The eighth inning is over, the score is Waseda Real (West Tokyo) 3:0 Narashino (Chiba).

The game has one last inning left — for the leading Waseda Jitsugyo, they just need to maintain their 3-point advantage to return to the Summer League finals after five years; for the trailing Narashino, they still have half an inning to create a miracle.

The sweltering summer weather is making it hard to breathe, especially at such critical moments in the match — players and supporters on both sides have unconsciously fallen into silence, making the entire Koshien quiet.

In Narashino's player area on the third base side, their coach Tetsuya Kobayashi is comforting his teammates.

This game up to now has seen Narashino's offense completely locked down by Waseda Jitsugyo, with no decent attacks throughout the game, and only reaching first base through a mistake by the opponent — the relentless attack with no result has been a huge blow to the team's morale, with many of Narashino's players sitting silently on the bench, heads drooping, looking dispirited.

"Come on everyone, lift your heads — look at the state you're in now, it's like we've already lost the game."

Upon hearing this, many players lifted their heads, gazing at their impassioned coach with confusion in their eyes:

"But coach, the score difference is 3 points... can we really... can we really get 3 points against that pitcher?"

Kobayashi Tetsuya shook his head, not directly answering their question, instead saying:

"This isn't the problem we should be considering now — don't forget, the top of the ninth is the opponent's attacking half-inning; for now, all you need to do is one thing —"

"That is, not losing a single point in the coming half-inning; as for the offense, we have enough time to organize after this half-inning ends."

"If anyone feels tired, lacking strength, you can let me know now — I'll send others on; but if you really want, as you said before the match, to give everything for the Summer League finals, then show me your will!"

Saying this, perhaps feeling he's being a bit harsh, Kobayashi Tetsuya slightly softened his tone, soothing his players:

"Children, don't forget, what did we give up our pride in directly confronting their hitters for — even if we lose, we can't just give up now."

"Come on, kids — first defend this half-inning, and the rest, leave it to the gods!"

Kobayashi Tetsuya's heartfelt words did have some effect, under his encouragement, Narashino's players forced themselves to perk up, not as gloomy as before.

On the other side, in Waseda Jitsugyo's player area on the first base side, Hagiyama Mitsuo nervously sat beside Lin Guanglai, full of apology:

"I'm sorry, Guanglai."

As he said this, Lin Guanglai was chatting and laughing with Ogata Kazuyoshi on the other side; Hagiyama Mitsuo's sudden apology left Lin Guanglai puzzled:

"Hagiyama senpai, why are you apologizing to me — I don't remember any unpleasantness between us..."

Seeing Lin Guanglai ask such a question, Hagiyama Mitsuo knew Lin was unaware of what was missed, sighed, and said softly:

"Guanglai, I'm apologizing for my missed catch in the bottom of the fourth inning — such a simple ground ball went to the outfield because I wasn't focused, letting the opponent reach first base..."

"Hey — I thought it was something big, it's such a small issue, why apologize, we ended that inning without losing points." Lin Guanglai waved his hand, clearly not worried about the matter — to be honest, if it wasn't brought up suddenly by Hagiyama Mitsuo, he would have almost forgotten it.

Seeing Lin's indifferent look, Hagiyama Mitsuo felt even more guilty: "Guanglai, haven't you realized? If I hadn't made that mistake, you would have only needed to defend the last half-inning to achieve a perfect game!!!"

As soon as Hagiyama Mitsuo finished speaking, the previously lively Waseda Jitsugyo player area, leading in score, fell silent instantly.

Everyone present quickly recalled the entire process of the match in their minds, and moments later, the Waseda Jitsugyo player area was lively again.

A perfect game! The achievement every pitcher dreams of, also coveted by every team.

Simply put, a perfect game is a nine-inning match where the opposing batters are retired 27 up 27 down — it is undoubtedly the hardest achievement in baseball, no exception — it tests not only the pitcher's level but also requires the whole team's defense to remain flawless throughout.

Though Lin Guanglai still needs 3 outs to officially complete the game, none of the Waseda players doubt his ability to strike out three Narashino batters consecutively — thinking about it this way, missing the achievement due to such a small mistake feels even more regrettable.

Many teammates looked at Lin Guanglai sitting there with sympathetic eyes, as the unparalleled difficulty and impossibility to replicate makes the perfect game so admired; missing the chance once might mean never encountering it again in a lifetime.

However, as the person involved, Lin Guanglai took it quite calmly.

He shook his head towards Hagiyama Mitsuo and said:

"Hagiyama senpai, you can't think this way — if that mistake happened at the last out in the bottom of the ninth, I might be very regretful; but at the bottom of the fourth, who would've thought of this at the time?"

"I admit, no one doesn't want a perfect game, but compared to this, the championship flag of Summer League is more enticing."

"Moreover..." saying this, Lin Guanglai especially winked at Hagiyama Mitsuo, "if you really feel guilty and think you've let me down, Hagiyama senpai..."

"Then in the finals, do better."

"In tomorrow's final, let's strive to do it again!"

All of Waseda's players were shocked by Lin Guanglai's words, and soon, feelings like admiration rose within their hearts.

When others were regretting the missed perfect game, Lin Guanglai actually encouraged his teammates to try again in tomorrow's final — what tremendous magnanimity and confidence.

Of course, as the team's ace, Lin Guanglai didn't forget his responsibility — he looked around at his teammates, reminding them:

"The game isn't over yet, try to score a few more points in the next half-inning, completely kill the game!"

"Oh yes—!!!" Responding to him was the loud cheers from the teammates, the whole team's momentum had reached its peak.

After some time—

"Strikeout swinging! Lin Guanglai! One hit throughout, complete game shutout victory!"

"Waseda Industries, reaching the Summer League finals after 5 years!!!"

"The final match of the 93rd Summer Koshien has ended — Waseda's opponent will be the representative of Aomori Prefecture, Koushing Academy, aiming for their first Summer Koshien victory in Northeast!"

"Tomorrow at 9:30 in the morning, the final chapter of this summer will begin!"

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