Quietly forming a draft in his mind, Maeda Masaji ultimately chose to subtly remind the audience, starting to praise Lin Guanglai’s performance:
"Well —— Player Lin is truly amazing, whether as a batter or a pitcher, I’ve never seen a high school player who possesses such dominating capabilities in both positions, it’s truly splendid!"
"Moreover, for so reason, I always feel that Player Lin’s condition is particularly exceptional today, especially in terms of pitching, this should be his best performance in this tournant, don’t you think so, Tanaka-san?"
After saying this lengthy passage, Maeda Masaji frantically gave eye signals to his partner beside him, Tanaka Shuji nodded in acknowledgnt and imdiately echoed:
"Indeed, Maeda-san! Player Lin’s pitching condition today is really outstanding, not only has he refreshed his personal fastest pitch speed to 154 km/h, but what impresses the most is his dominance over the batters today..."
At this point in the comntary, even the most insensible viewers had already reacted, hastily recalling the innings when Koushing Academy was on the offensive.
The few spectators gathered around the television looked at each other, their faces showing bewildered expressions:
The ga has been two-thirds completed, has there been any remarkable offense from Koushing Academy until now — why do they not even recall them getting on first base? Wait a minute! Six innings have been played, and they haven’t even reached first base once, doesn’t that an...
Whoosh ——!!!
Now, the audience finally realized!!!
Looking at the earnest expressions of every Waseda Jitsugyo player on the field, the viewers in front of their TVs finally understood why, despite the team’s big lead, these players remained ntally taut and did not relax ——
They want to create a perfect ga of 27 up and 27 down for Lin Guanglai, and ensure they themselves are forever recorded in history!!!
It’s insane, just insane —— the frenzy isn’t limited to just the players on the field; even more so are the viewers in front of the television.
Taking advantage of the players from both sides exchanging the field, countless Takayama fans who were watching the final picked up their phones to call friends and invite those who, for various reasons, weren’t watching the match to join them and jointly witness the potentially historic feat about to unfold.
Since the 2011 93rd Championship Tournant, the Senbatsu tournant has been held 83 tis, and the Sumr League 93 tis, in tens of thousands of matches over nearly a hundred years, there have only been two clearly historically recorded perfect gas:
In Showa 53 (1978), at the 50th Senbatsu Koshien Tournant, Matsumoto Minoru, representing Gunma’s Maebashi High School, used curveballs to keep angles low and induced the opponent to hit many ground balls, thus completing this epic feat with only 78 pitches: 17 infield ground balls, 2 infield pop flies, 3 outfield fly balls, and 5 strikeouts —— the fulfillnt of the perfect ga made Matsumoto Minoru, previously unknown before the tournant, a famous figure throughout Japan that year;
In Heisei 6 (1994), similarly in a first-round Senbatsu match, Nakano Masahiro, representing Shimane’s Gotsu High School, beca the second person in history —— like Matsumoto, he adopted a strategy of inducing hits, and threw a perfect ga with 99 pitches, with outs comprising: 17 infield ground balls, 1 infield fly, 3 outfield flies, 6 strikeouts, helping the school win its first match in Senbatsu.
This is all there is so far —— it’s no wonder the audience and comntators are so thrilled, because this matter indeed sounds a bit too advanced.
After all, unlike those previous record holders, Lin Guanglai is currently engaged in not just so first-round Senbatsu match —— this is the stage of the Sumr Koshien, where the strongest teams from all over Japan gather;
Their opponents are not to be underestimated either, as they have defeated champion teams from other 47 prefectures in Japan, representing the strongest power this sumr in Koushing Academy —— from any perspective, the idea of a perfect ga seems like a fantasy.
In the long history of Sumr League, even putting aside perfect gas, there have been only 24 no-hitter gas to date —— and since 93, only 2 pitchers have achieved a no-hitter in the Sumr Koshien finals:
In Showa 14 (1939), Haikusa Middle School’s left-hander Shima Seiichi, called a "demon with a godly fast pitch," pitched five complete shutout gas in a single tournant, including consecutive no-hitter gas in the semifinals and finals —— he is also thought to be the prototype for the main character Hoshi Hyuuma in the manga "Star of the Giants";
The other is the well-known, first "Heisei Monster" in 1998, Matsuzaka Daisuke who led Yokohama High School to a triple crown achievent and a 41-ga official match winning streak record.
Also worth ntioning is Shin Yabu from Saga Comrcial High School in Showa 57 (1982) —— he was the player who ca closest to a perfect ga in the history of Sumr League, achieving a stunning 26 up and 26 down feat before facing the last batter in the bottom of the ninth inning, missing the perfect ga by the final out.
Unfortunately, in the ensuing at-bat, Shin Yabu’s control error led to a wild pitch, ultimately missing the opportunity by just one step.
In that ga, his first-round opponent was also from the Tohoku Region’s representative team from Aomori Prefecture —— and today, 29 years after Shin Yabu’s match, against a team from Aomori Prefecture again, Lin Guanglai will attempt the first perfect ga in Sumr League history, isn’t this a destined cycle as well?
On the pitcher’s mound, Lin Guanglai is doing his final warm-up before the half-inning begins.
Because there wasn’t a deliberate reminder from the comntators, many on-site spectators at Koshien Stadium hadn’t noticed this, so after the score gap widened, quite a few lost interest.
But this scene didn’t last long, as among nearly 50,000 people, there would always be a few sharp-minded individuals, and once one person realized what could happen, information spread like a virus in an instant.
Initially, the sound was just mild whispers from neighboring seats, but as more people realized, the sound grew louder and louder —— and soon, it could no longer be contained, once again heating up the atmosphere at Koshien.
First unable to sit tight were the journalists in the interview seats, once aware of the potentially happening event, their caras started flashing incessantly: Taking shots here and there, capturing the spectators, the players’ area —— in short, everything about this ga had to be docunted thoroughly!
Then it was the Waseda Jitsugyo supporters on the third base stands who couldn’t sit still —— the scale of the cheering squad beca more intense and larger, even though they’d been under the blazing sun for most of the day, the brass bands and drums sounded even louder at this mont than they did at the start!
Finally, except for the spectators supporting Koushing Academy at first base, people rose from all around the stands, bursting into big cheers —— it was truly a huge gain to be on site for this match!
These spectators thought they’d co to watch just an ordinary Sumr League final, but it wasn’t until now that they knew ——
They were fortunate enough to witness the birth of a legend!
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