Baseball: A Two-Way Player

"Congratulations to Hanamaki East High School! After a 2-year hiatus, they enter the Summer Koshien for the 6th time!!!"

On the TV screen, the face of a baby-faced boy beamed with a smile, the kind of genuine joy emanating from within, unique to the Takayama boys in this summer.

The commentator, responsible for the play-by-play, was still marveling at the performance of Hanamaki East players—especially their core player, the sophomore ace Ohtani Shohei, who received lavish praise.

"In this match, although Hanamaki East's Ohtani wasn't able to pitch due to a leg muscle injury, he started as the main right fielder and made an outstanding contribution to Hanamaki East's victory with his batting."

"Throughout the game, as the third batter, he hit two hits and assisted his teammate with a laser throw to tag out a base runner in the bottom of the third inning."

"Such a performance reminds me of last summer's player, Lin Guanglai—West Tokyo's Waseda Industries has now also made it to the final eight, and I really hope to see these two players face off at Koshien this summer!"

The commentary on TV continued uninterrupted, but Lin Guanglai turned off the television, and the room returned to silence.

"Now, there's really a reason we must go to Koshien..."

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After resting a day following the match with Showa High School, Waseda Jitsugyo faced their quarterfinal opponent: National Academy Kugayama, an old rival they had battled many times before.

Before the game, the supervisor of National Academy Kugayama, Takara Samurai, used the match between Waseda Jitsugyo and Showa as an example, hoping his players could emulate the performance of Showa's players from the previous match. Their players were also fully prepared, eager to avenge Waseda Jitsugyo—after all, not only did Waseda Jitsugyo defeat them in last year's autumn tournament, but they also took the right to participate in the Senbatsu from them with that direct victory.

Particularly Kawaguchi Kiyotaka, who now wore the number 1 jersey, never forgot the bitterness of last year's defeat—in the past year, he had practiced tirelessly day and night, just so that one day he could face Lin Guanglai again and defeat his opponent honorably.

However, for the players of National Academy Kugayama and the confident Kawaguchi Kiyotaka, this quarterfinal match turned into a painful experience they would never want to recall again.

The same lineups, which had fought a fierce battle over eleven innings last year, finished this latest encounter in just five innings, with Waseda Jitsugyo securing an easy 10:0 victory, without breaking a sweat.

When the chief umpire announced the early end of the game, one by one, the players of National Academy Kugayama fell to the ground in pain, unable to stand for some time—they had come to Shengong Stadium with firm belief and the goal of defeating Waseda Jitsugyo, only to end up with such a humiliating result that it was hard for them to come to terms with.

In this game, the returning Lin Guanglai vented all his frustration from not being able to compete on the players of National Academy Kugayama: he uncommonly went all out in the early part of the match, continuously setting the fastest pitching speed records of the tournament, and his streak of fastballs thrilled the spectators who came to Shengong Stadium on their day off to watch the spectacle.

And his stats from the five innings he pitched were equally horrifying:

As the starting pitcher, Lin Guanglai pitched 5 innings, delivered an astounding 10 strikeouts, and gave up only 1 hit with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, almost achieving a no-hit game in a shortened match.

As the fourth batter, Lin Guanglai hit successfully in all 4 at-bats, including a home run driving in 3 runs and a triple along the right field line that disrupted the opponent's defense.

His flawless performance on both offense and defense announced his return with concrete action.

With the end of this match against National Academy Kugayama, the 2011 West Tokyo Conference reached its final stage: after nearly two weeks of fierce competition among the 119 high schools in the West Tokyo region, the 4 teams that emerged victorious were:

Spring Koshien champion and Kantou Conference champion, Waseda Industries;

Shengong champion, Spring Tokyo Tournament champion, Japan University Third High School;

Autumn Tokyo Tournament top 8, Spring Tokyo Tournament top 4, Kosei Gakuen;

2010 West Tokyo Tournament runner-up, Japan University Tsurugaoka High School.

The draw results for the semifinals were also revealed: Waseda Jitsugyo was lucky, avoiding a fierce battle with Nihon University Third in the semifinals, as they drew Kosei Gakuen;

while the players of Nihon University Third were also satisfied with the draw results: before heading to Shengong Stadium for the finals, they first aimed to avenge last summer against Japan University Tsurugaoka!

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One day before the semifinal match, at the baseball training ground of Nihon University Third, Yoshinaga Kentarou was not training with the fielders on the field; instead, he sat quietly in a corner, flipping through a thick stack of materials in his hands.

In the past half a year, Yoshinaga Kentarou went through the most tumultuous period of his life:

Defeating Waseda Jitsugyo in the Autumn Tokyo Tournament and winning the Shengong Tournament—surpassing 99% of high school baseball players, he achieved goals they could only dream of;

Subsequently came the slump: the humbling loss at Senbatsu caused significant psychological issues in his already not-so-resilient mind, leading him to rest throughout the Kantou Conference without pitching in any games.

Over the past few months, Yoshinaga Kentarou finally had time to settle down, allowing him to properly reflect and analyze the gains and losses from previous games—compared to the playing time lost during this period, he felt he gained even more.

Until the West Tokyo Conference was about to begin, Yoshinaga Kentarou finally rediscovered that long-lost feeling from the latter half of last year: so far in the tournament, he pitched complete games in 3 matches and relieved in one match, allowing only 3 runs in total, proving through his actions that he was still the ace pitcher his teammates could trust.

Now, he also had the confidence to lead his team out of West Tokyo and head to Koshien—and even further, with bold aspirations, why shouldn't national victory be within reach?

Yesterday, Yamazaki Fuyuki, who retired from the baseball club last year and is now studying and continuing to play at Waseda University, ended his first official season and came to cheer and support the juniors before the semifinal opens.

Yoshinaga Kentarou remembered, last summer he promised senior Fuyuki that he would realize the dream of winning at Koshien for him.

Yoshinaga Kentarou felt, now was the time to fulfill that promise.

Of course, all of this, required that he must directly defeat their old rival Nihon University Third, especially the sophomore named Lin Guanglai on the other side.

During his rest, Yoshinaga Kentarou had not been idle, spending most of his time watching video footage of Waseda Jitsugyo games and recording the pitching and hitting habits of Lin Guanglai—the several-centimeter-thick materials in his hand were the ultimate proof of that.

"Don't go down before we beat you, Lin Guanglai."

"The ones who will defeat you are us, Nihon University Third, and it will also be me, Yoshinaga Kentarou."