Standing on third base, Lin Guanglai could feel the pressure surging like a tide: it was a great scoring opportunity at first, but after just one at-bat, the situation for his side took a sharp downturn.
Regarding the current situation, Lin Guanglai felt very unwilling—his fighting spirit burned brightly; he was unwilling to leave with runners stranded on third base; unwilling to return to the bench pretending everything was fine, and then uttering "better luck next time"; even more unwilling to be consoled by the seniors with a victorious attitude, while he could only regret not seizing this opportunity.
Despite the flames burning within, Lin Guanglai's mind remained calm and analytical about the situation on the field:
Two outs, a runner on third; the next batter up was their third batter, Uesugi Yasuyuki—with whom Lin Guanglai had partnered for years, making him well aware of Uesugi's strength.
As the central batter of the team, Uesugi's batting ability was assured. Because of this, Lin Guanglai made a swinging gesture toward the batter's area for Uesugi, indicating he should swing with all his effort at any ball he likes.
Meanwhile, Lin Guanglai himself began to shift his foot away from third base and started slowly moving toward home plate—the most threatening player on the field at the moment, he needed to distract the pitcher as much as possible to relieve pressure on his team's batter.
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Playing as the pitcher, Suzuki Kensuke was now somewhat annoyed—out of the corner of his eye, he could see Lin Guanglai standing at third base in a very aggressive position, clearly pressuring him.
Suppressing the annoyance in his heart, Suzuki Kensuke decided to ignore Lin Guanglai—if he could strike out the batter Uesugi Yasuyuki in the batter's box, Lin Guanglai's pressure would be futile.
However, perhaps due to mental influence, Suzuki Kensuke's first pitch was visibly high, and Uesugi Yasuyuki selected it without pressure.
The ball was returned by the catcher, and Suzuki Kensuke noticed Lin Guanglai at third base had moved off the base again, so he quickly turned sideways and threw the ball toward third base—third baseman Shigetsugu Shinjiro reached for the ball to make a tag, but it was slightly late.
This move did serve to deter. Seeing Lin Guanglai reluctant to leave the base again for a short time, Suzuki Kensuke atop the mound took a deep breath and focused completely on his pitching task.
With two swift arm swings, the game reached 1 ball, 2 strikes—a sharply angled four-seam fastball and Suzuki Kensuke's signature forkball successfully made Uesugi Yasuyuki swing and miss twice.
One strike left to perfectly resolve the freshmen's offensive—after throwing the second strike, Suzuki Kensuke relaxed a bit.
The fourth ball was pitched with some tentativeness, intending to tempt Uesugi Yasuyuki to swing; however, Uesugi in the batter's box didn't fall for it.
Catching the ball, Tsuchiya Ryota took off his mask leisurely, stood up slowly, and tossed the baseball slowly toward the pitcher's mound—seeing the favorable situation for his side, Tsuchiya Ryota was slightly complacent;
He did not notice a figure speeding toward home plate.
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"It's now!"
Seeing Tsuchiya Ryota leisurely get up and slowly pass the ball, surveying the defenders' state, Lin Guanglai realized it was an unmissable opportunity:
When the catcher received the ball thrown by the pitcher to home plate, the game remained in a live ball state—and runners on base could choose to steal bases at will during live ball status.
Now everyone's attention on the field was almost entirely caught by the duel at the center field; even though Lin Guanglai was standing almost midway between third base and home plate, none of the defensive seniors noticed to alert.
"Anyway, this situation, failing the steal means out, struck out means out…I'll gamble!" Lin Guanglai gritted his teeth, then precisely timed the moment when Tsuchiya Ryota returned the ball to the pitcher and dashed fiercely toward home plate.
"Watch out for the steal!!!" Suzuki Kensuke on the mound first spotted Lin Guanglai's movement and hurriedly shouted to alert teammates—the fielding players awakened as if from a dream, faces that were relaxed were instantly replaced with urgency:
Especially home plate's catcher, Tsuchiya Ryota, who wanted to lower his glove to tag the rushing Lin Guanglai, only to suddenly remember the ball had been returned to the pitcher, thus hastily signaled Suzuki Kensuke to pass the ball back;
Suzuki Kensuke didn't dare to delay, once he caught the returned ball, he immediately used all his might to throw it back towards Tsuchiya Ryota at home plate—but it was already too late.
Before Tsuchiya Ryota could tag Lin Guanglai with the glove carrying the ball, Lin Guanglai's hand had already touched the home plate.
With the chief referee Izumi Minoru's declaration of "safe", the freshmen couldn't contain their excitement and joy, rushed out of the bench jumping and loudly celebrating:
"Sha—Guanglai was amazing, we scored!"
"Stealing home base, this is stealing home base!!! Hahahahahahaha——"
Lin Guanglai, who had just stolen home successfully, pounded the ground twice and then jumped up to embrace his teammates in celebration.
First-year, scores first——score 1:0.
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Inspired by Lin Guanglai's successful steal of home base, the first-year team suddenly gained great momentum.
In the following innings, despite not being as strong as the senior team, both sides fiercely competed back and forth, resulting in numerous strikeouts and base hits, with cheers occasionally erupting from the stands.
However, seniors are seniors—if there's a difference between the first-year team and senior players, apart from physical strength, a significant part comes down to experience:
Relying on Lin Guanglai's steady pitching, the first-year team managed to keep the score close; but seeing they couldn't break open the game in a short time, the senior team employed another strategy that made reasonable use of the rules—
Each of their batters started prolonging the time at bat against Lin Guanglai. This led to a significant increase in the number of pitches Lin had to use to resolve each batter.
It's important to know that a pitcher's arm is a consumable asset. Excessive pitching can lead to arm fatigue and even injury—for a starting pitcher, it's generally best to limit the number of pitches to within 100 per game;
And to protect pitchers' athletic longevity, Izumi Minoru's rules stipulate that besides official games, the pitch count for starting pitchers must not exceed eighty.
As a first-year freshman, fifteen-year-old Lin Guanglai's body isn't fully developed yet. After the seniors started adopting this exhaustion tactic, his rate of errors noticeably increased: fatigue led to a decrease in pitch speed and quality, causing more frequent base hits;
For the first-year defense on the field, the surge in base hits also greatly increased their defensive pressure. Under high pressure, mistakes were inevitable, and it was during this time that the score began to pull away.
Once Lin Guanglai reached the stipulated pitch count and was forcibly substituted out, the seniors' offense became even more unchecked—although Suzuki Daigo, the number two pitcher for the first-year team, was decent, his suppression was noticeably weaker, appearing somewhat insufficient against the senior lineup.
Ultimately, relying on their carousel strategy, the senior united team completed a comeback with a large score of 8:4, maintaining their dignity and pride, albeit barely, in front of their juniors.
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Having watched the entire game closely as the main umpire, Izumi Minoru had an idea: he wanted to put the first-year Lin Guanglai directly into the starting roster for the upcoming Summer甲 qualifying tournament.
No need to mention pitching, although still a first-year, Lin Guanglai's pitch speed and control almost match the level of most third-year students—putting aside issues after stamina declines, at least when fully energetic, even the Waseda Jitsugyo's third-year lineup couldn't gain much against him;
What surprised Izumi Minoru even more was Lin Guanglai's batting ability and strategic thinking between bases showcased in this game: although his batting technique was somewhat raw, needing further refinement; his dynamic vision was excellent, and it was evident he chose when to swing based on his understanding;
After getting on base, he dared to continuously pressure the defense, persistently drawing attention from opponents through repeated base leads and retreats; and ultimately, the decision to steal home was an outstanding one, timing his start perfectly, exploiting a momentary oversight by the defense to score.
Having decided his thoughts, Izumi Minoru clapped his hands and first called the celebrating senior members:
"Senior members, assemble now! Kensuke, you're responsible for leading them to start running laps around the field, looks like you all need some stamina training!"
Shoichi, arm around Lin Guanglai's neck, engaged in "friendly interaction" with junior Tsuchiya Ryota. Upon hearing this, he immediately released his hold and complained, "Come on, coach! Didn't we win today's game? Why are we being punished?"
Izumi Minoru rolled his eyes at him, "You dare say that! You needed to use a carousel strategy to wear out the opponent to make a comeback against the first-years, you guys really are growing backward! Especially you, Tsuchiya Ryota! As a catcher, slacking off and letting the opponent steal home! You run two extra laps!"
Amidst Tsuchiya Ryota's wailing, the seniors lined up sparsely and began their post-game lap training led by Suzuki Kensuke.
"And you, Lin Guanglai, you run along with the seniors too!" Izumi Minoru pointed at Lin Guanglai, who was relaxing his arm, and said, "Already tired after only eighty pitches? How can I count on you to pitch in the later Summer甲 qualifiers?"
"Also, nearly 190 cm tall, weighing less than 70 kg—starting tomorrow, you eat two more meals a day, in addition to the usual three meals, every meal contains two more bowls of white rice than others—fail to meet the weight requirements and I won't take you to the Summer甲 qualifiers!"
Upon hearing this long speech from coach Izumi, Lin Guanglai momentarily didn't react—after his brain processed the information, he smiled a captivating smile, capable of charming girls.
——Under the envious gaze of his fellow first-year members, Lin Guanglai happily joined the senior members for the run.