When Lin Guanglai hit the ball, the entire Koshien erupted like boiling water—the sharp sound of the baseball colliding with the bat resonated throughout the stadium.
Sitting in the outfield stands, although he couldn’t clearly see Elder Lin’s batting motion, Seiomi Koutaro, who himself was a powerful hitter, knew all too well: just watching the trajectory of the baseball flying up, he understood the outco of this at-bat.
This hit had sealed the deal!
After reaching its highest point, the baseball, gradually losing its upward montum, began to descend toward the location of the outfield stands, further igniting the entire outfield of Koshien.
Despite the fact that tickets for the outfield seats don’t offer a clear view of the ga, a large number of people flock to buy them, mainly because, apart from being cheaper than other seats, they have a significant advantage at tis like this—whenever a player hits a ho run, they have a chance to catch the ball themselves.
Of course, catching a baseball plumting at high speed requires a certain level of skill and bears a certain degree of risk. Getting hit by a hard baseball is not pleasant, and there have been accidents where fly balls caused severe injuries to spectators.
Though usually a third baseman on the team, Seiomi Koutaro had spent so ti playing in the outfield. As soon as the baseball started descending, he realized there was a good chance that the ball would land near him.
Quickly pulling out his baseball glove and putting it on, Seiomi Koutaro rapidly judged the fall point of the baseball. Amidst the gaze of many spectators eyeing the ball, he jumped toward the ball’s trajectory and snatched the ho run ball into his glove, just before countless other hands reached for it.
"Yes! Got it!" Feeling the solid sensation within his glove, Seiomi Koutaro’s heart was filled with joy—this was a grand slam baseball struck by a generational monster player in the Koshien final!
The inherent significance of the baseball was already worth a fortune, and should Lin Guanglai pursue a career in professional baseball and beco a superstar in Japan, or even globally, this baseball’s value could potentially increase a hundred or thousandfold.
Feeling the envious eyes from his nearby teammates and strangers, Seiomi Koutaro tightened his grip on the glove, as if protecting a rare treasure.
While the surrounding spectators felt a sense of regret, upon seeing it was a re child who caught the invaluable baseball, they refrained from contending with him. Instead, they offered Seiomi Koutaro a polite smile and shifted their focus back to the ga.
"Koutaro, you must take good care of this ball..." From a seat not far from Seiomi Koutaro, the coach, who had brought them to watch the ga at Koshien, reminded him: "Otherwise, when Takano Ren cos to collect the ball after the ga, if they find you lost it, they might go crazy..."
Hearing this, Seiomi Koutaro wilted: "What??? The baseball I caught has to be collected by Takano Ren? That’s so unfair!"
Seeing his disciple’s bewildered expression, the coach couldn’t help but chuckle: "Of course, this is, after all, the grand slam baseball from the Koshien finals. Even if Takano Ren doesn’t want it, do you think player Lin himself would forgo this ball?"
"Generally, when a ball has such huge significance, as the ga nears its end, staff will co to find you—I guess this ball will either be preserved by player Lin himself or placed in a showcase at the Koshien Museum. Anyway, don’t think you can keep it to yourself..."
The disappointnt was visibly apparent on Seiomi Koutaro’s face, and he couldn’t help but sigh: "Ah... So that’s how it is..."
Seeing his downcast look, the coach thought for a mont and offered consolation: "Well... As usual, even if Takano Ren retrieves the baseball, they would offer you so compensation—for instance, you might et player Lin..."
Upon hearing this, Seiomi Koutaro, who was previously crestfallen a second ago, suddenly perked up, hastily asking his coach: "Really, really! Coach, is this true? Will I really have a chance to et player Lin himself?"
The coach nodded and replied to him: "Yes, normally it would be like this—though the premise is that Waseda Jitsugyo wins this victory, because if they lose the ga, even hitting a grand slam wouldn’t make the player very happy..."
Upon hearing this, Seiomi Koutaro pouted, obviously disdainful of his coach’s words: "Coach, your joke isn’t funny at all—it’s not even five innings yet, and Waseda Jitsugyo is already leading by 7 runs; is there really any suspense in this ga?"
"What you say is true, but baseball is inherently a sport full of miracles, Koutaro—rember what I told you all along? Never..."
"Never underestimate your opponent’s will to win—you’ve said this so many tis, coach, we are tired of hearing it."
"Hey, you brat, how dare you talk to like that, watch teach you a lesson!" With that, a pair of large hands directly pressed down on Seiomi Koutaro’s head, holding him in place.
Seiomi Koutaro laughed while already beginning to envision eting player Lin after the ga—as he thought about it, he wanted to laugh even louder...
The power of this grand slam was so imnse that it not only plunged the entire Koshien into a jubilant celebration, but also left the whole Mitsuhoshi Academy, and supporters from their school and the entire Tohoku Region, heartbroken.
The broadcast cara focused on the Alps Stand where Mitsuhoshi Academy’s cheering squad was located. At the center of the shot was their baseball club’s manager, the third-year Douze Yuuki—a sweet-looking girl reminiscent of the forr AKB48 mber, Maeda Atsuko. At this mont, she held a gaphone in her hand, standing at the forefront of the stands, at a loss.
The smile that had graced her face at the start of the ga had vanished, replaced by tears welling up in her eyes, on the verge of overflowing.
In the spring, due to the Great East Japan Earthquake, Mitsuhoshi Academy missed out on the Senbatsu High School Baseball Tournant after initially being selected, and couldn’t go to the stage of dreams; every ga in the sumr, everyone on the team played as if it was the last ga with various regrets from the past three years and the hopes of everyone, putting in 120% effort to get here—but now, the ever-widening score gap seed to tell everyone in Mitsuhoshi Academy to give up because their efforts were in vain.
Thinking of everything from the past, Douze Yuuki could no longer hold back her feelings, and her tears poured out like a flood, crying in front of tens of thousands of viewers watching the television.
Beside her, the faces of other baseball club mbers who did not make the selection were also in ruins.
Watching the boys and girls crying on cara, countless viewers in front of the television felt sympathy and couldn’t help but sigh—just as the cara was shifting to Lin Guanglai, who was passionately celebrating with his teammates.
"What a shaful act... Mr. Lin..."
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