After alighting from the Kintetsu Line at JR Shinono Station and walking for about 15 minutes, iji Jingu Baseball Stadium cos into view.
This stadium, built in 1926, is the oldest baseball stadium in all of Tokyo and a cradle of dreams for many Tokyo baseball enthusiasts—not only is it the ho ground of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, it also hosts the Tokyo Six University Baseball League; in addition, events like the Shengong Tournant and the latter half of the Koshien Selection Battle are also held here.
The morning match has concluded, and Japan University Tsurugaoka High School triumphed over Sakura irin High School with a score of 4-1 in a strong confrontation, becoming the first team in this West Tokyo Conference to advance to the semifinals—their semifinal opponent will be decided between Nihon University and Horikoshi High School.
The crowd outside Shengong Stadium gradually increases, with supporters of Waseda Industries and East Asia Academy arriving in droves—most of them are school students taking advantage of the sumr vacation to cheer for their teams; so are old mbers of the baseball team coming to witness the performance of their juniors; and there are also parents of students here to cheer and encourage their kids.
As the match ti approaches, the atmosphere within the stadium begins to heat up: the cheering squads of Waseda Industries and East Asia Academy seem to be in competition with each other, as the sound of musical instrunts oscillates continuously, from X-Japan’s "Red" to Lupin III, from Heroic Baseball to "We Will Rock You," both sides refusing to back down—before the ga even starts, the tone of intense competition has already been set.
While the atmosphere outside becos more lively, the players inside are seizing the ti to warm up on the field.
Even though he’s not starting today, Lin Guanglai is still seriously warming up—constantly preparing for the ga so that he won’t have to say "I’m not ready" when the opportunity arises.
By 11:20 AM, everyone needed for the match was ready, and the players of both teams lined up outside the field lines.
"Line up!"
At the referee’s command, the players standing outside the field lines took off their caps and bowed to their opponents in a mark of respect, then shouted energetically, charging towards the direction of the opposing team, stopping by the sidelines at ho plate.
"Nice to et you!"
"Nice to et you!"
In this match, Waseda Industries will bat first and East Asia Academy will field first—after the pre-ga greeting ceremony, Waseda’s players ran back to their dugout while the starting nine of East Asia Academy took their positions on the field, beginning their pitching/infield warm-ups.
During the warm-up of East Asia Academy’s fielding players, a gentle female voice echoed over the stadium’s PA system, introducing the starting roster to the audience present:
"The 92nd National High School Baseball Championship West Tokyo Tournant, the match between Waseda Industries and East Asia Academy, with East Asia Academy taking the field first."
"Now introducing the fielding players of East Asia Academy—pitcher, Mihori; catcher, Takasugi; first baseman..."
As the pre-ga warm-up of East Asia Academy’s pitcher-catcher duo concluded, the ga officially began.
Waseda Real’s leadoff batter, Chongxin Shen Zhong entered the batter’s box, assuming a hitting stance.
On the first pitch, the catcher behind ho plate, Takasugi Masahiro, signaled Mihori Yuusuke for a low outside fastball—aiming to quickly snatch a favorable count at the opening.
From the pitcher’s mound, Mihori Yuusuke understood the signal, nodded in agreent, and then delivered the pitch—accompanied by the whoosh of the wind, the baseball flew directly toward the low outside corner.
Faced with the ga’s first pitch, Chongxin Shen Zhong did not swing—intuitively wanting to further observe East Asia Academy’s pitching strategy—thus, he could only watch as the baseball crossed his strike zone, entering the catcher’s mitt behind ho plate.
No balls, one strike.
The second pitch.
Standing in the batter’s box, Chongxin attempted to use his peripheral vision to observe the positioning of the catcher’s mitt, trying to deduce the trajectory of Takasugi Masahiro’s pitch: at the high school level, most catchers prefer to place their mitt along the pitch’s path to prevent passed balls;
However, Takasugi Masahiro was different, he always positioned his catcher’s mitt at the center of the strike zone, making it difficult for the batter to judge—this fully demonstrated his confidence in his own reflexes as a catcher.
On the second pitch, Takasugi Masahiro again called for a low outside fastball—a strategy similar to the first pitch, still aiming to grab a good count.
Faced with this pitch, Chongxin Shen Zhong did not continue to observe. The sa pitch trajectory, the sa fastball, if not swinging now, when? He lifted his left foot, stepping forward, his bat swinging along with the twisting of his body—however, he still missed!
Unable to hit this pitch, Chongxin Shen Zhong could only shake his head in frustration; there’s no helping it, the low outside corner is inherently one of the hardest positions to hit in baseball, and sotis even knowing the pitch’s path doesn’t guarantee a successful hit.
No balls, two strikes.
The current situation on the field put imnse pressure on Chongxin Shen Zhong as the batter, whereas Takasugi Masahiro as the catcher felt much more at ease—for the third pitch, he planned to strike out Waseda’s leadoff batter decisively, aiming to give them a strong early warning!
Signaling to Mihori Yuusuke on the pitcher’s mound, Takasugi Masahiro called for a high inside fastball for the third pitch—a zone where most batters would generally swing and miss.
When the baseball was released from Mihori Yuusuke’s hand, in the batter’s box, Chongxin Shen Zhong indeed chose to swing—and as Takasugi Masahiro anticipated, the batter swung and missed, struck out.
"Strike, batter out!" declared the umpire. Through the synchronized teamwork of the pitcher and catcher, East Asia Academy managed to deal with the leading batter of this inning in just three pitches.
However, perhaps slightly overexcited after swiftly striking out the batter, Mihori Yuusuke’s control faltered slightly when facing the second batter, Matsunaga Kenta—one strike, four balls, Matsunaga Kenta tossed his bat aside and jogged to first base.
After walking the batter, Mihori Yuusuke appeared sowhat frustrated on the pitcher’s mound.
As a catcher, it’s imperative to constantly keep an eye on your own pitcher’s condition—seeing the emotional shift in his partner, Takasugi Masahiro decisively called for a pause, giving Mihori so ti to regroup;
While facing Waseda Industries’ third batter Kenshu Yasuda, he opted for a relatively simple pitch calling strategy, aiming to induce a fly ball to catch Kenshu Yasuda for an out.
The next player up was the cleanup batter, Onoda Shunsuke—in the match against Practical Academy, he had hit a ho run that turned the ga around—for such a power hitter, Takasugi Masahiro signaled for his outfield colleagues to back up slightly, guarding against potential extra-base hits.
Noticing Matsunaga Kenta’s position near first base, Takasugi Masahiro called for a curveball.
As Mihori Yuusuke lifted his supportive foot, a loud shout erupted from his own infielders:
"Sobody’s stealing!!!"
Confronted with the situation, Takasugi Masahiro displayed a smile as if to say "I knew it"—the baserunner was clearly too far from the bag to dive back safely, having chosen the curveball specifically to bait a steal attempt.
Upon receiving the ball from the pitcher, Takasugi Masahiro, already prepared, rose quickly and threw the ball to second base—Matsunaga Kenta, attempting a quick slide into second base, didn’t even get a chance to touch the bag before being tagged out by the converging East Asia Academy shortstop.
With this successful catch to thwart the steal, three batters were out, and the top of the first inning ca to an end.
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