Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 449 - 77: Climax Battle: SoftBank vs Rakuten!

Yes, it was the theme song from the Summer League in Lin Guanglai's first year of high school; in other words, it was the overture of legendary high school baseball and an era.

Gently closing his eyes, humming this familiar melody, Lin Guanglai felt like he was taken back to that summer three years ago:

That summer, he was just a young, somewhat famous rookie; that summer, Waseda Jitsugyo was a long-silent prestigious school—no one would have thought that this encounter would indirectly change the course of Takayama's history.

And now, hearing this song again after a long time, if Lin Guanglai originally had any worries about this match, now the last bit of hesitation had completely disappeared—

Facing the season's most legendary player in all of Japan, Lin Guanglai secretly vowed in his heart that he would make this song the starting point of a new legend!

"Play Ball!" The chief umpire's order marked the official start of the game—this match, with the SoftBank team attacking first as the visitors at Miyagi, and the Rakuten, the Pacific League champions, defending.

With Lin Guanglai playing as a "Dual Swordsmanship" player, he was placed in the eighth batter position by Akiyama Koji; substituting for him as the first batter was first baseman Nakamura Akira.

Facing the aggressive and intimidating Tanaka Masahiro, Nakamura Akira struggled with the opponent for four pitches, eventually swinging at a high straight pitch in the strike zone on a 2-ball 2-strike count and striking out.

Almost simultaneously as the baseball landed in Shima Keihiro's glove, Miyagi Stadium erupted in a huge cheer: In the eyes of the home fans, such an effortless first strikeout seemed to indicate that Rakuten would relatively easily win this match, widening the lead to 2:0.

Although feeling a bit frustrated with his performance, after returning to the player area, Nakagawa Akira immediately shared the feeling of his batting with his teammates:

"You guys can be more aggressive on good balls when you bat next—at least from my perception, Tanaka doesn't seem as dominating today as he usually does in official matches, maybe because he hasn't played a game in a while..."

His guess was indeed reasonable: For the Rakuten Team, who won the Pacific League championship, they advanced directly to the finals after the official game phase, having a substantial period for rest and recovery; but the downside was that Tanaka Masahiro, their ace, hadn't pitched in an official game for nearly half a month before this match.

Upon hearing Nakagawa Akira's words, Akiyama Koji keenly grasped the hidden information within and immediately shouted to the players up next to bat, "You've heard Nakagawa—when you go up next, fight for every ball! Even if you can't hit it out, try to exhaust Tanaka's stamina as much as possible!"

In response to the series of "Yes, Coach!" shouts, following up next, Imamiya Kenta indeed hit a base hit off Tanaka Masahiro—after a full count, Imamiya Kenta sent the ball towards the shortstop direction and reached the base just ahead of Rakuten's infielders' throw to first.

Third in the order, Hasegawa Yu contributed a sacrifice fly, advancing teammates into scoring position; fourth-batter Nakagawa Seiichi then extended the attack in time, turning the situation into two outs, with runners on first and third with a single.

Although fifth-batter Matsuda Naohiro hit a grounder towards the pitcher's mound, getting thrown out at first by Tanaka Masahiro, thereby missing a score in the first inning for the SoftBank team, the players showed no sign of disappointment.

At least from the scene of this first half-inning, this game—there's a chance!!!

Having realized this, the SoftBank players, initially wary of Tanaka Masahiro's legendary status, grew more spirited, charging energetically even during the field switch, showing no traces of hesitation.

After symbolically throwing a few warm-up pitches toward Hosokawa Kei's direction, Lin Guanglai nodded slightly towards home plate, indicating his readiness; on the other side, Okajima Gourou, the Rakuten team's first batter, was also ready.

Though it had been almost half a month since Lin Guanglai last started a game as a pitcher, thanks to the matches against Seibu, his body maintained the rhythm and state of official games.

Due to his impressive stats in the official game phase, a batting average of .323, an on-base percentage of .405, and an OPS of .790, Okajima Gourou replaced Rakuten's original first batter Seijima Ryosuke.

Unlike the traditional first basemen known for efficient hitting, Okajima Gourou is the type who can hit to any part of the field with speed—a wide-angle hitter with impressive sprinting speed—dealing with such a player, Lin Guanglai needed more patience.

Although Miyagi Stadium is small, the loyalty of the Rakuten fans was no less impressive: Over twenty thousand home team fans created tremendous momentum, raising the stadium's heat once more.

Taking a deep breath, filtering out the surrounding noise and clamor, Lin Guanglai nodded towards home plate, his body rapidly launching, following a series of smooth and powerful pitching motions, the baseball with intense spin blasted towards the home plate.

As the fourth designated pick in 2012, who had just been promoted to the first team this year and quickly gained a foothold, Okajima Gourou fully exhibited the spirit of a newborn calf unafraid of a tiger: facing Lin Guanglai's powerful fastball, he decisively swung without a hint of fear.

However, the next second after the bat collided with the baseball, with a crisp "crack," Okajima Gourou's bat shattered, wood chips flying around, the completely broken front half of the bat even flew towards the pitcher's mound, startling Lin Guanglai, who quickly dodged aside.

As for the baseball, it was hit by the broken bat towards first base, where Honda Yuichi at second base caught it and accomplished an out at first.

"Guanglai, are you alright?"

After putting away Okajima Gourou, SoftBank quickly called a time-out, with the infielders gathering around to inquire about Lin Guanglai's condition.

Lin Guanglai shook his head: "I'm fine, don't worry everyone—I was just startled."

Seeing his normal expression without any signs of pretense, the others nodded and returned to their defensive positions.

After the scattered broken bat and wood chips on the field were cleared away, the game resumed:

The SoftBank team wasn't greatly affected, Lin Guanglai continued to pitch as usual, with pitch velocity and power maintaining above-normal levels;

As for Rakuten's batters, they seemed to be influenced by the broken bat incident from the previous at-bat, with subsequent batters Fujita Kazuya and Ginji offering little resistance, allowing Lin Guanglai to strike them out consecutively with relative ease.

In the top of the second inning, Tanaka Masahiro returned to the mound and immediately struck out the spirited Yanagida Yuuki; but then, his control faltered again, walking Honda Yuichi with a decisive breaking ball failing to enter the zone.

In such a situation, Lin Guanglai stepped into the batter's box, holding a bat.

Seeing the young man standing in the batter's box at this moment, Tanaka Masahiro's already not particularly large eyes squinted slightly, his serious expression showcasing his focus and commitment; on the other hand, Lin Guanglai was equally eager to compete against him.

A little over half a year ago, in the last duel, Lin Guanglai had two outs and two bases in four plate appearances, resulting in an evenly matched outcome.

But this time, after being baptized by a full professional baseball season, the now stronger Lin Guanglai was ready to let the strongest pitcher in the current Nippon Professional Baseball feel his strength!