"Mr. Izumi, please substitute me."
After the bottom of the eighth inning finished, as soon as he returned to the players' area, Suzuki Kensuke said this to Mr. Izumi who was standing in front of him.
Before Mr. Izumi could respond, Tsuchiya Ryota beside them became anxious first. With a worried expression, he looked at his pitching partner and nervously said, "Kensuke, don't scare me~ Are you injured?"
Suzuki Kensuke shook his head with a smile: "No, it's just pure fatigue." Then again, he looked over at Mr. Izumi and repeated the first sentence: "Mr. Izumi, please substitute me, let Guanglai take the field."
"Kensuke, are you sure?" Mr. Izumi responded to Suzuki Kensuke's gaze and asked him.
Suzuki Kensuke smiled, coughed twice, and then using a sincere and formal tone spoke again: "Yes, Mr. Izumi, I'm very sure about what I'm saying."
"Coach, although you've always told us that winning or losing isn't the most important, but that enjoying the process of competing with strong opponents matters more; nevertheless, Coach, I just want to win."
"This year is my last year in high school, I really want to go to Koshien with everyone for the first time ever!"
"So Coach, please make the pitching change, I don't want to miss this last chance again!"
Staring into Suzuki Kensuke's sincere eyes, Mr. Izumi nodded, then gently patted his sweat-soaked cheek: "Well done, Kensuke, go rest." Subsequently, Mr. Izumi turned around and called out to Lin Guanglai behind him: "Guanglai, go warm up!"
Approaching Lin Guanglai, Suzuki Kensuke put his hand on his shoulder, looked at his rapidly growing junior, and said:
"Guanglai, I leave the upcoming game to you."
To this, Lin Guanglai's reply was still the same as before:
"I won't let them score even a single run, senior."
-----------------
East Asia Academy, deservedly building their team foundation on solid defense, faced the explosive Waseda Jitsugyo lineup trying desperately to widen the score further, yet their defense still managed to maintain relative stability despite wavering under pressure.
The top half of the ninth inning soon ended, with the score still unchanged at 2:0 — a fully-loaded Waseda Jitsugyo lineup had to leave behind a loaded base without advancing at all.
With a rotation of offense and defense, the bottom half of the ninth inning arrived.
Facing Takasugi Shingo, East Asia Academy's strongest hitter in the final half-inning for his close-out debut, Lin Guanglai felt his whole body trembling — not with fear or intimidation but rather with intense excitement.
The feel of the warm-up pitches was quite good, both the speed of the fastball and the precision of control were not quite at their best level but quite close.
On East Asia Academy's side, Takasugi Masahiro donned his batting protective gear, stood in the batting preparation zone swinging the bat, seeking the feel for hitting.
Before taking the stage, he looked towards his teammates in the players' preparation area behind him, noticing they all wore worried expressions — trailing by two runs mid-way through the ninth inning, their hopes of winning gradually grew dimmer, causing none of them to smile.
Without saying much, Takasugi Masahiro brought the bat into the batting zone and assumed the preparatory batting stance — no comfort from words could match the effectiveness of solid action, this was his true thought at that moment.
Exchanging pitch signals with the catcher, Tsuchiya Ryota, Lin Guanglai nodded, stepped forward, and fiercely pitched the ball — the first ball aimed for the outside low direction fastball.
A speed of 143km/h, the ball went diving into the tricky outside corner direction, even for a batter like Takasugi Masahiro, it was hard to guarantee to hit it well — the score deficit left him without tolerance, thus he chose not to swing.
0 balls and 1 strike.
The subsequent second ball, still another fastball, reached a speed of 144km/h, Takasugi Masahiro still didn't swing.
0 balls and 2 strikes.
Two consecutive straight fastballs were strikes and both successfully pressured the hitter, eager to quickly end the game, Tsuchiya Ryota decided to strike while the iron is hot, swiftly signaling for another fastball from Lin Guanglai.
In Tsuchiya Ryota's view, if indeed defeating Takasugi with just three balls, surely East Asia Academy's morale would hit rock bottom; and as long as Takasugi Masahiro gets quickly eliminated, there won't be much left for East Asia Academy to rise.
However —
With a "clang" sound from the collision between the bat and the pitched ball, the baseball got fiercely hit by Takasugi Masahiro and sent soaring, darting quickly into the sky flying towards deep into the outfield.
Lin Guanglai's heart tightened, hurriedly turned around and gazed towards Right Field, frowning in disbelief as the baseball dropped out of the field.
"Ohhhhhhhhhhh——" The East Asia Academy's player area and cheering stands got instantly ignited, roaring cheers rose like tidal waves one after another, the previously lifeless stadium got reignited by this home run.
Running briskly around the field, back again from home plate to the players' area, Takasugi Masahiro received enthusiastic praise from his coach and teammates:
"Awesome Masahiro, truly sensational!"
"Captain! We indeed can always believe in you!"
"Takasugi, well done!"
Looking at his extremely excited teammates, a smile finally broke out on Takasugi Masahiro's always calm face: "The runs I lost, of course, I have to strike back!"
"Next, let's get another run! The game has just begun!"
At the distant pitcher's mound, Lin Guanglai felt somewhat helpless: truthfully, the last ball wasn't a misplaced throw, rather, both the speed and trajectory were quite challenging;
Yet, facing the ball with a speed also over 140km, Takasugi Masahiro precisely caught the perfect hitting point, then with his extraordinary strength sent the ball directly out of bounds.
Sometimes baseball is just like this, pitcher pitches well, but hitter hits even better — when encountering such situation, a pitcher can do nothing but commend the opponent's performance.
"It's still my first run allowed this tournament, obviously promised the captain I wouldn't allow a single run..." Lin Guanglai muttered to himself with hands on hips standing on the pitcher's mound.
Though there were opposing teams with average strength earlier, Lin Guanglai indeed hadn't allowed a single run; for most high school batters, his fastballs were nearly impossible to counter, didn't expect such a big loss against Takasugi today.
While a pitcher allowing runs is quite normal, impossible to have a pitcher allow no runs at all, truly when it reaches this point, indeed there's some irritation inside.
Calling for a timeout, Tsuchiya Ryota came up from behind the home plate, apologizing to Lin Guanglai: "Guanglai, don't worry about it. Just now that was my fault, my pitch-calling was too straightforward, should have maneuvered more against Takasugi Masahiro."
Tsuchiya Ryota also understood it was his junior's first time facing a situation of allowing runs, fearing he'd become intimidated, hurriedly took the responsibility upon himself.
"Anyway, for the following pitches, just throw your best ones, no need to worry, just look at the seniors in front and behind you, we'll block every past ball!"
Lin Guanglai nodded, then looked up towards the scoreboard at Shengong Stadium:
Bottom of the ninth inning, Waseda Real 2:1 East Asia Academy.
Victory, as yet remains uncertain.