Scoring like crazy in the ball-toss event with 玉入れ

Manga panel from それでも歩は寄せてくる showing example of Scoring like crazy in the ball-toss event with 玉入れ.
それでも歩は寄せてくる » Volume 2 » Page 40

A couple of Urushi’s classmates noticed Tanaka’s athletic performance, starting with his pulling ahead and taking first place in the sports day relay race.

生徒(せいと):
「さっきの(たま)()もめちゃ()れてたぞ」
“He was scoring like crazy in the ball-toss game earlier, too.”

Key Points

1玉入(たまい)れ is the sports-day ball-toss event
  • The name combines (たま) (ball), with the stem of ()れる (put in). Teams throw small balls into a raised basket.
2()れ appears twice, but it does two different jobs
  • The () inside 玉入(たまい) forms part of the event’s name. The later ()れてた is the verb that describes Tanaka’s performance.
  • The scene supplies the omitted object. A fuller version would include (たま)をめちゃ()れてた, “he was putting in a ton of balls”.
3めちゃ()れてた means he kept scoring like crazy
  • めちゃ is a casual intensifier. With this action, it conveys a large number of successful throws.
  • ()れてた contracts ()れていた. Past 〜ていた presents the repeated scoring as an activity underway during the event.
4さっきの玉入(たまい)れも adds another athletic feat
  • さっきの means “the one from a little while ago”, so it locates the ball-toss event earlier that day.
  • means “too”. The classmates add Tanaka’s ball-toss performance to the relay result they were already discussing.
5ぞ gives the report a rough, excited punch
  • Sentence-final is common in rough, masculine dialogue. Here it makes the classmate’s report sound excited and assertive, not threatening.

Vocabulary

(Ball toss)

玉入(たまい)れ means a team contest in which players throw small cloth balls into a basket on a tall pole.

See Also

それでも歩は寄せてくる © its respective creators. It is used here for educational commentary.