Lin Guanglai wasn't very surprised about being intentionally walked by the opponent—in fact, last night during a meeting, Mr. Izumi had brought up this issue in front of everyone.

"Everyone knows that Guanglai has performed really well in this tournament, hitting home runs in all four consecutive games. His form is visible not only to us but also to our opponents."

"So for tomorrow's match, everyone needs to be psychologically prepared—" Mr. Izumi paused here, specifically making eye contact with Lin Guanglai, and gently said:

"Guanglai, when there are runners on base, being 'intentionally walked' is definitely possible—are you mentally prepared for that?"

Faced with the question from the coach, Lin Guanglai smiled:

"Mr. Izumi, rest assured! I've already prepared myself—even if I encounter the same treatment as Matsui Hideki did in 1992, I won't have any problems."

"Coach, don't forget, besides being a hitter, I'm also a pitcher—if I don't get a chance to hit during the offense, I'll defend against all their attacks when I pitch! I won't let them score even a single point!"

The game had just begun, and an intentional walk in just one at-bat wasn't a grave issue. Already mentally prepared, Lin Guanglai nonchalantly hopped a few steps toward first base, successfully attracting the pick-off move from Kazuya Miyata—having achieved his goal of distracting the pitcher, he quickly reacted and safely returned to first base.

Since I can't help my teammates with hitting right now, I need to adopt a more aggressive attitude when running the bases, striving to draw more attention from the opponents and relieve some pressure from the hitters behind me.

Unfortunately, even though Lin Guanglai's roaming at first base significantly disrupted Narashino's defensive formation, and he even seized the chance to steal second base, teaming up with Chongxin Shen Zhong standing on third base to apply pressure.

Regrettably, Hagiyama Mitsuo couldn't hit through the defense and was out at first base, granting the opponent the third out while leaving two men stranded.

In the bottom half of the inning, Lin Guanglai took the mound to pitch. Even though he couldn't help the team open the game, he vented all his frustration on Narashino's batters after being walked on four consecutive pitches.

The Waseda Jitsugyo team had already studied this opponent: Narashino School from Chiba Prefecture is known for its baseball style of connecting offensive plays through a series of consecutive short hits; in other words, their batters have strong contact skills, and even when they get out, it usually ends in a groundout, making strikeouts rare.

But facing Lin Guanglai, who was in top form, Narashino's batters had a tough time: Miyata Kazuya, Nakamura Atsushitaka, Fujii Takuya—Narashino's top three batters were all struck out consecutively like roll call reports.

In the ensuing period, neither team made any significant progress. The latter part of Waseda Jitsugyo's batting order was met with Narashino's tight defense, and Narashino's lower-order hitters couldn't stir up much of a storm against Lin Guanglai—both second and third innings ended in three-up-three-down for each side, with no one reaching even first base.

Quickly stepping off the pitcher's mound, Lin Guanglai hurriedly put on his batting gloves and gear, quickly suited up, and grabbed his bat to warm up outside—this inning, he would have his second at-bat, and Lin Guanglai harbored a slight hope—maybe the opponent walked him earlier just because there was a man on third base?

But clearly, he was doomed to be disappointed.

Kenshu Yasuda hit a powerful grounder toward third base, reaching first base ahead of the tag and completing his task perfectly.

When Lin Guanglai stepped into the batter's box, what awaited him was the same treatment as his first at-bat:

"Ball!"

"Ball!"

"Ball!"

"Ball!"

Kazuya Miyata repeatedly pitched to the right batter's box position, without hesitation walking Lin Guanglai on four straight pitches.

The umpire behind the plate pointed to the first base direction, signaling Lin Guanglai to advance to first base.

In the broadcast camera's footage, Lin Guanglai's expressionless face just quietly placed the bat down and slowly jogged toward first base.

In the commentary booth, a classic line from high school baseball history floated into the commentator's mind:

"勝負は,しません!" (There's no contest in this at-bat!)

This line was the famous phrase uttered by Asahi Relaxation commentator Sadawo Uekusa during the 1992 74th tournament match between Meitoku Gijuku Junior & Senior High School and Hoshizaki High School when Meitoku Gijuku intentionally walked Matsui Hideki five times consecutively.

In that game, whenever Meitoku Gijuku's pitcher intentionally threw balls when facing Matsui Hideki, Sadawo Uekusa would loudly declare, "There's no contest in this at-bat" — after many years of precipitation, this famous line has become a declaration challenging the traditional confrontation concept of high school baseball.

During the infamous game between Meitoku Gijuku and Hoshizaki High School, when the five-at-bat consecutive intentional walks incident broke out, the scene was extremely chaotic:

Over on the third base side where Hoshizaki was rooting, and in the outfield seats filled with regular spectators, numerous baseball items like megaphones, empty cans, garbage, and other items were thrown onto the field, leading to a temporary halt in the game;

In the packed Koshien Stadium, nearly fifty thousand spectators chanted "Showdown! Showdown!" and even booed the Meitoku Gijuku players—a rarity where even Meitoku Gijuku's own supporters shouted "If you are real men from Kochi Prefecture, then face it head-on!"

As Lin Guanglai was intentionally walked for the second time in this game, the scene from that infamous match inevitably resurfaced in many spectators' minds—could it be that 19 years later, the same scene would replay?

The commentators and audience had plenty of reason to infer so: judging from the preceding innings, even though Kazuya Miyata was a substitute pitcher, his control was remarkably good, often fooling other batters into swinging with his precise pitches;

But when facing Lin Guanglai, he straightforwardly and cleanly walked him with eight balls over two at-bats—there's no reason he could pitch with precision against others but completely lose control against Lin Guanglai, right?

Clearly, many had already guessed that this should be Narashino's strategy for today—without the coach's directives, no player would dare to take it upon themselves to issue intentional walks.

"Rumble—"

The entire Koshien Stadium roared.

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