Baseball: A Two-Way Player

Standing in the batter's box, Miyamori Shun's smile took Lin Guanglai by surprise—it was unexpected because ever since he made a name for himself last summer, many school pitchers facing him often appeared very serious, even with expressions of deep animosity.

With Lin Guanglai's continued improvement in batting techniques, his ability to hit long balls also became increasingly outstanding, making pitchers feel more intimidated—because of this, more opponents chose to intentionally walk him, preferring to let him get on base rather than have him bat.

An opponent like Miyamori Shun, it's been a while since Lin Guanglai faced one—was such a smile underestimating his ability as a batter? Or did he think his pitching strategy could easily strike him out?

Lin Guanglai slightly tightened his lips, gripped the bat more firmly, and his expression became more serious—since the opponent was so relaxed, he didn't mind helping intensify things.

With a command from the umpire behind home plate, the clash between pitcher and batter officially began.

"Play Ball!"

The first pitch, Miyamori Shun lifted his front leg, then swung his arm to send the ball out.

Lin Guanglai by home plate didn't move but chose to watch as the baseball flew into the home plate—as expected, the baseball wasn't able to press into the strike zone; the control over the slider's horizontal move was slightly off, and it entered the catcher's glove after sliding out of the strike zone.

"Ball."

1 ball, 0 strikes.

Miyamori Shun on the mound showed a somewhat annoyed look upon seeing the call for a ball—his dramatic body movement suggested that the intention behind this pitch was clearly to quickly seize a strike, but poor control caused a deviation from where the catcher positioned.

The second pitch.

The baseball was promptly thrown by Miyamori Shun, this time the pitch looked very stable, yet it came at the cost of reduced velocity for control—such a pitch, if it were before, Lin Guanglai would definitely have already swung; but now, he focused on watching the ball more closely and delayed his swing.

Hesitatingly, Lin Guanglai didn't quite grasp the fraction of a second of the delayed swing window, and when he finally swung, it was obviously too late, so he let the second ball pass as well.

"Strike."

1 ball, 1 strike.

In the players' area next to the field, the rustling discussion among players started.

For Waseda Jitsugyo, when they saw Miyamori Shun throw that pitch, even Hagiyama Mitsuo who was up next was already preparing to go on stage—it appeared to him that the pitch would be easy for their captain to hit, and with his skill, a long hit seemed inevitable.

For Keio, especially for the pitcher Miyamori Shun himself, upon realizing he had thrown such a pitch, his heart nearly sank—imagine what would happen when this type of pitch faces a power hitter known for hitting long balls; even Miyamori Shun thought, if a long hit happens, it better not fly out of the field.

The result was beyond both teams' expectations: Lin Guanglai failed to swing at such an opportunity! This was totally unlike him!

It was as if time froze on the field, and a few moments later, the players from Keio finally reacted, with loud cheers praising their player's performance, "Nice pitch," "Good pitcher" praises echoed continuously.

"Seems like his form is really off... Should we be more aggressive in our pitching strategy from now on..."

As Miyamori Shun pondered on this from the mound, Lin Guanglai outside the batter's box was reflecting on his previous at-bat.

"Indeed, grasping the timing for a delayed swing is quite challenging—even though delaying the swing can help better observe the pitch and avoid being deceived by breaking balls traveling on the same path as fastballs, it also increases the demands on reaction speed, bat speed, and swing timing."

"The last pitch I missed clearly resulted from not timing my swing properly; my brain and body weren't fully synced, and when I finished watching the ball, swinging was already too late..."

Even though he missed a golden opportunity, Lin Guanglai didn't seem very upset; instead, he continually summarized the experience and lessons from that bat, asking himself how he could improve in the upcoming games.

After confirming Lin Guanglai wasn't in his best form, Miyamori Shun became more aggressive in his pitching strategy, even trying to intentionally throw strikes for Lin Guanglai to hit—something unthinkable earlier.

Yet, Lin Guanglai's resilience was strong; he wasn't easily struck out by Miyamori Shun; instead, he saw his opponent as a whetstone to refine his new batting techniques while patiently picking pitches.

As they went back and forth, the game quickly reached 3 balls and 2 strikes, full count—from a spectator's point of view, it seemed like both sides were evenly matched, neither able to easily best the other.

Miyamori Shun panted heavily; as a pitcher compared to a batter, he certainly consumed more energy; dragging out a confrontation with the batter carried the risk of Lin Guanglai figuring out his pitching habits, and there'd be no time for regrets.

So, Miyamori Shun signaled to his catcher that it would be the last pitch for this at-bat.

Fearing Lin Guanglai's past achievements, for the decisive pitch, Miyamori Shun opted for a difficult high-inside fastball—a location most batters would let go, and even if it didn't hit the strike zone, it would just be a four-ball walk.

To Miyamori Shun, this strategy seemed to offer a prudent way of handling things.

Following a smooth pitching motion, he threw the fastball to the high part of the strike zone.

Watching the baseball fly towards home plate, Lin Guanglai's eyes fixed hard on the ball, his mind recalling Ikezaki Takakazu's patient guidance:

"Imagine your body as a spring, transform each muscle into the force of your swing."

"Try to let the ball get slightly closer to home plate, then exhaust all your strength to hit the ball mightily towards the sky!"

"Clang——!!!!!!"

The crisp sound of the bat meeting the ball resonated through the stadium, and the ball violently launched upwards, catapulting into the sky under the watchful eyes of the audience and players, soaring towards the outfield, and then disappearing beyond the field.