The Japan High School Team is performing exceptionally well today.
From the first inning, when Lin Guanglai sent the United States City Youth Academy Team off with a three-up, three-down inning, the Japan National Team had the entire match under their control.
In the bottom of the first inning, the Japan Team’s offense—since the starting pitcher for this match was Lin Guanglai himself, the Japan National Team didn’t designate a hitter; as a pitcher, he still served as the ninth batter, as he did in Koshien, to focus more on pitching while bridging the batting order.
Perhaps because it’s the final match, everyone in the Japan High School Team seemed unusually excited today, and energy ran high for everyone:
Starting with Guoji Continent in the first position, the Japan Team hit consecutively in five at-bats, scoring a 3-0 lead in less than fifteen minutes of the half inning.
By the time Lin Guanglai came to the plate, the score was already 4-0; the situation was two outs, and the bases were loaded.
On the pitcher’s mound, Team USA’s pitcher Garvey felt his brain go numb—finally given a chance to start, he found himself getting hammered in the first inning; several heavy hits by the opponents left Garvey’s mind swelling, rendering him bewildered.
In the Team USA players’ section, the pitching coach who regularly guides Garvey was shaking his head, clearly dissatisfied with his pupil’s performance—
In terms of physical attributes, Garvey had the most outstanding talent in this City Youth Academy Team: not yet 18 years old, his height had already surpassed 190 cm, and his fastest pitch had broken the 150 km/h barrier to reach 153 km/h; unlike those fastball pitchers with poor control, Garvey’s control was relatively decent within the team.
The pitching coach believed Garvey was undoubtedly the most likely player in their team to be selected by an MLB team during the draft, and potentially rise to the Major League level in the future; for this reason, the coach invested heavily in Garvey, almost to the point of favoritism.
But this genius boy had a fatal weakness easily exploited by the opposition in baseball games: poor stress tolerance—once hit consecutively by the opponent or facing a challenging situation, Garvey’s pitching control would quickly fall apart, leading to walks or grooving a pitch right into the batter’s sweet spot.
The City Youth Academy coaching staff spent countless hours and energy trying to solve this problem, but the results were disappointing;
Over time, many coaches chose to give up on this talent—after all, in any country, a pitcher’s most crucial attributes are mental fortitude and consistency; those who can’t meet these demands have no choice but to face elimination; now, only this pitching coach continued to focus on Garvey’s development.
Watching the hard-earned opportunity to play squandered so casually, the pitching coach was understandably very angry; yet in his heart, he still hoped Garvey could get Lin Guanglai out, vying for another inning of pitching—
As long as the inning ended with a gap of five runs or fewer, Garvey wouldn’t be pulled; otherwise, he faced the humiliation of a quiet exit. This text is hosted at novęlfire.net
Because Garvey is a right-handed pitcher and Lin Guanglai is a left-handed hitter, Lin Guanglai could clearly see the release point.
The first pitch left Garvey’s fingertips and drilled toward home plate.
"Pop."
"Strike."
A 142 kph fastball grazed the inside of Lin Guanglai’s strike zone—Lin Guanglai let this pitch pass, not swinging recklessly.
"Good pitch, Garvey! Let’s go!!!"
"Keep pitching like that, Garvey, you can do it!"
The infield, outfield, and the players’ section at the field’s edge were all loudly encouraging their pitcher—being the youngest player on the team, like Lin Guanglai, Garvey received the most care from his team’s veterans.
Motivated by his teammates, Garvey threw the second ball of this at-bat, still attacking Lin Guanglai’s inside corner, but with slightly worse control; the USA team catcher had to reach down to stop it from getting out of play.
"Ball."
The third pitch.
After some eye contact with the catcher behind home plate, Garvey pitched the ball again toward the diagonal direction—another inside pitch.
With the targeted hitting training of recent days, Lin Guanglai keenly detected the opponent’s intention: three consecutive inside pitches clearly aimed to induce a swing—a move he outsmarted by letting the ball pass again, standing still in the batter’s box.
As the ball entered the plate zone, its trajectory visibly shifted vertically, sliding just outside the strike zone by about a ball’s width.
"Ball."
The count was 2 balls, 1 strike, slightly unfavorable to the pitcher—seeing the current count, Lin Guanglai realized his opponent might try to steal strikes, meaning more hitting opportunities for himself.
Sure enough, Garvey’s next pitch was a high, inside fastball.
Recognizing the chance, Lin Guanglai swung decisively—not wanting to miss a rare opportunity like this, uncertain when another might arise.
"Clang!" At the moment of contact, Lin Guanglai realized he had been tricked: despite being a fastball, its speed was nearly 10 kph faster than the initial one—with the baseball reaching over 150 kph in the box, Lin Guanglai perceived the ball to rise slightly; the speed difference disrupted his swing rhythm.
Fortunately, that ball fell just beyond the first base boundary before the rapidly rushing USA first baseman could reach it, avoiding a catchout.
On the mound, towering USA pitcher Garvey looked at the fallen baseball with disappointment at missed opportunities; but the situation was now 2 balls, 2 strikes, with the advantage back to the pitcher.
Confirming the signal with the catcher, Garvey stood firmly on the pitching plate, lifted his front leg, shifted his weight forward, and released the baseball.
Unfazed by the previous deception, Lin Guanglai boldly swung at the approaching ball, striking it precisely.
At the moment of impact, the ball momentarily paused for a fraction of a second; then, propelled by great force, it shot skyward.
The Japan High School Team was the first to notice the ball’s trajectory—on the bench, players not starting today leaned towards where the ball flew, excitedly chanting "Oh, oh, oh."
Under the eyes of both coaches, players, and umpires, the baseball fell in a perfect arc, landing beyond the field’s boundary.
Lin Guanglai rounded the bases with strides, leaving his footprints one after another, before returning to the player’s section, where he exchanged high-fives and embraces in celebration with his ecstatic coach and teammates.
"Ohhhhhhhh!"
"Guanglai, great hit, you really did the pitching squad proud, hahahaha!"
"So cool, another grand slam! Guanglai, you’re so awesome!"
However, on the other side, seeing the baseball fly out, Garvey felt he heard a "crack" sound—that was the sound of his heart breaking inside.
Turning back towards his team’s section, all he saw was the manager’s stone-faced, grim expression.