On the afternoon of the day Lin got home, the four members of the Lin family sat around the TV to watch the final battle of the 92nd Summer Koshien, a match between Konan High School and Tokai University Sagami High School.
Before the game started, everyone in the household, including Lin Guanglai, thought this would be an evenly matched contest—after all, Tokai University Sagami's Ichiyotai Shintaro and Konan's Shimabukuro Hiroshi were ace pitchers of comparable skill, and both teams' batting lineups essentially represented the strongest talent among high school students nationwide.
However, the course of the game defied everyone's expectations—after defeating Waseda Jitsugyo in a tough match, Konan appeared unstoppable in the finals: starting from the fourth inning, their offensive was like a divine descent, scoring 14 runs in three innings, effectively dispelling any doubt about the championship and swiftly turning the match into a foregone conclusion.
