The Old Baseball Player System

WOOSH

DOONG

POFT

The moment Shun saw the sixth batter hit the ball hard onto the ground towards right field, he began making his way back to the dugout without even glancing at the ball's direction.

Meanwhile, the young samurai, Ren, dove towards the ball that had just bounced forcefully off the ground.

PAH

Right after catching it, he stood up while turning and quickly threw the ball towards first base.

PAH

"Out! 3 outs, changeover!" - The umpire announced as Ren's throw beat the sixth batter, ending the inning.

"Nice play, Ren!" - Kenta said excitedly after witnessing yet another great play by his samurai friend.

"Nice play, Ren Senpai!" - Jiro shouted from center field as he began making his way back to the dugout.

"Yeeeahh!"

"Nice play, Senpai!"

The other Shoto players, both on the field and in the dugout, also shouted enthusiastically, but Ren only responded with a smile. The young samurai looked at Shun's back, who was already halfway to the dugout walking calmly, and ran towards him.

"Nice plays!" - Shun noticed the young samurai approaching and said with a smile.

"Hehe, that was nothing! There's plenty more where that came from!" - Ren replied enthusiastically with a confident and proud grin, he couldn't deny that he loved the feeling of being praised by the entire team. But at that moment, helping Shun meant so much more to the young samurai.

---

"Shun started walking back to the dugout without even looking back at the ball… That was a very difficult play, how much trust does Shun have in the guys behind him?" - Akira murmured, a bit surprised. As an infielder, he knew that the play Ren just made was not easy at all, but Shun seemed certain that the boy with the samurai bun would secure the out.

"Well, there's no denying that this second baseman and shortstop are really good at defense." - Toji said while looking at the field. He was also surprised to see the trust Shun placed in his team, as it was certainly not a common trait for a pitcher.

"His pitches are slowing down..." - Satoshi murmured, drawing everyone's attention to the stadium's speed radar. The screen showed 131 km/h, a noticeable drop from the 135 km/h that Shun had been throwing at the start of the game.

---

Shun entered the dugout and sat on the bench, grabbing a water bottle and starting to drink. He probably wasn't going to bat in this inning, so it was a good opportunity for him to recover some energy.

"Are you okay, Senpai?" - Daigo approached Shun and asked, keeping his voice low as he didn't want to draw the attention of his teammates, but his concerned look expressed his feelings clearly.

"Hm, don't worry, Daigo. When I feel like I can't hold Kasuga's batters anymore, I'll be the one to tell Coach to sub me out." - Shun replied calmly, understanding Daigo's concerns very well. At the moment, though he was tired, he still felt capable of pitching.

"Alright..." - Daigo nodded, though seeing Shun sweaty and breathing heavily still left some doubt in his mind. However, he trusted Shun, and if Shun said he was okay to pitch, Daigo would do his best to catch his pitches.

After all, Shun understood the importance of this game very well, so no one on the team needed to say anything to him. If Shun had any doubts about his ability to handle Kasuga's lineup, he would be the first to tell Coach Yamada and ask to be subbed out.

---

Kasuga's players returned to the field for the start of the sixth inning. After being put out due to Ren's good play, Imai was determined to close out this inning quickly without giving Shoto's batters any chances.

However, on Shoto Junior High's side, the third batter, Jiro, was also determined as he stepped into the batter's box, focused and staring down Imai on the mound. With the noise of Kasuga's fans cheering their ace on, Jiro could feel the almost palpable pressure filling the stadium, but he didn't back down.

On the first pitch of the inning, Imai sent a cutter that came into the inside corner and low in the strike zone. Jiro, thinking the pitch was outside the zone, held back his swing but was surprised by the pitch's movement that ended right at the edge of the zone. The umpire announced the first strike as Kasuga's crowd roared.

The second pitch of the battle was a four-seam fastball on the outer high corner of the strike zone. Seeing that the pitch was in the strike zone, Jiro decided to swing his bat, but although he made contact, it was only enough to send the ball foul, taking the count to two strikes and no balls.

Finally, Imai ended the duel with a high curveball dropping into the zone. Jiro swung his bat but failed to make contact with the ball, being forced to return to the dugout after striking out on just three pitches.

With one out and no runners on base, Shoto's captain, Kenta, stepped into the batter's box for the third time in the game. Unfortunately, although the boy was determined to do some damage with his bat, he ended up being out after just one pitch.

Being a lefty, Kenta had a natural advantage against the right-handed Imai. However, one of Kasuga's ace's pitches worked differently, and it was precisely that pitch that got Kenta out. Imai threw a high cutter on the inside part of the strike zone, breaking towards the batter's hands, forcing Kenta into a bad contact. Kenta swung the bat intending to send the ball far but ended up being out with a fly ball to center field.

Finally, with two outs, Shoto Junior High's fifth batter, Daigo, stepped into the batter's box. Despite lasting longer than his teammates, after 7 pitches, Daigo ended up being struck out by Imai's curveball.

"Yeeeahhh!" - Imai roared from the mound after striking out Shoto's cleanup batters in order. This fired up both the dugout and Kasuga's fans.

"Ka- Su- Ga! Ka- Su- Ga! Ka- Su- Ga!"

"Ka- Su- Ga! Ka- Su- Ga! Ka- Su- Ga!"

Even though the game remained 0-0, Kasuga's crowd shouted, their confidence growing stronger with their ace Imai on the mound.