On the training ground, the legendary coach of Teikyo Junior & Senior High School, Maeda Sanosuke, stood with his hands behind his back, his eyes constantly scanning over the team mbers practicing on the field—since graduating in 1972 and becoming the coach of Teikyo’s baseball team, Maeda Sanosuke had transford a little-known ordinary team into a top powerhouse that won the national championship three tis. It’s nothing short of impressive.
Since the drawing session ended yesterday, Maeda Sanosuke could clearly feel the players’ distraction during today’s training—there are only a few days left before the Koshien tournant starts, and things can’t go on like this.
Of course, he knew why the players were troubled: Teikyo Junior & Senior High School had faced off against Waseda Jitsugyo multiple tis this year, and in any ga where Lin Guanglai was the starting pitcher, they hadn’t won even once;
It’s worth noting that they also had an exchange ga with Osaka Tsubaki, and faced Fujinami Jintaro who was as tall and technically similar to Lin Guanglai, yet they managed to break through his supposedly invincible batting line; however, when facing Lin Guanglai, even as the players adapted more and scored significantly more with each encounter, they were repeatedly suppressed by Lin Guanglai at crucial monts.
It’s not just the players, even Maeda Sanosuke himself was pondering how to target Lin Guanglai and win the ga:
As a two-ti Sumr League champion coach, Maeda Sanosuke had his own baseball philosophy: he upheld that "offense is the best defense," believing that Koshien ultimately relies on batting performance; moreover, Teikyo’s pitching roster isn’t solid, engaging in a pitcher battle with Waseda Jitsugyo would be attacking their strength with their weakness, a surefire path to defeat.
So ultimately, the focus must be on enhancing batting performance—attack, attack, and keep attacking, only by capitalizing on what Teikyo is best at can they have a chance at victory.
Clapping his hands, Maeda Sanosuke blew the whistle for assembly, prompting the training Teikyo players to stop what they were doing and quickly line up.
"We’ve faced off against Waseda Jitsugyo more than once, and Lin Guanglai’s prowess, you guys likely feel it more than this old man here."
"Now, I’m announcing sothing: from now until our ga with Waseda Jitsugyo, defensive practice is limited to half an hour each day—the rest of the ti, everyone will focus entirely on batting!"
While saying this, Maeda Sanosuke held a ball and walked onto the pitcher’s mound on the training field; he instructed Matsuboto Gou, the team’s main captain and fourth batter, to stand in the batter’s box at ho plate, then said:
"Everyone has faced Lin Guanglai; we have to admit, he is indeed a genius, perhaps one that cos along once in many years."
"Balls exceeding 150 kiloters per hour with strong tailwind effects make it challenging just to hit the ball, not to ntion that even if you hit it, it’s easy to misjudge its direction, leading to being tagged out or caught by the opponent’s defense."
"So, I thought of a training thod..."
Maeda Sanosuke took several large steps towards ho plate from the pitcher’s mound, stopped about 10 ters away, and stamped his foot forcefully on the ground several tis to make a marker in the training field’s dirt:
"From today onward, this is how we will practice pitching and batting!"
"The distance from ho plate to the pitcher’s mound is 18.44 ters, but now we’ll shorten it to 10 ters—no matter how fast Lin Guanglai’s pitch, no matter how strong, it can’t surpass the physical limitation of nearly 9 ters."
"I know this exercise is difficult—but if we want to defeat the ’monster,’ we have to do what others cannot; if you don’t want to just make an appearance at Koshien and then head back, then train hard!"
"Did you hear ??!!"
"Yes, Coach!!!!!!"
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"In the first-round matchup against Teikyo, I hope you can forget all previous encounters and treat them as a brand-new opponent—otherwise, even though we’re favored, we’ll et a disastrous end!"
In the eting room, Izumi Minoru stood at the front of the line, looking directly at his players, reminding them seriously of the points to note.
"These next few days, we need to spend more ti on batting practice—if you think Nihon University’s trio of key batters is impressive, let tell you, Teikyo Junior & Senior High School’s offense might be even more fierce and swift! They’re genuinely a team that integrates offense into the core of their being!"
"So, defeating the opponent is not sothing Lin Guanglai can achieve alone! I hope you all understand that to win the Sumr League and achieve repeat victories at the Senbatsu High School Baseball Tournant, we must have the resolve to defeat our opponents in their area of expertise!"
After finishing his long speech in one go, Izumi Minoru took a sip of water from the teacup in front of him and then announced:
"Now, we’ll start the pre-ga analysis."
"As I ntioned earlier, Teikyo Junior & Senior High School is a team that highly esteems offensive baseball, their overall offensive capability is incredible: in the 8 gas of the East Tokyo tournant, they scored a total of 80 points, which ans they averaged 10 points per ga—I don’t need to say more about what that implies—so I hope everyone limits mistakes in defense, it’s not like we can’t concede any points, but we can’t lose too many due to our own errors."
"Pay special attention to their fourth batter and captain Matsuboto Gou, with a tournant batting average of .593 and 3 ho runs; since entering the third year, he has hit 22 ho runs this season so far."
"They excel at chasing outside pitches and fastballs, so when facing him, Lin Guanglai and Yasuyuki, you two can focus on using inside breaking balls for mixing it up; if his form happens to be exceptionally good and the situation is tense, don’t be afraid to intentionally walk him."
This was said directly to Lin Guanglai sitting there, who nodded to indicate his understanding; however, in his heart, he did not believe he would need to employ an intentional walk tactic against Matsuboto Gou—this wasn’t arrogance, just confidence in his own ability.
"Of course, the focus of our match against Teikyo Junior & Senior High School will still be on the batting clash: their third-year Ito Takuro could throw 148 km/h fastballs in his first year, faster than Lin Guanglai at that ti; however, over the past two years, there hasn’t been much improvent in his pitching speed."
"But note Ito Takuro’s slider—it’s a fast slider with a speed consistently over 130 km/h; rember to focus when in the batter’s box and don’t get deceived."
"Let reiterate, this ga will definitely not be a boring pitcher duel; Teikyo Junior & Senior High School will absolutely put pressure on our defense from the first inning—no matter how resilient a spring is, if it constantly bears weight, it will eventually lose its elasticity."
"So my request to you is simple, put the ball out there, and from the first minute of the ga, show our aggression—when it cos to batting, Waseda Jitsugyo is afraid of no one!"
"There’s nothing more to say, I firmly believe as long as you perform normally, it will definitely be Waseda Industries advancing to the second round!"
"Dismissed!"
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