Standing tall on the pitcher's mound, Lin Guanglai placed his hands behind his back, leaning slightly forward as he observed the batter and contemplated his next move.
According to the pre-game information, Teikyo Junior & Senior High School's number two batter, Abe Kenta, was very adept at pitch selection—against such a type, pitches with obvious trajectory changes meant to entice into swinging at bad balls wouldn't be very effective.
Moreover, with no outs and a runner on third, the pressure on Abe Kenta at this plate appearance was greatly reduced:
He didn't necessarily need to get a hit—even a sacrifice bunt play to force in a run would give Teikyo the scoring advantage.
Sure enough, when the top of the inning began with his second at-bat, left-handed batter Abe Kenta immediately squared to bunt, holding the bat horizontally with both hands on the grip.
