CHAPTER 57: CHAPTER 57: THE FINAL INNING

Bottom of the eighth inning, it’s Waseda Jitsugyo’s turn to bat, and the lead-off hitter for this half inning is number nine, Suzuki Kensuke.

The direct confrontation between the pitchers of both teams, Suzuki Kensuke, who has just completed a perfect half inning, remains in excellent shape and engages in a prolonged battle with Shimada Keita from Kurashiki, using a total of nine pitches.

On the subsequent tenth pitch, he successfully predicted the opponent’s pitching route and hit the baseball out—however, just like in the previous innings, Kurashiki again showcased their astounding ability to adapt, as if the situation where three batters were retired in nine pitches never existed—

Faced with the baseball quickly rolling after landing, Nishikawa Kazuma, hovering around the vicinity of third base, rushed over, scooped the baseball into his glove with a sliding catch, then quickly pushed off the ground, and with a leap, threw the ball toward first base, delivering the ball into Kawakami Yuutarou’s glove just before Suzuki Kensuke reached the base.

Then, when facing Hoshino Shinjiro, the main contributor to Waseda Jitsugyo’s lead today, Shimada Keita was unaffected by the previous triple, continuing the same strategy—facing the incoming ball, Hoshino Shinjiro hit a ground ball toward first base, and Kawagoe Yuutarou was already positioned for the catch, taking the ball into his glove and gently stepping on the first base bag with his left foot, retiring him.

The bottom of the eighth inning had barely started when two Waseda Jitsugyo batters were successively retired with relative ease by Kurashiki—then came Matsunaga Kenta, facing such a situation, naturally could not stir any waves: his high fly ball to central field was deep enough but too slow, and was easily caught by Kurashiki’s central fielder Choan Ryoki.

Together it took less than ten minutes for Kurashiki Commercial to rely on their solid defense to drag the suspense of the match into the ninth inning—if Waseda Jitsugyo can maintain a 2-point lead in the top of the ninth, the game will end directly; whereas if Kurashiki Commercial’s lineup can stand up timely, they might even turn the game around completely.

Jogging from the player area to the center of the mound at Koshien Stadium, Suzuki Kensuke’s heart was unsettled—he’s been playing baseball since he started, and now it’s been over ten years, in his last summer in high school, he’s just three outs away from his first victory at Koshien.

The audience was also having difficulty restraining their emotions, all starting to clamor—on Waseda Jitsugyo’s Alps Stand, the melody of the Cyan Sky sounded once again, with chants of "Champion, Champion, Waseda," invisibly pressing on Kurashiki Commercial’s batters; Kurashiki Commercial’s Alps Stand was relentlessly responding by singing the school song, to counter the opposite stand.

The first batter for Kurashiki Commercial in this half inning is their third batter, Egusa Junpei; starting from him, Kurashiki Commercial has four consecutive left-handed batters, and this isn’t good news for the right-handed pitcher Suzuki Kensuke.

But baseball isn’t like rock-paper-scissors, the so-called "left hits subdue right pitches" doesn’t mean they can’t be contested entirely.

Behind home plate, Tsuchiya Ryota shifted slightly toward Egusa Junpei’s inside angle, then signaled for an inside fastball to pitcher Suzuki Kensuke—towards the end of the match, he didn’t want to continue contending with the batters, in case the opponent sees through the pitch routes, allowing them to hit an extra-base hit easily.

Suzuki Kensuke understood immediately, and after adjusting, he threw a fastball slicing inside toward the batter.

"Bang—" Egusa Junpei did not choose to swing, deeming this pitch a ball—however, the umpire raised his hand and judged the pitch as a strike.

A huge commotion erupted in the stands, evidently surprised by this pitch—Egusa Junpei’s position in the batting zone was very close to the home plate, almost standing against it; the angle of the inside pitch was exceptionally tricky, just missing the batter’s body by one to one and a half ball lengths, and if the pitcher’s control was even slightly off, it would turn directly into a hit-by-pitch to walk the batter.

For the second pitch, Tsuchiya Ryota signaled for his partner’s best forkball, aiming low and outside.

"Slam—" although Egusa Junpei swung and hit the ball, the low outside position is difficult to hit, combined with the forkball’s drop, the ball ultimately went foul.

The situation turned 0 balls 2 strikes, absolutely advantageous for the pitcher.

Now Suzuki Kensuke wasn’t rushed, it was Egusa Junpei in the batting zone who had to worry—the next two pitches, Tsuchiya Ryota mainly played the tempting strategy, once opted out by the batter and once chased and fouled; going back and forth, the count was 1 ball 2 strikes, still favoring the batter.

To prevent the situation from dragging on too long, for the fifth ball of this at-bat, Tsuchiya Ryota signaled to Suzuki Kensuke—the next pitch was the decisive one.

Lift the leg, store energy, rotate, swing the arm—the baseball pushed along the fingertips and flew toward the batter’s outside angle.

Egusa Junpei faced the incoming pitch and chose to swing with all his might, the bat smoothly swung from back to front, but the ball was sent back behind his body with empty hands—the batter missed, striking out!

Two batters to go!

Suzuki Kensuke clenched his right fist and placed it on his chest, shouting directly "Ha" to vent his pressure.

With the lead batter out, Kawagoe Yuutarou as the cleanup hitter for Kurashiki Commercial stepped into the batting zone; standing inside, he gently swung the bat a few times before him, raising a bit of dust.

Behind home plate, Tsuchiya Ryota placed his right hand between his legs, signaling toward the pitcher’s mound—for the first pitch of this at-bat, they planned to test first; Suzuki Kensuke nodded, then smoothly threw the ball.

"Clang—!!!"

Unexpectedly for everyone on the field, faced with one out in the top of the ninth inning, Kawagoe Yuutarou’s first swing was a full swing, taking all of Waseda Jitsugyo off guard.

The baseball violently collided with the bat, then zoomed up into the sky, flying toward the deepest part of the outfield—Suzuki Kensuke’s heart sank, from his perspective, it seemed the ball was about to fly out of the park.

The next second, the stadium erupted into a heatwave of cheers: not for Kawagoe Yuutarou’s home run, but for Kenshu Yasuda’s grab-the-home-run roar—faced with the baseball about to fly out of the park, Waseda Jitsugyo’s center fielder Kenshu Yasuda sprinted full speed, stretched his glove forward, managed to catch the ball before it landed.

"Grab-the-home-run!!! Splendid!!! Wonderful!!! Second-year Kenshu!!! He saved Waseda Jitsugyo!!!" Commentator Tanaka Shuji could hardly contain himself, shouting out loud in celebration of such a fantastic catch.

Seeing the catch, Suzuki Kensuke exhaled heavily, then gave a thumbs-up toward central field to Yasuda.

For the confident Kawagoe Yuutarou, Yasuda’s stunning catch sent him plummeting from heaven to hell—one moment he was sprinting at full speed for a run, the next he had to stop dead, watching helplessly as the opponent celebrated recklessly—"God, you’re way too cruel to us!" Kawagoe Yuutarou could only think so, with a bitter smile on his face.

One more out!