Bottom of the 7th inning, the Seidou High School baseball team is on the defense.
By now, Sawamura has already recorded a total of 15 strikeouts.
In six innings, 15 strikeouts.
The players from Yakushi High School's baseball team didn't seem to have any intention of stopping him.
On the contrary, it seemed like they were almost hoping for Sawamura to continue pitching crazily like this.
At first, Sawamura didn't pay much attention to this. Although, in previous matches, Sawamura had set various records.
He had never treated setting records as a goal to pursue.
Most of the time, he gave his all simply because the game required it.
But his full effort was so powerful that the opposing players couldn't keep up.
That's what led to Sawamura's many remarkable records during his middle school years.
After entering high school, Sawamura, being two years younger than the mainstream players at the time, even with his vast experience, the natural limits of his body prevented him from dominating as he did in middle school.
Therefore, even though Sawamura was the ace in the team last year as a freshman, he completed his role as the ace perfectly.
His reputation was second to none.
But his overall strength wasn't so overpowering that it exceeded other high school players by a large margin.
He couldn't crush all his opponents.
At most, he was just performing well and attracting a lot of attention.
Setting records became even more difficult!
After a year of honing his skills, Sawamura's current strength was completely different from when he first entered high school.
It's no exaggeration to say that now, Sawamura's ability has reached the level where he was when he faced opponents of the same age in middle school.
And with the older players, who were two years ahead of him, already retiring, this era now belonged to Sawamura.
Just like the previous game between Seidou High School and Inashiro Industrial High School.
The strikeout record Sawamura set was clear proof of this.
Although the Coach of Inashiro Industrial High School, Kunitomo, had chosen a strategy that favored Sawamura due to his own thinking.
The players of Inashiro Industrial High School didn't go easy on him—they were genuinely facing off against Sawamura.
The strikeouts Sawamura got were legitimate, with no leniency.
Not to mention in today's high schools, even if you include professional pitchers, very few could achieve such a feat against the lineup of Inashiro Industrial High School.
Perhaps only Sawamura could.
That is Sawamura's current level.
Before achieving this, Sawamura didn't deliberately try to set such a record.
After accomplishing it, Sawamura was surprised to find that his strength had reached this level.
Honestly, even Sawamura himself was quite surprised by this.
He hadn't anticipated that his current ability had become so formidable.
Last night, Sawamura thought about it repeatedly.
In the end, he believed that his achievement was due to a perfect combination of timing, location, and the human element.
Coach Kunitomo's strategy, although complex, could be inferred from the outcome.
Why did Kunitomo and now Raizou choose to do this? What was their goal?
Sawamura actually didn't care, he just did everything he could to ensure his team's winning.
It was his duty as the Ace.
Moreover, if the game continued under this model, it was also quite advantageous for Sawamura.
He had no reason to refuse.
On the contrary, if possible, he might even help to further the situation.
After all, the result was beneficial to Sawamura himself.
So in the bottom of the 7th inning, when facing Akiba again, Sawamura didn't just casually pitch as before.
Instead, he deliberately aimed for the strikeout.
If he truly wanted to get strikeouts, Sawamura wouldn't simply mix in various breaking balls.
Although throwing different breaking balls in succession might make it easier to get strikeouts, it wasn't the most effective method.
In fact, this method was somewhat rough.
If he really wanted to get more strikeouts, the ideal way was to combine control, breaking balls, and effectively use Balls outside the strike zone…
Sawamura had didn't do this before, but that wasn't because he couldn't—it was simply unnecessary.
When only getting Outs was the goal, there was no need to expend so much extra effort.
As long as the opponent couldn't hit the sweet spot, that was enough.
As for the batter repeatedly swinging and missing, it only meant their level was too low.
Now that Sawamura was seriously pursuing strikeouts, he no longer had the same mindset as before.
He took his stride and pitched!
As he threw, the mitt on his right hand remained like a wall, blocking the view of his arm, preventing anyone from seeing the release point or the motion of his arm.
Akiba, standing in the Batter's Box, although he had mentally prepared for Sawamura's state, couldn't help but feel his heart pounding when facing him.
Facing Sawamura, no matter how many times they had faced off before, every time his pitching form was hard to adapt to.
Because the release point was hidden, the ball seemed much faster.
It felt faster than a ball coming from a pitching machine at over 155 km/h.
Even though Akiba knew full well that Sawamura's pitch was only a bit over 147 km/h and couldn't possibly be that fast.
That feeling still lingered.
Here it comes!
A flash of white light, and the baseball was already next to him.
It wasn't their first time facing each other, so Akiba gradually adapted to Sawamura's rhythm.
When the baseball flew toward him, he instinctively judged its location and potential movement.
But he missed!
The location and potential movement were things Akiba was not good at.
So he didn't waste any effort and chose to let it go.
SNAP!
"STRIKE!"
As the ball entered Miyuki's Mitt, Akiba finally saw it clearly.
It was a fastball!
It was just a simple fastball!
But the ball traveled so quickly from Sawamura's hand to the strike zone that Akiba didn't have time to fully judge it.
He had to rely partly on his eyes and partly on guesswork.
And this time, he guessed wrong.
Letting out a long breath, Akiba refocused his attention on Sawamura.
For some reason, he felt that Sawamura now seemed different from before.
Compared to the Sawamura he knew, this Sawamura seemed even more terrifying.
It was impossible to figure out what was going on in his mind.
Miyuki, the catcher, also felt the change in Sawamura.
But unlike Akiba, Miyuki, as Sawamura's partner, knew exactly what Sawamura was thinking.
'Are you out for blood now?'
The batters of Yakushi High School were quite formidable. Their skill level was high.
If Sawamura wanted to get strikeouts, he would have to pitch even sharper.
Originally, Miyuki hadn't considered this, but now that Sawamura was doing it, there was no reason not to cooperate.
'Truthfully, this kid was the type to never let anyone steal his spotlight when he had a chance to shine.'
'Let's do it!'
'The next pitch—a Changeup!'
Stimulated by Sawamura's previous pitch, Miyuki guessed that no matter how steady Akiba was, he wouldn't stay silent for the next pitch.
Sawamura agreed with that.
So he threw the ball without hesitation.
Swish!
Sure enough, Akiba didn't hesitate and swung his bat with all his might, as if he had made up his mind.
But when he finished swinging, the baseball hadn't arrived yet.
It was a while before the baseball finally made its way toward him.
SNAP!
"STRIKE!!"
'It was the Changeup!!'
Sawamura and Miyuki's rhythm completely exceeded Akiba's expectations.
As Akiba was forced into a two-Strike count, he knew deep down that he was about to lose.
There would be no chance for him to react by the last pitch.
And it turned out he was right.
"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!!!"
Not only Akiba but also Mishima, who followed, was powerless against Sawamura's level 4 Rocket ball.
Two of the most troublesome hitters were struck out back to back.
The cleanup hitter, Hirahata, was far less concerning.
Three consecutive Strikeouts.
Sawamura's strikeout total reached 18.
And it wasn't over yet.
After the lower batters from Seidou's lineup were dealt with by Sanada, Sawamura took the mound again, facing Yakushi High School's 5th, 6th, and 7th batters.
It was as if they had agreed on it—neither side retreated.
They both went head-to-head.
Sawamura clearly had the upper hand.
Once again, three strikeouts in almost the same pattern.
Sawamura tied his own strikeout record from the previous game.
By the end of the 8th inning, the score was 6-0.
Sawamura had racked up 21 strikeouts.
It seemed like breaking his own record in the 9th inning was inevitable.
With such an exciting moment ahead, the Demon King's fans were ecstatic.
…