The replacent for Fujinami Jintaro is the third-year Nakano Yuu — the players from Waseda Jitsugyo have also faced him. Although his performance was average in the practice match against Waseda Jitsugyo, in most other teams, he would still be considered a star player.
What no one expected was that this forced pitching change turned into a nightmare that the Osaka Tsubaki players would never forget:
The consecutive coback experience fueled the morale of Higashi Osaka Daikashiwara greatly. Their offensive wave after wave, even if they couldn’t hit the ball out, they would fight the pitcher relentlessly, trying to rip off a piece from him.
Under such fierce batting waves, Nakano Yuu crumbled.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, he gave away the most crucial one run of the ga, allowing Higashi Osaka Daikashiwara, who had been almost suffocated in the previous innings, to tie the score.
At this point, the players from Waseda Jitsugyo shook their heads — the opponents’ morale had peaked, and the successive cobacks had put enormous pressure on their own players.
It looks like Osaka Tsubaki will just be the backdrop for the opponents in this match...
Ninth inning, bottom, tied score, one out, bases loaded — Osaka Tsubaki almost seed sentenced to death, with many players’ faces showing confusion and sadness.
In the catcher’s area, Kawabata Akane asked Nakano Yuu for an outside pitch — as long as they could strike out this batter, there was still a chance with two outs and bases loaded.
When Nakano Yuu nodded on the pitcher’s mound and swung his arm to throw the ball, Lin Guanglai jumped up from the tatami and shouted loudly:
"No, Nakano, what are you doing!!!"
After saying this, he covered his eyes with his hands, shook his head, and sighed deeply.
His agitation startled everyone present, but all eyes were now focused on the TV screen:
The baseball flew through the air and then hit the batter from Higashi Osaka Daikashiwara.
A hit-by-pitch walk-off!!!
As this hit-by-pitch walk-off occurred, everyone at Maishima Stadium collapsed to the ground and cried as much as they could.
If soone had just turned on the TV without knowing the score, they wouldn’t even be able to tell which side was the winner and which side was the loser.
This match shook the entire high school baseball world and planted a deep bombshell in the hearts of Waseda Jitsugyo’s players:
The level of Osaka Tsubaki’s strength was sothing that those who had faced them knew very well — yet such an unquestionably strong team lost to an objectively much weaker opponent despite having a significant lead.
This match further made the players realize the cruelty of sumr, and they took their daily training more seriously — sothing that the team supervisor Izumi Minoru was quite satisfied with.
With Higashi Osaka Daikashiwara snatching the last Koshien ticket from the mighty Osaka Tsubaki, the 49 schools participating in the 93rd National High School Baseball Championship were also established.
Before the draw on August 3, the players from Waseda Jitsugyo still had one thing to do, which was to wait for the pitch practice at Koshien Stadium scheduled by Takano Ren.
According to Takano Ren’s regulations, each school participating in the Sumr League gets a 20 to 30-minute practice session at Koshien Stadium in the week before the Sumr League starts.
In fact, this session has no real significance — after all, the combined ti of less than 30 minutes makes it difficult to expect a group of high school players to quickly acclimate to the field;
Compared to formal training, this session is more symbolic, aiming to give players a chance to feel the atmosphere of the Holy Land Koshien in advance.
Although they had already competed here in spring, when the day for practice arrived, all Waseda Jitsugyo players except for a few who were already on the first team last sumr were quite excited.
Senbatsu is Senbatsu, Sumr League is Sumr League — the feeling of stepping on this land in sumr is incomparable to spring.
Just as Lin Guanglai and his teammates were chatting and laughing, waiting for the school ahead of them to finish their practice, soone suddenly leaped from behind and pounced on his back.
Lin Guanglai turned his head, and a familiar, sowhat mature face appeared in front of him:
"Kensuke bro, what a coincidence, hahahaha — "
The mont he saw this face, he couldn’t hold it together, not expecting to run into an old acquaintance here.
Since they parted in Kanagawa, they kept in touch, but never had the chance to et; eting at Koshien in sumr felt like a reunion at the summit.
After dismounting from Lin Guanglai’s back, Lin Guanglai chatted with Kondo Kensuke for a while until they were urged to enter the venue by Takano Ren’s staff on the Waseda Jitsugyo side.
Before leaving, Kondo Kensuke pounded Lin Guanglai’s chest, speaking fiercely with great confidence:
"Guanglai, you better hope you don’t bump into our Yokohama too early — otherwise your dream of consecutive spring and sumr victories will end before it even begins, haha."
In response to his friend’s words, Lin Guanglai retorted: "Kensuke bro, you better not repeat your one-and-done from spring — at least hold on for a few more rounds, okay."
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