"Time!" At Coach Takei's call, the umpire declared a timeout.
"Coach! I..." Ishihara did not know what he should say.
"It's okay. Scary, isn't it? Baseball."
"Huh?" Ishihara was not the only one surprised; the other infielders were equally shocked that their coach would say that.
"This isn't a bad thing. At least now you understand how frightening baseball can be. You know now that an opponent can collapse not only because of a huge gap in ability, but also because of a style that combines tactics and psychological warfare." Takei looked at the head-bowed Ishihara and placed a hand on his head.
"Listen carefully. Baseball is ultimately a sport. Why do you play baseball? Because you love the sport, right? You're not some powerhouse team or geniuses. You're just baseball boys who love baseball from the bottom of your hearts. Forget about winning and losing, and enjoy the fun of baseball!"
"But what should I do? I have no idea what they're trying to do. How can I stop them?" Ishihara's confusion mainly stemmed from not knowing what he was supposed to do.
"If you can't stop them, then don't!"
"Huh?!"
"I said, if you can't stop them, then don't. Do what you need to do, and trust your defense. Defense is the job of nine people. They haven't hit a Home Run, and there's nothing wrong with Morishita's pitching either."
"But...!"
"Think carefully about what you can do. Just do what you're capable of doing. No matter how much you think about what you can't do, you still won't be able to do it. Worse, overthinking will make you unable to do even what you originally could.
Didn't you just prove that? Their cleanup hitter should have made it to first at most, but you started thinking about