Chapter 184: Chapter 71: Tight Mental State (Double-Length, Part 2)
In the bottom of the second inning, Tokai University Sagami took the lead, temporarily leading Waseda Industries 1-0.
From the commentator’s booth, the live commentator of the match quickly flipped through the materials at hand and then exclaimed in surprise:
"This is the first time in this tournament that Waseda Industries has fallen behind in a game!"
Hearing this, the audience in front of the television were somewhat surprised, but upon reflection, it seemed true — in previous matches, whether facing the strong Luzheng Society, Nihon University, or the more average Kyushu Academy, Wisdom, and Wakayama, Waseda had consistently gained an early advantage with their powerful offense, never falling behind.
This also worried both the supporters of Waseda on the site and those in front of the television:
The journey of Waseda in this Senbatsu High School Baseball Tournament has been quite smooth sailing — not to say that’s a bad thing, but people indeed have some doubts about the players’ ability to handle pressure, fearing they might completely lose momentum after this mistake.
"This is not looking good... Guanglai and the team have had it too easy on the way here. Falling behind in the finals could have a significant impact on the team’s mentality..." In the stands, Lin’s father couldn’t help but feel worried for his son upon seeing the situation.
"Oh, dad, calm down — I know my brother best, for him, this situation is just a small case — you really don’t need to worry."
In contrast to the worried face of Lin’s father, Lin Xinglai, sitting nearby, seemed a bit carefree, showing no concern over this lost point.
As a sister who’s "inseparably close" with Lin Guanglai, Lin Xinglai knew very well what kind of person her brother was; although the siblings liked to bicker on ordinary days, it was just a way to express intimacy among family members.
"It’s just 1 point, especially in a match like this at Takayama, 1 point doesn’t mean much at all — maybe next inning, Xiaoguang will get it back."
Looking at her brother on the pitcher’s mound, although she couldn’t see his expression at the moment, Lin Xinglai confidently spoke up — among the over forty thousand people in the stadium, she was probably the one who had the most confidence in Lin Guanglai and the greatest faith in his abilities.
The feeling of losing points is indeed unpleasant, especially in a Koshien final where falling behind first amplifies the feeling — but Lin Guanglai knows that as the team’s ace and starting pitcher, he must not lose his composure; if he does, Waseda might completely collapse in an instant.
Taking a deep breath, Lin Guanglai tried to empty his brain of other emotions; he raised his right hand high and then made a pressing down gesture to his teammates beside him, signaling them to steady their mindset, forget about the 1 point just lost, and focus on the upcoming opponents.
Once he confirmed that every teammate’s emotions had stabilized, he re-entered the mound and began to reflect on the mistakes he made in this inning.
Lin Guanglai is an undisputed strikeout-style pitcher — as such an ace type, generally speaking, to ensure strong suppression of batters, he tends to have a higher pitch count than those pitchers who mainly use breaking balls, which is also Lin Guanglai’s usual pitching strategy;
But due to the reminder from Supervisor Izumi Minoru before the game, coupled with the fact that today was the finals, in order to conserve stamina, ensure a complete game, and maintain maximum batter suppression in the later stages of the game, he and Uesugi Yasuyuki had intentionally controlled the distribution of pitch counts from the start of the match.
Such a change meant that compared to usual matches, Waseda’s defensive players had to be busier today: more balls would be hit by Tokai University Sagami’s batters, the frequency of batters reaching base would increase, and the infield defensive players needed to manage more complex situations — requiring all defensive players to maintain intense concentration while on the field.
Until losing that point just now, Lin Guanglai realized he made a mistake — he had considered all possible scenarios during the match but inadvertently overlooked the most important factor: "people."
For Lin Guanglai himself, it might be a talent or years of training that allowed him to remain calm in high-pressure environments, facing various situations with a relatively normal mindset;
But his teammates were different: they are human, not robots, they also have emotions, they also get nervous, afraid, and may feel handcuffed and powerless in critical games, which are situations he, as the captain, should have anticipated.
Yet he had overlooked such considerations, which was a dereliction of his duties as the team captain.
But the mistake had been made, and the problem already occurred, reviewing and examining could wait until after the game — the most urgent matter now is to help the team overcome the immediate difficulties as quickly as possible.
On the third base stands, the supporters of Tokai University Sagami were taking advantage of their team’s scoring opportunity, continuously creating huge waves of sound; amidst the crowd surging and roaring, Lin Guanglai squinted his eyes, then nodded slightly twice, and promptly threw the baseball out.
In this at-bat, Lin Guanglai opted to accelerate, a move that caught Tokai University Sagami’s batters somewhat off guard.
The eighth batter, Hashimoto Takuma, was originally a player who excelled more in defense than offense, with average batting ability; facing the baseball pitched by Lin Guanglai, he had no way at all, simply watching the baseball pass through the strike zone three times without any timely reaction.
"Ooooohhh——!!!" Every pitch Lin Guanglai threw increased the momentum from the stands, the astonished cheers of the audience reverberating over the entire Koshien Stadium.
"150km/h, 151km/h, 150km/h — Player Lin Guanglai, three consecutive flameballs exceeding 150 km/h, it was absolutely amazing!!! Tokai University Sagami’s Hashimoto couldn’t do anything against the quality of these pitches!!"
After three consecutive flameballs settled the batter, with Hashimoto Takuma getting out, the inning also concluded — although Tokai University Sagami left men on base, the expressions on their players’ faces didn’t show much disappointment; the 1-point advantage improved their mindset significantly.
On Waseda’s side, Lin Guanglai was urging his teammates to quickly return to the dugout, then swiftly gear up and prepare for batting.
As both sides completed their preparations, the bottom half of the second inning soon commenced.
The Koshien’s broadcast voice resounded, and simultaneously came the thunderous cheers from the Alps Stand on the first base side.
"Fourth batter, pitcher, Mr. Lin."
Standing outside the batter’s box, Lin Guanglai lightly pressed the brim of his helmet with his hand, saluting the umpire behind the home plate; then he stepped forward into the batter’s box, shifting his cleats back and forth within the left batter’s box to find a relatively comfortable position for hitting.
Raising the bat, Lin Guanglai’s gaze fixed directly on the pitcher, releasing all of his pressure in the direction of the mound.
Traditionally speaking, as a left-handed batter, Lin Guanglai would seem at a disadvantage when facing a left-handed pitcher like Nagata Ryudou — this notion mainly stems from the fact that the ball from a left-handed pitcher appears to attack from behind from a left-handed batter’s perspective, making it somewhat challenging to handle.
But Lin Guang wasn’t considering this — his focus was entirely on the baseball in the pitcher’s hand at this moment, silently resolving that he would swing at the first good pitch in this at-bat!
Nagata Ryudou lifted his front foot high, and the ball in his left hand surged toward home plate with great acceleration applied through the body’s forward pressure and arm’s swing.
The ball was coming straight, heading directly toward the high area of the strike zone — a position that Lin Guanglai particularly favored!
Lightly lifting his front foot, his upper body gripping the bat extended backward to generate force, and at the moment the ball approached the plate, bat met ball!
"That’s a hit!!!"
Under the warm spring sunshine, the red-and-white baseball soared high into the blue sky, storming deep into the outfield under the gaze of over forty thousand pairs of eyes.
In this hit, Lin Guanglai’s swing speed was fast, with a smooth batting posture, almost channeling all the kinetic energy his body could muster into the baseball.
In the deepest part of the outfield, Tokai University Sagami’s outfielders, who had been sprinting furiously, gradually halted their steps — now, nothing could be done anymore.
"It’s out of here!!!"