"Sorry, Zhesang, I can't shoot the inside corner well..."

Looking at Nishino Tetsu who looked confused in front of him, Tatsumi Teruaki scratched his hair and said a little embarrassedly.

Sure enough.

No wonder the ball just now felt that Tatsuki-san's throwing action was not smooth, and there was always a feeling of deliberate control.

Nishino Tetsu thought in his heart.

Tetsuya Nishino guessed that this might be the case. Just now, his glove was placed at the edge of the inside corner of the strike zone. As a result, when the ball reached home plate, it almost turned into a red ball and was hit by a junior batter.

Fortunately, the first-base hitter in the junior high school was not a power hitter, so the ball did not hit the ball far enough, and it only resulted in a single.

"Why?"

Nishino Tetsu still felt strange and asked aloud.

During his usual pitching training in the bullpen, Tetsuya Nishino caught a lot of pitches thrown by Teruaki Tatsumi and found that he controlled the ball quite well and could often accurately throw into the corners of the strike zone, including inside corners.

Also, it rarely happens that the ball just missed and went straight into the red.

"Didn't I say it before? When playing baseball, friendship comes first. I'm sorry if I hit too many people..."

"So I'm more afraid of hitting the ball..."

Tatsuki Teruaki continued to explain: "So when I came to the court and wanted to shoot the inside corner kick, I just subconsciously leaned a little closer to the outside corner. When we usually trained on shooting, I thought I had overcome this problem.

....”

"..." Tetsu Nishino.

Um?!

In this case, wouldn't it be...

Tetsu Nishino raised his elbow and wiped the sweat on his forehead with his sleeve. He felt that he had vaguely grasped the key point of this question.

"Tatsuki-san was also on the baseball club in junior high school, right?"

"Um."

"You are in the junior high school of Hakusan High School, right?"

"Um......"

"In other words, our opponents in today's match were all your friends before, right?"

"Well...that's it."

"Then they..."

"Zhesang, you guessed it right, they all know that I can't shoot inside corners well in the game."

Hearing Tatsuki Teruaki's quite affirmative answer, Nishino Tetsu was speechless for a moment and felt like something was stuck in his throat.

"..." Tetsu Nishino.

Tetsu Nishino took a deep breath and adjusted his breathing, "Huhuhu", as if he was about to speak but hesitated.

After thinking about it for a while, he still didn't know what to say.

But a sense of frustration surged up in his heart, causing him to sigh lightly.

I haven't fulfilled my duty as a catcher...

He didn't know his own pitcher as well as his opponent. Tetsu Nishino felt a little frustrated and disappointed in his heart. Just now, his pitch was right in the opponent's batter's hands, and the opponent's batter might be waiting for him to pitch in the corner.

In fact, Tetsu Nishino is still a little harsh on himself. After all, he has just joined the baseball club and just met Teruaki Tatsuki. How can he know him better than his former teammates who have been with Teruaki Tatsuki for nearly three years.

However, Tetsu Nishino is not a pretentious person. He immediately adjusted his mentality, put aside his worries about the pitcher's ball type, and tried his best to solve the next batter he faced.

"Well, man, Tatsuki-san doesn't have to worry about this issue."

"I'm sorry, Tatsuki-san. The ball just now was mainly my problem. I didn't understand your pitching characteristics better. I will pay attention to the subsequent pitches. Let me deal with the batter's ideas."

Tetsu Nishino finally decided to take all the responsibility on himself, the catcher, and used a relaxed tone to appease the pitcher Teruaki Tatsumi.

Sure enough, when he heard that Nishino Tetsu's words didn't seem to mean blaming him, Tatsuki Teruaki secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He really didn't hide it deliberately, and he had been trying to overcome this problem.

Just now, Teruaki Tatsuki was really worried that Tetsu Nishino would be angry and even substituted him directly.

"Come on for the next goal!"

Tetsu Nishino tapped Tatsuki Teruaki's arm lightly with his catcher's glove.

"Well, Zhesang, I will try my best!"

Tatsumi Teruaki nodded, saying that he would try his best to vote well.

After returning to the back of home plate, Tetsu Nishino bowed slightly to the referee, then squatted down to think.

What just happened really taught Tetsu Nishino a lesson. This is an experience that cannot be learned on the training ground and can only be gained in actual combat.

Information is important!

Whether it’s intelligence information about your opponent or your teammates.

Compared to Tetsu Nishino, who had no information about the hitters in the junior high school, the junior high school knew Teruaki Tatsumi’s pitching characteristics very well. In this case, Tetsu Nishino was in an extremely disadvantageous situation. But

This is another challenge that he must go through. After all, Baishan High School does not have the ability to collect enough intelligence from every opponent it encounters.

...

The game continues.

In the first half of the inning, no one was out, and there was a man on first base.

Hitter, second bat in the junior high school.

The supervisor of the junior high school, Ichiro Ohmae, raised his right hand and touched the brim of his hat, then patted his shoulder a few times with his hand, and gave a set of secret signals. The second baton of the junior high school on the strike zone kept looking back at the actions of his supervisor and nodded.

, indicating that he understood the instructions.

I saw the middle school batsman half-hunched over, holding the bat horizontally in front of him, as if he was going to use a sacrifice bunt tactic to send the runner on first base to first base. The runner on first base was also slightly away.

base, and made a gesture of stealing a base.

"call out"

Baseball shot.

"Crack!"

"Bad ball!" the referee ruled.

Unable to figure out the opponent's intentions, Tetsu Nishino hit a low straight ball outside the strike zone on the first pitch. When the ball flew in, the junior high school second bat returned to its normal batting posture, trying to swing.

.

Is it going to be hit and run or is it going to be striking?

Nishino Tetsu couldn't make a judgment, so he had to give a signal and ask pitcher Teruaki Tatsuki to check.

Teruaki Tatsumi was on the pitcher's mound and was about to throw the ball. Before he could make a pitching motion, he suddenly passed the ball to the first baseman, forcing the first base runner to rush back to the base bag and keep touching the base bag with his hand.

, otherwise the runner will be at risk of being hit.

The second ball is a sliding ball from the outside corner.

"call out"

"Crack!"

The baseball that originally headed straight into the strike zone ended up spinning out of the strike zone in an arc, catching the junior bat, who thought it was in the strike zone, off guard and missing his swing.

The number of balls is one good ball and one bad ball.

"Clang!"

The third pitch was a high fly ball that was swept into foul territory on the third base side.

"Foul ball!"

The junior high school player who left the base early and ran to the second base bag had no choice but to return to the first base bag. The ball was a foul ball and his run was invalid.

The second bat of the junior high school looked at the supervisor Ichiro Ohmae again, hoping to get instructions. The supervisor Ichiro Ohmae continued to touch the brim of his hat with his right hand, making a signal. The second bat of the junior high school nodded firmly and looked attentively at the pitcher on the mound.

Chen Jihuiming.

There were two strikes and one ball, and Tetsu Nishino hesitated whether to add another ball to lure the batter out.

It's better to quickly get the next out number.

Tetsu Nishino hit a signal for a straight ball in the outside corner, which was located in the strike zone. Teruaki Tatsuki also knew that if this ball was a strike, it would get an out.

"Whoops" baseball shot.

Suddenly, the junior middle school student Erbang half-bent his body and held the bat horizontally in front of him, with the bat tilted to the side and forward.

"Bang!"

The bat hit the baseball accurately, and after hitting the ground, the baseball rolled forward in the infield. The runner on first base quickly ran to second base, and the batter also dropped the bat and sprinted to get on base.

"pitcher!"
To be continued...