Ohtani Shohei's complexion looks a bit grim right now.

He figured out why Lin Guanglai would rather let several good pitches go by without swinging his bat.

It seems that his batting strategy this inning is specifically targeted at his fastball—in order to do so, he is even willing to let two rather "tempting" breaking balls go and choose to go head-to-head with him instead.

For the players of Hanamaki East, this triple has made the situation on the field very unfavorable:

Not to mention that zero outs with a runner on third base almost inevitably means conceding a run, just Lin Guanglai standing near the third base ready to take action is enough to give Hanamaki East's defensive players a headache.

Unlike the usual strategies for defending a runner on third, Lin Guanglai can greatly distract Hanamaki East's pitcher and infielders just by being there—after all, this person is tall with long legs and strides, and has staged successful steals of home base multiple times in official games.

If Hanamaki East's players dare to be just a bit careless, Narita High School, who was sent home with a walk-off steal by Lin Guanglai last summer, serves as a cautionary tale.

Seeing his players overly focused on Lin Guanglai at third base, Hanamaki East's team manager Sasaki You timely called for a timeout and dispatched a messenger to deliver his orders to the pitcher's mound—

He told his players not to worry about Lin Guanglai on third base, and focus solely on the next batter, even if it means conceding a run.

Ohtani Shohei took a deep breath, trying to pull his peripheral vision away from third base on his right side and focus entirely on Hagiyuta Mitsuo at the home plate.

Moments later—

"Swing and miss strikeout!!!"

"Hanamaki East High School! Ohtani Shohei has swiftly responded!"

"Although he allowed a hit from Lin Guanglai at the top of the second inning, judging by his performance from this at-bat, Ohtani's condition has not only remained unaffected, but he has become even more energetic!"

"Exciting! Truly exciting! As a commentator, I'm increasingly looking forward to the confrontation between these two geniuses!"

On the pitcher's mound, having just struck out Hagiyuta Mitsuo with his signature fast forkball, Ohtani Shohei raised his arm in celebration, his excitement also infecting his Hanamaki East teammates as the ominous cloud hovering over the team at the beginning of the half inning seemed to gradually dissipate.

Following Hagiyuta Mitsuo in the batting order is Yagaki Kentaro, who, in his first at-bat of the game, performed quite well by continuously fouling off several crucial pitches from Ohtani Shohei.

After some contest, the count on the field remained at 2 balls, 2 strikes, with the pitcher holding a slight advantage.

After confirming signs with the catcher Sasaki Takashi, Ohtani Shohei nodded softly, then quickly swung his arm to throw the baseball—

This pitch, Yagaki Kentaro swung and missed, failing to hit the baseball;

This pitch, Sasaki Takashi also had a passed ball, unable to hold the ball securely in the catcher's glove, causing the baseball to escape and bounce on the ground.

Seeing this, Yagaki Kentaro reacted first, quickly discarding his bat and taking large strides towards first base.

Sasaki Takashi, already a bit flustered after the passed ball, spent quite a bit of time retrieving the ball. By the time he, under the reminder of his teammates, picked the baseball up off the ground and threw it toward Sugita Renren at first base, Yagaki Kentaro had already successfully reached first base.

The first base umpire extended his hands outward to indicate the batter reached base successfully under the "uncaught third strike" rule.

The so-called uncaught third strike rule refers to when, after a pitcher throws a third strike, if the catcher fails to catch the decisive pitch, the batter is not immediately out and can sprint towards first base—for as long as the batter reaches base safely before the catcher's throw to first base, they are not out despite the strikeout.

Notably, in such circumstances, the pitcher's statistics will not be affected, and this uncaught third strike will still be recorded in the pitcher's strikeout tally—

However, at this moment, Ohtani Shohei would rather not have this strikeout recorded and not see the current situation of one out with a runner on first—taking advantage of the distraction of the entire Hanamaki East defense by Yagaki Kentaro, Lin Guanglai at third base seized the opportunity to run back to home plate, helping Waseda Jitsugyo score the first run of the game.

But he cannot blame his own catcher for this: in order to quickly strike out Yagaki Kentaro and relieve the pressure, Ohtani chose his best and most proficient pitch, a fast forkball, for the decisive strike—catching a forkball is inherently challenging for a catcher, especially in amateur high school baseball where player levels vary greatly.

If there's any fault in Sasaki Takashi's performance, it was that he didn't react quickly enough to tag Yagaki Kentaro rather than allowing him to sprint to first base—if he had done so, Lin Guanglai wouldn't have scored by running back to home plate; a two-out, runner-on-third scenario would have been much easier to handle.

On the scoreboard above the outfield, the score of the game changed for the first time—behind "Waseda Real," in the top half of the second inning, a large number "1" was displayed.

When Lin Guanglai returned to the players' area, Izumi Minoru patted his back, clearly satisfied with his ace player's performance;

After a brief celebration, Izumi Minoru gestured to Yagaki Kentaro on first base, indicating for him to act according to pre-game tactical arrangements.

At first base, Yagaki Kentaro also responded with a signal, indicating his understanding.

This scene was captured by the on-site cameras, stirring a discussion among the commentators and spectators; Sasaki You near first base naturally saw Izumi Minoru's gestures, but he didn't yet know what arrangements the opponent was making.

But soon, Sasaki You figured out what Izumi Minoru was up to—

From the moment Yagaki Kentaro successfully reached base under the uncaught third strike rule, not only the players on Hanamaki East on the field but also Sasaki You on the sidelines and even the spectators in the stands could clearly feel the increasing aggression of the Waseda Jitsugyo players on the bases.

Their base running became more audacious, and their stealing attempts significantly increased—even when facing straightforward force-out plays, the Waseda Jitsugyo players sprinted with all their might, constantly pressuring Hanamaki East's defense.

As a professional, Sasaki You certainly understood what Izumi Minoru meant.

But he doesn't have a better solution right now.

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