Baseball: A Two-Way Player

Soon, the second ball was thrown—this time, a slider aiming for the inside corner against left-handed hitters, got hit by Mori Yuuya, flying up to the third base side stands amidst huge exclamations.

According to the design of Koshien Stadium, as long as this ball falls as infield ball, it's at least a directional double, potentially a triple.

Because of this, neither the pitcher nor the hitter was satisfied with their performance in this turn at bat.

But the advantage ultimately lay with Lin Guanglai; the 0-strike, 2-ball count put him nearly in an unbeatable position—a few seconds later, the next ball, a fastball at 152 km/h, struck the red center of the strike zone, forcing Mori Yuuya, whose bat speed was still a bit slow, to swallow a strikeout bitterly.

"Ha—!"

With another roar, Lin Guanglai raised two fingers to his teammates behind him.

"Two more to go!"

Watching Oike Yuuya standing on his left, Uesugi Yasuyuki put his right hand between his legs, sending pitching signals to Lin Guanglai—what surprised him was that after seeing his assigned pitch, Lin Guanglai on the mound kept shaking his head, evidently unsatisfied with the plan.

According to Uesugi Yasuyuki's thoughts, he still wanted to entangle with Oike Yuuya gradually through the variation in pitch types, using a soothing and catching-off-guard approach to get the needed strikes before suddenly changing the pace and catching the opponent off guard.

This plan indeed worked well, but that was for Lin Guanglai on regular days; however, after enduring such intense competition and sustaining massive physical exhaustion, at this moment Lin Guanglai didn't have much energy to ensure the precise control of breaking balls—now the reason he could strike out the opponent depended on that inner spirit.

On the pitcher's mound, Lin Guanglai used pitcher-catcher codes to signal Uesugi Yasuyuki that he wanted to directly face Oike Yuuya in this at-bat!

With burning eyes staring at Oike Yuuya in the batter's box, Lin Guanglai's brain was extraordinarily calm: what's considered a direct confrontation isn't just mindlessly throwing a few fastballs; in such a heated atmosphere, facing power hitters from Osaka Tsubaki, the calmer individual could gain the upper hand.

With this conviction, Lin Guanglai raised his front foot high, pressing his body forward to swing his arm, which made the baseball shoot straight towards home plate like shadows.

A moment later, the familiar voice of the umpire's ruling sounded again—yet another strike!

"Strike! Lin Guanglai! This is the fourth consecutive strike he has thrown in this half-inning!" The commentator seated in the announcer's booth widened his eyes, feeling somewhat incredulous about what's happening on the field: "Moreover, this fastball reached 150 km/h again—even after throwing over 140 pitches, he can speed up like this; I really don't know how to describe this athlete anymore, any adjectives to praise him seem pale."

In just a few brief words, Lin Guanglai on the field delivered another good pitch—he successfully tricked Oike Yuuya to swing his bat with a forkball that suddenly dropped in front of home plate, capitalizing on Osaka Tsubaki players' eagerness to hit and score.

"Five consecutive strikes! A brilliant forkball! Now the count is 0-strike, 2-ball!"

A while later—

"Swing and miss, strikeout!!! Six consecutive strikes!!!" The commentator's voice grew louder, even verging on chaotic; yet not a single person among the spectators watching this game on TV was complaining, as their focus had long been completely captured by this match.

The impact of this strikeout was immense, causing the entire Koshien to shake with excitement, numerous spectators stood up from their seats on the stands, shouting as they applauded the boy on the mound.

"Can you hear it, friends? Koshien, Koshien has completely boiled over!"

"In the last two at-bats, Lin threw 6 consecutive strikes, striking out twice, practically suffocating Osaka Tsubaki's hopes of scoring in this round—it's really hard to imagine, this is a pitcher who has thrown 4 games, 33 and a half innings, with total pitches exceeding 400 in less than two weeks!"

"So far, Lin continues to maintain a record of no runs allowed this tournament! As long as he's on the mound, this team will surely not fall! He is the championship cornerstone of this dynasty team!"

"Ha—" Another roar, Lin Guanglai on the mound thoroughly released the emotions in his heart; amid the cheers, he raised one finger:

"One more!"

As Kasamatsu Yuuya stepped into the batter's box as the fifth hitter, he could feel the shift in atmosphere on the field: if initially the spectators supporting them were about equal to those supporting Waseda Jitsugyo, then now besides their fan club on the third base stands, the tens of thousands of other spectators have all become the backers of Waseda Jitsugyo, or more accurately, of Lin Guanglai.

Playing in such an atmosphere is not a good thing for Kasamatsu Yuuya as the batter, especially since he's now the fifth hitter, needing to consider the 0:1 trailing score, and the situation with 2 outs.

The most crucial point, after Lin Guanglai consecutively struck out two Osaka Tsubaki hitters with 6 strikes, he has reached the peak of momentum; his entire body exudes an unstoppable aura.

No matter how things turn out, he was the last hope for the team this inning—Kasamatsu Yuuya gritted his teeth, with a firm heart, stepped into the batter's box.

A few minutes later—

"Strike, strike, another strike! This is already the eighth strike Lin Guanglai has thrown this inning! Osaka Tsubaki's power hitters have no way against him at all! My god!"

"With just one more strike to go, Lin can bring a perfect inning to maintain the 1-point lead into the bottom of the ninth—with his current status, the probability of holding is quite high!"

"If the underpowered-on-paper Waseda Jitsugyo can advance to the finals, it's simply like a Cinderella story!"

Receiving the ball returned by Uesugi Yasuyuki at home plate, Lin Guanglai once again placed his fingers on the baseball's seams—though his body was weary, the moment his right hand grasped the seams, Lin Guanglai felt a sense deep within:

The next pitch will definitely succeed!

Front foot raised high, still that set of unavoidably familiar moves known to both him and the audience; once gathered his strength, Lin Guanglai's left leg stepped forward broadly, driving his body to swing his arm, flinging out the baseball—from the completion of the motion, the spectators had every reason to believe this would be another strike.

Yet, when the pitching motion was completed, Lin Guanglai, with only his front leg for support, suddenly felt a softness beneath his foot, causing him to lose control and fall off the pitcher's mound, rolling several times on the ground before stopping, prompting surprised gasps from the spectators.

Even Kasamatsu Yuuya in the batter's box was startled by this sudden accident, didn't react right away, and in his hesitation allowed the baseball into the strike zone.

Once the umpire confirmed the ball was caught, he quickly followed up with a bow motion—the judgement was fine! Strike!

Kasamatsu Yuuya, struck out!

The expected tide of cheers didn't arise; everyone in Koshien's attention was focused on Lin Guanglai's condition: if he had to leave due to this accident, it would be a bolt from the blue for both Waseda Jitsugyo and the match.

Lying on the infield dirt, Lin Guanglai first tried to move his calf and ankle, only after confirming no abnormality or pain did he slowly stand up, signaling his teammates surrounding him that he was fine.

Seeing this, the commentator for this match exhaled a sigh of relief; whether from personal sentiments for Lin Guanglai or merely the desire as a commentator of Takayama to see an exciting match, he didn't wish to see Lin Guanglai get injured; after quickly adjusting, he praised with words as rapid as machine-gun fire; upon seeing he's fine, the audience on site also granted him today's highest decibel praise; even audience members in front of the TV couldn't help but utter exclamations.

At this moment, the young man is the focus of all Japan's attention!

Koshien has always favored heroes, and today Lin Guanglai is undoubtedly Waseda Jitsugyo's hero!