CHAPTER 83: CHAPTER 83: THE SENIORS’ DETERMINATION

As a baseball player with outstanding talent, Lin Guanglai’s career has been smooth sailing since he started receiving baseball training: he has always been a standout among his peers, excelling in almost every aspect, sometimes being the best or even the sole leader, and has always been the ace of his team, hardly ever encountering setbacks.

Even at the high school level, this remained the case: in a prestigious team with a long history and championship titles, he earned his place as a first-year student. The coach nurtured him, seniors trusted him, and the media praised him—being able to hit three home runs in Koshien and start as a pitcher as a first-year student, he certainly deserved this treatment.

But sometimes, these things could become his shackles—because he is a genius, playing well became a matter of course, and the outside world naturally wouldn’t treat him with the demands of an ordinary first-year student—a genius should achieve everything; he not only needs to win but also strive to win beautifully.

This predicament is not unique; it is especially common in the world of professional sports—young talented players need to continually bear external pressure after becoming famous overnight; facing such pressure, many fall into anxiety or even bottlenecks, referred to as the "rookie wall."

And talented players often have a competitive drive even bordering on pathological—young players in this state are prone to fluctuating form, perhaps pitching a shutout and hitting a home run in one game, and experiencing total failure in the next.

Lin Guanglai is no exception—after all, he’s still just a 15-year-old kid.

The scene of Lin Guanglai almost angrily smashing his bat after being caught by Narita was also captured by cameras in the stadium and broadcasted with live footage.

All along, Lin Guanglai left the public with a relatively positive impression: on the field, he was full of talent, confident and proud; off the field, he was a sunny and cheerful little boy, with a somewhat mild-mannered personality—precisely because of this, he was loved by many Takayama fans.

For someone like him, the act of almost angrily smashing his bat was already considered losing his composure—be it for commentators or viewers watching the game on TV, it was certainly unexpected.

But upon reflection, Tanaka Shuji felt it was understandable: "Well, it seems Lin’s condition isn’t very good—but that’s understandable given that in the latter part of the game, with the strength and intensity of the opponents increasing, a first-year player indeed struggles to cope."

"You know, it’s not the opening days of the competition anymore—there are only eight teams left in Koshien now, each one a strong team emerging from local tournaments and the Summer甲 battle. They must have studied each other extensively."

"As one of the most dazzling players of this tournament, Lin Guanglai being targeted by Narita is quite normal."

"In this match, his pitching performance is decent, only conceding one run so far; but his batting is nowhere near the form of the previous days—the weather is getting hotter today; will Lin be completely swallowed by Koshien’s heat?"

Seeing Lin Guanglai sitting alone, sullen, on the bench in the substitutes’ area, Tsuchiya Ryota didn’t comfort him with jokes as usual—don’t let his usual silly image fool you, Tsuchiya Ryota is quite perceptive. He understands what Lin Guanglai is thinking now and knows that this pressure can’t be resolved with symbolic consolation; he needs time to digest this bitterness.

Silently pulling other starting teammates aside, Tsuchiya Ryota spoke:

"Everyone has seen the situation on the field, I won’t say much—just one thing!"

"Is our senior level so bad that we have to rely on a first-year junior to bear all the pressure?"

"Is it that if Guanglai doesn’t hit a home run, we definitely can’t win the game?"

"As seniors, we should be the ones shielding our juniors from the storms!"

Glancing around at his teammates, Tsuchiya Ryota asked everyone to form a circle; with determined eyes, he spoke firmly:

"In the next half inning, hit that damn baseball out there, send our hitters back to home plate—we can do it! We must do it!"

Bottom of the sixth, the score remains unchanged; the lead-off batter for Waseda Jitsugyo is the second batter, Matsunaga Kenta.

As the match reaches this stage, the after-effects of continued games start to manifest—having thrown nearly 120 pitches yesterday, Nakagawa Ryosuke’s stamina has hit a bottleneck, his ball speed and quality have declined, making it the best opportunity for Waseda Jitsugyo to score.

Without underestimating the opponent’s stamina decline, Matsunaga Kenta patiently engaged with Nakagawa Ryosuke using a low stance—after a bout of tussle, the count reached 2 balls and 1 strike.

On the pitcher’s mound, Nakagawa Ryosuke slightly adjusted his erratic breathing, then threw the ball.

"Clang!"

Matsunaga Kenta wasn’t indecisive due to leading the count; facing a pitch he felt capable of hitting, he swung the bat decisively—the baseball hit accurately, landing in right field.

No outs, a man on first base, exactly the beginning Waseda Jitsugyo hoped for in this inning.

For Waseda Jitsugyo now, their primary task is to seize the window of Nakagawa Ryosuke’s stamina drain and score at least one run to tie the game.

Following suit, Kenshu Yasuda was not stubborn about hitting a base hit just because he was the third batter—despite being a core lineup hitter, he unhesitatingly chose a sacrifice bunt, advancing Matsunaga Kenta to second base.

Fluctuations in stamina also caused Nakagawa Ryosuke’s control to falter—five pitches, 1 strike and 4 balls, walking Onoda Shunsuke, the fourth batter, to first base.

One out, players on first and second base—the Waseda Real dugout players all stood out of their seats and exited the rest area—six innings into the match, this is undoubtedly the best opportunity.

"Top of the sixth inning, Waseda Real’s offense, up to bat is, the fifth batter, catcher Tsuchiya."

Carrying the expectations of all Waseda Real players, Tsuchiya Ryota with bat in hand, stepped into the batter’s box.

The first pitch, Nakagawa Ryosuke threw a high-quality inside fastball, Tsuchiya Ryota disregarded it, letting the ball pass—the baseball barely grazed past his body into the strike zone, undoubtedly a strike.

balls, 1 strike.

Second pitch.

"Clang!"

"Foul ball!"

"The trajectory was quite straight; unfortunately, my swing was slightly slow." Reflecting on the shortcomings of his foul ball, Tsuchiya Ryota continued facing the pitcher, maintaining pressure.

On the pitcher’s mound, Nakagawa Ryosuke took a few deep breaths, his gaze fixed on the batter at home plate, forcefully swinging his arm and releasing the ball.

"It’s now!" Judging the pitch perfectly, Tsuchiya Ryota lifted his front foot forward, then exerted force from his waist and abdomen along with his legs, swinging the bat toward the incoming ball exaggeratedly.

"Clang—!!!" The collision between the bat and baseball emitted a loud noise; the hit baseball flew like a cannonball toward the unguarded outfield.

The ball didn’t fly high; all its enormous power converted into kinetic energy of the baseball’s flat flight, eventually landing deep in the outfield grass.

By the time Narita’s outfielder relayed the ball in, Tsuchiya Ryota had already reached second base on this hit—if Narita hadn’t reacted so quickly, this ball might have allowed Onoda Shunsuke to also run back to home plate to score.

But at the very least, Waseda Real’s objective this turn was achieved—Matsunaga Kenta running back to home plate to tie the score, facing the seemingly impenetrable wall led by Nakagawa Ryosuke of Narita, through six innings of effort, they finally cracked open a small gap on this wall!