Today, Itou Takuro's initial performance appeared quite unstable.

In the third inning, he started by striking out Chongxin Shen Zhong with a beautiful edge slider, earning his first strikeout of the game;

but then, when facing Matsunaga Kenta and Kenshu Yasuda, his pitching touch, which had been just fine, seemed to suddenly vanish:

First, a 140 km/h pitch hit Matsunaga Kenta, causing him to sit on the ground in pain for quite a while before recovering;

Then, when facing Kenshu Yasuda directly, despite having a favorable 0-2 count, he threw four consecutive balls, all of which Kenshu Yasuda watched, giving away what could have been an out.

The pitcher's erratic state made Ishikawa Ryo, the catcher for Imperial Capital, feel uneasy — especially considering that the next batter to face would be Lin Guanglai.

"Batting fourth, pitcher, Mr. Lin."

"Batting fourth, pitcher, Mr. Lin."

While Ishikawa Ryo was fretting over the pitching strategy for the upcoming at-bat, the broadcast over Koshien simultaneously announced Lin Guanglai's powerful entrance into the left batter's box.

On the pitcher's mound, whether it was the heat or the intense pressure, or perhaps both, Itou Takuro removed his cap, wiping away sweat with the back of his hand while observing Lin Guanglai's every move closely.

Different from the previous at-bat where he looked grim and determined, this time Lin Guanglai appeared to be quite relaxed, standing in the batter's box with a smile, swinging the bat a few times in warm-up.

A powerful hitter possesses a distinctive aura, one that can only be felt by their opponents — evidently, in Ishikawa Ryo's eyes, Lin Guanglai in the batter's box was like Goku in Super Saiyan mode, exuding that palpable energy.

The pressure exerted by the batter alone was immense, coupled with the runners on first and second eager to advance, and Itou Takuro's vague performance today, resulted in his first pitch being —

"Smack—!"

"Ball!"

The fiercely spinning baseball, with intense tailwind speed, shot straight toward home plate, yet qualitatively speaking, it was a decent pitch from Itou Takuro — but the problem was, this diagonal inside pitch was aimed directly at Lin Guanglai.

With gasps from the spectators in the stands, Lin Guanglai pulled the bat backwards, swiftly retreating several steps out of the strike zone.

The baseball slammed hard into Ishikawa Ryo's glove with a sound that made Lin Guanglai's heart skip a beat — fortunately, he dodged in time; otherwise, getting hit would have meant the end of his participation in the game.

In the catcher's box, crouched down, Imperial Capital's catcher Ishikawa Ryo sensed trouble — his expression hidden behind the catcher's mask grew stern.

Typically, there are several approaches to handling a powerful batter like Lin Guanglai:

The best strategy, of course, is a direct face-off, using overpowering fastballs to strike the batter out — not only securing outs for the team but also significantly damaging the opponent's confidence, possibly causing them to underperform in the subsequent game;

The moderate strategy is the most commonly used, enticing the batter to swing with a combination of breaking balls, leveraging the momentary change in ball trajectory to gain a numeric advantage;

The least favorable strategy involves jamming the inside corner to compress the batter's swing space, forcing them into hitting feeble pop-ups easily caught — it's the least favorable because genuine wide-angle hitters, even when cramped for swing space, can still often get base hits, making it a self-destructive endeavor for the defense.

However, all these strategies depend on the pitcher's ability to control the ball within the strike zone — baseball is fundamentally a human sport; no matter how well-planned the catcher's strategies may be, if the pitcher can't throw strikes, there's nothing the catcher can do.

Evidently, Itou Takuro was facing such a predicament — if it were the bottom of Waseda Jitsugyo's lineup, Ishikawa Ryo might dare to call some good pitches to help him regain his form gradually; but facing Lin Guanglai, doing so would undoubtedly be suicidal.

Ishikawa Ryo glanced towards his team's supervisor, Maeda Sanosuke, standing by the third base dugout, but he showed no intent to change pitchers.

"Since that's the case, we'll just have to soldier on — if absolutely necessary, intentionally walking him with more balls to fill the bases is a last resort!" Ishikawa Ryo thought, then positioned his glove in the target area for his pitcher, signaling with his other hand simultaneously.

The second pitch was thrown towards the outside of the strike zone.

The pitch trajectory appeared direct, a type that Lin Guanglai preferred, yet just as he began his swing, the sudden curve altered the ball's path, making him forcibly halt his bat mid-motion.

"Smack."

"Ball!"

The outside slider's trajectory was beautifully crafted, almost enticing him into swinging; fortunately, Lin Guanglai managed to stop before completing the swing, otherwise, the opponent could have claimed a strike.

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