August 13, 2011, Saturday, clear skies, the sun high in the sky.

Because it's the weekend, there are plenty of spectators at Koshien Stadium today. From the open space outside the player's rest area, the stands are packed with throngs of people. Fans who came specifically to watch the match in person have completely filled the stadium.

Seeing this scene, Takahashi Shouhei, hands on his hips, smiled and said to his companion, Ohtani Shohei:

"Shohei, look! There are so many people here watching the game today—this is truly the Koshien I dreamed of!"

Seeing his good friend this excited, Ohtani Shohei, although showing no special expression on his face, felt equally fired up inside:

No matter how mature he might be personality-wise, he was, after all, only a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy—a youth of this age, who wouldn't like to present themselves in front of others?

For the players from Hanamaki East High School in Iwate, they certainly knew that today's opponent, Waseda Industries, was very strong—so strong that even if they performed extraordinarily, there might still be a chance they couldn't defeat their opponent;

But likewise, as the representatives of Iwate Prefecture, a heavily-affected area by the Great East Japan Earthquake, the players from Hanamaki East knew they carried the weight of the souls of those lost lives to Koshien, to bring strength to the suffering people, giving them an undeniable reason to strive with all their might—so, they weren't afraid at all.

On the other side of the court, the players of Waseda Real were casually practicing passing and catching on the open ground.

This is the composure of a strong team—for the people of Waseda Real, they treat every opponent with equal importance, but they also have absolute confidence in their own strength.

As the clock struck ten-thirty in the morning, the second match of the ninth day of the tournament, Iwate's representative Hanamaki East against West Tokyo's representative Waseda Industries, was officially underway.

In this match, Waseda Industries started off at the third base side, with Hanamaki East on the defensive side of the first base.

When Ohtani Shohei on the pitcher's mound completed his pre-game warm-up throws, the chief umpire behind home plate waved his hand and announced the official start of the match:

"Play Ball!"

As soon as Chongxin Shinjiro stepped into the batter's box, he fixed his gaze firmly on Ohtani Shohei on the pitcher's mound.

In last night's pre-game meeting, Mr. Izumi had brought all the players together to analyze Ohtani Shohei's technical characteristics in detail, focusing particularly on being cautious of his fastballs and swift forkball.

Fastballs need no further mention; a 150 km/h plus fastball is almost an unsolvable existence in today's high school baseball world. Even though Waseda Real's players have relatively adapted to such speeds in training, they still need time to grasp the characteristics of the opponent's pitches during an actual game;

More than fastballs, his highly complete swift forkball demands extra attention. Although its vertical displacement isn't outrageous, the extremely high speed and exceptional swinging strike rate prove the strength of this pitch.

Moreover, catching the opponent's missed or relatively average breaking balls, decisively and boldly swinging with all their might, is something Mr. Izumi has emphasized to his players many times.

So, from the very first at-bat, Chongxin Shinjiro, stepping into the batter's box, tried to immerse himself completely in the hitting state—against a pitcher of this caliber, even a second of distraction cannot be afforded.

The first pitch, a fastball aimed at the lower part of the strike zone, Ohtani Shohei's pitching motion was vigorous, quickly shooting out from his right hand.

Chongxin Shinjiro chose to swing.

At the moment of confirming the swing, he locked his core, letting his waist and abdomen lead his hands, gripping the bat and pushing it toward the incoming ball.

"Clang——"

The speed of the ball was so fast that, to the spectators in the stands and in front of the TV, it appeared as a blur, appearing above home plate the next second—even so, though Chongxin connected with the ball, the timing was slightly late, so he couldn't keep it in play, giving the opponent a strike.

No balls, one strike.

The second pitch followed, this time an inside slider aiming at a left-handed batter, the baseball passed close to Chongxin Shinjiro's body, precisely edging the strike zone—this pitch was of such high quality that it squeezed the batter's swing space entirely, and he couldn't get the bat out.

No balls, two strikes.

The third pitch, a high fastball, Chongxin Shinjiro connected with the ball once again, but similar to the first pitch, he hit it out of bounds.

After this, he was caught by Ohtani Shohei's signature fast forkball, as the rapidly plunging baseball went past his bat in front of home plate, later landing in Sasaki Takashi's glove.

"Strikeout!"

Enthusiastic applause erupted from the Hanamaki East supporters in the stands, cheering for their Iwate star of the century.

Though struck out, Chongxin Shinjiro didn't feel too down—he weighed the bat slightly in his hand, reviewing his handling of those pitches just now, finding some understanding.

The subsequent two batters for Waseda Real also failed to reach base.

Top half of the first inning, Waseda Real went up and down three batters.

Before entering the field to defend, Chongxin Shinjiro found Kenta Matsunaga and Kenshu Yasuda, who had both just batted, the three of them exchanging insights; Chongxin Shinjiro felt more convinced in his judgment—he seemed to have discovered a weakness in Ohtani Shohei's pitching.

Lin Guanglai stepped onto the pitcher's mound, scraping at the soil a little with his cleats to stand in a relatively comfortable position, then he assumed his defensive stance.

With a 6-day break between the first and second rounds, although he pitched 8 innings in the first round, after a few days of rest, his physical state had pretty much fully recovered.

Starting this half-inning, Lin Guanglai showcased his excellent competitive form today: 3 batters, 13 pitches, he returned the favor to Hanamaki East, getting three outs with three up and three down.

Notably, Ohtani Shohei, who often batted third in previous games, had been moved to the fifth position today—clearly, Coach Sasaki Shou intended for him to take on more of a role in scoring runs.

The first round of clashes ended in a draw, and the two similarly built young talents with similar technical characteristics displayed their strength to audiences across Japan.

After the start of the second inning, just as Lin Guanglai was ready to step onto the field, Chongxin Shinjiro suddenly approached him and whispered:

"Guanglai, I just discovered something..."

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