August 12th, at noon.
Under the high temperature of 34 °C. (93 °F.) the whole world seems to have become a huge steamer. Even if people stand in the sun and do nothing, the heat can still drain them.
On the field of Koshien, the hot-blooded ball is still fighting hard.
The first game today is the match between Nagano's representative and Shizuoka's representative.
Shizuoka's representative is a famous school with strong comprehensive strength. Before the start of the game, everyone was looking forward to their performance.
But The current situation is completely different from what everyone imagined.
The players from Shizuoka Prefecture were sweating and sticking out their tongues, looking extremely exhausted.
Opposite them, the players from Nagano Prefecture were all okay.
Although the sweat on their bodies did not stop, the expressions on their faces were surprisingly relaxed.
The score is 7:1!
In the end, this game, without too much suspense, was won by Nagano's team.
"Hoshiryu!"
"Nanami!"
"Hosho!"
"Golden Duo!!!"
After the game, there was a long-lasting cheer from the stands.
"Your Nagano's team is pretty awesome! Why did you not join this school from the start? You got their invitation right?" Kuramochi asked, sitting next to Sawamura.
"No reason, I had my eyes on Seidou from the start," Sawamura replied casually.
Sawamura had knowledge about this school but he didn't pay much attention, he wasn't considering any other school than Seidou after all.
In this year's tournament, although Seidou High School is there, the revived super-strong school, nevertheless, the biggest dark horse is not Seidou.
Even if they hadn't reached Koshien for five or six years in a row, however, the reputation of Seidou High School was still high.
True baseball fans all over the country know that even in the days when they did not enter Koshien, Seidou High School was still a very strong team.
This can be seen by looking at the quality of the players recruited from Seidou High School each year by the professional baseball draft.
Therefore, although Seidou High School performed very strongly, it was not the dark horse in this competition, because Seidou would never be considered a dark horse.
In this competition, the biggest dark horse is Nagano's Hoshiryu High School!
This Hoshiryu High School definitely belongs to that kind of not famous school, which is due to it being newly established.
Once they were established, they recruited players aggressively. Bringing together the famous talents of Nagano Prefecture, and even digging baseball players from other regions.
It took them three years to reach this shape!
Three years after the school was established, they finally entered Koshien, and they were a blockbuster in Koshien.
By winning this game, Hoshiryu High School will be one of the top eight in Koshien.
"The first top eight is here, and they are Hoshiryu High School from Nagano Prefecture!"
With the enthusiastic and loud voice of the commentator, the school song of Hoshiryu High School rang out over the entire field of Koshien.
"We should go!"
Today, the players of Seidou High School came to Koshien, not just to watch the game between Nagano and Shizuoka.
After all, after the quarter-finals, Koshien's game has to go through the second round of draws. Even if Seidou High School defeated Seihou High School, Seidou had no way of determining who his opponent in the next match would be.
It is very stupid to scout the information of other teams right now. It is superfluous.
The reason why everyone came to see the Nagano Prefecture, Hoshiryu High School competition is purely for Sawamura.
After the grouping of the competition was distributed at that time, Sawamura saw the situation of the competition in Nagano Prefecture.
Hoshiryu was in the previous game at Seidou High School.
Sawamura thought that he hadn't seen Hosho and Oda-senpai, his teammates from Akagi's middle school for a long time, so he could take this opportunity to see them.
So he decided to set off by himself and rushed to Koshien to watch the game.
When he asked Coach Kataoka for leave, Coach Kataoka agreed without any hesitation.
After all, Nagano Prefecture is also the Hometown of Sawamura Eijun!
The surrounding players heard that Sawamura was going to watch the game in Nagano Prefecture, and they all wanted to follow along to watch the fun.
Everyone was suddenly so curious, and Sawamura was still surprised.
After thinking about it, it was probably before the game with Seihou High School.
Everyone is a little nervous. right now, if they can watch the game as bystanders, this can appropriately help everyone relax a bit.
There is no turning back in high school baseball!
In the knockout system, as long as you lose one match, you will be eliminated from the tournament.
For these seniors in the third grade, this may even be their last game.
They will feel apprehensive, and rightfully so. After all, they are just a group of 17-year-old boys.
After watching Nagano Prefecture's match against its opponent, the Players at Seidou High School were all surprised.
To be honest, they didn't expect baseball's level to be so high in Sawamura's hometown.
"Although it is only a new school that has just been established, and they are not well known. But there is no doubt that their strength has reached the top level in the country." Coach Ochiai said so.
Although his appearance is not… pleasing, Ochiai's insight and knowledge are definitely a unique asset in Seidou High School.
The words that came out of his mouth were undoubtedly very objective.
Before Sawamura left, he frequently looked back at the rest area of Hoshiryu High School.
It's amazing!
Nanami Haruka, Hosho Okuchi, Oda Honjo, Keiba Sato, Tsuchihara…
In the entire Hoshiryu High School, most of them were actually the guys who fought against Sawamura in middle school.
Other than a few, almost all of them were the best players in the softball league at the time.
Compared with guys who received formal training from junior baseball, players from the softball league are naturally less valued.
Even the Major Leagues have statistics on this.
In Japan, of all those players who have made their name in the Major Leagues, 70% to 80% are players who have never touched softball since they were young.
When the statistics were originally compiled, the media also reported a lot about Sawamura.
He played softball in middle school!
It's a very special case.
"I wonder if these guys from the Softball League will have a different future in this life?"
The game between Nagano and Shizuoka is over.
Next is the giants showdown between Seidou High School and Seihou High School!
The returned King against the Championship's biggest candidate.
This headline alone is enough to attract the audience.
Under the sun today, of all these spectators who went to Koshien most of them were also to watch the game between Seidou High School and Seihou High School.
For this match, Seidou High School had already made preparations as early as when Koshien decided to group the group.
They have been preparing for too long, and the sword has long been sharpened.
In Koshien, in the back of the rest area.
The team of Seidou High School happened to meet the team of Hoshiryu High School.
This is probably the so-called coincidence but not a coincidence. In today's game, both teams were arranged in the rest area on the side of third base.
…