Baseball: A Two-Way Player

On the afternoon of the day Lin got home, the four members of the Lin family sat around the TV to watch the final battle of the 92nd Summer Koshien, a match between Konan High School and Tokai University Sagami High School.

Before the game started, everyone in the household, including Lin Guanglai, thought this would be an evenly matched contest—after all, Tokai University Sagami's Ichiyotai Shintaro and Konan's Shimabukuro Hiroshi were ace pitchers of comparable skill, and both teams' batting lineups essentially represented the strongest talent among high school students nationwide.

However, the course of the game defied everyone's expectations—after defeating Waseda Jitsugyo in a tough match, Konan appeared unstoppable in the finals: starting from the fourth inning, their offensive was like a divine descent, scoring 14 runs in three innings, effectively dispelling any doubt about the championship and swiftly turning the match into a foregone conclusion.

In the end, Konan High School trounced Tokai University Sagami 14-1, raising the championship banner of the 92nd tournament with an unstoppable prowess, thus becoming the sixth team in history to achieve consecutive spring and summer championships.

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Japan, Iwate Prefecture Hanamaki City, Hanamaki East High School.

Seeing that the match had lost its suspense early on, Hanamaki East's supervisor Sasaki You turned off the TV and called his players to the training field.

In the back of the classroom, a tall boy was still daydreaming.

"Shohei, stop daydreaming, let's go train—or you'll be scolded for being late again." Seeing his partner lost in thought, Sasaki Takashi, who was in the same year as Ohtani Shohai, quickly called out to him.

Ohtani Shohai snapped out of his daze and, acknowledging with an "Oh," jogged with his teammates toward the training field.

While running, scenes from yesterday's semifinal played repeatedly in Ohtani's mind, prompting him to voice a thought he had been harboring:

"Next year, we must go to Koshien!!!"

Sasaki Takashi, who was running alongside him, didn't quite catch that: "What?"

Ohtani Shohai repeated himself with a tone full of firm conviction: "I said, next year we at Hanamaki East must go to Koshien."

Looking into his partner's earnest eyes, Sasaki Takashi felt inspired and nodded in agreement:

"Yes, we can definitely do it!"

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Japan, Osaka Prefecture Daito City, Osaka Tsubaki High School.

Fujinami Jintaro arrived at the training field with his baseball bag as usual, finding only a few people around the field—this was Osaka Tsubaki, different from other school teams, Tsubaki's baseball club did not recruit ordinary students; every member was an elite player from around the country.

Surveying the field, Fujinami Jintaro noticed the familiar figure was absent, so he turned to his teammate, outfielder Ooshima Yuuya, who was warming up, and asked:

"Yuuya, is Nishitani Supervisor not here today?"

"Ah, Jintaro, good afternoon." After greeting his teammate, Ooshima Yuuya replied: "Nishitani Supervisor came for a little while and then left. He mentioned that today's practice would be led by senior players from the sophomore year."

"Off unexpectedly? Is something up? Doesn't seem like something Nishitani Supervisor would do—"

Ooshima Yuuya shrugged, speaking in a teasing tone:

"It's about that fireball kid we talked about before—though the guy is indeed talented. He took runner-up at the national junior high tournament this spring and was even selected for the Nomo Hideo player's expedition camp in early August."

"Nishitani Supervisor went to Sakai City to speak with the kid's parents about bringing him to Osaka Tsubaki. It's said that the talks went well, so hopefully, our team will have a strong all-around catcher next year."

Fujinami Jintaro nodded—this summer, Osaka Tsubaki was humiliatingly defeated in the third round of the regional tournament, failing to reach the Summer Koshien; with the departure of the senior players, the exceptionally gifted freshman pitcher, Fujinami Jintaro, unquestionably took over as the starting pitcher—if Nishitani Supervisor truly found such a super catcher, it would definitely be beneficial for Fujinami as a pitcher.

After chatting a bit more with Ooshima Yuuya, the senior teammates gathered everyone to begin the daily training.

"By the way, Yuuya, what was that catcher's name again?" Unable to recall the name, Fujinami Jintaro had to ask his teammate.

"Mori, that catcher's last name is Mori, Mori Yuuya."

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A few days passed.

With the conclusion of the Summer Koshien finals, the fevered summer enthusiasm for baseball began to subside—and as one of the stand-out players capturing national attention this summer, Lin Guanglai was now fiercely battling a creature called "study."

Although the school was lenient about academic requirements for baseball team members, this leniency had its limits—Lin Guanglai had average grades, about middle level; he had to put in the effort when necessary, otherwise, it would be quite amusing if he were barred from playing baseball due to academic issues.

In the past few days, Lin Guanglai had rarely set baseball aside entirely—since starting baseball training, this was his first attempt at such a break.

This method of adjusting his state was something a professional baseball senior he met during the Koshien tournament advised him:

Failures need to be analyzed, and if a player can't face their failures, they're bound to achieve nothing significant;

But often, continuously hashing over the reasons for failure and obsessing over specifics can easily lead to a vicious cycle, resulting in prolonged slumps;

Appropriately setting aside baseball and engaging in unrelated activities can help relax the mind and positively affect personal development.

While Lin Guanglai was lost in thought, not knowing where his mind had wandered, the phone downstairs suddenly rang—it was a weekday, and his parents were at work, and Lin Xinglai, who was hardly ever home, was likely out with friends again, leaving Lin Guanglai alone at home.

Huffing and puffing down the stairs, he picked up the phone receiver and answered:

"Moshi moshi?"

"Ah, Director Sasaki... Yes, I'm at home, is there something you need?"

"The Takano Ren? Oh okay, I understand... Hmm, I'm afraid I can't decide on my own, I'd need to get my parents' consent."

"Eh? You've already asked them? They're in agreement as well? Ah, that's great, I'm definitely okay with it."

"Yeah, I know, I'll get the visa-related documents delivered as soon as possible."

Setting down the phone, Lin Guanglai felt a bit incredulous, then leapt up in excitement.

In the phone call just now, Sasaki Shinichi, the baseball club director from Waseda Jitsugyo, brought some good news for Lin Guanglai:

He had been exceptionally selected for the Japan-U.S. friendly high school baseball tournament main lineup and would head to Compton, California at the end of August to compete against players of the same age in the American baseball system!