Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 433 - 69: The Ticket Secured (Part 3)

"Thud!!!"

Upon hearing the crisp, resonant sound of the ball being struck, the home fans in the stands of the Seibu Dome suddenly became restless - judging from the trajectory of the baseball, Lin Guanglai’s swing didn’t have a very high angle; evidently, it was not at a height that could fly out of the park.

But the issue was that Lin Guanglai swung with skill, although the ball didn’t fly high, its initial speed was exceptionally fast, and its landing spot was quite cunning, almost aiming for the sideline of right field - the space on either side of the foul line at Seibu Dome is quite vast. If the ball lands within bounds and then bounces out, it just might turn into a clearing hit!

For this reason, many Seibu fans in the stands could only hold their heads and pray silently in their hearts:

"Please! Let this ball, please, please land out of bounds!!!"

But baseball games are often like this: the more you implore something not to happen, the more likely it is to occur. The ball hit by Lin Guanglai precisely landed on the inside of the first base sideline and then bounced upwards, slowly rolling towards the open area outside the field.

Just as Seibu’s right fielder, Sakata Ryo, sprinted all out, trying to pick up the ball and swiftly throw it back to home plate to thwart SoftBank’s offense, the players on Softbank’s bases also dashed forward with all their might.

Almost as the ball hit the ground, Makihara Taisei on third base started his sprint, helping Softbank Team secure a precious equalizing run; Matsuda Naohiro on second base followed closely, managing to touch home plate with his hand just before Ginjiro Tanaka, who received the outfield return throw, could tag his body.

Witnessing this scene, Lin Guanglai, standing on the second base, also raised his arm high towards his team’s dugout in a triumphal gesture—there, SoftBank’s coach and players embraced fiercely in celebration, creating a huge uproar; whereas less than half an inning ago, the Seibu Dome, which was warm enough to melt a person, was as silent as a library.

The home audience seemed to have their throats clutched by an invisible hand named fate; they could only stare blankly at the few SoftBank fans present flaunting their rejoicing expressions.

But for them, this was not the most painful moment of the match—the scene that broke their hearts was still forthcoming:

When Lin Guanglai entered in the bottom of the ninth inning and smoothly delivered the final 158 km/h fastball into the inner corner against Seibu’s ninth batter, Onozaki Yuji, which was called a strike by the umpire, resulting in the batter striking out, many Seibu fans in the stands painfully closed their eyes and lifted their heads to prevent tears from falling. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

In the center of the field around the pitcher’s mound, a dense crowd of SoftBank players was gathered: they kept patting the centrally surrounded Lin Guanglai, their mouths filled with various jubilant sounds.

Meanwhile, in the broadcast images on television, a new Pacific League standings table was unveiled:

With only three games remaining in the season and both teams having played the same number of games, losing this crucial head-to-head match, the Seibu Lions’ ranking swiftly fell to fourth in the Pacific League;

While the SoftBank Team, having won today’s match, expanded their win gap over Seibu to 3.5 games—a number that means even if SoftBank loses all of their next three matches, it wouldn’t affect their top-three ranking.

In other words, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks have secured a ticket to the 2013 Nippon Professional Baseball Pacific League Climax Series.

Lin Guanglai’s rookie season is going to take place on a larger stage!!!