Baseball: A Two-Way Player

"Request for a pitching change!" On the first-base side of the stadium, outside the area for the players of the Waseda Industrial School, Mr. Izumi raised his hand toward the umpire at the baseline.

In Mr. Izumi's original plan, the game should proceed as follows:

Uchida Saint would start as a false starter for the team, pitching for about three to four innings. Even if some runs were given away, it wouldn't matter—this would give Lin Guanglai, the team's only remaining quality starter, more buffer time; if Waseda Industries could reach the finals, arranging the lineup would be relatively easier.

However, once the actual game began, Mr. Izumi realized, although his plan sounded wonderful, he overlooked one crucial factor—that is human nature.

You cannot expect every player to have the composure and calmness to face any situation or scene; in fact, such qualities are quite rare—at least for Uchida Saint, the pressure of the current scene was already on the verge of completely overwhelming him.

The current score was displayed on the electronic scoreboard above the outfield at Koshien Stadium: bottom of the third inning, Waseda Industrial 0:5 Konan High School; the situation was one out with bases loaded—Waseda Industrial was nearly pushed to the brink less than three innings into the match.

Mr. Izumi knew he could not wait any longer—if he waited any longer, the players' confidence would sooner or later be shattered, and by then the umpire might even declare the game has entered garbage time.

He patted Lin Guanglai, who was standing beside him, and tried to maintain emotional stability, speaking in a calm tone, "Guanglai, once you're up there, don't feel pressured, just perform your best."

"With one out and bases loaded, no one will blame you no matter what happens."

Having completed warming up in the bullpen and prepared to substitute, Lin Guanglai nodded, "Don't worry, coach, I'm not nervous at all—we still have plenty of opportunities, as the game hasn't even finished three innings yet!"

Under the powerful bombardment from Konan's strong batting lineup, Uchida Saint's current ability was completely insufficient to deal with the opponents—he was emotionally collapsing, walking down from the pitching mound like a zombie, yet before he could say a word, he was embraced by Mr. Izumi.

Mr. Izumi gently patted Uchida Saint's back, speaking in a self-blaming tone, "Saint, don't speak, don't say anything—you've done everything you could, so just rest well, no need to say anything—just trust in your teammates, they can do it!"

Hearing the words of comfort from his own coach, Uchida Saint couldn't hold back and started sobbing softly—the feeling of self-blame in his heart engulfed him like a tide, leaving him suffocating.

In the stands, many local neutral spectators from Hyogo Prefecture started whispering about the starting pitcher issue as they watched the adverse situation for Waseda Industrial:

"Ah, why didn't Mr. Izumi start with that number 18—his velocity and control are both better than this current number 11, right?"

"Lin is still a first-year student; protective use seems reasonable—I think the main issue is their number one ace got his wrist hit by a pitch in that game against Kantou Number One; otherwise, it wouldn't have been like this."

"Number 11's previous performance was actually okay; today it was clearly because of the semifinals, he gave himself too much pressure—and we must admit, Konan's batting lineup is in too good a state, clearly having spent much effort studying their opponents!"

In the center of the field, unlike the spectators who were still chatting away, Lin Guanglai, who substituted onto the field, had no time to think about anything else—it was his first time taking the field as a firefighter, and the current urgent situation on the field allowed no distraction:

Setting aside the one-out and bases-loaded situation, Mae Hira Hideaki was up again in the next turn at bat for Konan—the bases-loaded situation is likely the dream scenario for every long-range batter, as no batter can resist the temptation to hit a grand slam.

Just by seeing the opponent eagerly moving outside the batting zone, a clear sight of intent could be seen.

"Can we use the opponent's eager pursuit of a strong hit to target him?"

After confirming the type of pitch with Tsuchiya Ryota using signals, Lin Guanglai, having made up his mind, threw the baseball—with such a powerful slugger like Mae Hira Hideaki, the pitcher must dare to use inside pitches to pressure them.

A fast inside fastball with a speed of 147 km/h, spinning quickly, with a heavy ball quality, flew toward home plate with great force.

Mae Hira Hideaki showed no fear, facing this inside pitch most ordinary batters would let pass, with his skilled batting technique, he swung the bat without hesitation.

"Clang!"—The incoming baseball flew out of the field, falling behind home plate.

"Foul ball!" The umpire handed a clean baseball to the catcher, Tsuchiya Ryota returned the ball to Lin Guanglai.

Outside the batting zone, Mae Hira Hideaki still felt a tingling in his hands:

"Ugh, such a pity, I almost managed to follow the ball path—but isn't this ball's quality too good? Even if I hit it, it's likely without much force."

"Is this really a ball a first-year pitcher can throw?"

After that pitch, both the pitcher and batter had another duel—the ball count came to 2 balls and 2 strikes.

In the entwining of those pitches, Lin Guanglai and Tsuchiya Ryota could clearly feel Mae Hira Hideaki's urgency to swing the bat; thus, they planned to utilize such eagerness to potentially grab a double play.

Squatting behind the baseline, Tsuchiya Ryota signaled Lin Guanglai to pitch to the low outside corner with a forkball.

Lin Guanglai nodded slightly, ambiguously gazing at the baserunner beside him, hinting with a threat in his eyes for them to keep in line—then his right hand concealed in the glove slightly adjusted, positioning the baseball for the forkball grip.

Suddenly, his front foot sharply lifted and stepped forward, his arm swinging forward along with the body's twist, and the baseball slipped out from between his index and ring fingers.

In the 2 balls and 2 strikes situation, Mae Hira Hideaki naturally dared not be careless, aiming at the direction of the ball path to swing the bat.

"Clang——"

The baseball and bat collided, hit onto the infield and rolled toward the space between first and second base.

Fukasawa Kouichi, who was standing ready, didn't make any mistakes, smoothly catching the fast-rolling baseball into his glove, and then tossed it over to Matsunaga Kenta, covering the second base bag beside him;

Matsunaga Kenta caught the tossed baseball, lightly stepping his right foot on the base, first eliminating the runner heading for first base, then transitioning with a step and arm swing to send the ball to first base;

Sugai Natsuki confirmed the incoming ball direction, striding forward a big step, and tagged out the opponent before Maezono Hideaki reached the bag.

By this time, although the runners on second and third for Konan had returned to home plate, the double play had been completed, resulting in three outs, making their runs invalid.

Upon witnessing this beautiful 4-6-3 double play, cheers erupted from the Waseda Industries side of the stands—despite being behind in score, the game was only a third through, and a five-run gap was indeed bridgeable.

In the commentary booth, the two commentators of this game also began discussing:

"Lin has the heart of a lion—facing a bases-loaded situation, he calmly induced the opponent to hit a grounder and secured a double play, this mental toughness really doesn't seem like that of a first-year!"

"Indeed! This is truly the complete form of Waseda Industrial—seeing such a performance from first-year Lin Guanglai, I'm already looking forward to next year or even two years later, wondering what kind of monster he will become!"

"The match is getting more exciting; with Lin Guanglai coming in as a substitute, can the complete form of Waseda bridge this four-run gap?"

"Audience members, let's wait and see!"