After school the next day, Kitahara Shuji followed Yuma Uchida to the school baseball field.
Although he has been studying here for more than half a year, this is his first time here. His range of activities is quite small, and he mainly stays in the teaching building.
I looked around curiously and found that the conditions were okay. The stadium was in the shape of a right-angled fan, surrounded by a very high and very fine barbed wire fence, but only one side had an open-air auditorium with no seats, just cement steps, while the other side had an open-air auditorium.
On the side is a gray two-story building, which is probably a storage room, conference room, changing room and the like.
After all, it's just a practice field. Compared to many schools, which are like a wasteland, it's pretty good. It can be seen that Daifuku Industrial Group is indeed very wealthy. Many schools' practice fields don't plant turf for the outfield at all, not even for football fields. At least the outfield here is
The grassland is probably imitated from Koshien Garden.
Yuma Uchida took Hideji Kitahara directly into the two-story building and introduced him along the way: "Upstairs is the supervising teacher's office and the honor room, but the honor room is empty now. Ah, this is the tactics room, here
It's the video data room, and there's the equipment room, which Coach Suzuki asked the school for..."
He introduced it very seriously, as if Kitahara Hideji would be coming and going here for a long time in the future, but Kitahara Hideji patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "No need to say this, help me find some clothes to change into first."
Yesterday, Noki Suzuki agreed to exchange that request for him to come to the trial training, and he kept his word and came today. However, he had no intention of doing it for a long time. He was prepared to go back after Suzuki Noki felt sick. It was useless to listen to this.
Uchida Yuuma immediately took him into the locker room, and there were already six or seven people changing clothes in the locker room. They were all stunned when they saw Kitahara Shuji. Kitahara Shuji is a big celebrity in the school, and there are no second or third graders here.
The seniors and first-year students present quickly weighed the status of both parties, immediately found their own position, and started to say hello first.
Kitahara Shuji knew one of the people in the next class, but he still said hello to everyone politely, and then put on the baseball uniform suit that Uchida Yuma found and put it into a black long-sleeved tights, a white short-sleeved shirt and a white long-sleeved shirt.
pants and sneakers.
Baseball uniforms have only begun to come in more colors in modern times. Traditionally, they should all be white. In the past, the home team wore white and the away team wore white with stripes. This was mainly because the baseball field was large and the contrast between the white and the gray ground was great.
, it is easy for the audience to see the movements of the athletes clearly. In addition, from an engineering perspective, baseball games are concentrated in spring, summer and autumn, and they need to run or stand under the sun for a long time. The white color is not easy to heat and helps to conserve physical strength.
But Hideji Kitahara didn't like it. The white color got dirty easily, which made him upset.
He further strengthened his determination not to join the baseball team, and Uchida Yuma had already explained to his fellow club members that Kitahara Shuji was invited by Suzuki Noki for a pitching trial.
Everyone welcomed it, even the original pitcher had no objections.
The entire team has only twelve people in total, and there are not enough substitutes, and there is only one pitcher. And the average team must have two or three pitchers, divided into pitchers, relievers, and even another pitcher to deal with left-handed hitters.
The left-hander should be prepared to prevent the opponent from hitting the opponent with a right-hand shot and scoring easily.
If Hideji Kitahara didn't come, and he was asked to throw hundreds of pitches all by himself, he would be afraid of the lack of pitchers. It's not uncommon for a team to push a pitcher to death, and the pitcher will be disabled before he reaches adulthood.
of.
Jiaziyuan in colleges and universities is actually a bloody forest. In order to enter Jiaziyuan, a lot of people fail every year...
Everyone showed great kindness towards the increase in manpower, but Yuma Uchida changed into protective gear and hesitantly asked Kitahara Hideji in a low voice: "Kitahara, do you really not want to stay?"
He hoped that Kitahara Shuji could stay. Although Kitahara Shuji only knew a little bit about baseball. This was what he and Ritsu Shikishima usually told Kitahara Shuji. However, he had confidence in Kitahara Shuji and felt that he would at least be able to practice casually.
Much stronger than the average person.
If you have a strong partner, then going to Koshien is really not a dream. In the history of Koshien, it has happened countless times that one person has led the team into Koshien.
If he could compete in Koshien in high school, even if he couldn't win the championship or win the banner, he would still be willing to lose three years of his life.
It is the holy place for all high school boys in Japan, and you can brag about it for a lifetime.
But Kitahara Shuji shook his head slightly and replied in a low voice: "I don't have time to do this." He is so busy now that he has no time to play ball. Moreover, he is ranked first in his grade and does not need these things to enter college.
Bonus points, if he has this time, he might as well take a look at the courses for the second and third years of high school. Maybe he can take the entrance exam in advance. That will save a year.
Yuma Uchida sighed in disappointment, but immediately laughed mischievously: "I understand, I will cooperate with you."
Now he is the only catcher on the team, and Kitahara Shuji is doing pitching trials, so he can only be his partner. And as long as the two of them work together and prove that Kitahara Shuji has no pitching talent, then this matter will be considered a failure.
Although he is afraid of Suzuki Noki, but in terms of friendship, he must still be towards Kitahara Shuji. Even if Suzuki Noki dies, he doesn't feel bad, and maybe even celebrates secretly!
Kitahara Shuji shook his head slightly and said with a smile: "No, Uchida, Suzuki is not a fool, she is not easy to fool. You just need to perform normally, but... don't blame me later, I really don't want to come."
Yuuma Uchida was stunned and didn't understand what Hideji Kitahara meant. Hideji Kitahara helped him check his protective gear to prevent him from being injured later while playing street ball in the snow and beating his catcher friend to pieces.
Split, Kitahara Hideji knew this.
Of course, those kind of street kids play without protective gear, only a baseball glove, and they are young and have brittle bones. Uchida Yuma should be fine, but just in case, you still have to check it, and you can't mess around because of Noki Suzuki.
It really hurt him.
After everything was ready, Kitahara Shuji went out and entered the stadium and saw Suzuki Noki already waiting on the baseball field. Suzuki Noki looked at Kitahara Shuji's tall and straight figure and her eyes were taller than her. Her height matched her well.
1.76 meters and 1.65 meters are just right.
Kitahara Shuji didn't care what she thought, walked over and said with a smile: "Let's start? If the team is not suitable for me, please stop being a rogue."
Although school ends early and it's not even four o'clock yet, don't delay me going home to study and cook.
Seeing that Kitahara Shuji was so impatient, Suzuki Nozomi didn't know what tricks Kitahara Shuji was planning to play. As for Kitahara Shuji being too busy to work, she was the first to not believe that his character was not that kind of person. If he wanted to default on his debt, he would have done it long ago.
Damn it, I don't know how to play this kind of trick.
He will definitely go all out, but what will happen if he goes all out?
She shrugged her shoulders and said with a smile: "Let's get started." Then she turned around and waved and shouted: "Shimoda, come here!"
A short boy ran over, and Suzuki Noki directly ordered: "Kitahara-kun has never played baseball, please give him some advice."
Kitahara Shuji had no objection. He really didn't know how. He said politely: "I'm causing trouble for you, Shimoda-san." He didn't know this person. He seemed to be a student in Class J, and he was not in the same teaching building as him.
Shimoda took the initiative to extend his hand and said with a smile: "Kitahara-san, this is the first time we meet. I am Shimoda, second son. Please give me your advice in the future."
He was very enthusiastic, fearing that if Kitahara Shuji ran away, he would be left to throw the whole game by himself, so he quickly took a baseball and handed it to Kitahara Shuji, and said easily: "Pitching is not difficult, just aim and throw it hard."
Kitahara Shuji didn't believe it. If it was as easy as he said, would it be wrong for those famous families to go crazy looking for good pitchers every year? Last year's best pitcher in Koshien seemed to have been taken away by Tokyo University and did not directly enter the professional team.
, but went to advanced universities to play in college leagues.
The runner-up pitcher who lost to him actually joined a professional team right out of high school. He seems to be a reliever now, with an annual salary of 41 million yen and a signing fee of 80 million yen.
Back then Yuma Uchida had imagined that he would be like that guy in the future, earning as much money in one year as others in twenty years.
But having said that, in fact, if you are purely for money and have talent at the same time, playing baseball in Japan is indeed a good choice. After all, there are so many spectators. Unfortunately, life cannot be just for money. It is too stupid to only pursue money. Use money, but you cannot be
Money is at the mercy of living your own life. This is the choice of a smart person.
He weighed the baseball in his hand. It weighed about 150 grams, which is about three ounces in weight. It felt very hard and strong. It was estimated that if it hit him, it would be enough to drink a bottle.
Shimoda Tsuguo brought Kitahara Shuji to the pitcher's mound, which is slightly forward in the middle of the diamond formed by home plate, first base, second base, and third base in the infield, and then pointed to Uchida, who was already squatting in the direction of home plate.
Xiongma, the temporary player who acted as the referee and a batter standing in the right batting area, said: "We are using a youth baseball field. It is not actually 18 meters long. Kitahara-san, would you like to try a pitch first... Well, Kitahara
Which pitching method does your classmate use? Up, side or underhook? Huh? Has Kitahara-san really never pitched before? Do you want me to explain the basic pitching method first?"
He felt something was wrong when he saw Kitahara Shuji standing on the pitcher's mound. Generally, people with pitching experience would put their center of gravity directly on the pitcher's plate when they got on the pitcher's mound, but this guy was better, with both feet on it...
This isn’t even considered a beginner, is it?
Throwing a ball into the strike zone from nearly 20 meters away is not as easy as imagined. Without long-term practice or natural ball control ability, it would be thrown away casually. After all, there is only one person's width there.
.
Usually, even if you throw a stone from 20 meters away, there is no guarantee that it will hit someone, let alone a spinning ball.
Kitahara Shuji really didn't understand. He had only watched a baseball game once, and he still watched Yuma Uchida being pinned to the ground and being rubbed. But he still declined. If he really planned to develop in this area, he would definitely have to study it carefully, but this
Isn't that right? You just leave after you throw the ball. Why do you care so much?
He smiled and said: "I just throw in casually... Well, can we start now?"
He wanted to finish the pitch quickly and leave quickly, but he also had to ask, what would happen if it happened? After all, the last time I watched a baseball game, the pitchers were always grinding, and it seemed like they couldn't throw the ball well.
As cautious as being shot.
An impatient person can really smash the TV when watching a baseball game. Do you want to vote or not? Can you hurry up? Can you?!
Shimoda Tsuguo has completely confirmed that although Kitahara Shuji is a celebrity in high school kendo, he is a super novice in the baseball circle.
The way he holds the ball feels awkward, too obvious for an amateur.
But even so, he didn't want Kitahara Shuji to run away. He thought for a while and tentatively said: "For the first ball, Kitahara-san can throw it in front of the pitcher's mound."
Once you get off the pitcher's mound, you enter the level of open field ball on the street, or the level of coaxing girls to play. Why do so few girls play baseball? Because they don't have enough strength to throw it that far, or they just use up their strength to finally win.
I threw it, but the speed of the ball was extremely slow, and every hit was accurate. All of them gave away runs and batting average.
Every year at the start of a professional baseball game, a female singer or movie star is invited to throw out the pitch, but nine out of ten times the ball will not be thrown to home plate. The batter has to make a false swing of the bat to count the ball. We must not give girls face, and we cannot do it.
If someone throws it hard, it will be called a foul ball. The batter can only actively cooperate.
That's still an adult woman. It's even worse for high school girls. When girls come to play at the school's baseball field, the boys will let the girls stand five to six meters tall to coax them into having fun.
Shimoda Tsuto wanted to lower the difficulty for Kitahara Hideji, so that Kitahara Hideji would not get discouraged and run away after one shot. Kitahara Hideji was a very cautious person. After all, he had never played before. He asked in surprise: "Can I go to the front to shoot?"
Eighteen meters is not that far, can we go further?
"Practice doesn't matter." Shimoda Shuji was going to let Kitahara Shuji experience the duel between pitchers and hitters up close first, and also enhance his confidence. It would be too cruel to be hit a home run on the first pitch. Maybe he would let him
This man bids farewell to the sport for life.
Even though he didn't understand, Kitahara Hideji was still very open-minded and followed the good advice. He followed Shimoda Shuji off the pitcher's mound and walked forward five or six meters. When he reached the eleven or twelve meters, he asked with some uncertainty: "Where are you?"
Do you want to vote here?"
He felt something was wrong. Is this too close? Is this a child-level distance?
Shimoda Tsuguo said "Yes" with good intentions, and then took a few steps back. Suzuki Noki stood on the side of the home plate and looked at it, but there was no reaction. Kitahara Shuji was a novice. She knew that she had to feel the first ball.
It is understandable that she is interested in Kitahara Shuji's ability to control the ball, and he can even hit Yukiri while jumping high.
Based on what she saw last time, if you replace tennis with baseball, Kitahara Shuji's ball speed is above average, and if his ball control ability is very good, there will be more types of balls, and he can also become a killer.
She can coax Hideji Kitahara to practice more in the future, that's no problem.
People from the private Daifuku Academy baseball club also stood aside and watched. After all, Kitahara Shuci was really famous in the school. But when they saw Kitahara Shuci being brought to the pitcher's mound, they immediately knew that this was a complete novice and had never played before.
That kind of thing is really rare.
When Kitahara Shuji was preparing to throw the ball, his posture surprised them even more. Kitahara Shuji's body was stretched like a bow, and his long arms were raised high and stretched to the maximum length. It seemed that he was about to swing the baseball out. The group was suddenly stunned.
If you throw the ball like this, the ball will always be in the batter's eyes, so it will take too long for the opponent to react, right?
A few people couldn't help but laugh, feeling that Hideji Kitahara might be a strong player in the kendo circle, but when it comes to the baseball field, he is just a low-level rookie.
They suddenly felt like seniors and felt that they could educate Hideji Kitahara well in the future. Then they could brag about being Kitahara's "teacher". Thinking about it, they were a little excited!
But after Kitahara Shuji's body slowly stretched to the maximum distance, he suddenly leaned forward and waved his hand. His arm seemed to disappear in an instant, and no trace could be caught by the naked eye. The baseball disappeared, and the batter in the strike zone stood motionless.
, there was no response, and Yuma Uchida screamed and fell down.
Baseball is a round leather ball and does not produce violent wind noise. However, everyone in the baseball club heard a crisp sound that was not the sound of the ball, but the sound of the friction of the mandible when the mouth was suddenly opened wide and reached their ears.
What kind of newbie is this?
What the hell is Shimoda doing? How can a guy like that be allowed to get off the mound and pitch?