind of pitch is coming? What kind of ball is it? I can't stand it! I want to join the game too!'

The frustrated boy gathered all his frustration into the bat he was holding.

BUUUUZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!

As the bat swung, it seemed like the whole world was shaking along with it.

Looking at the practice swings of Raichi, the Italian players were seriously pissed off.

What is this nonsense?!

These monsters on the field haven't even been dealt with yet.

It seems like Japan is thinking of sending new players to the field.

Just from the sound of the wind caused by the swing of his bat, you can tell that the guy is definitely no simple character.

That free and easy swing, once it hits the ball,

How far the baseball will fly is anyone's guess.

In simple terms, this is a risky bet and competition.

On the pitcher's mound, Mario.

He kept his gaze on second base.

As for his performance in today's game, Mario thought he had done very well.

Compared to the previous center fielder, he was still stable.

In the earlier match against Japan, he had managed not to fall behind.

Although there were several close calls where he almost gave up a hit, and twice the opposing team did get hits.

Thankfully, luck favored them, and they managed to escape the danger.

In the upcoming competition, luck will surely be on his side.

The one who will win in the end will definitely be himself!

For the romantic Italy, let's go all out and defeat the opponent now.

Before pitching, Mario intentionally used his gaze to control Carlos.

He definitely didn't want Carlos to continue stealing bases recklessly.

No, absolutely not.

He had to stop it, even if he had to use all his strength, he wouldn't hesitate.

"Whoosh!"

The pitch came!

Whether it was due to the interference from Raichi or because of Carlos's presence,

Mario put too much strength into this pitch.

Sawamura, in the rest area, tugged the corner of his mouth into a cold smile.

"He is done for."

At such a critical moment, Mario made an unforgivable mistake.

With this, he probably had no hope left.

After all, the person standing in front of him was the top-tier batter, Mima Soichiro, with incredible dynamic vision and hitting skills.

Between Mima Soichiro and Mario, who was stronger?

This was actually hard to say.

If the two of them faced off one-on-one, the outcome could very well be an unknown.

But now Mario had brought about his own demise.

During his confrontation with Mima Soichiro, he even dared to lose focus.

What else is there to say?

Everything was already self-explanatory.

PAAK!

A clean swing of the bat, a clean steal of the base.

All the movements were as sharp and precise as a surgeon's scalpel.

Fast and accurate.

The baseball was hit and cleanly landed in the defensive gap.

Mima Soichiro, without a hitch, made it safely to first base, his speed not slowing down.

His speed was fast, and he was not the only one.

When Mima Soichiro hit the ball, Carlos, positioned on second base, used his eyes to track where the ball would land.

'There was a chance!'

When Carlos realized that the baseball was 99.99% likely to land and form a hit,

Carlos was like a flash of lightning, dashing out instantly.

In the process, he pushed his speed to the absolute limit.

By the time the outfielder picked up the ball and prepared to throw it back,

Carlos had already crossed third base.

It looked like he had no intention of stopping at third base.

He was going full throttle for home plate.

The outfielder, who had just picked up the ball, felt like his lungs were about to explode.

'Oh, Come on!'

Although they knew that Japan had sent elite players, like this guy Carlos, who was a bit of an anomaly in Japan, with a different skin color from the others, but still the same inside, they still knew there was little way to stop him.

The only way to stop such a person, strictly speaking, was speed.

And this was exactly what the Italian players were lacking.

Carlos ran from third base toward home plate.

During this process, the emotions of everyone were fluctuating, rising and falling.

No one knew what would happen in the next second.

From the spectators' perspective, it was a race between the player and the pitcher.

Although the distance for the pitcher was much greater, they didn't think the player would overtake the pitcher in such a game.

But the reality turned out to be a slap in the face.

Carlos, like a bolt of lightning, stepped on home plate one step ahead before the baseball could land in the catcher's mitt.

The fans in the stands were stunned.

"That's amazing, that guy!"

"His speed is incredible."

"I thought the baseball would reach first, but I didn't expect the person to arrive first!"

"Although the high school players have been getting stronger these years, it's still rare for them to be this good."

The fans were all buzzing.

You could tell they were excited.

Although the fans from Taiwan would prefer Italy to advance,

After all, the threat from Japan was far greater than that of Italy.

If Italy advanced, the chances of Taiwan winning the championship would greatly increase.

Despite these thoughts, seeing such exciting performances on the field, they couldn't help but be thrilled.

First and foremost, they genuinely loved baseball, which is why they became baseball fans.

Supporting their home team was important, but watching the teams they liked play was also a delightful thing.

Even though the legendary big bad guy hadn't appeared yet, there were still many interesting players in Japan.

But even with that, they couldn't focus on it now.

They had to take action.

They had to act!!

Italy's players were trying to make something happen, but against their current opponents, they had no way of dealing with them.

Carlos successfully advanced to home plate, scoring the first point for Japan.

The score became 1:0.

This score was a huge turning point, clearly separating the two teams. In such a tense pitcher battle, the team that scored first would undoubtedly gain a massive advantage.

That was the situation for Japan right now!

They had already scored one point, and given the performance of Japan's pitcher, the Italian players were confident that they couldn't break through their pitcher.

Moreover, even if the pitcher from Japan had any flaws or weaknesses, the Italian players wouldn't have much hope of taking advantage of them. After all, they had two even more powerful players lurking in their team.

Sawamura and Narumiya.

No matter who was sent to the mound, their effectiveness would not be below Japan's on-mound pitcher, and they might even be stronger.

In this situation, the chances for Italy to keep up were slim, and it was hard to imagine they could continue.

They couldn't find any reason to keep going.

Mario's stamina was running low, and the other players looked extremely fatigued.

Overall, the skill difference between the Italian and Japanese players was still very large. In such a scenario, a direct confrontation meant Italy was at a disadvantage.

Forget Mario, even other players were feeling the intense exhaustion after enduring six or seven innings of pressure.

This exhaustion was so severe that they didn't even want to continue playing.

When Sawamura saw all the Italian players showing signs of fatigue, he slightly blinked.

He clearly realized that this game was likely coming to an end.

There were two moments that signified the end of the game. One was when the game ended completely after the last out in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The other situation was when one team gave up on winning the game, just like Italy now. Although they were still on the field, their spirits were already drained, and they no longer posed any threat to Japan. The remaining game time was essentially garbage time.

This scene made Sawamura feel quite emotional.

He never thought Italy would be this fragile.

They surrendered so quickly?

This was very different from his original impression of Italy. Their national team was known for its tenacity, and even when the game situation was unfavorable, they would still hang on and fight until the end.

But the Italy of today didn't seem to have that mentality. Once they lost a point, their chances of winning became almost nonexistent, and the players gave up. They stood there on the field like the walking dead, no longer showing any fighting spirit.

If Mario hadn't been incredibly effective, continuing to get Outs despite his exhaustion, the score could have been much worse by now. But even with Mario's strength, some things were inevitable. Soon after, they gave up a hit, and the following batter advanced the situation.

Japan scored its second point in this game.

The score became 2:0.

When the score was 1:0, Italy's players were already like zombies. Once they realized they had no hope of winning, they essentially gave up the fight. It was surprising to see how much Japan pushed them, dominating them even after they had already surrendered.

"Game Set!! Japan wins against Italy, 2:0."

Finally, they won!

After the game, Japan's players didn't show relieved smiles but rather let out a deep sigh of relief.

It wasn't easy; they had finally won.

It was only then that Japan's players realized something was wrong.

Why did they feel so exhausted when facing Italy, ranked 10th in the world?

It didn't feel like a dominant win, but more like a lucky one.

"With Mario's Italy, it's completely different from Italy without Mario. Don't sell yourselves short. You've all done very well, and so have they."

Sawamura saw his teammates' low spirits and immediately comforted them.

Everyone thought Sawamura was just being polite, but in his mind, he couldn't have been happier.

Without me on the field, things still would have gone this smoothly, right?

Maybe right now, Mario's specialty wasn't that obvious, not that eye-catching.

But once his pitching system was fully developed, the effect would be completely different.

Even in the Major Leagues, not every player can be called a super player.

Thankfully, Super Mario was not the game, but the still-developing Leonardo Mario.

Although this guy didn't look impressive and seemed a bit weak,

He had an incredibly rare talent and would be very strong in the future.

…

T/N: Well, That's it for now.

Thank you all for reading!

Have a good day!

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