Standing tall on the pitcher's mound, Lin Guanglai placed his hands behind his back, leaning slightly forward as he observed the batter and contemplated his next move.

According to the pre-game information, Teikyo Junior & Senior High School's number two batter, Abe Kenta, was very adept at pitch selection—against such a type, pitches with obvious trajectory changes meant to entice into swinging at bad balls wouldn't be very effective.

Moreover, with no outs and a runner on third, the pressure on Abe Kenta at this plate appearance was greatly reduced:

He didn't necessarily need to get a hit—even a sacrifice bunt play to force in a run would give Teikyo the scoring advantage.

Sure enough, when the top of the inning began with his second at-bat, left-handed batter Abe Kenta immediately squared to bunt, holding the bat horizontally with both hands on the grip.

As a pitcher, Lin Guanglai naturally didn't want the opponent to score so easily through a sacrifice bunt. So when pitching, he aimed his fastballs more towards the gap between Abe's bat and cheek.

For a batter looking to bunt, that position would make things uncomfortable:

Attempting a forceful bunt would likely result in an infield pop-up caught by the catcher; letting the ball go might result in losing a strike count.

After two pitches with one ball and one strike, both sides found the situation acceptable.

After catching the ball returned by the catcher, Lin Guanglai glanced at third base out of the corner of his eye, noticing that Mizukami Shikou on third was quite restless, looking eager to sprint back to the home plate at any moment.

To counter Mizukami Shikou's behavior, Lin Guanglai made consecutive third-base pickoff attempts to keep him in check.

Focusing back on the batter, this time Abe Kenta managed to make contact.

"Clang."

The swiftly flying white ball quickly lost most of its momentum upon contact, bouncing lightly off the bat and rolling slowly across the infield.

Of course, Lin Guanglai's pressure had an effect: although Abe Kenta made contact with the ball, he couldn't make a solid bunt.

Ideally, Teikyo's objective with this bunt was to help Mizukami Shikou on third run back to home plate; the bunt should have gone as far from third base as possible. Yet, under Lin Guanglai's pressure, Abe Kenta exerted all his effort just to make contact, leaving little room to control the direction of his bunt.

The ball was bunted between second and third bases, preventing Mizukami Shikou from daring to make a rash dash, fearing a possible tag out.

Lin Guanglai picked up the ball from the ground but didn't rush to throw to first base for the out. He first confirmed that Mizukami Shikou was standing steady on the third base bag before throwing the ball to first base.

At first base, Hagiyama Mitsuo's large mitt was open, ready to catch the ball.

The crisp sound of the leather ball hitting cowhide that Lin Guanglai anticipated did not come. Instead, there was loud cheering from the Teikyo cheering squad near third base and low gasps from the Waseda Jitsugyo supporters at first base.

"Another error! It's hard to imagine, unless you see it with your own eyes, that the Spring Koshien champions could commit two consecutive low-level errors in the very first half-inning of their Summer League!"

"From the replay, we observe that when Hagiyama at first base went for the catch, the ball hit the top edge of his glove and bounced out—luckily, it just fell to the ground and didn't allow Mizukami on third to score. However, two consecutive errors allowing runners on base are undoubtedly a big blow to the team's morale."

In the commentary booth, Sakaguchi Yuji, responsible for commentating this match, remarked as he watched the game unfold on the field.

Beside him, guest commentator Morinaka Naoki added:

"This is actually what we commonly refer to as championship syndrome—even though last year's Waseda Jitsugyo players were also new to the tournament, they carried no burdens of expectations and could entirely focus on each match."

"But this year's Waseda Jitsugyo is different—they are the Spring Koshien champions, the biggest favorites, the number one seed in this tournament—the praise itself is an intangible form of pressure, making it difficult for the players to perform their best."

"Actually, for Waseda Jitsugyo, the ideal outcome would have been drawing an average-strength team in the first round to gradually find their rhythm through actual play;"

"But their first-round opponents, Imperial Capital High, aren't a team to be taken lightly—in comparison, Imperial Capital is the one not fearing judgment; moreover, based on the information we've received, Imperial Capital has been undergoing special batting training for the past few days, with a very clear objective—"

"And that is to take down the 'Heisei Monster'!!!"

Standing at the center of the field, Lin Guanglai's expression was dark—any pitcher would feel frustrated, seeing their own sound pitches negated by inexplicable defensive errors that let opponents on base and even into scoring positions.

Taking a few deep breaths, he needed to quickly purge the negative emotions—just like he told his teammates, since it has happened, the only thing left to do is to think about how to handle the current situation.

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