Baseball: A Two-Way Player

July 24, 2011, Meiji Jingu Stadium.

"Good morning, high school baseball fans!"

"Welcome to the live broadcast of the 93rd National High School Baseball Championship West Tokyo Conference, round 4 matches."

In the broadcasting booth, the two commentators responsible for today's play-by-play were introducing the two teams participating in the match.

"In this game, Waseda Industrial School is on the third base side, attacking first."

"Tokyo Metropolitan Showa High School is on the first base side, defending second."

"It's worth noting that Waseda has replaced their ace pitcher Lin Guanglai, who is still recovering from a respiratory infection, with the third-year student Uchida Saint as the starting pitcher for today's game;"

"Meanwhile, Showa High School has also opted not to use their ace, Iijima Renhao, who played in all three previous games. Showa's manager Moriyama Jiro has boldly started the third-year left-handed pitcher Aomura Shou, clearly aiming to suppress Waseda's left-heavy batting lineup."

After the pregame salute ceremony, Showa High School's defensive players all took their positions.

As the chief umpire behind the home plate pointed towards the pitcher's mound, shouting "Play Ball," the fourth round of the West Tokyo Conference officially began.

Showa High School's manager opted for their backup left-handed pitcher Aomura Shou, mainly targeting Waseda's weakness of having too many left-handed batters and unbalanced hitting direction:

Among the 9 batters, Waseda had 6 left-handed batters, with the remaining 3 mostly in the lower batting order—if the pitching-catcher duo of Aomura Shou and Daikagawa Takuma could perform, they indeed have the ability to suppress Waseda's offense.

In the catcher zone, Daikagawa Takuma signalled the pitch calls between his legs, then kept his catcher's mitt steady in the spot he wanted the ball—

His catching stance emulated former Chunichi Dragons' famous catcher Tani Fumio's mountain-like stillness method, without frequently moving the glove to steal strikes.

Considering the first four batters of Waseda were left-handed, Daikagawa initially focused on outside corners, selecting fastballs and sliders from Aomura Shou's arsenal as the main pitch types.

This simple yet effective pitch calling strategy worked wonders early in the game when neither side was particularly familiar with each other:

Waseda's first two batters, Chongxin Shen Zhong and Matsunaga Kenta, were both tricked by Aomura Shou's outside pitches, one swinging and missing for a strikeout, while the other hit a high fly ball caught by the outfielder.

With two teammates consecutively out, seeing Waseda's offense stalling, the vice-captain Kenshu Yasuda, batting third, stepped up, swinging with power to hit a double and directly taking the scoring position.

Next up in Waseda's batting order was the fourth batter, taking Lin Guanglai's place as the cleanup hitter was usually the late-segment connector Yagaki Kentaro.

The decision to let him bat fourth today was because Izumi Minoru saw qualities in Yagaki similar to Lin Guanglai—in some ways, Yagaki Kentaro can be seen as a weakened version of Lin Guanglai, with well-rounded skills in offense and defense, considered a jack-of-all-trades player.

With two outs and a runner on second, the upcoming batter still being the fourth meant Showa High School faced a minor crisis.

At this moment, starting catcher Daikagawa Takuma exchanged a glance with his pitching partner on the mound, making a few subtle hand signals, quickly crafting a pitch strategy for this at-bat.

High inside fastball, low inside fastball, and low outside slider—guided by Daikagawa, Aomura Shou first consistently attacked Yagaki's inside, then swiftly changed the pace after gaining the 2-strike advantage, effortlessly and elegantly using a high-quality outside slider to strike out the batter, not only defusing the crisis but also ending the top half of the inning.

In the dugout, Lin Guanglai, with a serious expression and a slightly grim face, watched Showa High School's catcher closely—the sight of Daikagawa laughing and chatting as he walked shoulder-to-shoulder with his pitching partner back to the dugout, clearly showed their good spirits.

For a catcher to keep attacking the inside corner against a left-handed batter with a left-handed pitcher requires great courage and trust, testing both the pitcher and catcher:

Since a left-handed pitch naturally confuses left-handed batters, most catchers rely heavily on outside pitches, using inside pitches as a secondary option—attacking the inside corner against a batter on the same side as the pitcher demands precise control from the pitcher and adept catching skills from the catcher. Any small lack in ability or chemistry could easily lead to consecutive balls or even a hit by pitch walk.

"This game is not going to be easy..." Lin Guanglai muttered.

As the game progressed, it unfolded as Lin Guanglai predicted:

In the top of the second inning, Aomura Shou's control wavered, sending high pitches and walking two Waseda batters; capitalizing on this gift, Waseda quickly moved two of its batters to second and third base with just one out.

The eighth batter, Sato Ken, following Izumi's instruction, successfully hit a sacrifice fly, aiming to break the scoreless stalemate for the team.

However, Showa High School's defensive player stepped up: Right fielder Yuzawa Shigeki made a spectacular diving catch off Sato Ken's fly ball; then quickly stood up, rotated his arm, and threw the ball back towards home plate.

The throw was splendid, drawing a straight arc in the air, aiming precisely into Daikagawa's catcher's mitt.

In the junction between third base and home plate, Daikagawa Takuma had already used his body to block the runner's return path—which was still within the current rule's legal range. (Note 1)

At the same time as receiving the ball, Daikagawa lightly tagged Hagiyama Mitsuo, who had rushed in front of him—the batter's speed was too slow to touch the plate, getting tagged out before reaching home.

"Ohhhhhhhhhh—" Came waves of amazed gasp from the stands, clearly impressed by Showa High School's defense.

Both Yuzawa Shigeki's superb play and laser throw, along with catcher Daikagawa's strong defense, were commendably executed.

If not for Uchida Saint's excellent condition today and occasional brain lapses in Showa High School's offensive strategy decisions, the score of the game would indeed be uncertain.

After the first three and a half innings, both sides remained scoreless at 0-0—Waseda had absolute dominance in terms of hits and on-base statistics, far ahead of the opponent; but they just couldn't score.

The absence of Lin Guanglai's presence was evident: In this game, fourth batter Yagaki Kentaro had two at-bats with runners in scoring positions, but failed to secure any hits, striking out twice in frustration.

Consecutive stalled offenses also made Waseda players' emotions uneasy, affecting their defensive performance on the field.

"Bang—!!!"

In the bottom of the fourth inning, barely holding off a wave of offensive builds from Showa High School, vice-captain Kenshu Yasuda returned to the player's area, threw his glove to the ground, and roared at his teammates.