Baseball: A Two-Way Player

Chapter 166: National Supremacy


The distance from the pitcher's mound to home plate is 18.44 meters. Calculating by the speed of the ace pitcher of the Koshien champion team, it takes less than half a second for a baseball to cover this distance.

Because of this, when the baseball shot out from Lin Guanglai's hand on the pitcher's mound, flying directly into Uesugi Yasuyuki's glove behind home plate, the entire audience at Koshien couldn't react to what had just happened on the field for a moment.

But this didn't last long. First, one person reacted, then two, ten, hundreds, thousands... in the end, tens of thousands of spectators in Koshien Stadium erupted into a huge cheer, the resulting wave of sound instantly enveloping this historic ballpark.

On the field, the Waseda Jitsugyo players, who were taut and on guard just a second ago, were overwhelmed by a kind of heartfelt, genuine ecstasy the moment they saw the baseball enter the glove.

They had experienced joy like this before, but compared to the excitement of winning in the spring, the emotions that erupted at this moment contained much more unique significance.

Whether in terms of the value of the championship or the special symbolic meaning of summer, the taste of reaching the top in the Summer League is incomparable to that of spring; likewise, only by truly defeating the champion teams from the other 48 prefectures can one be worthy of being described as "national domination."

"Three outs—!!! Game over!!!"

"The 93rd summer! Waseda Industries!! Spring and summer consecutive championships!!! Achieved—!!!!"

"For the first time in the history of the championship tournament! Perfect game!! Achieved!!!"

Amidst the cheers of the entire stadium, under the gaze of everyone, Lin Guanglai on the pitcher's mound could no longer contain his joy. He raised his hands high, pointing to the sky, basking in the audience's applause.

Basking in the golden noon sunlight of summer, the tall and handsome boy on the pitcher's mound shone like a god—at this moment, he was the focus of all Japan!

The infield teammates were the first to run over, followed by the teammates from the bench, who swarmed over. Although the outfield was the furthest away, the speed of the three main outfielders was not slow at all—the entire team gathered on the pitcher's mound, all pointing their fingers to the sky. They jumped and shouted passionately, fully enjoying their moment of ascent.

Since being eliminated last summer, over three hundred days and nights of hard work, countless sweat and tears, finally transformed into a key at this moment, opening the door to dreams.

Watching the younger players passionately celebrating in the center of the field, even the usually carefree Tsuchiya Ryota couldn't help but shed tears. As he wiped away the tears streaming down his face, he sighed:

"If only I were a year or two younger... then maybe I could be standing on the field and celebrating with everyone right now..."

His words resonated with many around him—for these boys whose talents weren't particularly outstanding, being able to reach the top of Koshien as part of this team would surely be a precious memory to cherish for a lifetime, never forgotten even in old age.

After the brief celebration, as the captain, Lin Guanglai calmed his emotions and called his teammates to line up at home plate, as they still had many things to do.

Both teams lined up on either side of home plate, standing face to face. Lin Guanglai at the front of the line looked up to see that the Koushing Academy players bore no hint of light on their faces, clearly quite affected by the game.

Although it was hard to bear, this is competitive sports—there are winners, and there must be losers; and to avoid becoming the losers, the final winners can only progress by stepping over the broken dreams of others. Reality is cruel like that.

Once the players from both sides were ready, the head referee standing between them announced the result of the match:

"In this match, 7-0, the winner is Waseda Real, salute!!!"

As the words fell, the sound of the air raid siren was simultaneously pulled—marking the end of the story for this summer with the last warning of the last game.

Lin Guanglai took off his cap and bowed to his opponents, then stepped forward to shake hands with them.

Despite losing the match, the Koushing Academy players graciously congratulated the Waseda Jitsugyo players—frankly, their performance wasn't particularly bad, though their offense was completely shut down, it was only because they encountered Lin Guanglai. Had it been a different opponent, the result might not have been the same.

Then, the Koushing players retreated to their dugout, leaving the entire field to the Waseda Jitsugyo players—as they lined up in front of home plate and loudly sang the school anthem under the gaze of tens of thousands of spectators.

After this segment ended, the on-site staff began arranging for the award ceremony; during this time, the players went to the Alps Stand to thank their supporters and simultaneously accepted interviews from official media.

Unlike previous games where interviews took place inside the player tunnel, the champion team's interview was conducted within Koshien Stadium, with microphones connected directly to the stadium broadcast, ensuring every spectator could participate.

On the interview platform, Izumi Minoru, with tears in his eyes, accepted the winner's interview—as the supervisor of Waseda Jitsugyo, this was his second time leading the team to win the Summer League, totaling 3 Koshien victories, making him unique among Takano Ren supervisors.

Meanwhile, Lin Guanglai and Hagiyama Mitsuo spoke on stage as representatives of the winning players.

In this match, Hagiyama Mitsuo performed brilliantly in defense and hit a crucial solo home run, triggering the subsequent scoring spree; as for Lin Guanglai, he achieved a grand slam and a perfect game—the kind of feat only ever boasted about in practice games, yet he accomplished it all on the stage of the Koshien final, leaving reporters to marvel at the monster he is.

When entering the interview area, Lin Guanglai felt countless gazes locked onto him, sending a shiver down his spine despite the hot weather—those reporters looked at him like wolves starved for days, their eyes green with hunger.

Surrounded by layers of reporters, under the incessant brightness of the glaring lights, even the experienced Lin Guanglai found it somewhat challenging—these reporters were just too enthusiastic!

About ten or twenty minutes later, the venue was set up, and players from both sides lined up again on either side of the pitcher's mound; the award ceremony was about to begin.

Standing at the forefront of the line, Lin Guanglai's eyes were drawn to the bright red victory flag beside Oshima Takakou, the president of Takano Ren. He couldn't look away, feeling his heart burn with passion.

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