Baseball: A Two-Way Player

"Smack---!!!"

After struggling to hold their own half of the inning, Kenshu Yasuda returned to the player's bench, feeling an inexplicable surge of anger in his heart. This fire grew larger and larger until it completely burned away his reason.

"What the hell are we even playing here?!!!"

Kenshu Yasuda threw his glove to the ground with force, then roared angrily in the direction of his teammates:

"If this is truly our ability, we might as well just forfeit the game now, go home, and never touch baseball again!!!"

"If we were utterly crushed by the opposing pitcher, fine—But we clearly have so many chances to hit, so why can't we make that critical hit when we could widen the lead?"

"If it were just one or two innings, we could blame it on a bad state or unfamiliarity with the opponent—but now we've played four innings, and are we still going to continue like this?!!"

"Are we incapable of playing without Guanglai? Do you all really want us to lose this game and end our last summer in disgrace, while the media and reporters dismiss us with a simple 'without Guanglai, we are nothing'?"

"This is my last summer, I beg you all, please pull yourselves together quickly—we are Waseda Industries! We are the prestigious team of West Tokyo, Senbatsu champions, and the hottest contenders this summer—the story of this summer should begin at Koshien! I refuse to let my three years of high school baseball end here!"

After saying this long string of words in one breath, Kenshu Yasuda heavily sat down on the bench of the dugout, no longer speaking—and the surrounding Waseda players were already stunned by his earlier actions.

As the team's deputy captain, Kenshu Yasuda was never the type to express his negative emotions in front of his teammates; on the contrary, his role was usually to encourage everyone when the team's morale was low, then go onto the field and help the team break the deadlock with a hit.

In daily interactions, he often blended seamlessly with his juniors—the players on the field, even Cheshire Shen Zhong and Matsunaga Kenta, who have been with Kenshu Yasuda for three years, had never seen him lose his composure like this.

Perhaps, this is the significance contained in "the last summer"—the heavy meaning of these words is even more poignant for Kenshu Yasuda, who has tasted the joy of victory.

It is precisely because he wants to keep winning that he feels angry and reluctant about his performance—this competitive spirit is the reason Waseda's players unite and fight for a common goal.

After calming down his emotions, sitting on the bench, Kenshu Yasuda spoke again:

"Guanglai will not be playing today, so as the deputy captain, I will say these words to everyone."

"In the upcoming game, I have only one thing to say to the entire team."

"Hit! Defend! Then win the game and keep moving forward!"

"Our goal is Koshien's pinnacle, even if we lose, we must do so after giving it our all and burning out on Koshien's soil—I will never accept the outcome of falling in this match!"

"Everyone, can you hear me???!!!"

The response to him was the roaring sound from the Waseda team that almost lifted the roof of the dugout.

"Yes——!!!!!!"

"Then now, everyone, in this half-inning, hit that ball for me!!!"

-----------------

Top of the fifth inning, Waseda Industries' batting turn.

When Waseda's batters returned to the batting box, Ogawara Takuma, squatting behind home plate, keenly sensed their change in momentum.

The commotion just now in the player's area was so loud that it could be heard across the entire field by Showa High School on the other side, like thunderclaps.

"I thought we could use this point to deal with the batters more quickly, but it seems their momentum has only increased even more, hmm... it's better to be cautious."

"Let's start with an outside corner ball."

After deciding the pitching strategy for this round, Ogawara Takuma positioned his catcher's glove where he wanted it, then signaled Aomura Shou with his right hand, receiving a confirmed response from him.

Aomura Shou raised his front foot high and swung his arm as he pitched the ball to the outside corner for Hagiyama Mitsuo.

Originally thinking this ball would be left alone, Ogawara Takuma was already prepared to catch it, however—

"Clang---!!!"

Even facing a particularly tricky outside corner ball, Hagiyama Mitsuo swung the bat, made solid contact, and sent the ball flying towards left field.

Although the baseball was intercepted in the infield by Showa High School's third baseman Yoshikawa Ryosuke, the throw to first base came a step too late; Hagiyama Mitsuo reached first base ahead of him.

Following closely, the sixth batter, Watanabe Taku also hit a safe hit, continuing Waseda's offensive wave in the top of the fifth inning.

With two consecutive batters getting on base, Aomura Shou's control became unstable for Showa High School. After a long struggle, his decisive slider failed to control its displacement, sending the eighth batter Sato Kenbo to base on four balls.

No outs, bases loaded—Waseda's batting lineup finally launched a wave of continuous offense, bringing them the best scoring opportunity of the entire game so far.