Baseball: A Two-Way Player

After Lin Guanglai hit a grand slam for the opposing team, Nihon University Fengshan's players seemed like they'd lost their souls, and the team's game state instantly plummeted.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, for three consecutive at-bats, Nihon University Fengshan's batters just watched as Uchida Saint's pitches entered the strike zone, seemingly losing even the courage to swing the bat, and were struck out without making any move.

As the team's morale crumbled, and given their evident strength gap compared to Waseda Real, Nihon University Fengshan naturally couldn't resist—Yasuda Kenshu sealed the game in the top of the ninth inning with a solo home run, finalizing the score at 8-1.

The 63rd Autumn Tokyo Tournament, round two.

Game over.

Waseda Real 8:1 Nihon University Fengshan.

The game lasted just over two hours, and the gap in actual strength between the two teams was still very apparent—even though Waseda Real lost points due to early mistakes and struggled for a while to open the situation; as long as they steadied themselves and patiently maneuvered against the opponent, even without Lin Guanglai's grand slam, winning the game was just a matter of time.

Although the team eventually won by a large margin, on the bus ride back to school, seeing their coach's face turning pale, the players of the baseball team didn't dare to speak loudly, fearing that one wrong word might anger the coach and result in a scolding.

Sitting in the front seat of the bus, Izumi Minoru turned his head, looked at his own players behind him, and loudly reprimanded:

"Do you think you played well today?"

"Infielders, just look at your errors today! Even such slow ground balls can be missed, how exactly have you been training?"

"Even elementary school players in little-league teams wouldn't commit such basic defensive errors!"

"From an outsider's viewpoint who hasn't watched the game, the 8:1 score might seem like we won easily;"

"But you are the players who stood on the field, you should know how ugly our team's performance was today!"

"This is only because our opponents are Nihon University Fengshan—I assure you, if we faced Nihon University or Nihon University Tsurugaoka today, with today's condition, we'd certainly have been thoroughly humiliated by them!"

After venting his dissatisfaction with the match's content, Izumi Minoru glanced around, at the players, shrinking back into their bus seats as if in fear, and left them with a statement:

"No rest after getting back to school today, you'll train on your own."

"In tomorrow's game against East Asia Academy, I hope to see a change in you."

After saying these two sentences, he sat back in his seat and spoke no more.

Back at school, Lin Guanglai and Yasuda Kenshu were responsible for organizing the players' training—the players who participated in today's game mainly focused on recovery, while the substitutes trained with slightly higher intensity.

After practice, having finished dinner and taken a shower, Lin Guanglai lay on his bed, holding in his hand the opponent's data collected by the team manager—tomorrow's game, he would be starting on the mound.

East Asia Academy is also an old friend and rival of Waseda Real: in the quarter-finals of the West Tokyo Conference this summer, the two sides had faced off, and Suzuki Kensuke performed outstandingly, allowing Waseda Real to ultimately defeat their opponent 2:1.

However, after just two or three months, everything has changed drastically—with many third-year members retiring, East Asia Academy's formation has undergone major changes.

The current starting pitcher for East Asia Academy is second-year Kamata Hideyuki, and like the former ace Mihori Yuusuke, he is a classical pitcher; but compared to Mihori Yuusuke, Kamata Hideyuki's suppressive power is much less:

According to the data, his fastest ball speed now barely reaches 138 km/h, while ensuring control accuracy, his straight ball speed is around 130 km/h;

And his breaking ball repertoire isn't abundant, using a 100-point scale, Kamata Hideyuki's slider might be around 60 points, while other breaking balls don't even rank.

The most influential change for East Asia Academy was the departure of Takasugi Masahiro, who was both the true core and the spiritual pillar of the team—the new second-year catcher Kunishi Yuuta's ability is still decent, but there's a significant gap compared to Takasugi Masahiro.

Summarized, after losing many main players, East Asia Academy's strength instantly dropped to second- or even third-tier among Tokyo Region schools, theoretically posing no threat to Waseda Real.

But today's game served as a reminder for Lin Guanglai—since this summer, Waseda Real's matches have mostly been consecutive victories; even the loss to Konan High School was considered by many in the team to be a "glorious defeat".

The continuous victories have boosted confidence throughout the team, but have inevitably fostered some feelings of pride and arrogance internally.

As the current main player of the team, Lin Guanglai feels it necessary to remind everyone to forget all past achievements and earnestly treat every opponent in the autumn tournament—until they've secured victory, they have no right to celebrate success.

On the other bed in the room, Uesugi Yasuyuki, who would be Lin Guanglai's catcher partner tomorrow, was reading a book—his book related to theories about the catcher's position.

Putting down the material he was holding, Lin Guanglai stretched, and with a grin said to Uesugi Yasuyuki beside him:

"Yasuyuki, tomorrow is our first time simultaneously starting in high school—let me interview you a bit, Uesugi on being partners with the 'Tokyo Monster', don't you have anything to say?"

After Summer甲, Lin Guanglai's outstanding performance resulted in, apart from being called the 'Heisei Monster', some media bestowing him the nickname 'Tokyo Monster' to praise his performance on the field that defies his age.

Closing the book in his hands, Uesugi Yasuyuki glanced at Lin Guanglai beside him, and slowly opened his mouth:

"Nothing to say, just like before."

"No matter what, I'll catch every ball you throw."

After saying this, Uesugi Yasuyuki was the first to turn off the light:

"Sleep, we have a game tomorrow."

A good night's sleep.

October 10, 2010, at Fuchu City Public Stadium, Waseda Industries and East Asia Academy will have their second match here since this summer.

Thanks to Izumi Minoru's "kind reminder" yesterday, Waseda Real's players were in noticeably better form today than yesterday—in the top of the first inning, East Asia Academy went on the offense, and Lin Guanglai hardly worked, creating two ground outs and one fly out, dispatching three batters in just three pitches.

The team's defense was very solid, with no repeat of yesterday's basic errors; even during the catch of the fly ball, Right Field's Yagaki Kentaro contributed an impressive diving catch.

But when it was Waseda Real's turn to attack, the game took a slightly strange turn:

In the bottom of the first inning, as the first leadoff batter, Chongxin Shen Zhong continued his good state from yesterday, immediately smacking a hit, giving the team a great start.

When Lin Guanglai entered the batter's box ready to bat, the situation on the field was one out with runners on first and third bases.

Just as Lin Guanglai was confidently preparing to use a hit to open the game for the team, on the pitcher's mound, East Asia Academy's Kamata Hideyuki surprisingly threw four outrageous balls consecutively; then the umpire signaled Lin Guanglai to advance to first base.

With one out and runners on first and third, East Asia Academy actually chose to intentionally walk Lin Guanglai—they'd rather face a bases-loaded situation with one out than to let Lin Guanglai have the opportunity to hit.