The Old Baseball Player System

Imai returned to the mound at the top of the seventh inning, and the first batter that Kasuga's ace would face was the sixth batter of Shoto Junior High, the young pitcher, playing in right field today, Sora Okamoto.

The Kasuga crowd continued making loud noise, even though the game was tied. With their ace, Imai, on the mound, they didn't feel they were going to lose.

Sora stepped determinedly into the batter's box, but it was clear that the boy could feel the pressure of the moment. Sora then looked at the mound, and when he saw the aura around Kasuga's ace, Imai, he couldn't help but tremble slightly.

Along with the noise of the crowd and with reliable defenders behind him, Imai exuded absolute confidence as he faced Sora. Imai then looked at his catcher's glove and nodded, beginning his pitch.

Sora watched closely as Imai pitched, and as soon as the ball left the hand of Kasuga's ace, he noticed the insane speed of the ball coming towards him. Unable to identify the pitch properly, Sora felt the need to swing.

WOOSH

PAH

"Strike!" - The umpire announced as Sora swung his bat in the air, failing to make contact with Imai's high fastball.

---

Meanwhile, in the Shoto Junior High dugout...

"140 km/h..." - Daigo said in shock as he looked at the stadium's speed radar. That pitch by Kasuga hadn't just been his fastest of the game, but it was the fastest pitch he'd ever thrown in his life.

"Damn! It looks like he's getting better with each inning." - Jiro said, a bit intimidated. The speed of Imai's pitch was simply impressive, especially considering that his fastest pitches usually reached around 136 or 137 km/h.

"It looks like they're determined to make it to the Kanto tournament too..." - Kenta muttered thoughtfully as he watched Imai on the mound. He couldn't deny that he was impressed with Kasuga's ace's pitch, especially with Imai's ability to pitch beyond his maximum in an important game like this.

But at that moment, all Kenta could think about was how he would hit those pitches and score a run for his team. After all, it was the captain's job to lead his team to victory, and no matter how well Shun pitched, Shoto Junior High would only win this game if they could score a run against Imai.

"Yeah..." - The young samurai Ren agreed, nodding as he watched Imai intently. At that moment, Ren was thinking the same thing as Kenta, no matter what, he needed to score a run for his team!

'Heh, that's how it should be... If it were easy, it wouldn't be any fun, would it?' - Shun grinned as he looked at Imai on the mound and spoke in his mind.

[Hahaha, that's right, kid! I like that confidence!] - The old man laughed in satisfaction inside Shun's head.

"I won't lose!" - Shun muttered quietly. At that moment, no one in the dugout was paying attention to him, but if anyone had looked at Shun, they probably would have been surprised, as the boy was staring intensely at the field with powerful determination in his eyes.

---

Back on the field, the duel between Imai and Sora continued. Seeing the insane speed of Imai's fastball, Kasuga's catcher didn't need much thought to call for pitches. On the second pitch, Imai threw another high fastball.

WOOSH

PAH

"Strike!" - The umpire called a second strike as Sora again failed to make contact with the fastball. This time, Imai's pitch was clocked at "only" 139 km/h.

"Damn it!" - Sora gritted his teeth as he looked at Imai on the mound with a hint of fear in his eyes. Now that he was cornered in the count, he would have to try to hit any pitch in the zone. However, with the insane speed of Imai's previous four-seam fastballs, Sora knew he wasn't prepared to hit another type of pitch.

WOOSH

PAH

"Strikeout!"

Unfortunately for Sora, Imai didn't even need to use a different type of pitch to get him out. Sora failed to make contact with another high four-seam fastball in the zone.

"Fuck!" - Sora cursed in frustration as he returned to the dugout with his head down. With this out, Sora had struck out all three times he had been at bat in this game, and since they were already in the seventh inning, there was a chance Sora wouldn't get another at-bat in this game.

Not only that, but Sora was in right field, and thanks to Shun's great performance so far in the game, the boy hadn't been able to contribute much defensively either. Thinking about all of this, Sora clenched his fists in regret, if they lost this game, he wouldn't be able to stop blaming himself for not helping his team at all today.

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

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

The chants from Kasuga's crowd continued to dominate the stadium after the first out of the inning, and they didn't lower their volume for the rest of the inning.

After Sora, the seventh batter for Shoto, Tomo, stepped into the batter's box. And like Sora, Tomo couldn't do anything against Imai's insane four-seam fastball.

WOOSH

PAH

"Strikeout!" - After just three pitches, all fastballs close to 140 km/h, the umpire called Tomo out, marking the second out of the inning.

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

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

With two outs and nobody on base, the eighth batter for Shoto, Hisashi, stepped into the batter's box. Unfortunately for Hisashi, the pressure he was facing at that moment, with Kasuga's crowd chanting, was simply overwhelming.

WOOSH

PAH

"Strikeout! 3 outs, changeover!" - The umpire announced the end of the top of the seventh inning as Hisashi also struck out on just three high four-seam fastballs in the zone.

"Yeeeahhh!" - Imai roared after striking out the three Shoto batters in succession.

"Yeeaaahhhh!!" - Kasuga's players and fans also cheered, excited by their ace's incredible performance.

At that moment, even though the game was tied, Imai brought all the momentum of the game to Kasuga's side. And to help even more, the top of Kasuga's batting order was up next.