Diamond Ace: Monster Slayer

Chapter 211 Perfect Tactics

With no one out, Kuramochi stood at first base and looked very comfortable.

Finally got on base.

After reaching base, I felt a sense of relief!
This is what Kuramochi wanted.

He had been suppressed for too long before.

After a while, he couldn't breathe normally.

At the beginning of this game, his condition was extremely bad and he himself didn't know what happened.

The ball could have clearly reached base, but he hit it with no angle at all.

If Kuramochi's condition can improve, Seidou High School's batting line will be able to go up smoothly and connect easily.

In this case, Qingdao High School's current score is not just a one-point lead.

It was more or less heading towards a three-point lead.

After Zhou Hui joined Qingdao High School, isn’t it obvious that Qingdao High School’s strength has improved?

In which aspect, Qingdao High School has made a qualitative improvement.

This is especially obvious on the offensive end.

It has become so famous throughout the country.

Before, they could only show off their power in West Tokyo, but they were nothing on the national stage.

It’s not because they didn’t achieve any results on the national stage, but because they didn’t even make it to the national level competition.

Just when everyone thought that Qingdao High School had declined, they suddenly became glorious.

All this is because of Zhou Hui.

Zhou Hui’s joining allows them to achieve a big victory whenever they play against Yokohama Kohoku.

Of course, that was when Qingdao High School was in the best condition.

Logically speaking, the strength of Yamamori Academy is similar to that of Yokohama Kohoku.

If we compare the eight teams in the quarterfinals together, their strengths are similar.

Let’s not talk about other teams, and only talk about the teams that the audience is familiar with. They are either regular visitors to Koshien in recent years, or dark horse teams that were promoted this year.

Yokohama Kohoku, Yamamori Academy, Teito High School, Qingdao High School and the giant troll Daitomaki.

Except for Qingdao High School and Troll Daifujijuan, there are not many teams that are weaker in strength.

After having Zhou Hui, Qingdao High School became a strong team in the country and was no longer on the same level as these teams.

Although they just returned to Koshien this year, judging from their playing style, there is really nothing unfamiliar about them.

It’s like playing ball in front of your own community.

The Giant Troll Vine Scroll is much the same.

With Masamune Hongo, they entered Koshien for the first time in team history and even reached the semi-finals.

Although these two teams are dark horses in Koshien, they are unmatched by other teams.

This can be seen from the match between Yokohama Kohoku and Seidou High School.

Yokohama Kohoku is considered a strong team at the national level, right?

In the Kanto region, they have no rivals at all, and they are the most powerful among the powerful families in the whole country.

The results of it?
However, they lost to Qingdao High School by a large margin and missed the subsequent games.

The trajectories of Yamamori Academy and Yokohama Kohoku in recent years have been surprisingly similar.

It seems like they are using the same script.

It was effortless for the troll vine to fight its way up.

In a recent interview with Hongo, he boasted that Teito High School is definitely no match for them!
This is not just empty talk.

Given their current strength and condition, Didong High School may not be their opponent.

From this perspective, Seidou High School and Giant Troll Otomaki are really the teams with the most potential to win the championship in this year's Koshien.

It seems like a joke that two dark horse teams became serious contenders for the championship.

But this joke has come true, who can I turn to for justice?

It was easy for Seidou High School to play against Yokohama Kohoku, but the same should be true for Yamamori Gakuin.

The problem is that today's Seidou High School's batting line was not as smooth as the day before yesterday. If Seidou High School's batting line could be smoother, they would not be a team of the same level as Yamamori Academy.

"Second batter, right fielder, Hakushu-san."

When Kuramochi reaches the base, Seidou High School's batting will instantly become different, and the feeling on the field will also be different.

Before Kuramochi came on the court, Seidou High School still had to rely on those strong hitters to score points.

In general, there is no role player who can change the direction of the team.

Moreover, it will become extremely easy for the pitcher on the pitcher's mound to pitch.

But things were different after Kuramochi took over.

Kuramochi's speed has always been a common headache for all pitchers.

Even for the pitchers of Seidou High School, the most annoying thing is Kuramochi on the base during team training games or specific tactics.

It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t matter.

Seeing him so far away from the base, it's really hard not to throw a pincer ball.

But if he really throws a pick-and-roll ball, this guy can easily get back by just diving to first base.

It is simply unrealistic to try to solve him by using the method of containing the ball.

But if you leave him alone, it's another story.

Kuramochi is not only fast, but also brave.

As long as the pitcher dares to throw, he dares to steal bases.

No matter what pitching and catching combination you are.

He also stole from Akatsuki Fōtani and Miyuki!
His success rate in stealing bases is frighteningly high, often over 90%.

His speed, coupled with his control of rhythm and his flexibility, are the prerequisites for him to be the strongest runner.

Having such a person on base is simply a mess for people's mentality.

Not only the pitchers of Seidou High School think so, but almost all the pitchers who have played against Seidou High School think so.

He is the first batter of their team. As long as he gets on base, he will tell you what a pervert is!
This is their unified statement.

Even though he said it with gritted teeth, he couldn't help laughing when Kuramochi heard it.

This was an affirmation of his strength by those guys.

At least no one dared to look down on him, and they were quite afraid of him.

This is what he wants to see most.

Kuramochi was still on the base, and Shirasu in the batter's box was looking at him, and his next moves became calm.

The most important thing to do now is to send Kuramochi to the base closer to home plate.

But short hitting was not within his consideration.

It's not necessary at all.

Kuramochi's ability to steal second base is not bad, he can succeed nine times out of ten.

If you use a bunt with such a high success rate, wouldn't that be a waste of an out?

The number of eliminations for Qingdao High School was not blown by the wind, and the organizing committee would not give them a few more.

And use and cherish.

Let’s wait and see, let Kuramochi steal the base first.

Anyway, for a pitcher like Kamisaki Yuto whose pitching speed is only over 140km/h at most, it will be of no use even if Kamisaki Yuto has strong arm strength or passes the ball fast.

"Whoosh!"

Kamisama Yuto didn't make any big adjustments. He just glanced at Kuramochi on first base and threw the ball to home plate.

This kind of visual restraint really means nothing to Kuramochi.

I don’t know what Yamamori Academy is thinking.

“So confident in themselves?”

Yukichi, who was standing off the field, saw all this with an expression of disbelief.

How could they not know what kind of person Kuramochi is?
Throw a few balls to first base to give him a sense of pressure and disrupt his rhythm.

Just using eyes.

If Miyuki was Kuramochi's opponent, he would definitely let the pitcher contain a few balls first. Even if there was no way to contain Kuramochi directly, it would be a good thing for them if they could mess up Kuramochi's rhythm.

His rhythm was disrupted, so it was difficult for him to steal bases, and their running back lost fewer runs.

But for Kuramochi's teammates, the opponents of Yamamori Academy.

Yukichi just wants to say: Well done!

I added insurance for fear of not winning!
When Kuramochi saw that the other party was unwilling to even pay attention to him, he immediately ran away.

He runs so fast that you can't catch up with him unless there is a cheetah following him.

When it comes to the same species of the same age group, no one can be a match for Kuramochi.

No kidding, that's it!
Kuramochi is so scary!
If you want to defeat Kuramochi, no one can do it.

It has to be an animal.

It's an animal with extraordinary explosive power.

There is a reason why Kuramochi is called Cheetah.

Speeding up, Kuramochi reached second base in an instant.

After seeing Kitayama coming to second base to help, Kuramochi slid over without hesitation.

"Whoosh!"

The ball that Kamatsuwa and To passed to second base was still in the air when Kuramochi's foot had already touched the second base bag.

This speed is already quite good.

A sprinter is no more than that!

"Safety on base!"

The umpire raised his arms and announced that Kuramochi was at safe base.

This steal was too easy.

Considering Kuramochi's explosive power and speed, it would be a waste of his talent for him to play baseball.

With such talent, it would be a shame not to run sprints.

If one day Kuramochi really can't play baseball anymore, he would still like to choose to run sprints, which shows that he has a certain talent.

Not a bad choice either.

His talent for sprinting is even higher than his talent for baseball.

Of course, these are all jokes.

If Kuramochi had started training in sprinting from the beginning, he might have achieved some success.

But Kuramochi's speed is completely an innate talent. It is related to acquired training, but not much.

He can run so fast, it's just a natural ability.

I have not received any systematic training since childhood.

If you ask Kuramochi to stop playing baseball now and change his career to play baseball, there may be some prospects for him at this age and level.

This can be seen from the coach of Seidou High School's track and field team.

The coach of Seidou High School's track and field team invited Kuramochi many times, hoping that he would stop playing the useless baseball and would do better in running short distances.

After all, Seidou High School's baseball business has been in a slump in recent years. Playing baseball at Seidou High School is really not as good as running sprints.

But Kuramochi himself understands that when it comes to higher-level competitions, the disadvantages of these athletes who have changed their careers lately and have not had much training in this event will become increasingly obvious.

He might as well be a baseball player.

After reaching second base, Kuramochi's success rate in stealing third base was not that high.

Only about 70%.

That's because the distance from home base to third base is much closer than the distance from home base to second base.

Therefore, many runners prefer second base when stealing bases, and stealing third base is generally not considered.

After all, once you reach second base, you are considered to be in the scoring circle, and few people continue to steal bases.

Unless it's someone like Kuramochi.

Kuramochi was very confident in his speed. Not to mention stealing third base, stealing home base was no problem as long as he had the chance.

Director Kataoka and Kuramochi have the same idea.

After seeing Kuramochi eager to try at second base, coach Kataoka gave a secret signal, indicating that he could continue to steal third base.

Kuramochi also nodded.

Second base wasn't enough for him.

"Whoosh!"

The white ball flew out close to the ground. It was a straight ball at a low angle.

But the eyes of the whole audience were not here, but on Kuramochi at second base.

Kuramochi at second base had long disappeared, but his shadow was seen on the way from second base to third base.

Very soon, very fast!

"Snapped!"

"nice shot!"

The baseball didn't stay in Kamisaki Hedou's glove for long before Kamisaki Hedou started fighting and threw it towards third base.

"Snapped!"

"Safety on base!"

Still safe on base!

This time it can be said to be extremely thrilling. At the critical moment, Kuramochi's foot was faster than Kamisama Kazuto's pass and reached third base ahead of time.

"If my legs were longer, would it be easier to get on base?"

Kuramochi curled his lips.

He has always been dissatisfied with the length of his legs.

If he could be taller, coupled with his cool and handsome looks, he would definitely win the favor of his fans.

Kuramochi is actually not bad, especially for a baseball team.

There are actually only a handful of people who are better looking than him.

At least compared to Toru Masuko, his looks can be said to be at the level of a flower boy.

After two good shots, Shenzu and Douben thought they had secured victory.

But unexpectedly, Qingdao High School was so eager to score that they used a tactic of forcing points!

"Ping!"

After the baseball flew over, Shirasu hit a bunt and Kuramochi stole the ball towards home plate.

With these two moves, Kuramochi ran back to home base and scored.

5: 3!

Qingdao High School once again widened the score to two points!

The tactics of Qingdao High School were very successful!

The success of the tactics was still due to Kuramochi's two excellent stolen bases.

If it weren't for Kuramochi's two stolen bases, Seidou High School would never have been able to score this point in such a short time.

Only one out was consumed, and there are still more variables left for Qingdao High School.

What's more, the next player of Seidou High School to take the field is their center batting line!
Yuuki, Jun Isajiki, and the batter known as a monster, Zhou Hui!

They will all go on stage next, and the time left for Yamamori Academy to torture them is far from over.

"You two did a great job in your performance this time. The quality is very high. It seems you put a lot of effort into it during training."

Kuramochi and Shirasu came back almost at the same time, so after they came back, they both received praise from Director Kataoka.

"That's fine, it's just a matter of extra practice..."

Before Kuramochi could finish his words, he was stared at by Director Kataoka.

"Do you have any objection to the extra training?"

"No no."

……

(End of this chapter)