Baseball: A Two-Way Player

At the same time Lin Guanglai hit the ball, the commentators at the booth were glued to the monitor screen in front of them—as the trajectory of the baseball in the air was clearly displayed to everyone through the high-definition camera broadcast:

"Oh???!!!"

"It's been hit!!! The sound is loud!!!"

"Towards right field!!!"

"The trajectory is very deep!!!"

Under the watchful eyes of nearly fifty thousand spectators, the baseball flying rapidly towards right field went out of the park—it almost grazed the foul pole on its way out.

"It's out of here!!!"

"A two-run home run!!! Incredible!!!"

"Freshman Lin Guanglai, his fourth home run of the tournament!!!"

"This is a full-power strike from the prestigious team of West Tokyo! This is a declaration of war against the champions!"

"Facing the formidable Konan High School, freshman Lin Guanglai has made his statement with his fourth home run of this tournament!"

"The game continues, and for Waseda Industries, who had been trailing for a long time, this hit is undoubtedly a shot in the arm; likewise, how will Konan High School, hit hard, retaliate next?"

"The game is getting more exciting!"

At the commentary booth, the two commentators shared their views on Lin Guanglai's extraordinary performance and the current situation on the field—under their encouragement, even viewers in front of their TVs felt impatient, eager to see the further development of the game.

On the electronic scoreboard, the score had now changed to 5:3—Konan High School's five-point advantage vanished in an instant.

On the Alps Stand on the first base side, the atmosphere had already reached boiling point—supporters of Waseda Real were ecstatic, waving their cheering gear with a rustling sound.

While others were merely excited about their team scoring, the emotions of the first-year players standing at the front of the cheering stand were more complex.

Watching the baseball sail out of the park, Yagaki Kentaro couldn't help but exclaim, "Oh my god, if I'm not mistaken, this should be Guanglai's fourth home run of the tournament already, right?"

No one responded to him as everyone was too shocked to speak—those first-year players who have played baseball for many years couldn't be more aware of how hard it is to hit a home run; for most of them, being able to hit even one home run at Koshien is a dream beyond imagination.

However, for Lin Guanglai, it seemed those past conventions no longer applied—in the past ninety-plus years, only four people have managed to hit more than four home runs in a single Summer甲:

In 1985, PL Academy's Kiyohara Kazuhiko, a third-year student, hit 5 home runs in a single tournament, winning the tournament;

In 1985, Fujii Jin from the Ube Commercial, a third-year student, hit 4 home runs in a single tournament, runner-up in the tournament;

In 2005, Hirata Ryosuke from Osaka Tsubaki, a third-year student, hit 4 home runs in a single tournament, reaching the semifinals;

In 2006, Hiroi Ryosuke from Wisdom Wakayama, a third-year student, hit 4 home runs in a single tournament, reaching the semifinals.

Now, one more name has been added to this list of honors:

In 2010, Waseda Real's Lin Guanglai, a first-year student.

For his fellow first-year teammates, Lin Guanglai's outstanding performance was a tremendous inspiration, but it also put pressure on many others:

"After returning this year, we must train even harder. We absolutely cannot let others look down on us once the seniors retire!"—these were the most genuine thoughts in the hearts of these first-year students on the stand at this moment.

After Lin Guanglai's home run, the encouraged Waseda Real launched a fierce counterattack against Konan: Chongxin Shen Zhong and Matsunaga Kenta, who came to bat after Lin Guanglai, capitalized on Konan's momentary lapse, hitting consecutive singles off Shimabukuro Hiroshi.

The pace of the game became so fast that it left spectators at the scene and watching at home dazzled, drawing excited exclamations.

Konan High School, on the other hand, displayed the demeanor of being a strong team—Konan's head coach Wakayama Yu did not change strategy due to the home run, not even calling a timeout;

After a slight waver, Shimabukuro Hiroshi's pitching returned to its usual form: when facing the number three batter, Kenshu Yasuda, he threw a high slider, successfully deceiving the opponent into swinging.

Left-handed hitter Kenshu Yasuda swung his bat, connecting with the baseball and sending it in the opposite direction to left field; the baseball wobbled in the sky, eventually landing safely into the hands of Konan's outfielder just before falling to the ground.

Three outs, the top half of the inning ended—For Konan, the top of the fifth inning was full of thrills; but regardless, they maintained at least a two-point lead—as long as they avoid mistakes from here on, victory would still be theirs.

From this inning onward, the game entered a prolonged period of intense confrontation:

A spirited Waseda Industries naturally sought to quickly tie the score or even surpass it while their momentum was hot, but Shimabukuro Hiroshi's pitching and Konan's defensive levels were even higher than in the previous game against Narita;

As the leading team, Konan High School naturally opted to stabilize their position, while observing whether they could seize any additional opportunity to extend their lead—for them, under such circumstances, not making mistakes was the best outcome.

The game atmosphere was fiercely intense, with both sides playing back and forth, mixing short and long hits, strikeouts, and defensive plays—the spectacular performances made spectators at the scene feel their ticket price was well worth it.

But outside of the intensely competitive scene, the score hadn't changed since the fifth inning—leading by two points, Konan was naturally pleased with this situation, even though their defense continued to endure tremendous pressure; but for the trailing Waseda Industries, this was not good news.

This stalemate persisted until changes finally emerged in the top of the eighth inning:

On Konan's side, Shimabukuro Hiroshi's state continued to decline; in this inning, the first batter for Waseda Real was Kakiwara Yosuke, who had performed outstandingly throughout this game.

Proactively battling Shimabukuro Hiroshi through several pitches, Kakiwara Yosuke seized the opportunity and sent the ball to the front of central field, quickly reaching first base;

The subsequent batter, Lin Guanglai, didn't deliver a hit as in previous instances—as the game entered its final stages, with him also serving as a pitcher, he had little energy left—thus, Lin Guanglai chose to execute the coach's tactical strategy, using a sacrifice bunt to advance Kakiwara Yosuke on first base to second base.

Chongxin Shen Zhong and Matsunaga Kenta didn't let their Waseda Real teammates down either: after helping Kakiwara Yosuke reach third base, Matsunaga Kenta delivered a timely hit, securing another run for the team!

Using a sacrifice play to force a score, Waseda Real closed the gap to 4:5.

They still have one last half inning to create a miracle.