"Oka, go warm up."
Nihon University Tsurugaoka's coach, Hagiyama Homi, couldn't sit still and decided to replace the substitute pitcher.
In the players' area, the substitute pitcher Okamondo from Tsurugaoka sat like he hadn't heard anything, still unmoving as if his mind was elsewhere.
Unsatisfied, Hagiyama Homi clicked his tongue and raised his voice a bit:
"Okamondo, did you hear me? Hurry up and go warm up now!"
Only then did the dazed Okamondo snap out of it, quickly responding with several "oh oh oh"s and hurriedly left the players' area to warm up in the bullpen.
Honestly, the reason why Okamondo didn't react initially was that he never expected Coach Hagiyama to give him another chance to play.
Obviously, this was ultimately due to his own actions:
Knowing that the summer games were about to start, he injured his right hand finger during a school basketball class at the beginning of the month — as the crucial member of the pitching rotation, injuring his pitching hand right before the important game, Okamondo still remembered the furious expression of Coach Hagiyama upon hearing the news:
"Okamondo! Do you have even a shred, even a smidge of responsibility?!!! The summer games are starting in just over half a month, and now you're telling me that because of playing some lousy basketball, my key rotation pitcher injured his throwing hand?"
"Oka! Mon! Do! Tell me, have you ever taken my words seriously? Have you ever considered your teammates seriously? Have you ever taken everyone's sweat and tears seriously?"
"Starting tomorrow, you don't need to train with the main squad anymore, join the junior squad — my team doesn't need players lacking responsibility like you."
Despite his efforts in training, Okamondo ultimately returned to the main squad from the junior team, but Coach Hagiyama did stick to his words — in spring, when Okamondo was the primary substitute for Ogaki Yuichi, he hadn't played even once in this summer's games, even though his hand had mostly healed.
And now, he finally got another chance to play: in the bottom of the ninth, after Yoshinaga Kentarou hit the score-tying hit and Nihon University continued with more hits; the current situation on the field was 2 outs, bases loaded — if he didn't know Coach Hagiyama well enough, Okamondo would have thought this was some kind of revenge, putting him up to take the fall.
But he knew it wasn't like that — choosing to put him in such an almost desperate situation was actually a display of Coach Hagiyama's trust in him; besides, for Okamondo, to reclaim his position, was there any other choice now?
Walking off the pitcher's mound, Ogaki Yuichi gave an apologetic look to the approaching Okamondo, saying, "Sorry, Oka. Having you face this situation as soon as you come on, it's all my fault..."
Okamondo shook his head, smiling, "No worries, senior, please take a good rest — isn't this just the role of a substitute pitcher? Don't worry, I'll certainly take this game into extra innings!"
Standing firm on the pitcher's mound, Okamondo experienced an old, familiar feeling: "It's indeed been a long time since I stood here, I really still love the feeling of playing!"
His gaze was directed at the batter beside the home plate: the batter in this turn from Nihon University was their infielder Yoshizawa Shingo, with fairly good hitting skills.
But for Okamondo now, even with loaded bases and a strong hitter, there was no ripple of worry in his heart — he wasn't thinking of anything, just calmly throwing the ball.
The first ball was slow, very slow, slow enough that Yoshizawa Shingo in the batting zone didn't react at once: used to hitting fastballs, suddenly facing such absurdly slow ball speed left him a bit muddled.
"Pop." — as the baseball landed in the catcher's glove, the scoreboard above Shengong Stadium displayed the speed of this pitch: a super slow curveball at only 98km/h with a perfectly straight angle.
Seeing the number on the scoreboard, Yoshizawa Shingo was briefly flustered. This pitch caught him completely off guard; otherwise, if he were prepared, he could hit out as many of such sweet slow curveballs as came his way.
The second ball, Okamondo prepared his throwing posture and then "swish" swiftly swung his arm — the second ball was completely different from the first; this one was fast, very fast, extremely fast, shooting toward home plate like it was fired from a cannon.
Just getting adjusted to the slow ball, Yoshizawa Shingo facing this second pitch still didn't react — seeing the speed of this pitch, the stands around Shengong Stadium burst into commotion: this second pitch was a fastball at 143km/h.
The 45 kilometer per hour speed difference between the two pitches not only shocked the audience but also left Yoshizawa Shingo in the batting zone helpless.
For the following third ball, Okamondo gracefully lifted his leg, gathering strength, twisting, swinging his arm, the baseball again shot out from his hand — this time Yoshizawa Shingo seized the opportunity and swung his bat forcefully at the incoming ball; unfortunately, this pitch wasn't a fastball, but rather a slider.
The baseball hit by Yoshizawa Shingo bounced several times across the infield before weakly heading towards first base —
Nihon University Tsurugaoka's first baseman left the bag, judged the position of the incoming ball, then lowered his center of gravity, placing the glove right in the ball's trajectory, easily catching the grounder.
Afterward, he jogged back to first base, stepping lightly on the bag before the sprinting Yoshizawa Shingo, leaving Nihon University with loaded bases unresolved and ending the bottom of the ninth.
Inside Shengong Stadium, the match continued — tenth inning, eleventh inning, twelfth inning… finally, in the top of the fourteenth inning, Nihon University Tsurugaoka broke the deadlock with a sacrifice hit, leading again by 6:5;
In the bottom of the fourteenth inning, as Nihon University's last batter swung and missed, getting struck out, the long-running, spanning 4 hours and 16 minutes "Nihon University Showdown" finally concluded.
As the runner-up of Senbatsu High School Baseball Tournament, Nihon University, incredibly, faced a legendary reversal by Nihon University Tsurugaoka despite leading 4:0 — this left everyone watching the game sigh at the essence of summer matches: no matter how strong the team, they all equally have only one chance, anyone could potentially be unexpectedly ousted.
After the game, Yoshinaga Kentarou, who played as a substitute but performed poorly, was almost in tears: it was his lousy performance after stepping in that nearly ended the seniors' last summer here.
Obviously, after losing to Konan in the Senbatsu finals, everyone vowed to exact revenge in the summer; but now because of his issue, all of that turned into a mirage — no one could accept outcomes like this because of themselves.
Embracing the grieving junior tightly, Yamazaki Fuyuki gently patted Yoshinaga's back, saying, "Kentarou, cry your heart out now — once done, get back up again! My unfulfilled dreams will be entrusted to you from now on."
"Next year, next year's games, I'll definitely be watching — remember the bitterness and unwillingness now, then with my dreams and expectations, clinch the Summer甲 championship and show me, Kentarou!"