After warming up briefly and pitching a few balls, Lin Guanglai signaled to the chief referee Izumi Minoru that he was ready.
The first batter for the senior team was also a third-year player—Onoda Shunsuke, the team's main right fielder, who excels in selecting pitches and base running. Last year, he was selected into the "High School Baseball Selection Tournament Most Notable Players" list by the Japan high school baseball media and is undoubtedly a powerful player.
Batter types like Onoda often cause pitchers serious headaches: on one hand, such batters can easily hit singles to help their teammates advance bases or even send them home to score; on the other hand, if opted for an intentional walk, their speed poses a constant defensive threat.
Facing Upperclassman Onoda, Lin Guanglai didn't rush to pitch. Instead, he stayed put, biding his time and observing Onoda's batting rhythm—just before the pitching time was about to run out, Lin Guanglai threw the ball.
Right off the bat, Lin Guanglai gave it his all— with a fluid pitching motion and a swift arm, the baseball shot out and flew into Uesugi Yasuyuki's catcher's mitt.
No balls, one strike.
This was a low outside fastball with extreme speed and a tricky angle, perfectly wedged into the uncomfortable low outside corner for Onoda—he could only shake his head, expressing his helplessness.
Receiving the ball back from the catcher, Lin Guanglai didn't show the same "patience" as he did on the first ball. After confirming the batter at home plate was ready, he decisively threw it again.
Unlike the first pitch, this one was noticeably slower, tracing a beautiful parabola in the air before dropping into the strike zone— Lin Guanglai opted for a curveball.
No balls, two strikes.
Compared to the first fastball, this curveball was over 20km/h slower, which was precisely why Lin Guanglai chose it—powerful hitters adapt to speed quite well, so pitchers need to disrupt their hitting rhythm whenever possible: the combination of fastballs and slow breaking balls is one such effective rhythm disruptor.
Because of this, Lin Guanglai's third ball was another fastball—facing a count of no balls, two strikes, Onoda didn't dare to choose and swung the bat.
But in terms of path, this third fastball's trajectory differed from the first: this pitch targeted Onoda's inside low corner, rather than the first's outside low—
"Thud—" The sound of the baseball colliding with the catcher's mitt echoed from home plate.
The batter swung and missed, striking out.
"Yeah—!!! Nice pitch, Guanglai!!!" Cheers erupted from both the field and the first-year team.
On the senior team's bench, Tsuchiya Ryota took a deep breath and said to Suzuki Kensuke beside him:
"Whoa~ Are today's first-years really this good? Kensuke, did you see that fastball? It must've been over 140km/h, right? And that curveball, can you throw with such a big drop arc?"
Suzuki Kensuke said nothing, just shook his head, indicating he couldn't. Then he stood up, patted Onoda, who just returned to the bench, offering his consolation.
Nearby, Tsuchiya Ryota wore a mischievous grin, mocked, "Hahaha~ Shunsuke, didn't expect this day would come for you, losing to a first-year's strikeout, how does that feel? Pretty bad, huh?"
In response, Onoda rolled his eyes and punched Tsuchiya Ryota: "Guanglai's fastball is quick, and he controls several breaking balls. Someone like you, Ryouta, might do even worse than me."
Tsuchiya Ryota brushed off his good teammate's mockery, thumping his chest and proclaiming loudly, "No matter how bad I am, I'd never end up striking out three times in a row by a junior and slinking away off the field."
"Second batter, catcher, Mr. Tsuchiya." Saito Mayu's announcement came through the broadcast.
"Kensuke, Shunsuke, you both better keep your eyes peeled and watch how I'll hit a homer off a first-year."
Three minutes later—"Strike three, you're out!"
Tsuchiya Ryota returned dejectedly to the bench from the batter's box, facing Suzuki Kensuke's subtle smile and Onoda Shunsuke's sneers, Tsuchiya Ryota flushed red, defending himself:
"Being struck out isn't a big deal... In baseball games, getting struck out is pretty normal!" He mumbled something about "the seniors' mercy" and "letting him go," causing the seniors to erupt in laughter; the bench brimmed with cheerful atmosphere.
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The game quickly reached the top of the third inning, with the first-year team on offense.
In the first two innings, both the first-year and senior teams showed strong pitcher performance and defense; although there were hits allowing play advancements, no runs were scored ultimately— hence, the score remained 0:0.
"Ninth batter, pitcher, Mr. Lin." Saito Mayu announced again—this inning, Lin Guanglai was the first-year team's leadoff hitter.
Lin Guanglai put on his batting gear, grabbed a bat, and swung it a few times in place. This inning his goal was to hit a single off the captain, for which Lin Guanglai devised a straightforward batting strategy:
This at-bat, he would only target fastballs located in the strike zone!
To force the opposing pitcher and catcher to decide in the strike zone, a pair of keen "seeing-eye" abilities are crucial at this moment—a good eye for pitches nullifies any attempt by the pitcher to tempt the batter with bad balls, pushing for a showdown in the zone.
In the first at-bat, Catcher Tsuchiya Ryota opted for a relatively conservative pitch selection, and Suzuki Kensuke on the mound nodded in agreement.
Standing on the mound's slope, Suzuki Kensuke used his fingertips to align with the baseball seams, then with a lift of the leg, twist of the waist, and swing of the arm—the baseball was thrown.
With excellent dynamic vision, Lin Guanglai didn't swing: the trajectory of this ball was quite straight but obviously high; such probing high ball couldn't fool someone who's also a pitcher.
One ball, no strikes.
The ensuing second pitch was exactly the fastball Lin Guanglai wanted—thus, he swung decisively, "Clang~", a crisp sound erupted as the baseball met the bat. Unfortunately, the ball had a substantial heavy feel, resulting in a foul hit.
One ball, one strike.
Third ball.
As the baseball was thrown, the white figure rapidly flew towards the center of the strike zone—Lin Guanglai's body instinctively tried to shift and exert force because, from the pitch path, this was a very favorable sweet-spot fastball for batters.
However, recalling Ogata Kazuyoshi's earlier experience and his judgment as a pitcher himself, Lin Guanglai didn't believe the captain would intentionally give him such a sweet pitch on purpose; thus, he forcibly inhibited his urge to swing and refrained from acting.
Sure enough, it was a slider—the ball's trajectory quickly shifted outside as it approached the plate, sliding out of the strike zone.
Clenching his fist, Lin Guanglai exhaled heavily, internally chanting: "Good! I gambled right!"
Two balls, one strike.
Next, on the fourth pitch, clearly, Suzuki Kensuke's mindset was affected slightly, leading to a minor control lapse on the release point, causing the ball to be distinctly inside, successfully avoided by Lin Guanglai.
Three balls, one strike.
With the count at three balls, one strike, all the pressure shifted from the batter to the defense—if the next ball is a bad one luring, it's a walk; but if a decisive pitch is thrown in the strike zone, there's a chance of a hit; even if the batter swings and misses, there's still one more opportunity.
Facing the grave situation, Catcher Tsuchiya Ryota called a brief time-out for a short conference with his pitching partner, they decided to use a fastball in the strike zone for the next pitch!
On the mound, Suzuki Kensuke lifted his left leg, tightly braced waist and abdomen instantly turning to power the arm, then exerting full force in throwing the ball—
Standing in the batter's box, Lin Guanglai flashed a smile facing the incoming pitch— this was the ball he had been waiting for!
"Clang~" The sound of intense collision rang out between the baseball and bat, following the crisp sound, the ball flew towards the unmanned left field area—along with the ball's landing, Lin Guanglai stepped onto second base.
A clean and crisp, beautifully executed double!