Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 318 - 174: Long-Awaited Exhilaration (Double-Length)

Chapter 318: Chapter 174: Long-Awaited Exhilaration (Double-Length)

In this at-bat, he planned a clear hitting strategy for himself:

The first pitch, as long as it’s a good one, or even a slightly off-target bad one, he will swing right away!

The game has just begun, and as the leadoff hitter, he doesn’t want to give the opponent a chance to get into the game; a hit on the first pitch in an official game can also greatly boost the overall low morale of the team.

With the main umpire’s command, Nakatani Kita, wearing jersey number 10, closed his glove and took his position on the pitcher’s mound.

A moment later, his right foot suddenly lifted, and his entire body quickly sank.

As his body descended to a certain height, he swung his left arm swiftly, throwing the white ball from his hand at an extremely low angle.

The moment the ball was released, Lin Guanglai in the batter’s box began to pull back his bat, accumulating the power of his body.

With his eyes closely locked onto the baseball, Lin Guanglai’s visual nerves rapidly transmitted signals to his brain, leaving it to the central nervous system to judge the situation of the baseball.

This pitch isn’t very fast, matching Nakatani Kita’s average pitching speed of just over 130 kilometers per hour; although the pitch is low, it is relatively straight, with little downward movement, heading directly inside the strike zone.

Lin Guanglai didn’t have much time to consider whether to swing, but since he had already decided to swing at a good pitch before the at-bat, he had no reason to let this one go.

The moment he decided to swing, his entire body’s swinging motion became cohesive, his wrists holding the bat flexibly rotated, and his arms slanted the bat outward. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

The fast-moving baseball had just flown into the vicinity of the home plate when Lin Guanglai swung the wooden bat which collided intensely with the ball.

"Crack—!"

A crisp hitting sound echoed as the baseball was struck by Lin Guanglai’s bat, flying flat toward the gap between third base and shortstop.

All around the stadium, the audience’s voices rose sharply; facing the oncoming ball, the infielders of Celestial Principle High School also began to move rapidly, trying to field the ball in the infield.

Kumamoto Shu, the third baseman for Celestial Principle, served as the first line of defense, quickly lunging toward the line drive, attempting to catch it before it hit the ground; behind him, shortstop Yoshimura Angyou covered his position, acting as the team’s second line of defense; the left fielder Tanida Kodai was ready as well, serving as the team’s last iron gate.

It must be admitted that Celestial Principle’s fielders reacted quickly; facing this strong line drive, their reaction was swift, yet—

"Through the gap between third base and shortstop, it’s through!!!"

"Neither of the consecutive lines of defense could catch the ball! This ball was hit so beautifully, not only did it fly just over the third baseman’s head, but after landing it burrowed under the shortstop’s glove!"

"This is indeed the kind of super hitter who can hit 80 home runs in two years! Even as the leadoff hitter and even after switching to a wooden bat, his hitting is still full of momentum!"

Lin Guanglai quickly ran to the second-base bag and stopped there; handing over his protective gear to a teammate who had come up, he gestured cheering encouragement to his teammates not far behind him, telling them not to feel pressured and to hit as they normally would.

"Hooray—hooray—hooray—"

Applause continued in the stands at Koshien, especially for the on-site audience whose God’s-eye view allowed them a much wider vision than the players and viewers in front of their televisions, they took in how beautiful the at-bat just was.

Because Lin Guanglai is a left-handed batter, when defending against him, Celestial Principle’s defense would slightly lean to the right by default; who would’ve thought that Lin Guanglai would hit the ball precisely in the opposite direction, penetrating directly through Celestial Principle’s infield defense with one strike.

In the eyes of the audience, the baseball made a dull sound upon colliding with the wooden bat and shot out like an arrow from a bow, complemented by Lin Guanglai’s tall and slender figure and clean, swift batting posture, it left a refreshing impact.

The fact that he’s already handsome, and his batting action is so powerful and bold—one could say, as long as Lin Guanglai stands on the field, he is destined to be the focus of attention for the entire audience, constantly stirring their adrenaline.

In the fertile ground of high school baseball, a player who combines skill and beauty so perfectly has emerged; for those who love high school baseball, how can they suppress their emotions?

On the field, the game continued, and stepping up after Lin Guanglai was the second batter, Egami Kenji: who played as the starting third baseman last year due to his outstanding defensive ability and was moved to the shortstop position this year.

Egami Kenji possesses excellent tactical awareness, contributing significantly both in hitting discipline in the batter’s box and in small-ball tactics—this is why, despite not being a very strong hitter, Izumi Minoru continues to place him in the second spot.

Sure enough, upon entering the batter’s box, Egami Kenji immediately assumed a bunting stance, clearly showing his intent with this at-bat, which made the defenders of Celestial Principle High School tense.

In this at-bat, although Egami Kenji assumed a bunting posture, it doesn’t necessarily mean he has to bunt, for instance, at this moment—

Noticing Lin Guanglai’s aggressive lead-off position, Celestial Principle’s catcher Yamagishi Daiki called for a high bad ball from his pitcher, preparing to make a pickoff play depending on the situation, but when the baseball was released, Yamagishi Daiki found his vision largely blocked by the bat, making it difficult to judge the situation of the runner on base.

By the time he caught the ball and wanted to make the throw, Lin Guanglai was only one or two big steps away from third base—at this point, throwing for a pickoff at third base was pointless, and a wild throw could backfire; hence, Yamagishi Daiki simply held onto the ball without further action.

Zero outs and a runner on third, could there be a more perfect offense?

Starting with this brilliant running play, after nearly half a year of dormancy, on the stage of the Spring Koshien, under the collective attention of the national audience, this new Waseda Industries executed their smoothest offensive push in recent times:

The running and hitting tactics were tightly integrated, every hitter in the lineup could contribute, whether through a hit or small-ball strategy to advance runners, their mercurial offense dazzled the on-site audience and gratified the supporters of Waseda Jitsugyo in the Alps Stand at first base:

Yes, this is what they think of when they recall Waseda Jitsugyo’s strength, this is the charisma that the defending champion ought to demonstrate—they’re back, I feel it, everything has returned...

Only one and a half innings into the game, Celestial Principle High School found themselves experiencing what teams faced last year against the peak performance of Waseda Jitsugyo:

The fierce and relentless offense simply overwhelmed them, especially for Nakatani Kita, who was highly reliant on control. After suffering several heavy blows from Waseda’s hitters, his mentality took a major hit, and even before the first inning finished, their manager swapped him out for their ace pitcher, Yamamoto Ryuya—Celestial Principle’s pitching strategy had declared bankruptcy from the start.

Yamamoto Ryuya’s capability was indeed commendable, but for the Waseda hitters who gained confidence in the game, his skill was merely "commendable," which didn’t hinder them from scoring off him.

By the end of the third inning, Waseda’s lineup showcased their long-lost vigor, with several waves of exhilarating offense acquiring 9 runs from Celestial Principle’s dual-pitcher combination; meanwhile, Lin Guanglai on the pitcher’s mound stood like a tall, unmoving mountain.

More than two hours later...

"Despite low expectations for this tournament, the defending champions have declared their comeback with a spectacular victory!"

"Waseda Industries, 9:1, advance to the second round!"

"Lin Guanglai! Started for eight innings! A shutout victory!"