With a game-ending grand slam in the bottom of the ninth by Lin Guanglai, Waseda Industries narrowly advanced, defeating their arch-rival Keio High School to successfully enter the third day of the tournament.

Besides Waseda, the other 7 teams advancing to the quarterfinals are:

Nihon University (West Tokyo), Hanasaki Tokuharu High School (Saitama), Narashino (Chiba), Tokai University Kofu (Yamanashi), Choson Academy (Ibaraki), Kofu Technical School (Yamanashi), and Matsudo University (Chiba).

From the list of quarter-final teams, it can be seen that the host Chiba Prefecture performed quite well in this Kantou Conference, with both host teams making it to the quarterfinals — among them, the well-known strong team Narashino is definitely not to be underestimated and is one of the biggest favorites for the championship of this Kantou Conference.

Fortunately, according to the current zoning rules, both Narashino School and Waseda's old rival, Nihon University, are in another bracket; if Waseda can successfully reach the finals, they might even become the beneficiary — perhaps this is heaven's compensation for having to play one more round of games.

In the pre-preliminary final, Waseda's opponent is Hanasaki Tokuharu from Saitama Prefecture, whose strength is quite good, being an emerging powerhouse from Saitama in the new century.

The schedule for the Kantou Conference is tight, with only 5 days, and the teams reaching the finals must play high-intensity consecutive games every day, which is undoubtedly a huge test for the depth of the team's lineup.

In such a tight schedule, even a team with quite a good lineup depth like Waseda, Izumi Minoru as the team supervisor, must think carefully about the personnel arrangement in the games.

Among the starting nine players, the position of fielders has less consumption, so there would not be much change; even if there are one or two player adjustments, it's only to train the players.

The catcher position currently employs a pitching rotation system at Waseda — various catchers will pair with the corresponding starting pitchers based on the compatibility exhibited in usual training;

The position of a catcher often requires squatting and catching for the entire game, causing significant long-term damage to the thighs and waist, so in less important games, Izumi Minoru will opt for rotation.

Considering Uchida Saint has already started two consecutive games, the pitching staff will need rotation for the upcoming game against Hanasaki Tokuharu, but Izumi Minoru is reluctant to send Lin Guanglai before the final — after a little deliberation, he decided to have Yagaki Kentaro from the second year start, Tanaka Justice from the first year will be the middle reliever; if necessary, Lin Guanglai would be put in to close the game to help the team secure victory.

At 10:00 AM on May 16, the pre-preliminary final started punctually.

The players from both teams dashed out towards home plate from the first and third base lines, shouting loudly, completing the pre-game salutation ceremony.

On the first base side, representing West Tokyo, Waseda Industries will bat first.

On the third base side, representing Saitama, Hanasaki Tokuharu High School will bat second.

Unlike Waseda, which plans to use a pitching carousel, Hanasaki Tokuharu will, as in their previous games, continue to deploy their ace, Sawafuji Kazuji.

Top of the first inning, the game starts.

Despite having pitched two consecutive days, including a complete twelve-inning game, Sawafuji Kazuji's condition at the start is still quite excellent:

Shigetsugu Shinjiro, the first batter, struck out swinging, Manabe Kenta, the second batter, was grounded out, and Kenshu Yasuda, the third batter, hit a semi-high ball at home plate, which was easily caught by Hanasaki Tokuharu's catcher, Wakatsuki Kensha.

With the first three batters taken out 1-2-3, Lin Guanglai, who was in the on-deck circle, could only quickly return to the dugout, remove his batting gear swiftly, and head to Right Field with his glove.

Todays' starting pitcher is Yagaki Kentaro, who also served as a pitcher during his middle school years and was selected for the Japan National Junior Training Squad, implying his skills;

However, after coming to Waseda, due to Lin Guanglai's presence, Yagaki Kentaro chose to join the outfield group to quickly become a mainstay — the arm strength and strong shoulder developed by being a pitcher helped him quickly stand out and earn the No. 9 jersey symbolizing mainstay right fielder after retiring from the third year.

After last fall's tournament defeat, realizing the team's pitching depth was insufficient, supervisor Izumi Minoru had Yagaki Kentaro pick up pitching again— after more than half a year of recovery training, Yagaki is more than enough to serve as a pseudo-starter now.

Compared to specialized pitchers like Lin Guanglai or Tanaka Justice, Yagaki's pitch variety isn't too rich, and only his fastball and curveball are fit for high-intensity games; once the batters adapt to them, they can easily hit long shots; therefore, in today's team, he usually serves as the middle reliever to help ease the starter's pressure.

Serving as the nominal starter today, Yagaki Kentaro seemed very excited, and he pitched very well:

Bottom of the first inning, facing the top three in Hanasaki Tokuharu's lineup, he first quickly achieved two strike counts with two fastballs, then threw a highly deceptive curveball in a 2-strike situation, prompting Hanasaki Tokuharu's first batter to stand there watching strikeout; the next two batters were also fooled into swinging consecutively, hitting two fly balls to the outfield, which were solidly handled by Right Field's Lin Guanglai for the outs.

Top of the second inning, it's Lin Guanglai's turn to bat.

Though he hadn't faced Sawafuji Kazuji before, from his performance in the first inning, it was clear his condition was quite good, so Lin Guanglai decided to take this at-bat calmly, observe more, and perhaps get a walk to first base like before.

"Whoosh."

The baseball flew towards home plate, heading straight for Lin Guanglai's inside corner.

"Pop." The baseball flew into Wakatsuki Kensha's mitt.

"Strike." The umpire's voice rang out simultaneously, qualifying the pitch.

Hearing the umpire's call, Lin Guanglai felt a bit puzzled— because in his view, that pitch was noticeably a ball's distance away from the strike zone.

Involuntarily glancing toward the catcher's position behind him, through the black catcher's mask, Lin Guanglai roughly made out that young baby face— it seemed, this Hanasaki Tokuharu catcher framed a strike.

Without dwelling on it, Lin Guanglai readjusted his batting posture— it's just one strike, he'll hit it out next.

On the pitcher's mound, Sawafuji Kazuji took back the baseball passed from Wakatsuki Kensha, made a slight adjustment, and prepared to pitch.

"Thwack!"

In response, Lin Guanglai gave a powerful swing, accompanied by the clear crack of the bat hitting the ball echoing in the stadium.

This pitch, actually Hanasaki Tokuharu threw quite well, it indeed compressed Lin Guanglai's swing space; but the recent two weeks of batting training had shown some results.

The baseball landed in no man's land in front of Right Field, then rolled swiftly on the ground; Hanasaki Tokuharu's Right Fielder quickly moved forward, securely catching this ball in his glove, then without looking back, threw the ball towards the second base.

Seeing this, just having stepped onto the first base bag and ready to decide whether to dash for the second base based on the situation, Lin Guanglai slowly stopped his steps, then began to hover in position between first and second base.

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