CHAPTER 64: CHAPTER 64: PERFECT START

"Try to hit the ball to the left, try to hit the ball to the left, try to hit the ball to the left..." Standing outside the batter’s box, Chongxin Shen Zhong repeatedly emphasized the team’s pre-game tactical arrangement to himself.

As the air raid siren sounded at Koshien Stadium, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, stepped forward, and entered the batter’s box.

In this game, the starting pitcher for Chukyo University is still their sophomore left-handed pitcher, Asano Fumuya.

As the game started, Chongxin Shen Zhong didn’t rush to attack—since they decided to engage in a long battle with the opponent, they needed to patiently maneuver from the start; even if they couldn’t hit the ball out, exhausting the opposing pitcher’s pitch count and observing the pitcher’s habits were good strategies.

The first pitch, Asano Fumuya threw a probing fastball. Although it was at 130 km/h, the control wasn’t great, the ball flew slightly high, passing above the strike zone plate, and was decisively ignored by Chongxin Shen Zhong.

ball, 0 strikes.

Without making excessive adjustments, he immediately threw the second pitch—the ball’s placement was a bit sweet, and Chongxin Shen Zhong had no reason to miss this opportunity; however, the trajectory of Asano Fumuya’s pitching motion made it difficult for him as a batter to judge the type of pitch.

After some hesitation, Chongxin Shen Zhong ultimately chose to swing, but the optimal timing had already been missed, and he barely managed to foul the ball.

ball, 1 strike.

Gazing at the scoreboard above the outfield, Chongxin Shen Zhong realized the pitch speed was only 127 km/h, and it was in a sweet spot, leading to a touch of regret in his heart—"I should have swung decisively earlier! Next time, I definitely won’t hesitate like this!"

Stepping out of the batter’s box for a brief adjustment, after calming down, Chongxin Shen Zhong entered the batter’s box again, facing the pitcher steadily.

On the pitcher’s mound, Asano Fumuya from Chukyo University confirmed the signal with catcher Izumura Yasuhiko behind home plate, then smoothly delivered the pitch.

Confronted with the incoming ball, Chongxin Shen Zhong did not hesitate again and swung the metal bat decisively.

"Clang—"

The collision of the baseball and bat occurred at a high angle, then shot straight into the sky, heading toward the unmanned area between the left infield and outfield of the field.

Standing between second and third base, Moriyama Junpei shouted "I’ve got it!" and then sprinted in the direction of the descending ball—with a low center of gravity to speed up reaching it, he slid low to the ground as he approached the landing point.

"Pop."—The baseball was steadily caught in his glove.

Witnessing this brilliant shortstop catch, a buzzing erupted from the stands at Koshien Stadium, quickly followed by a wave of applause like a tide.

"Subarashii, subarashii—simply amazing!"

In the announcer’s booth, Takumi Tanchisha couldn’t help but praise Moriyama Junpei’s outstanding defense:

"Whether it’s the judgment of the trajectory or the defensive skills of player Moriyama himself, it’s all incredibly impressive—truly worthy of the Summer甲 champion!"

Seeing his confident hit being brilliantly caught by the opponent’s defense, Chongxin Shen Zhong, sprinting towards first base, gradually slowed down his steps, shaking his head with a smile.

Sometimes it is not that you did poorly, but that the opponent did too well—in such cases, you can only laugh it off.

However, this was only the first at-bat of the entire game, and there was still a long time to play, so Chongxin Shen Zhong and the Waseda Jitsugyo team members weren’t affected much.

As he walked back to his own side’s player area, Chongxin Shen Zhong whispered to the warming-up number two batter, Matsunaga Kenta:

"Kenta, if you see a pitch you want to hit, just go for it, don’t hesitate."

"That sophomore pitcher from Chukyo University isn’t that dominant; just pay attention to his fastballs and sliders."

Matsunaga Kenta nodded, then walked towards the batter’s box holding his bat.

Seconds later.

"A hit! Waseda Jitsugyo’s number two batter, Matsunaga Kenta! He hit a center-field single—it went right through Chukyo University’s infield defense; neither second baseman Fujinami nor shortstop Moriyama could stop the ball!" Tanaka Shuji watched the field intently, enthusiastically commentating the play-by-play for the audience.

Turning his gaze towards the batter’s box, he paused briefly, then remarked:

"Next up is Waseda Jitsugyo’s third batter, Kenshu Yasuda—it’s reported that he was hospitalized for acute gastroenteritis just a couple of days ago and swiftly returned to play today; his performance is highly anticipated!"

Standing in the batter’s box, Kenshu Yasuda was very calm—his recent near miss of a starting position due to sudden gastroenteritis made him cherish this hard-earned opportunity even more, determined to hit the ball no matter what, stepping forward into the right side of the batter’s box with steadiness and confidence.

However—

"Ah—!!!" Kenshu Yasuda screamed in agony as he was hit by the baseball, squatting down to the ground, unable to immediately stand up.

"Oh, this pitch, Chukyo University’s pitcher Asano made a significant control error, throwing a hit-by-pitch—Yasuda looks in pain, it’s uncertain if he’s okay..."

On the pitcher’s mound, Asano Fumuya took off his hat to apologize to his opponent—when a pitcher throws a hit-by-pitch due to loss of control, they must remove their hat to apologize; otherwise, it would be seen as intentional provocation and could lead to emptying the benches.

Fortunately, Kenshu Yasuda was hit on the side of the hip facing the pitcher. After staying on the ground briefly, he slowly stood up and walked to first base; handing his gear to Uchida Saint who came forward, he even had the leisure to joke:

"Sigh, I’m really unlucky—nearly missed the game due to gastroenteritis, barely made it, but my first at-bat gets hit... I’m telling you, Saint, unless I hit a home run today, I’m really gonna cause a fuss!!!"

It seemed this hit-by-pitch had affected Asano Fumuya significantly; he appeared to have "short-circuited," with a huge fluctuation in his pitching state.

Facing the fourth batter, Onoda Shunsuke, his first pitch went right into the batter’s sweet zone, and Onoda Shunsuke easily hit a single, pushing the field situation to a 1-out, bases-loaded crisis.

Even though Izumura Yasuhiko promptly called a timeout to try to ease their pitcher’s state, it was evident that Asano Fumuya was unable to regain his form; the pitcher’s sudden downturn even affected their own defensive players.

Facing the fifth batter, Tsuchiya Ryota, Asano Fumuya could not locate the ball to the catcher’s designated spot, missing by a mile. Positioned as a center batter, Tsuchiya Ryota naturally would not squander this opportunity, swinging and breaking through Chukyo University’s left-side defense, bringing Matsunaga Kenta from third back home to score.

Then against the next batter Sugai Natsuki, Asano Fumuya finally seemed to wake up, using a high-quality slider to induce Sugai Natsuki to hit a slow grounder spiraling towards third base—

This was a perfect opportunity for Chukyo University: with quick enough movements, they could easily pull off a double play and end this half of the inning—the 1-point deficit wasn’t really much of a deficit at all.

However, Chukyo University’s third baseman, Horii Yasuyuki, made a critical error when fielding—he let it through!

The ball slowly rolled towards the outfield, and though Iwai Kawa Yuuta from Left Field backed up in time, preventing further damage, the situation on the field remained unchanged.

out, bases loaded. Waseda Real 2:0 Chukyo University.

For Waseda Jitsugyo, this was an absolutely perfect start!