Even though the first two pitches that reached a good ball count were sidearm throws, on the third decisive pitch, Nakagawa Yuhei suddenly switched his pitching stance to a three-quarter style, and the pitch type from his signature slider changed to a fastball—using the sidearm slider to dull the batter’s senses, and when they got used to it, ambushing them with a fastball. This was his tried-and-true strategy.
The pitch speed was not frightening, but it carried a peculiar sideways movent, heading straight for Lin Guanglai’s inside corner!
"Now!"
Lin Guanglai’s pupils shrank suddenly, and his body began to react almost simultaneously as the ball was released: the long-standing strength erupted instantly from his feet, through the twisting waist and abdon, and finally all infused into the bat in his hands.
With a swoosh, the bat drew a white arc in the air, and then precisely intersected with the baseball nearing ho plate.
"Bang——!!"
After a noise that seed to tear through the air, the baseball, as if infused with life, soared upwards towards the right outfield, its height was almost touching the do of Yahoo Do.
Facing such a towering and distant baseball, Rode’s outfielders made a feeble attempt to resist before stopping in despair, gazing blankly at the SoftBank fans in the stands, who jumped from their seats in excitent one by one.
The runner on third base easily returned to ho base, and as the protagonist who hit the ho run, Lin Guanglai stepped lightly and energetically, past first, second, third base; with each step he took, waves of cheers erupted from the crowd, and when he finally returned to ho plate, he was greeted by teammates overwheld with joy.
On Eagle’s Vision, the numbers on the scoreboard flickered again, bringing the score to 5:3 in the bottom of the eighth inning.
While receiving punches and hugs from his teammates, Lin Guanglai cast his eyes towards the distant bullpen: there, having just completed his warm-up, Dennis Sarfate gave him a slight smile and a thumbs up; then patted his chest to indicate he will definitely shut the door successfully, not letting Lin Guanglai’s two-run blast go to waste.
Monts later...
"Dennis Sarfate! True to being the strongest guardian of the Pacific League and even all Japan, yet another strikeout streak, once again concluding this ga!" The comntator from the local Fukuoka TV channel erupted in an excited shout, "And this victory ans one thing—"
"For the SoftBank fans both on-site and in front of the television, now, we have once again returned to our rightful throne! This ti, I believe the team will not relinquish this position again!"
After the ga, watching their own players in the middle of the field expressing gratitude to the ho fans, Manager Akiyama Koji exhaled a rare breath of relief:
As the coach, choosing to step on the brakes when the team is performing so well at the start of the season undoubtedly requires great courage, and over the past month and a half he has not escaped pressure and criticism from various quarters;
Luckily, the club’s executives and the players within the team expressed strong support for him, and it was precisely through the cohesive efforts of the entire club that they managed to reclaim their position so quickly.
When all the first-team mbers returned to the locker room, Manager Akiyama, his repressed emotions finally released, waved a big hand, "You’ve all worked hard during this ti—tonight I’ll treat you to drinks on my expense, we won’t leave until we’re drunk!"
"Oh Oh Oh—Manager is mighty, long live the Manager!!!" Upon hearing Manager Akiyama’s words, many veteran mbers of the team had their eyes brightened, quickly praising their manager’s wisdom and strength.
Although professional baseball does not strictly control players drinking excessively, any player with a bit of ambition and aspiration rarely chooses to get heavily intoxicated during a heated season;
The reason Manager Akiyama dared to reward the players in such a manner is primarily because today is the last official match before the All-Star ga, with the season about two-thirds completed, it was a good ti to let the players relieve so physical and ntal fatigue.
Unfortunately for Lin Guanglai, who won’t reach the legal drinking age until next spring training, he once again beca the one in charge of cleaning up once the revelry ended—would you like to know how it feels to drink oolong tea among a bunch of crazed drunkards? Lin Guanglai is probably the one who understands this feeling the best.
After the feast ended, one day later, Lin Guanglai followed Manager Akiyama, who beca this year’s Pacific League All-Star head coach, along with the other six teammates selected, and went to this year’s first All-Star ga held at Seibu Do in Saitama Prefecture; as for the next day’s other ga, it will be held at Hanshin Koshien Stadium.
Compared to first-ti team selectees Yanagida Yuuki, Imamiya Kenta, and second-ti selectee Lin Guanglai, the veteran players who have served in various countries’ professional baseball for many years and who have also been selected many tis to the All-Star gas seem less enthusiastic about this event.
After all, compared to official matches and climax matches that affect team rankings and directly affect future player inco, the All-Star ga feels like a mid-season carnival gathering everyone together, apart from getting to et old friends from other teams, there’s not much else to it.
Furthermore, Nippon Professional Baseball does not decide the ho field advantage for Japan’s Number One series based on the outco of the All-Star ga like the Major League, making it even less thrilling by comparison.
To avoid injuries, pitchers won’t pitch with full effort, and top batters won’t exert maximum effort to attack and defend, leading to inadequate competitive tension in the ga.
Moreover, most baseball fans usually care more about their own team’s performance and rivals, and there is hardly anyone who really cares about the "Central League vs Pacific League" virtual showdown.
Other than the opportunity for close interaction with players during the All-Star week, the attraction of the event seems indeed less compelling—it’s heard that both the Major League and Nippon Professional Baseball are planning reforms in the All-Star format and presentation, who knows what it will look like in the future.
In the first match at Seibu Do, the Central League’s pitchers and batters visibly reached playing condition faster, establishing a huge advantage early in the ga, eventually completing a shutout with a score of 7:0.
After moving to Koshien, it seems the large-scale defeat in the first ga stimulated the Pacific League stars, as under the enthusiastic cheers from the Hanshin fans, stars from all 12 ball clubs from both leagues displayed their true skills, and the match concluded with Pacific League 12:6 over Central League, coming to a satisfactory end.
When SoftBank’s players returned from the All-Star week’s break, after so adjustnts, everyone’s condition remained extrely well-maintained—a fact evident in their subsequent performances.
In the first series after returning from the All-Star, the SoftBank team finished off a three-ga sweep against direct competitor Orix at Kyocera Do as visitors, further widening the leading advantage to 3.5 gas.
With the schedule entering August, the SoftBank team, in excellent shape, beca unstoppable, starting from the match against the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters on August 2 as visitors, not only did they clinched 10 consecutive wins at the beginning of the month but also achieved 18 victories throughout the month, leading powerfully within the Pacific League.
In the first ga at the start of September, when the SoftBank team engaged in a 12-inning intense battle against Orix at Yahoo Do, with Lin Guanglai hitting a walk-off single in the bottom of the 12th inning, bringing SoftBank’s record to 73 wins, 42 losses, 5 ties, the magic number that all Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks players have dread of finally, illuminated!
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