"Osaka Tsubaki High School requests a player substitution."

After the bottom half of the fifth inning ended, Nishikawa Koji stood outside the Osaka Tsubaki player area and raised his hand towards the main umpire of the game.

"Number 2, Kawabata Akane, out."

"Number 12, Mori Yuuya, in."

Kawabata Akane, who was substituted out, showed no sign of displeasure on his face; on the contrary, he stood beside Mori Yuuya as usual, softly imparting the experiences he had gained from the previous at-bats.

"Anyway, don't carry any burdens onto the field; once you step into the batter's box, just be yourself—if you encounter a pitch you want to hit, swing with all your might in your signature style, just like how you hit Yuuya's pitch during the Red and White match."

Kawabata Akane patted Mori Yuuya firmly on the back, trying to ease the nerves of his junior in this way—after all, this was his first time facing a super high school-level pitcher like Lin Guanglai.

Mori Yuuya did not speak, only cast a sidelong glance at Kawabata Akane with a slight curve forming at the corner of his mouth, and softly said:

"Got it... Akane."

With that, he headed towards the left batter's box on the right side of the home plate, leaving Kawabata Akane standing there in a daze.

When Kawabata Akane snapped back to reality, he couldn't help but let out a laugh, then blurted out:

"You punk."

On the pitcher's mound, Lin Guanglai was also observing the young yet familiar face at a distance, feeling a bit puzzled:

"A catcher change in the top of the sixth? What's Osaka Tsubaki planning?"

In high school games, due to the special position of the catcher, unless there are injuries or specific pitcher bindings, teams rarely replace the starting catcher hastily.

The game had only reached the fifth inning when Osaka Tsubaki decided to replace their pretty decent defensive starting catcher with a freshman, which was something Lin Guanglai had to take seriously.

He called it familiar because just under an hour ago, a minor clash occurred during the pre-game ceremony; he called it unfamiliar because they didn't have much information about this freshman on the field.

Uesugi Yasuyuki signaled to Lin Guanglai with a few hand gestures, which Lin Guanglai nodded to with understanding before swiftly pitching the ball.

The famous Nihon Professional Baseball veteran catcher Nomura Katsuya once said this phrase—"When in doubt, pitch low and outside," which was the strategy Lin Guanglai and Uesugi Yasuyuki employed with the first pitch of this at-bat.

Facing a hitter with an unfamiliar style and strength, starting conservatively could be a prudent approach—many statistics show that the swinging miss rate when hitting low outside pitches is significantly lower than pitches within other areas of the strike zone.

But clearly, Mori Yuuya in the batter's box didn't think so.

While preparing to hit in the batter's box, Mori Yuuya liked to lightly sway his bat back and forth to help maintain his focus;

As the baseball was released from Lin Guanglai's hand, Mori Yuuya's lead foot abruptly lifted off the ground, slightly swaying before landing again, stepping forward, followed by lower body motion and core muscles driving the upper body into a fiercely exaggerated and aggressive swing.

From Lin Guanglai's perspective on the mound, Mori Yuuya's hitting posture seemed as if he was about to fling his entire body out, a posture that made Lin Guanglai wonder if Mori Yuuya might hurt himself if he missed the ball.

"Clang---!!!"

But the bat perfectly connected with the baseball.

The crisp sound of the ball being struck sent a shiver through Lin Guanglai, and his attention immediately shifted to the ball, turning to look towards the outfield.

Meanwhile, in the player areas of both Waseda Industries and Osaka Tsubaki, players rapidly stood up from their seats, their eyes following the trajectory of the ball.

The ball soared high and far, nearly tracing the right field foul line on its way out, rendering Yagaki Kentaro patrolling right field powerless to catch it.

The baseball ultimately scraped past the foul pole and out of the field, stopped by the netting beyond the field—but this didn't score any runs for Osaka Tsubaki because it fell to the right side of the right field foul pole.

Seeing the ball finally go out of play, the players of Osaka Tsubaki displayed expressions of regret and frustration; after calming down, they gave Mori Yuuya a thumbs-up as he returned to home plate, loudly praising him:

"Awesome, Mori! Just like that!"

"You can do it, next hit, knock that ball out for me!"

The game on the field continued.

After nearly allowing a home run with the first pitch, Lin Guanglai realized his mistake: as a pitcher, the first and strongest line of defense for the team, he should never cede control of the game to an unfamiliar opponent.

Fortunately, he received a blessing from Lady Luck, preventing any irreparable consequences from occurring.

Having learned from that previous pitch, Lin Guanglai quickly adjusted his mindset, abandoning his conservative approach to aggressively confront Mori Yuuya, applying pressure to his inside corners, and continuously squeezing his swing angles.

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