Shiga Prefecture is located in the central part of the Japanese archipelago, bordering Mie Prefecture to the southeast.

Although the distance was very close, the Hakusan High School Baseball Club and his team chose to take the train and transfer from the JR Tokai Line to the JR West Line.

After the group arrived in Shiga Prefecture, they first settled down at a hotel.

The next day, Baishan and others started the practice match trip.

The first scene.

Baishan High School 5:0 Jiaxi High School.

The second game.

Hakusan High School 3:1 Yawata Sho High School.

The third game.

Hakusan High School 0:1 Hikone East High School.

In the game against Hikone East High School, although the line tried hard to score, they could not break through the opponent's defense.

Tetsu Nishino and the others still lost.

However, Hakusan High School gained a lot from that game, because Hikone Higashi High School was the winner of Shiga Prefecture last year and had the experience of Koshien, so it was relatively strong.

Only 1 point was allowed in nine innings, which shows that the defensive level of White Mountain High School has indeed improved a lot in several months of hard training.

Moreover, Higashikata adopts the tactic of three pitchers following each other to prevent the pitcher from being completely beaten.

Three pitchers continued to pitch, and the requirements for Tetsu Nishino were also high.

He must adjust the ball distribution according to the pitcher's completely different pitching method, and must always pay attention to the opponent's batter and his own pitcher. If the pitcher is in danger of being attacked, he immediately reports it to Supervisor Takuji Higashi.

It's both a challenge and fun.

Nishino Tetsu enjoys catching different balls and dealing with different types of hitters in every game.

Squatting behind the plate and picking off batters one after another, keeping the team's scoreless runs under control, is simply not a great feeling.

Gaining the initial pleasure from competitive games, Tetsu Nishino's most important reason for playing baseball now is "fun".

After three practice games, there was only one game left at Baishan High School, and the camp trip was over.

After all, the summer conference is about to begin, so we need to prepare well.

The opponent for the last game was another famous baseball school in Shiga Prefecture. He had played in Koshien 12 times in the summer, and Higashi Takuji finally got an appointment.

Still in Hikone City, Shiga Prefecture.

After arriving at the destination, Tetsu Nishino looked up and saw the huge school nameplate on the red teaching building.

"Omi High School"

Entering the baseball training ground, there was a Japanese-style castle standing in the distance. Tetsu Nishino looked at it curiously, but he didn't expect that there was something visible next to the stadium.

"That's Hikone Castle."

A short boy wearing an Omi High School uniform passed by and said something to Tetsu Nishino.

Nishino Tetsu looked over and found that the boy was very handsome. He couldn't tell what grade he was in. He hesitated for a moment because he didn't know what to call him.

The boy seemed very happy and said to him with a smile: "Ah, my name is Lin Youshu, second grade."

It turned out to be a senior. Tetsu Nishino thought he was in the same first year as him.

"Hello, Senior Lin, my name is Tetsu Nishino, first grade."

Lin Youshu was a little surprised when he heard this. Usually high school expeditions bring players who can make the roster. He didn't expect that the very calm-looking young man in front of him was a first-year player.

And it's not long before the Summer Conference. Basically, today's practice match is the last opportunity to train before the Summer Conference.

"What position do you play?" Lin Youshu asked.

"catcher."

"Hey, it turns out that the first-year catcher on the game roster is you."

Lin Youshu was surprised. He found the other party's catcher just by talking to someone. He must be too strong.

Just when Lin Youshu wanted to recommend some more places of interest in Omi County, his teammates called him to warm up.

So Tetsuya Nishino went to prepare for the warm-up. After playing the game in the morning, they went back to Mie after dinner. Time was still very tight.

While warming up, Tetsu Nishino thought about the information he got yesterday. He remembered that Lin Yushu was a pitcher and wondered if he could hit Lin Yushu's ball.

The premise is that Lin Yushu can play, because Omi High School has too many pitchers.

As a famous private baseball school, Omi High School has 103 members in its baseball club, and only four or five available pitchers. If Omi High School adopts follow-up pitching tactics, they will be in trouble.

............

After the two teams finished warming up, the practice match officially began.

The first one to attack was Omi High School.

The catcher at Hakusan High School is Tetsu Nishino, and the starting pitcher who partners with him is Sakuya Yamamoto.

Omi was the first to step into the strike zone as a slugger.

At first, Tetsu Nishino used a ball from the outside corner, and several of Sakuya Yamamoto's balls hit the line.

After 2 bad balls and 2 good balls.

Omi's bat hit a curve ball in the inside corner for a single.

No one is out and there is someone on first base.

then.

Omi pragmatically allowed a sacrifice bunt at second base to advance the bases, resulting in a situation where one was out and second base was occupied.

Months of hard training at Hakusan High School were not in vain. Tetsu Nishino only needed two balls to allow Omi's three-bat swing to hit an infield ball, and relied on infield fielding to get the out.

Two out.

There's someone on second base.

The next four-bat third baseman to step into the batter's box is Keigo Kitamura.

After Keigo Kitamura came on the field, Tetsu Nishino was very careful with his matchmaking.

Just seeing the strong body and the muscles that stretched out the jersey, Tetsu Nishino knew that he was an absolute strong player.

Nishino Tetsu also learned from the information that Keigo Kitamura had been the four-base baseball player at Omi High School since the first grade and had scored more than 40 home runs in official games.

There is someone on second base, and it's time for a long hit with a strong bat.

Tetsu Nishino can never be too cautious.

One tactic is to intentionally walk four batters and drive four bases to avoid a head-on confrontation.

But unlike other catchers who were paired with pitchers who were unwilling to pitch long balls, Tetsu Nishino had never been paired with a deliberate four-ball.

After so many games, Tetsu Nishino has intentionally walked 0 batters.

Head-to-head confrontation!

On the pitcher's mound, Yamamoto Sakuya was smiling bitterly in his heart, worrying about how his junior catcher was getting stronger and stronger.

However, the catcher completely trusts his pitching, and he must also trust the catcher's distribution.

How can we deal with the attackers if we don't work together to capture them?

Yamamoto Sakuya raised his right hand and hid it in his glove, constantly changing his grip, glancing at the runner on second base, and pretending to contain it.

Then Sakuya Yamamoto suddenly threw the ball.

After an obvious pause, Kitamura Keigo stood and watched the ball enter the bases, and heard the referee behind him make a strike call.

Nice straight shot from the outside corner!

1 good shot.

After passing the ball to Yamamoto Sakuya, Tetsu Nishino clenched his fist and hit the inside of the catcher's glove hard. The feeling of the baseball completely hitting the glove was so comfortable.

Take advantage of the situation and pursue it.

Second ball.

Keigo Kitamura hit a high straight ball out of bounds.

2 good shots!

The number of balls was not favorable for the batter. Kitamura Keigo touched his bat and thought about the countermeasures. He could not be careless with every next ball.

Kitamura Keigo, who was highly focused, knocked two change-up balls out of bounds in succession, and also allowed Yamamoto Sakuya to throw a bad ball.

The number of balls becomes 1 bad ball and 2 good balls.

Next ball.
Chapter completed!