CHAPTER 88: CHAPTER 88: THE KING’S TERROR

Inside Koshien Stadium, Konan High School’s locker room.

Shimabukuro Hiroshi wore headphones, nestled in a corner of the locker room with his eyes closed—this was his pre-game habit, aimed at preventing external interference, allowing his body and mind to remain focused and adjusted to their best state.

Meanwhile, his teammates, the other players of Konan High School, were eagerly reminiscing about the recent match—such a walk-off steal of home in extra innings was something they’d rarely seen outside of matches with significantly large skill gaps.

The Koshien schedule was extremely tight; as soon as the match between Waseda Industries and Narita High School ended, even though post-game rituals and draws were still ongoing inside, the relevant staff members assembled the Konan crowd in the players’ tunnel.

Only then did Shimabukuro Hiroshi take off his headphones, sling his gear bag, and walk out at the back of the team.

Stepping out from the slightly dim tunnel, his view instantly broadened up—the Waseda players were still expressing gratitude to their supporters in their Alps Stand from the third-base side field.

Shimabukuro Hiroshi immediately spotted Lin Guanglai among the crowd, after all, his height and appearance made him hard to ignore—watching Lin Guanglai with a smile on his face, immersed in excitement, Shimabukuro Hiroshi’s eyes conveyed a hint of fighting spirit.

As the ace pitcher of the Spring甲 champion and top favorite team, he naturally also wanted to defeat the first-year player in front of him who had hit three home runs in a single tournament—no reason other than the pitcher’s instinct.

Therefore, when Shimabukuro Hiroshi saw Waseda and his own team placed in the same bracket, he naturally felt exhilarated—he even wished he could skip today’s match like in a video game, fast-forwarding to the day after tomorrow for the semifinals against Waseda.

As for losing to today’s opponent Holy Light Academy? No offense, although Suneuchi Hiroaki is also one of this Summer甲’s noteworthy pitchers, when facing their Konan, Holy Light Academy’s Summer甲 journey stops here.

With the sound of the air raid siren once again, the second match of the twelfth day of the tournament, between Okinawa’s representative Konan High School and Fukushima’s representative Holy Light Academy, officially commenced.

Back at the hotel, Waseda players were also focused on the match: the entire baseball team sat in front of the hotel’s TV, watching this quasi-deciding showdown with full attention.

First-base side, Holy Light Academy, attacking first.

Third-base side, Konan High School, attacking later.

After the scoreless probing of the first inning, as the batters stepped into the core positions, both teams began to truly battle.

To everyone’s surprise, Holy Light Academy’s offensive wave in the top of the second inning almost completely broke Konan’s defense:

In the top of the second inning, facing one of the tournament’s recognized strongest pitchers Shimabukuro Hiroshi, Holy Light Academy’s central batters struck consecutive double hits in three innings, forcing the Spring甲 champion to call several pauses for adjustment;

Even though Shimabukuro Hiroshi made up for it later by ending the top of the second with a strikeout, Holy Light Academy still scored 3 points against him—in a pitcher’s duel where ace pitchers are equally matched, three runs can be considered a huge gap.

Seeing this, Tsuchiya Ryota scratched his chin and jokingly said, "We’ve discussed for ages how to tackle Konan on the way back, our efforts couldn’t all be in vain, right?"

Sitting beside him, Suzuki Kensuke shook his head:

"I think it’s unlikely."

"Not to mention Konan’s lineup being strong, Shimabukuro’s performance that half inning was merely due to fluctuations from continuous pitching—pitchers of his caliber should adjust swiftly."

On the other side of Tsuchiya Ryota, Lin Guanglai nodded seriously, showing agreement with Suzuki Kensuke:

"I think so too—Konan has played three games until now, even when the team leads heavily, Shimabukuro doesn’t get substituted until he pitches at least seven innings;

"From the start of Summer甲 to now, within over ten days, even if he pitches fewer than 100 today, his ball count has nearly reached 500—under such circumstances, fluctuations are quite normal."

"The key now is whether their lineup can support the pitcher!"

Hearing the objections from two starting pitchers, one big and one small, on his left and right, Tsuchiya Ryota laughed aloud: "Who cares who wins or loses, anyway if we want to reach the finals, it doesn’t matter who we play against."

"If you ask me, it’s best if these teams keep playing, play into overtime, until time eternal—that way, the longer they play, the more it benefits us!"

The match continued—indeed, what Suzuki Kensuke and Lin Guanglai predicted came true.

Holy Light Academy thought their score in the second inning would mark the beginning of their triumph over strong adversaries, never expecting it to be their only scoring opportunity of the entire match.

After losing the score, Shimabukuro Hiroshi quickly regained his state—from the beginning of the third inning to when he was replaced before the ninth inning’s top, Konan’s ace didn’t concede a single run, allowing only 4 hits in total throughout the six innings—this is the adjustment ability of the champion hot-favorite’s ace.

While the pitcher’s defense remained solid, Konan’s distinguished lineup didn’t disappoint their supporters either: one of the tournament’s best pitchers, Suneuchi Hiroaki, held out for less than four innings under Konan’s lineup pressure before being substituted—

From the bottom of the second inning, Konan’s lineup scored 6 runs within three and a half innings, overturning the lagging score in one stroke.

Under the watchful eyes of 30,000 on-site spectators, Konan’s substitute second pitcher Kawamata Angi struck Holy Light Academy’s second batter Nemoto Yasuaki with a slider, ending the match with a score of 10-3.

The entire match lasted only 2 hours and 15 minutes—the Fukushima representatives, thought to have a chance at toppling the Spring甲 champion pre-game, somewhat served as mere intensity-increased training opponents.

Okinawa’s representative, Konan High School, became the second team in this tournament to advance into the semifinals, as their journey to challenge spring-summer dominance continues.

In Waseda’s hotel, after watching the match, many players were left speechless; the joy of victory gradually diluted, leaving the room’s atmosphere somewhat heavy.

Only those who truly experienced it understood how desperate the match’s scene was for Holy Light Academy—with a three-point advantage in hand and a powerful ace pitcher, it should have been a closely matched, fight-to-the-end affair.

Yet they watched the advantage slowly vanish, the score gradually equalized or even overtaken, their proud ace pitcher repeatedly hit with base hits, while their own batters faced strikeout after strikeout upon entering the batter’s box.

Seeing such a scene, many Waseda players couldn’t help but wonder, "If it were us, could we do better than Holy Light Academy?"

The spring champions, summer favorites—truly terrifying!