"Kenta, if Mitsuo can't hit a safe hit, I'll rely on you for the next at-bat."

"Oh... Understood, Coach, I'm heading down now..." Yagaki Kentaro looked dejected, ready to take off his batting gear—until then, his brain belatedly processed what Mr. Izumi had just said.

"Huh? Coa... Coach, you're not planning to substitute me?" His voice trembled a bit, clearly moved at the moment.

Izumi Minoru gave him an exasperated glance, then said:

"Nonsense, if I replace you, who do I send to bat? Is there anyone on the team with better batting skills than you right now?"

"Brat, if you feel grateful, return the favor to the whole team by hitting the ball well when you're on the field."

"Rest assured, Coach! This time, I guarantee I'll complete the task!" Feeling the trust from his coach and teammates, Yagaki Kentaro gave a crisp salute to Izumi Minoru.

Izumi Minoru was amused by his serious demeanor and laughed, saying, "Alright, brat, stop acting up—go prepare well now!"

"Yes, Coach!"

Amidst their banter, the duel on the field had begun.

Hagiyuta Mitsuo was undoubtedly a blind artillery hitter—a blind artillery refers to players who have strong home run potential but a batting average below average. For them, batting is like a one-shot deal: they either strike out easily or slam the ball out of the park; there's almost no third option.

But actually, at this moment, what Waseda Jitsugyo needed more was stable base hits and advancing, using continuous offense to dismantle Nihon University 3rd Junior & Senior High School's defense—Hagiyuta Mitsuo lacked this capability considerably.

For this reason, Lin Guanglai still wanted to try stealing third base, so the teammates behind only needed a bunt to absolutely defeat the opponent.

Gesturing twice towards Hagiyuta Mitsuo, letting his teammate know his intention, Lin Guanglai kept looking around, observing the situation.

Stealing third base wasn't simple; the slight carelessness could get him picked off by the catcher—at such a crucial game-deciding moment, Lin Guanglai had to be extra cautious, even standing still was better than a reckless advance.

The advantage of standing on second base is that the pitcher's back is to him, and can't constantly pay attention to his actions, only partially through the catcher's signals;

But the catcher also has the duty of catching, and there are moments when his attention isn't so concentrated, not focusing enough on Lin Guanglai—and at that time, it's his cue.

For three balls in a row, Lin Guanglai couldn't find a good opportunity to run, just hovering in a safe distance from the base, distracting Nihon University 3rd Junior & Senior High School's defenders and easing his teammates' pressure.

During these three balls, Hagiyuta Mitsuo let a bad pitch go by, swung and missed twice, bringing the count to 1 ball, 2 strikes, an absolute advantage for the pitcher.

As he watched Yoshinaga Kentarou's foot step onto the pitcher's plate, Lin Guanglai moved two steps further from second base; just when he wanted to move even further, Yoshinaga suddenly turned and flung the ball over.

Pitcher disengaged the plate to pick off!

Before his brain had fully processed the information, Lin Guanglai's body instinctively reacted first, pushing off directly back towards the base, barely touching the bag before the second baseman sneaked in for the tag.

Confirming his body was still in contact with the base, Lin Guanglai clumsily stood up from the ground, dusting off the dirt.

That ball, his reaction was prompt—if he'd been even a little slower, Waseda Jitsugyo's offense this half-inning could have ended prematurely.

Seeing he couldn't pull off anything significant, Hagiyuta Mitsuo recalled the coach's words before he went up; so he made a few hand signals at Lin Guanglai on second base, indicating he could start running early on the next pitch, and he'd bunt to advance him.

"Clang—" As the baseball flew towards him, Hagiyuta Mitsuo lightly tapped the ball with the upright bat, taking most of the power off and allowing it to slowly roll on the ground.

As he quickly descended from the pitcher's mound, taking large strides toward the rolling baseball, Yoshinaga Kentarou glanced sideways at the second and third bases:

By the time of the early start, Lin Guanglai had already covered two-thirds of the distance, clearly too late to throw to third for the out;

Having no more hesitation, after securing the ball, Yoshinaga flung his arm, choosing the safest move by getting the ball into Kaneko Rei's glove at first before Hagiyuta Mitsuo could reach it.

The scoreboard showed a red light glowing behind the 'O' indicating an out—meaning for Nihon University 3rd Junior & Senior High School, they were just one out away from dragging the game into the 11th inning.

However, on third base stood none other than Lin Guanglai, who had successfully stolen home multiple times in official matches, putting intense pressure on their players.

As Yagaki Kentaro stepped up, he found hardly any defenders from Nihon University 3rd Junior & Senior High School paying him any attention in the batter's box; their focus was almost entirely drawn to Lin Guanglai near third base.

In response, Yagaki Kentaro wasn't angry about being underestimated; on the contrary, he hoped they'd belittle him even more—the less attention they paid him, the greater his chance of hitting a base hit.

Not until Ogura Quanyou from the sidelines loudly reminded his team to focus on the batter did Nihon University 3rd Junior & Senior High School's players slightly shift their attention back to home plate.

"Bottom of the tenth, two outs, runner on third, the batter now is Waseda Jitsugyo's sixth batter, Yagaki Kentaro, a sophomore."

The commentators on TV were introducing Yagaki in the batter's box, displaying a row of figures below his name—his various statistics in this tournament.

"Although Yagaki's stats look quite promising, it's important to note that his recent form hasn't been great, you might even say he's been somewhat lost."

"In the game between Waseda Jitsugyo and Showa High School, he missed scoring opportunities four times in a row, and his performance in decisive moments wasn't very satisfactory—considering his condition, I would say it's advisable for Waseda's Mr. Izumi to use a substitute batter."

"However, there might be something more behind the scenes here, so let's look forward to Yagaki's performance—only one base hit is needed to send Lin back, and Waseda Jitsugyo will secure the Koshien berth for two consecutive years!"

In the batter's box, Yagaki Kentaro simply stood there silently, his gaze fixed on the batter.

He knew that while he faced enormous pressure, the pitcher's pressure was definitely higher; just one chance was all he needed, even one bunt could suffice!

The first ball, a fastball straight into the inside corner, nearly grazing Yagaki Kentaro's body yet firmly landing on the edge of the strike zone—even as an opponent, Yagaki couldn't help but admire the pitcher's courage and resolve.

0 balls, 1 strike.

The second ball, an unexpectedly vertical slider, but unfortunately the displacement control was lacking, the pitch ended up outside the strike zone.

1 ball, 1 strike.

The third ball—

As the baseball sprang from Yoshinaga Kentarou's hand, Yagaki Kentaro, who was fully focused near home plate, knew—

This was the ball he had been eagerly awaiting!

Body twisting, drawing energy, swinging the bat horizontally.

"Clang!"

The sound wasn't exceptionally loud, but was resoundingly clear to the ears of Waseda Jitsugyo and Nihon University 3rd Junior & Senior High School players.

"He hit it!" Seeing this scene, the commentator in the booth shouted excitedly.

The baseball Yagaki Kentaro hit first thudded heavily onto the ground, then quickly darted toward the pitcher's mound.

Yoshinaga Kentarou promptly bent down, preparing to field it—if he managed to intercept this ball, an out was within reach.

However—

"The ball slipped through!!! Neither second base nor the shortstop was able to stop it!!! Walk-off hit!!! Walk-off hit!!!"

"Waseda Real! Two consecutive years! Entering the Summer League!!"

The baseball slipped through the narrow gap between Yoshinaga Kentarou's glove and the ground, piercing through the entire infield defense and was picked up by the advancing Sho Hango.

But all the players from Nihon University 3rd Junior & Senior High School on the field knew, it was over, everything was over—their summer was at an end here.

At that moment, there was a peculiar feeling that arose in Lin Guanglai, standing on the field of Shengong Stadium:

What slipped away under his glove wasn't just that baseball—something else was lost.

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