Baseball: A Two-Way Player

Due to the fact that Waseda Jitsugyo is a seeded team, their autumn debut will start directly from the second round of the tournament.

October 9, 2010.

Fuchu City Public Stadium.

The 63rd Autumn Tokyo Tournament, Round Two.

Waseda Industrial School VS Japan University Fushan High School.

Nihon University Fengshan is a team from the East Tokyo region. Their strength is average; they're not a top-tier strong team, but they definitely can't be easily defeated.

In 2000, at the start of this century, Nihon University Fengshan won the East Tokyo regional tournament and achieved the feat of appearing in the Summer甲 for the first time. However, in the following decade, their strength fluctuated, gradually dropping to a mid-level.

But this year, their performance has been quite good: they advanced to the fourth round in the Spring Tokyo Tournament, eventually losing to the East Tokyo Summer甲 representative Kantou Number One; in the selection tournament they went even further, making it to the quarter-finals before being defeated by Seiritsu Gakuen.

According to the pre-game data analysis, the entire operation of Japan University Fengshan is built around their young pitcher-catcher duo: first-year pitcher Watanabe Hikaru and second-year catcher Hiragino Takeshi. This duo secured their starting positions as soon as they entered the baseball team, showing their evident strength.

For this reason, Izumi Minoru repeatedly emphasized in the pre-game meeting, asking the players to give due attention to their opponents.

Especially the first-year ace pitcher Watanabe Hikaru, just like Lin Guanglai, his pitching style is the rarely encountered "submarine style"—the speed of such pitches may not be very fast, but with a pitch trajectory completely different from overhand and sidearm, coupled with an extremely strong tail speed, it can make batters very uncomfortable.

Today's starting pitcher for Waseda Jitsugyo is Uchida Saint, while Lin Guanglai serves as the main right fielder—the entire autumn tournament will be completed within half a month, so for Waseda, who lack pitcher reserves, a reasonable distribution of pitcher stamina is necessary if they aim to win.

In the top of the first inning, Waseda Jitsugyo attacks first, and their leadoff batter is still Chongxin Shen Zhong.

As the game's umpire announces the start of pitching, Watanabe Hikaru from Nihon University Fengshan begins to move on the pitcher's mound:

He stretches his glove-wearing left hand forward, sending the baseball-holding right hand backward, folding his entire body under deliberate control;

The whole arm is suppressed below the shoulder by Watanabe Hikaru, snapping upwards from the lowest point as the downward arm swings upward, the baseball breaks free from his hand, flying toward home plate.

The ball's speed isn't fast, and the pitch seemed very straight—wanting to observe the opponent's pitch more, Chongxin Shen Zhong felt he shouldn't miss this opportunity, so he decisively swung his bat.

However, the bat and the baseball missed each other—and by the time Chongxin Shen Zhong reacted, the umpire's voice had already sounded behind him:

"Strike!"

Cheers erupted from the player area of Japan University Fengshan—different from the victory-aiming Waseda Jitsugyo, this batch of players from Nihon University Fengshan had no grand ambitions; their goal was to take it step by step, starting with striking out an opponent's batter.

Exiting the batter's box, Chongxin Shen Zhong slightly recalled the trajectory of the ball just now:

From his initial viewpoint, the pitch was very straight, heading precisely toward the lower central part of the strike zone;

However, before reaching home plate, the baseball's trajectory unexpectedly rose, causing him to swing in vain.

"As expected, the lack of experience facing submarine pitchers is still quite evident." Izumi Minoru murmured while observing the situation on the field from outside the player area.

Then he pointed to his eyes with his fingers, sending a signal to Chongxin Shen Zhong in the batter's box, indicating he should adhere to home plate discipline, not rush to swing, but instead engage with the opponent more.

After a few pitches, the situation on the field reached 2 good, 2 bad—facing a low trajectory pitch from Watanabe Hikaru, Chongxin Shen Zhong, relying on his strong physical adjustment ability, lifted the baseball from below with his bat, hitting a pop-up over the pitcher's direction.

Here on Nihon University Fengshan's side, the cooperation between the new first-year shortstop-second baseman duo showed flaws, as both players charged towards the incoming ball, but then hesitated just before controlling it—this one-second hesitation allowed the full-speed-running Chongxin Shen Zhong to reach first base before Nihon University Fengshan's first baseman could get the ball.

No outs, runner on first, Waseda Jitsugyo's opening is very smooth.

Afterward, Kenta Manabe, the second batter followed Izumi Minoru's tactical instructions, using a bunt sacrifice to help Chongxin Shen Zhong, originally on first base, advance to second base;

The third batter, Kenshu Yasuda, with patient pitch selection, forced Watanabe Hikaru to throw a four-pitch ball, successfully reaching first base.

As the lineup rotated to the fourth batter, the one striding toward home plate was none other than Waseda Jitsugyo's new captain, Lin Guanglai.

After the previous fourth batter, Onoda Shunsuke retired, a new player was needed to fill the center position—after a team-wide vote, Lin Guanglai was chosen as Waseda Jitsugyo's new fourth batter.

Unlike professional games, in the tradition of high school baseball, the fourth batter is endowed with additional significance beyond the position itself—players serving as the fourth batter must not only have outstanding slugging power but also the determination to shoulder the team's responsibility and hope.

In this regard, Lin Guanglai was already well-prepared.

Standing in the batter's box, Lin Guanglai raises his bat high, assuming a batting stance; his body and bat occasionally sway gently to prevent a locked-body situation.

His eyes fixed on Watanabe Hikaru on the pitcher's mound, Lin Guanglai recalls the information conveyed by his previous batters—from the current situation, Watanabe Hikaru seems to lack the weapon of a changeup.

The quirky submarine pitching style itself confuses batters, making it hard to predict the trajectory of the baseball; but this pitching style also has its flaws: besides being a burden on the body, the trajectory of submarine pitches can be easily adapted to by opposite-side batters.

This is why, in professional games, many submarine pitchers are middle relievers or closers, and few appear as submarine starters; to deal with opposite-side batters, many submarine pitchers also train in a changeup to suppress opponents.

Including Lin Guanglai, the first four batters of Waseda Jitsugyo are all left-handed; at the start of the game, they only showed restraint in swinging because of concerns about the changeup.

Through three at-bats, Waseda Jitsugyo had largely figured out Hikaru Watanabe's pitch types and trajectories; next, it was their turn to make a big assault.