Chapter 117: Chapter 16: Blast Off
After Nihon University Fengshan capitalized on Waseda Jitsugyo’s error, turning the score on the field to 2:1, this second-round match of the Autumn Tokyo Tournament fell into a stalemate; more precisely, both sides’ offenses lost the firepower for consecutive attacks.
In the first half of the second inning, Waseda Jitsugyo’s latter half of the batting lineup was helpless against Watanabe Hikaru’s pitching, taken down without breaking a sweat for three consecutive plays; while after Waseda Jitsugyo slightly regained their defensive state, Nihon University Fengshan’s lineup couldn’t stir much of a wave, similarly going three up, three down, ending this entire inning’s match.
The subsequent matches continued this thunderous yet ineffectual stance—if Nihon University Fengshan was limited in ability, making it difficult to hit against the powerful Waseda Jitsugyo, then Waseda Jitsugyo was more or less affected by their mentality.
The entire lineup today, except for those with rich tournament experience represented by Chongxin Shen Zhong, Kenshu Yasuda, and Lin Guanglai, the other lineup members, especially those in the latter part of the order, often couldn’t achieve consecutive advances.
This led to Waseda Jitsugyo’s offense looking very awkward today, the whole scene was unusually stiff, completely unlike a strong team should appear—
It’s known that just over a month ago, their lineup’s firepower was still superior at Summer甲, being the strongest among all 49 teams in the Summer Koshien.
The scoreboard at the outfield showed the 2:1 score extending until the end of the sixth inning, without any change.
In the first half of the seventh inning, the batting order starts to rotate again, Shinjiro Chongxin enters the hitting zone as the first batter.
Due to the posture of low-shoulder pitching, the physical consumption on the pitcher is far greater than the common upper and side-shoulder pitching methods—Watanabe Hikaru’s suppressive power, which still worked well in the middle stages of the match, significantly declined after pitching six innings consecutively, both control and suppression showed notable drops.
Different from those prestigious baseball schools, although Nihon University Fengshan is also a private school, its source of students is significantly inferior compared to schools like Nihon University and Waseda Jitsugyo—
Therefore, they have no reserve for pitchers, the outcome of the match can only rely on the performance of Watanabe Hikaru alone.
The first batter of this half-inning, Shinjiro Chongxin seized the pitch route on the first ball he faced, breaking through Nihon University Fengshan’s infield defense with a direct infield penetrating hit.
The baseball was blocked by the Left Field fielding in the front of Left Field, preventing Shinjiro Chongxin’s further advancement, stopping his steps at first base.
The second batter, Matsunaga Kenta, did not choose the sacrificial bunt as he did in the first half of the first inning this time—the team lacked follow-up power today, as one of the few front-order members in form, coach Izumi Minoru gave the run-and-hit signal to Shinjiro Chongxin and Matsunaga Kenta through a sign.
After entangling with Watanabe Hikaru for four balls, Matsunaga Kenta seized the opportunity from a missed pitch by the opponent, sent the incoming baseball back within the field with a sizable shot over his head, stepping on the base bag before Nihon University Fengshan’s team members could pass the ball to first base.
The third batter, Kenshu Yasuda, continued his strategy for this match, cheated the hitter for a pass based on strict home plate discipline.
In just three innings, the situation on the field suddenly changed, with Waseda Jitsugyo’s Summer甲 main players’ consecutive exertion, all three bases of Nihon University Fengshan were instantly occupied—zero outs, full bases, Nihon University Fengshan encountered their biggest crisis of this match.
In this situation, Lin Guanglai slowly walked into the left hitting zone on the right side of the home plate—before going on the offense, coach Izumi Minoru’s instruction for him was "to score as much as possible and strive to expand the lead."
After all, the current situation on the field is zero outs; Waseda Jitsugyo expanding their lead is virtually certain; at this crucial opportunity in the later stages, striving to widen the score is their primary task.
In this inning, Lin Guanglai had many attack strategies to choose from: sacrificial bunt, short hit to base, high fly sacrificial hit, middle-distance hit... there were so many methods to help the team score.
As a player who made a vigorous appearance this summer, Lin Guanglai’s hitting style naturally had been studied by multiple opponents—thus, for the first few innings of this match, to suppress Lin Guanglai’s terribly destructive long hits, Nihon University Fengshan’s outfield position drastically retreated.
Hence, after suffering once, Lin Guanglai timely adjusted his hitting strategy according to the opponent’s defensive layout, choosing to increase his on-base rate, aiming to threaten the opponent by hitting towards gaps between outfielders—if it weren’t for Waseda Jitsugyo’s lower lineup being in poor form today, the score would have been drawn to over 3 to 4.
But when facing this full-base crisis, Lin Guanglai, focused on the situation, was surprised to find that the overall positioning of Nihon University Fengshan’s team was significantly pushed forward.
In a full-base situation, it’s common for the infield defense to push forward, facilitating double plays and home plate passes; but the forward outfield defense meant the opponent was determined to target Lin Guanglai, using him to relieve the pressure on the field.
Standing in the hitting zone, Lin Guanglai raised his arms holding the bat high, staring directly at the pitcher with a resolute look, then pursed his lips.
On the pitcher’s mound, Watanabe Hikaru finished his exchange with Hiragino Takeshi, then bent over again, lowered his shoulder to pitch the ball from below his body, under the movement of his arm, the baseball "whizzed" with an evident upward trajectory towards Lin Guanglai’s position.
From the moment Watanabe Hikaru released the ball, Lin Guanglai had already decided to swing.
After pinpointing the direction of the incoming ball, his arms holding the bat suddenly gathered force backward, with the slightly raised front foot fiercely extending forward—Lin Guanglai’s body was akin to a bow fully filled with power, swinging out the bat with full strength towards the incoming ball as the force completed accumulating.
"Clang——!!!"
The rapidly incoming baseball hadn’t fully entered the home plate area yet, when it precisely and fully collided with Lin Guanglai’s metallic bat, simultaneously an echo of the crisp batting sound occurred, followed by the blur of the baseball flying backwards.
Throwing the bat into the empty ground next to the home plate, Lin Guanglai took a big step and charged out from the hitting zone, his teammates on the bases also started without any hesitation, as if they weren’t worried about the ball being caught at all.
The baseball surged high along the Right Field foul line, eventually grazing the yellow foul pole at the boundary of the field, flying straight out of the field.
The runners on the field stepped onto the home plate one by one, then stopped next to home plate, waiting for their teammates behind; it wasn’t long before Lin Guanglai also stepped onto the bases one by one, circling the infield before returning to home plate.
Grand Slam, another Grand Slam! When his teammates needed him, Lin Guanglai stood up once again.
With this newly added four-point goal, the score on the field reached 6:1—to Nihon University Fengshan, this score was akin to a heavy hammer striking their head directly; the ball flying out of the field utterly shattered their cold fantasy.
Beyond the player zone of Waseda Jitsugyo beside the field, seeing the ball fly out of the field, Izumi Minoru slightly released a breath, then glanced at Lin Guanglai surrounded by teammates on the field with a look of appreciation.
With such a bold commander, what worries are there for accomplishing the major task?