CHAPTER 69: CHAPTER 69: OFFENSIVE LIKE THE TIDE

"Unbelievable, unbelievable—dear audience, I can hardly believe my eyes!"

Tanaka Shuji, the announcer, was utterly shocked witnessing the second home run fly into the stands. His voice was raised several octaves as words of praise poured out one after another:

"First-year student Lin Guanglai!"

"Amazing! Absolutely amazing!"

"A new record! This is a new record in the 92-year history of the Summer Koshien!"

"A genius, an absolute genius!"

In the over ninety-year history of the Summer Koshien, countless genius players have emerged. But since the education system reform in 1948, only 14 players have ever hit a home run at Koshien Stadium as a freshman—today, Lin Guanglai became the 15th;

If we narrow down the criteria to "hitting two home runs as a freshman," before Lin, only one person has achieved this—a phenomenon in 1983, Masumi Kuwata, who, along with Kazuhiko Kiyohara, led PL Academy to the championship as freshmen and established PL’s reign.

Today, Lin Guanglai became the second.

On the supporter stand of Waseda Industries, their supporters cheered and celebrated wildly, even the teachers who witnessed the school’s championship were somewhat out of control at this moment.

The Alps Stand was a sea of excitement, the crowd creating wave after wave, turning the entire stand into an ocean.

Circling the infield along the bases, Lin Guanglai returned to home plate, lightly stepped onto the base with his front foot, and celebrated with his teammates who had been waiting. Returning to the bench, his teammates, who had lined up, reached out one by one to high-five and cheer with him.

There was jubilation on Waseda’s side, while Chukyo University’s side of the field was far from cheerful.

Lin Guanglai’s home run struck like a sledgehammer on Chukyo University’s minds, shaking everyone to their core—this home run had a tremendous impact, especially since they were still trailing 0-9, with no outs, and Waseda’s batting lineup about to reset.

A surge of fear of losing welled up in the hearts of Chukyo University players—even after falling behind by seven runs in the first inning, they hadn’t given up hope for a comeback. But Lin Guanglai’s second home run shattered their confidence, enveloping both on-field and off-field players in a cloud of negativity.

The key issue was that they had no time left to adjust.

The situation on the field seemed to confirm this: Moriyama Junpei’s pitching lost its previous suppressive power, with not just control issues, but speed and quality also declining.

Starting with Chongxin Shen Zhong, Waseda’s batting lineup re-ignited, hitting consecutively in four at-bats, continually widening the score gap.

Hit, hit, hit, and another hit...

Score, score, score, and another score...

Chukyo University’s dugout was utterly silent, and the Alps Stand above them also fell completely quiet—some team members and fans even started crying, overwhelmed by despair. Now they just wanted this nightmare to end quickly and to retreat to a lonely corner to lick their wounds.

In the commentary box, Tanaka Shuji and Takumi Tanchisha watched the game unfold, at a loss for what to say—the level of shock was perhaps the greatest for these seasoned commentators entrenched in high school baseball.

Before the game, almost all of Takayama’s professionals and commentators believed the match between the Aichi Representatives and West Tokyo Representatives would be evenly matched, only decided at the final moment; even as seasoned defending champions, Chukyo University was deemed slightly more likely to win.

Their judgment was not without reason—even ignoring the defending champion status, just bearing the Aichi Representative title was enough to ensure Chukyo University’s competitiveness.

Aichi Prefecture, as the heart of the Nagoya Metropolitan Area, has nearly 200 participating schools, with most having strong economic backing and baseball resources, far exceeding the average level of high school baseball in Japan.

Aichi’s victory record in Koshien history is the highest among all prefectures, even surpassing the elite regions like Osaka Tokyo; not to mention Aichi high school baseball once produced world-class players like Ichiro Suzuki.

Teams that emerge from the strong competition in Aichi Prefecture are undoubtedly forces to be reckoned with in Koshien—yet such a strong team was thoroughly defeated in just five innings.

After a moment of pondering, Tanaka Shuji slowly spoke: "Well... though it might seem a bit reckless to say, I must say, Chukyo University’s title defense journey is probably coming to an end."

The live broadcast camera tactfully panned out to a wide shot centering on the scoreboard above Koshien’s outfield—the large electronic scoreboard displayed the figure 19-0, piercing the hearts of Chukyo University supporters.

At this point in the game, there was actually no suspense left. Even though baseball is a sport full of miracles, a 19-0 scoreline clearly fell outside the realm of the miraculous.

Both managers simultaneously chose to call retreat, beginning to switch players, giving those who have been on the bench a chance to step onto the Koshien Stadium field.

As team captain, Moriyama Junpei was replaced by his teammate, the third-year Takeuchi Keiichi; in his final Koshien game of his high school career, he pitched 3 and 2/3 innings in relief, threw 109 pitches, struck out twice, and walked one batter, allowing 12 runs, of which 11 were earned runs—a single game stat that would spell the end of his potential professional pitching career.

Subsequently, in the bottom of the sixth inning, Lin Guanglai was also replaced by the second-year Uchida Saint—after winning today’s game, all the remaining matches from the third round were back-to-back with no rest days; Izumi Minoru switched him out to conserve energy for the upcoming games.

Watching Lin Guanglai leave the field, Tanaka Shuji and Takumi Tanchisha did not hesitate to express their admiration:

"We can see Lin Guanglai, the biggest contributor to Waseda’s victory today, has been substituted out—as a pitcher, he started and pitched six innings today, sending out eight strikeouts, allowing four hits, and giving up zero runs; and as a batter, Mr. Lin was on fire today, contributing one hit, and two home runs, including a grand slam."

"What achievements in just his very first game as a freshman, I am truly looking forward to the upcoming matches, and even next year and the year after, to see what kind of player this rising star will become!"

The remaining game did not bring about many ripples—even though Chukyo University launched a counterattack in the bottom of the eighth inning, it was merely a push to maintain their final shred of dignity.

In the end, the 92nd Summer Koshien’s second round match saw Waseda Industries’ 21-6 victory over Chukyo University, advancing to the third round while sending the defending champions home.

As both teams lined up, the air raid siren marking the end of the game sounded timely over Koshien Stadium.

Under the long, melancholic wail of the siren, this 2-hour-and-57-minute game came to a close.

However, the stories outside the field, from this moment, have just begun.