The so-called strike zone refers to the area above home plate from the batter's knees to the chest. It is also the area where the batter is easiest to hit.
No wonder it is said that a good pitcher is often the soul of the team. After all, it is not easy to eliminate hitters under such restrictions.
With a lot of emotion in his heart, Kato Yusuke's hands were neat and tidy.
With a "pop" sound, the baseball fell into the catcher's glove.
"A good shot!" the referee shouted.
"Okay, okay!" Yamaguchi shouted in the audience and clenched his fists.
Takei next to him said: "Well...but Ishikawa, he didn't swing the bat just now, right? Was he observing the ball path?"
The boy's ball just now was probably parallel to the thug's abdomen.
"Straight ball, the ball went low." Ishikawa murmured, with the expression on his face still calm.
The catcher on the side looked at him and then threw the ball back.
Yusuke Kato catches the ball thrown back by the catcher.
The sun is shining brightly and the cicadas are chirping loudly.
Seeing that the opponent was ready, the boy raised his hand and threw the baseball again.
Ishikawa swings.
"boom!"
The baseball fell into the glove and made a dull sound.
The catcher took the baseball out of his glove and couldn't help but move his slightly numb palm.
"...Two good shots!" There was a slight hesitation in the referee's eyes.
What was the speed of the ball just now?
Ishikawa's expression was slightly solemn, and he muttered silently: "140km/h?"
Kakakakakaka——
Members of the photography department standing behind tripods recorded this scene truthfully.
"Are you familiar with baseball? Kato-san." Shiyu asked the girl beside her.
"Hmm...hmm." Hui nodded slightly and responded: "Well, if only a little, Kasumigaoka-senpai."
"Just call me senior, so what are they talking about now?" Shiyu said casually.
"Hmm~~ Although I don't know very well..." Hui thought for a while and said, "But it should be that Kato-kun's ball speed was faster just now."
"Um, Kato-kun..."
"What's up?"
"Are you familiar with Kato-kun?"
"Well, after all, we are classmates, so I guess it's not unfamiliar, right?"
"I'm not talking about the kind of familiarity." Shiyu looked at the other person's profile and opened his red lips lightly: "So... you trust him very much?"
"Huh? Trust Kato-kun? Why?" Hui turned around, with no flaws in his eyes.
The two looked at each other.
After a long time, Shiyu looked away and said it was nothing.
The atmosphere suddenly became quiet.
Seeing Shiyu like this, Megumi said aloud: "However, I didn't expect that senior would actually know Kato-kun. I feel a little surprised."
"I don't think I've done anything to surprise you."
"Well, after all, Kasumigaoka-senpai is like a legend among the junior students, and I have only heard rumors..."
While the two were chatting.
"boom--!"
A crisp sound of blows came from the training ground, and the ball was hit by the bat and flew high.
"oh--!"
The audience let out a burst of exclamation.
"Is it a home run?"
"I don't know, it's still flying..."
Eventually, the baseball landed in the center field area of the field.
"Ah, it's an inbounds ball."
"pity."
Although he hit the ball, Ishikawa's face didn't look very good.
By now, he was very sure: the ball thrown by Kato Yusuke was definitely 140km/h, or even higher.
It's still the not-so-standard posture, but the ball speed has reached a professional level.
In other words, the opponent's physical fitness alone is almost close to his own.
"No, not yet." Ishikawa shook his head, took a deep breath, and his eyes became firm again.
At least my best record is 150km/h! There are still three balls left, let him see it later!
While he was thinking about this, a boy from the baseball club suddenly ran to the referee and handed him an instrument that looked like a code scanner.
Then he ran back to the auditorium.
Glancing at the object in the referee's hand, Ishikawa recognized it at a glance as an instrument usually used by the team to measure ball speed.
Seeing this, his eyes couldn't help but move, but he didn't say anything.
So the game continued.
Looking at Ishikawa's serious expression, Kato Yusuke, who was standing on the pitching base, slightly raised the corners of his mouth, and there seemed to be mockery in his eyes.
Under everyone's gaze, the boy stepped on the pitching plate with one foot.
Raise your hand, shake your arm.
The muscles of the forearm swelled in an instant.
Ishikawa swings the bat.
"boom--!"
The catcher grunted and the baseball fell into his glove.
"Beep! 151km/h!"
The referee's pupils were slightly dilated, "A good shot!"
The place suddenly became quiet.
The catcher clasped his hands, twitched the outside of his glove, then endured the pain and threw the ball back to the boy.
Glancing at Ishikawa who was a little lost, a touch of joy flashed in the catcher's eyes.
Kato Yusuke took the baseball and waited quietly.
It wasn't until a while that Ishikawa reacted.
"Teacher Hirakawa..." He looked at the referee behind him, with some hope in his eyes.
The referee slowly shook his head at him and said nothing.
The darkness swallowed up hope in an instant.
"Senior Ishikawa." The young man on the pitching plate asked leisurely: "Do you want to continue?"
Ishikawa immediately clenched his back molars and shouted loudly: "It's just a goal, don't let me be so proud! I'm a first grader!"
"Come again!" He adjusted his fighting posture.
Kato Yusuke nodded and said okay.
Then came the second ball.
The boy placed his fingers on the side of the ball, close to the line.
Still in the same posture as before, Yusuke raised his arms and shook them.
A rapid sound broke through the air.
‘Too, too fast!’ Before he even had time to react, the catcher just raised his hand based on instinct.
"Snapped--!"
"Hiss..." Amidst the sound of the leather tearing, the baseball penetrated the glove directly.
Calfskin gloves, which are usually extremely tough, are now as brittle as a piece of paper.
"Gu...!"
Looking at the hole at the top of the glove, the catcher swallowed hard.
'This is a slap on the hand...'
He didn't dare to think about it.
The audience outside the venue looked confused.
"What's wrong? Didn't you catch it?"
"It seems so...?"
"Eh~~This is too weak."
Just when everyone was talking about it.
"Two good shots!" the referee's announcement came belatedly.
After taking a look at the value on the speedometer, Mr. Hirakawa, as the referee, murmured: "Ball speed, 160km/h."
"Stop, stop lying! This is impossible!" Ishikawa's face was a little distorted, and then he turned to Kato Yusuke and shouted: "Come again!!"
His response was still a simple word "good".
The boy raised his hand, signaling the catcher to throw another ball.
The catcher's heart began to beat loudly.
"Teach, coach..." The catcher spread out his glove, and through the hole, the palm of his hand could be clearly seen.
Teacher Hirakawa's eyelids twitched twice.
First he looked at the boy on the pitcher's plate, and then at Ishikawa in the batter's box.
He said to the catcher: "Give me the protective gear and a new pair of gloves, and I'll take the ball."
After five minutes.
The positions of the umpire and catcher are reversed.
The former was squatting behind home plate in full gear, and the latter was squatting behind the former with a speedometer.
Kato Yusuke looked towards the audience, passing through a series of unfamiliar or familiar faces, and finally paused on a peaceful face.
The image of the opponent blocking the ball for him appeared in front of his eyes, and he was speechless for a moment.
Then he looked back.
The boy stepped on the pitching plate twice and found a comfortable position.
Immediately afterwards.
Yusuke raised his hands above his head and raised one leg.
Take a deep breath.
The young man stepped on his feet and raised his arms, forming a line with his front and back hands, and then threw the ball hard.
Like a cannonball.
The baseball is speeding toward the catcher.
At first glance, it is still a small round dot, but it is rapidly enlarging in the eyes at the speed of each frame.
A sense of crisis suddenly arose in my heart.
Under the protective cover, Teacher Ishikawa felt a pressure coming towards his face, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
In nearly twenty years of teaching, this was the first time he felt such pressure from a student.
But with his rich prediction experience, he still stopped his gloves at a certain position one step ahead.
All that's left is to wait for baseball to get its hands on it.
only……
"Hit me——!!"
Ishikawa's roar reached his ears.
What followed was two dull sounds that sounded at the same time.
"boom--!"
"Crack...!"
As if being hit by something heavy, the bat began to explode suddenly from a certain point.
Among the flying sawdust, I saw the baseball flying towards the direction it came from under the force of the reaction.
There was a burst of exclamation from the audience.
"Hit, hit——!"
"It's too strong!!"
"Come on! Ishikawa-senpai——!!"
Baseball does not stop for people's cheers, but moves forward. And on the route that baseball must take... is the tall and erect young man.
"Idiot! Get out of the way!!"
"Hey——! Kato——!!"
"We're going to hit——!!"
People reminded them loudly, and some timid girls even closed their eyes instinctively.
Teacher Hirakawa, whose eyes were splitting, couldn't help but stand up from where he was and weakly stretched out a hand towards the boy.
Ishikawa, who was slumped on the ground, looked at the motionless boy with a look of astonishment on his face.
And in the next second...
"Snapped----!"
The clear voice overwhelmed the shouts of the entire audience.
The high-speed rotating baseball suddenly stopped and fell into a white palm.
The training ground at Nuo University suddenly became as quiet as snow.
In the dazzling sunshine, the young man was at this moment.
…
(P.s. Punctured gloves and broken bats are scenes that have happened in MLB, so don’t say I’m exaggerating...)