July 14, 2010, the day after the third round of the West Tokyo Conference.
Since we had just experienced an official match, today's training intensity was much lower than usual, mainly focusing on basic fielding practice.
On the baseball field of Waseda Industrial School, the fielders were conducting field training, which included intercepting ground balls, fly balls, and relay throws between bases.
In baseball games, defense is always the foundation that determines how far a team can go, and it's a basic skill that needs to be honed through consistent practice over time - behind those eye-catching plays on the field is the players' day-to-day sweat.
Lin Guanglai did not engage in pitching training today. Instead, he practiced with the outfield group: partly because he had just started as a pitcher in yesterday's seven-inning game, requiring adequate rest for his arm; another reason was the next game, in which Supervisor Izumi Minoru decided to rotate Suzuki Kensuke as the starting pitcher, while Lin Guanglai would take the starting right field position.
"I'll catch it——!!!"
"Stay focused!!!"
"Pass it to me, pass it flat, fast, and steady!!!"
The shouts of the players could be heard on the field, and Izumi Minoru was standing on the sideline flipping through the data in his hand—he was quite satisfied with the team's performance in the first match: 10 hits and 7 RBIs throughout the game; although the opponent Musashi High School was not a strong team, at least the batting lineup was in good shape.
As the team's supervisor, Izumi Minoru had to ensure the continuity of the players' states, which always troubled him: high school players' performance is inherently unstable and extremely prone to significant fluctuations;
If their form improves too slowly, they could be unexpectedly defeated by a weaker team right from the start; but if it improves too quickly, it might easily lose steam in later matches—the expression "strive with energy at first, then decline with exhaustion" aptly describes the challenge. As a supervisor, figuring out how to guide players to unleash their full potential is something he still needs to decide in the upcoming matches.
If there's a part of yesterday's game he was most satisfied with, it would be Lin Guanglai's performance—Izumi Minoru certainly knew Lin Guanglai's future achievements wouldn't be low, but he didn't expect such a debut performance: complete game in seven innings, 11 strikeouts, only 3 hits, and 1 walk.
From every angle, it was a perfect debut - it seemed like he didn't even need an adjustment period.
"The original plan was just to let him share the burden as a freshman rotation pitcher to relieve Kensuke's pressure, but it seems the plan can't keep up with changes, maybe I should consider adding more responsibilities for him." Izumi Minoru thought to himself.
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After completing the morning recovery training, the afternoon was a long-awaited rest period for the players of the Waseda Industrial Baseball Club—after all, just finishing a formal match yesterday, the players also needed time to relieve mental fatigue.
For those not familiar with Takayama, it might be assumed that a private prestigious school team would naturally have more leisure than weaker teams due to their strength—this is absolutely incorrect.
In fact, take Waseda Industrial where Lin Guanglai is as an example, their training intensity is even greater than that of other schools' teams, their training schedule is fuller, and the demands from the supervisor are stricter—
Joining the baseball club, to some extent, means bidding farewell to the colorful high school life depicted in anime: the team strictly requires members to shave their heads; school trips and festival activities have nothing to do with them; and having a girlfriend is strictly prohibited.
Being players on a strong team, since they enjoy better conditions, they naturally also bear greater pressure.
In the locker room, the baseball club players, having finished their training, were chatting—the topics varied widely, including professional baseball games, the latest manga, and anime, with some listening to music through their earphones.
"Ahem—" a coughing sound came from the door, and everyone in the locker room looked towards it—only to see Tsuchiya Ryota holding a medium-sized box as he walked in.
He took out a brand new catcher's mitt from the box, looked around at his teammates, and flashed a smug grin: "I have an announcement, my new catcher's mitt has arrived."
"The principle of 'stepping on new shoes three times' applies everywhere—especially for the Takayama boys who have few activities besides training, related baseball gear naturally catches everyone's attention.
"Wow, Ryota, do you have that much money? This mitt doesn't look cheap, does it? This leather texture, this scent—ah, fantastic! This is the smell of money!" The left fielder, Kakiwara Yosuke, took the mitt from Tsuchiya Ryota's hands and admired it indulgently.
"I think, just for this cowhide texture, it must be at least 40,000 or 50,000 yen, right?" The third baseman, Shigetsugu Shinjiro, chimed in.
"40,000? Haha, let me tell you, for 40,000 you can only buy half!" Tsuchiya Ryota smirked at Shigetsugu Shinjiro's words: "Look at this logo, this is a Hatakeyama top model mitt, known as the Rolls Royce of catcher mitts, the ultimate dream for every catcher—it cost me 80,000, and I've been saving for years to afford it."
"Alas, what's unfortunate is the long production time, the mitt hasn't even arrived long enough for me to break it in according to my habits; but no worries, when we go to Koshien this summer, I'll use this mitt for the games—when the camera catches me on TV, catchers from all over the country will immediately see this top-tier glove on my hand, hahaha——"
"Let me put it bluntly, even if we really go to Koshien, most of the camera shots would probably be on Kensuke or Guanglai—you, as a catcher, are just an accessory." Hearing Tsuchiya Kenta's words, Onoda Shunsuke couldn't resist shooting him down.
With Tsuchiya Ryota saying "What did you say," he and Onoda were soon "wrestling" with each other—the locker room echoed with laughter.
As the youngest regular player, Lin Guanglai quickly integrated, joining in the banter and fun with his seniors.
But amidst the playfulness, since in two days, the fourth round of the West Tokyo Conference was about to begin—the matchup was already determined, Waseda's opponent for the fourth round was Practical Academy, a private high school from Tokyo's Nakano District.
For this reason, Lin Guanglai raised his hand, and asked the seniors, "The match is the day after tomorrow, shouldn't we study Practical Academy, this opponent?"
Tsuchiya Ryota nonchalantly waved it off, saying to Lin Guanglai, "Ah, the next opponent isn't strong, Practical Academy may be a private school, but they are really average in strength—we faced them in last year's West Tokyo Conference, and we scored 8 runs against them in one inning."
"Besides, Kensuke is starting the day after tomorrow, it's no big deal. Guanglai, you stand in the right field and just watch the performance of me and Kensuke—frankly, we should be studying East Asia Academy instead. I'm telling you, East Asia Academy's Mihori Yuusuke, I've disliked him for a long time…"