"Towards right field! The baseball is flying fast—what about this ball?!"
"Ah ah ah ah ah—!!!"
"It’s out, it’s out!!! This ball flew right out of the stadium!!!"
"Lin Guanglai! His first at-bat of the whole ga! A solo ho run in the semifinals for the first point lead!"
As Lin Guanglai rounded the bases at a steady pace, touching ho plate to confirm his return, the scoreboard at Koshien’s outfield showed a change from the initial 0:0—on the right side of Waseda Real, in the top half of the inning, the digital screen displayed "1."
The players in the Waseda Real dugout extended their hands one by one, high-fiving Lin Guanglai in celebration—this ho run was of enormous significance to Waseda Real, equivalent to starting with a 1:0 advantage; with this one-point lead, the players could relax more and dare to take actions both offensively and defensively, instantly easing the trendous pressure of the semifinals.
The broadcast replayed the recent ho run in slow motion, and from the playback slowed several tis, it was clear that the breaking ball Fujinami Jintaro pitched at a speed of 137 km/h was slightly off, not completely pressing into Lin Guanglai’s inside corner—but it was exactly this one or two-ball discrepancy that Lin Guanglai seized and hit the first ho run.
It is noteworthy that Lin Guanglai was wielding a wooden bat, not a high-elasticity coefficient tal bat exclusive to Takayama—this ho run was hit using a wooden bat!
Since the introduction of the tal bat in the 56th Sumr League in 1974, Japanese high school baseball has entered an era of mass-produced ho runs, with long-distance hitters like Hara Tatsunori, Kiyohara Kazuhiko, and Matsui Hideki erging continuously; compared to wooden bats, tal bats are lighter and have a higher elasticity coefficient, making them easier for players to use, with neither the swing speed nor the distance the baseball flies being on the sa tier.
Hitting a ho run with a wooden bat ans not only did the opponent pitcher pitch a surprisingly sweet ball, but it also represents that Lin Guanglai’s understanding of hitting and control of the bat have reached a new level.
On the pitcher’s mound, Fujinami Jintaro wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve, a wry smile appearing—during his first match against Ohtani Shohei, he was also hit for a ho run after a 2-ball 2-strike count; indeed, facing hitters of such caliber, not a single mistake is permissible.
Although he felt sowhat uncomfortable, his mood was not significantly affected: up to this point in the tournant, Osaka Tsubaki was never short of coback experiences, and there is a full nine and a half innings ahead!
Quickly, Fujinami Jintaro responded with his pitching: consecutively facing Waseda Real’s second, third, and fourth batters, his signature cutter and forkball showcased their power—striking out twice, catching a right fielder’s high fly ball for an out, Osaka Tsubaki didn’t allow Waseda Real to further extend their lead, efficiently ending the top half of the inning.
When it ca to Osaka Tsubaki’s turn to bat, they too demonstrated absolute patience on offense:
Just like Waseda Real, who posed as challengers, Osaka Tsubaki’s batters approached Lin Guanglai, the number one in high school baseball, with the ntality of underdogs;
Even with unmatched overall strength, their players weren’t thinking of quickly leveling the score through individual heroics but patiently tangled with Lin Guanglai, adapting to his pitching while also draining his energy whenever possible.
Clearly, at this stage of the ga, the Osaka Tsubaki coaching team had already recognized the greatest weakness of this Waseda Real:
In both offense and defense, they relied too heavily on Lin Guanglai’s performance—without Lin Guanglai, Waseda Real would be like a paper tiger and likely wouldn’t even qualify for Koshien.
In the past three matches, as the team’s offensive and defensive core, Lin Guanglai had to pitch and hit, executing various base-running strategies after reaching base, which ans his consumption was far greater than that of the typical team’s ace;
Last year’s Waseda Real had a mature backup like Uchida Saint on the bench, and the strong batting lineup often only required Lin Guanglai to appear as a finishing hitter;
However, now Tanaka Justice’s talent, while comndable, grows too slowly and remains sowhat immature; the erratic lineup cannot provide him with stable support during offenses.
No matter how talented Lin Guanglai is, he is but a mortal with flesh and blood; as long as he’s human, he’s bound by the laws of physics—so Nishikawa Koji can remain composed because he always believes that as long as Osaka Tsubaki continues executing their strategy, even a robot will show cracks.
Aside from their own players, the person on the field who understood Osaka Tsubaki’s tactics the most was the individual involved at the mont:
Before the ga started, Lin Guanglai was still thinking about conserving pitches as much as possible in this ga, aiming for a complete ga victory; but this goal was shattered shortly after the ga began.
To properly "entertain" Lin Guanglai, aside from Tandate Ryoki, who was absent due to injury, Nishikawa Koji prioritized batting capabilities when selecting today’s starting nine—it could be said that every player on the field for Osaka Tsubaki was a formidable batter, and even the pitcher Fujinami was no exception.
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