The Old Baseball Player System

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"Nice hit!" - Toji shouted from the stands as he watched Shun hit the ball parallel to the foul line on the left field.

"Tch! He's still only doing those annoying hits!" - Sugawara complained, clearly frustrated by Shun's consistency in hitting balls right along the foul line.

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"Wow! Great home run!" - Akira Suzuki exclaimed in awe as he saw the young samurai, Ren, smash a home run to right field.

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"Holy crap!" - This time, it was Toji who was amazed as Kenta followed Ren's home run with an even farther one toward center field.

And it didn't stop there. Daigo hit a double, and after giving up a walk to Jiro, Ryosuke, the first-year player, stepped into the batter's box.

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"What the hell?!" - Sugawara muttered, astonished. Although Suzuhara's pitcher was decent, with a fastball that was solid for middle school, Shoto's batters made it seem like they were in batting practice, effortlessly sending the ball flying.

Even the bottom of the lineup reached the bases with ease, and Shun drove them all home. The bottom of the first inning only ended after the entire lineup batted twice, resulting in an impressive 14 runs.

But the surprises weren't over yet. With the comfort of a 14-run lead, Jiro began throwing his knuckleballs with precision.

Since a knuckleball requires the pitcher to eliminate spin from the ball, any stress or pressure can ruin it. This was the perfect situation for Jiro to dominate Suzuhara's batters with his unpredictable knuckleballs.

"A knuckleball? How on earth did he learn that pitch?" - Satoshi asked, stunned, staring at Jiro in disbelief. He never imagined that the nerdy boy would master one of the rarest pitches in baseball within a year.

"Another rare-pitcher, huh?" - Kohei commented, recalling the screwball that Sora had unveiled during their exhibition match.

"Huh? Another one? What do you mean by that?" - Toji asked curiously. For a pitcher like Kohei to compare a pitch to that knuckleball, Toji couldn't even imagine what kind of pitch it might be.

"Hmph! He's talking about that screwball brat!" - Sugawara snorted, answering in Kohei's place. He, too, remembered Sora's screwball all too well.

"A screwball? Can someone in middle school really throw that?" - Hana asked, shocked. She had a deep interest in pitching mechanics, and thanks to her father, she knew quite a bit about the subject. That's why she understood how difficult it was to throw a screwball at such a young age.

"It's all because of that blue-eyed idiot!" - Sugawara grumbled in frustration.

"Huh? What does Shun have to do with other pitchers' skills?" - Toji asked, puzzled. He knew Shun well enough to understand that he wasn't the type to know much about different grips or pitching mechanics.

"Hmph!" - Sugawara just snorted, unwilling to answer Toji. His eyes were glued to Shun's every move, both on the field and in the dugout.

After losing to Shoto in the exhibition game, Sugawara had done some research on their coach. But his findings were disappointing, Coach Yamada was just a regular middle school coach without any significant achievements.

However, Sugawara vividly remembered how Shun had instructed Sora during that game. Shun seemed to be the mastermind behind the entire pitching staff. And now, after observing him in this match, seeing how he talked so much with Jiro and Daigo in the dugout, Sugawara was convinced, Shun had to be the reason behind the pitchers' remarkable improvement.

He still couldn't fathom how Shun had helped them become so good, but if anyone was responsible, it had to be him.

After all, Sugawara hadn't forgotten the impeccable way that blue-haired idiot pitched, it had to be Shun!

If Shun heard Sugawara's train of thought, he would've been impressed by the boy's intelligence. Shun never imagined that an outsider would think he was responsible for Shoto's pitchers getting better. In truth, it wasn't him, it was the old man. But not even the greatest genius would've guessed that.

The rest of the game was nothing short of a massacre. Even Shun lost track of how many times he had stepped into the batter's box, but he gave it his all every time. In Japan, it was a sign of respect to play with full effort, no matter the score, and that's exactly what Shoto's players did.

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By the end, no one managed to score against Jiro and his knuckleballs. Meanwhile, Shoto's lineup easily crushed Suzuhara's fastballs, scoring a total of 70 runs in just four innings, ending the game early with the mercy rule.

"Bow!" - The players bowed toward the opposing team. Shun glanced at the tearful Suzuhara players and sighed. Even though he preferred being on the winning side, he could never get used to seeing this scene.

He returned to the dugout and packed his things, preparing to stay late and watch his next opponent's game. He listened to Coach Yamada's post-game speech and realized this was the farthest they had made it in the Tokyo tournament. Last year, they lost at this stage.

Clenching his fists, Shun recalled the defeat from the previous year. Two figures, one with brown hair and the other with white, came to mind. He was determined to make it to the Kanto tournament and avenge last year's loss.

He then remembered his former captain, Kazuki Yamamoto, who quit baseball after they were eliminated in the second round of the Tokyo tournament.

'I wonder what he's doing now' - Shun thought, recalling the sight of his captain crying on his knees. Part of him still regretted not doing anything that day, blaming himself for Kazuki's decision to quit.

"Shun-senpai! Shall we go?" - Jiro, the young nerd who had just pitched five scoreless innings, called out.

"Oh! Let's go!" - Shun snapped out of his thoughts and replied.

With that, Shun, Jiro, Sora, Daigo, Kenta, Shimizu, and Ren began making their way toward the stands to watch their next opponent's game. Little did Shun know that he was about to encounter not just old friends, but also some old rivals.