Baseball: A Two-Way Player

Standing on the pitcher's mound, Lin Guanglai felt exceptionally calm.

He felt as though he had entered a peculiar state: within his vision, the speed of everything seemed to slow down, every small movement of everyone was captured by him;

Receiving the baseball passed from Uesugi Yasuyuki at home plate, at the moment the ball entered his hand, a silky smooth feeling spread from his hand through his entire body—this feeling was so wonderful that it made a thought arise in Lin Guanglai's heart:

"Next, my pitches will just go as I want them to."

In Lin Guanglai's current sensory perception, the Shengong Second Stadium seemed to turn into a chessboard, with his teammates and National Academy Kugayama's opponents all being pieces on the board; while he stood on the mound, the chess master of this game.

Gazing toward the first and third base runners, the Kugayama runners kept advancing and retreating from the bases, eager to test Lin Guanglai, attempting to exert pressure through such actions;

In the batting box beside home plate, Kawaguchi Kiyotaka took a deep breath, eliminating distracting thoughts and then stood ready in batting stance.

The umpire pointed to the pitcher's mound with his right hand: "Play Ball!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Lin Guanglai followed through with a fastball, charging into Kawaguchi Kiyotaka's inside corner with determined momentum.

In the batter's box, Kawaguchi Kiyotaka wasn't to be outdone, quickly adjusting his grip and swinging his bat with his fastest speed toward the incoming ball—a black and gold metal bat sliced through the air, drawing a full trajectory.

"Clang."

Yet the speed and angle of the ball were controlled so well that, even after Kawaguchi Kiyotaka gave his all, he could only barely graze the baseball.

The white ball, barely touched by the bat, failed to fly into the catcher's mitt according to plan, instead soaring beyond home plate and landing in the stands where a screaming audience caught it.

"Out of bounds, good ball."

Seeing Kawaguchi Kiyotaka's aggressive swing, Lin Guanglai and Uesugi Yasuyuki exchanged glances, quickly forming a strategy.

Behind home plate in the catcher's area, Uesugi Yasuyuki subtly adjusted his squat, signaling Lin Guanglai to pitch.

"Whoosh!" The baseball was pitched, producing a light breeze sound as it scratched the air.

Throughout the game, Lin Guanglai's prowess had exerted immense pressure on the Kugayama players—under the heavy burden feeling pressed by this high outside pitch, Kawaguchi Kiyotaka couldn't muster the patience to observe its trajectory, his muscle memory bypassing his brain, compelling him to swing.

"Swish."

The bat swung smoothly through the top of the strike zone, missing everything along the way.

"Pop."

As the baseball collided with the catcher's mitt, the umpire's ruling was simultaneously announced:

"Strike!"

The first pitch was counted as a foul strike, the second a successful bait for a swing using a high outside ball, demonstrating early Waseda's productive tactics in this inning—with just one more strike, this inning and the half would conclude.

Standing straight on the pitcher's mound, Lin Guanglai extended his index finger to remind his teammates with the loudest voice:

"One more!"

"Oh yes!!!" came the rallying responses from his teammates.

In the batter's box, Kawaguchi Kiyotaka faced significant pressure, requested time-out from the umpire, then stepped out of the box taking deep breaths, trying to relax his tense body.

Slapping his cheeks with his palms, Kawaguchi Kiyotaka inwardly chanted "You can do it," encouraging himself.

Before re-entering the batter's box, he shouted a robust "Ya-sa" and then steadied his bat.

At this point, early Waseda became the side in no hurry—despite the Kugayama runners still fidgeting at first and third bases, the 0 bad ball 2 good ball advantage provided Waseda's pitcher-catcher pair with ample room, given Lin Guanglai's current state, they had countless ways to take out the batter.

Because Kawaguchi Kiyotaka batted right-handed, during the third pitch, Uesugi Yasuyuki specially squatted towards the left hitting zone, acting as though attempting to lure with a bad ball.

As the ball flew from Lin Guanglai's hand, even the spectators with no knowledge of baseball could discern that the trajectory was bizarrely off, not even resembling a pitch from an athlete of Lin Guanglai's caliber.

While the audience at the venue and watching television, and even commentator Sugai Masakazu himself debated the intent behind such a pitch, the fourth ball was swiftly thrown by Lin Guanglai.

The speed of this pitch exceeded the expectations of everyone present, Kawaguchi Kiyotaka was no exception:

A fast and urgent baseball soared directly toward the inside corner, the short interval leaving Kawaguchi Kiyotaka hardly any time to react; more critically, this pitch's trajectory looked highly threatening!

In a flash so quick, unable to establish his batting stance, Kawaguchi Kiyotaka could only lower his body, attempting to disrupt the ball out of bounds with his bat and secure another chance against the pitcher.

But time was already insufficient—just as the tip of his bat barely reached down, the small red and white baseball had already whisked through the strike zone, landing in Uesugi Yasuyuki's mitt.

"Thud," not only the sound from glove and baseball clashing, but also Kawaguchi Kiyotaka losing balance, his knees hitting dirt with the sound of soil contact on the infield.

"Ohhhhhhh——!!!"

At Shengong Second Stadium, only now did the spectators react: early Waseda's pitcher-catcher duo initially distracted the batter with an obvious bad ball, then caught him off guard with a highly placed inside pitch to conclude the half inning.

"Three outs, sides switch!" Commentator Sugai Masakazu on the commentary desk couldn't hold back and shouted loudly into the microphone.

"Pressure on first and third base! Umpire error! None of this affected Lin Guanglai at all!"

"Look at his expression, viewers, this young man has such a resilient heart, how could someone like him be defeated by pressure!"

"I have to say, National Academy Kugayama players performed exceptionally well today—their extraordinary play should have secured the game had they faced other schools and players."

"But this is the harsh reality of baseball! Also its allure! Sometimes you have to accept, despite your remarkable performance, the opponent exceeds expectations even more."

"The top of the eleventh is over, and the score remains 0:0—Waseda Industries, they still have one shot left to change the score."

"Will they manage it?"