Chapter 138: Seika Academy

The first game of Koshien is about to begin soon, and all the teams that do not have a game on the first day have coincidentally arrived at their designated spectator seats.

The teams that can make it here, while not all being powerhouses, certainly do not lack in strength; no one dares to underestimate any team, as examples of the underdog defeating the favorite happen every year.

When the first game of the day ended, after experiencing the atmosphere of a Koshien match, everyone from Seido returned to the hotel.

Chris, Takashima Rei, and the coaches from the coaching staff were already busy at this moment. After the draw concluded, although they had a bye and advanced directly to the second round, their opponent was also a team that had received a bye: the representative from Fukushima Prefecture, Seika Academy.

Seika Academy, a dark horse team; their last time advancing to Koshien dates back over thirty years ago.

Unlike top-tier powerhouses, they have a certain level of strength but no fame. In the pre-game preparations, Seido had mainly focused on those powerhouse schools, such as Seibo Academy, Osaka Kiryu, Seishosha, and Sendai Ikuei, which are perennial Koshien participants.

Now that they saw their opponent was a team they had absolutely no knowledge of, Seido immediately began to leverage their connections to start collecting all sorts of relevant information on Seika Academy.

As it turned out, the data and intelligence on this Seika Academy were ridiculously scarce. As a dark horse team, all that could be found were some game footage from this Summer Tournament, and even those were intermittent; only the footage of the final was complete.

Judging from the information collected, there is still a clear gap between this team's overall strength and that of top-tier powerhouses. They advanced through every round with great difficulty, and it could be said that there was a certain element of luck involved in their ability to enter Koshien.

This is not only because the competition in the Fukushima region is small, lacking any national-level powerhouses, but also because Seika Academy discovered a formidable Pitcher.

Fengdao Yingtai, Second Year, jersey number 1, the ace of Seika Academy, with a top speed of 145 km/h. Pitch types: four-seam Fastball, Curveball, and also a Palmball!

As a type of Changeup, the Palmball, due to its unique grip, cannot impart extra spin on the baseball. Its speed is also the slowest, and being most affected by gravity, it results in a greater drop.

Of course, these are not the points that attract the most attention to this Pitcher.

According to rumors on the internet, this Fengdao Yingtai has only been playing baseball for one year.

Before he came into contact with baseball, during his middle school years, Fengdao Yingtai was a member of the tennis club, famous in the middle school tennis world for his precise and varied serves, and he even led his team to win the national runner-up title!

Such a highly-regarded tennis player, yet after entering high school, there was no news of him at all. The next time he appeared was in last year's Fukushima regional tournament, playing as a substitute Pitcher for the Seika Academy Baseball Club.

When he appeared again this year, Fengdao Yingtai had already become the ace of Seika and led the team to advance to Koshien.

"Hiss!"

"A cross-sport ball king?"

"What a legendary life."

"He's actually quite handsome!"

"And he's tall too!"

Seido's teammates couldn't help but exclaim after finishing the profile on Fengdao Yingtai.

"A love-struck fool!"

Suddenly, Huangqian Yangyi blurted this out.

"What love-struck fool?" the gossiping Kusunoki Fumiya turned his head and asked.

Huangqian Yangyi displayed his phone screen.

"The rumor says Fengdao Yingtai chose to go to this school because he fell in love with a senior at Seika. And because the senior liked baseball, he gave up the tennis he had practiced since childhood and chose to join the baseball team."

After hearing Huangqian Yangyi's words, not only the players but even Coach Kataoka and the others were silent for quite a while.

A rising star in the tennis world, gone because of a woman.

"Not worth using."

"Acting on impulse."

"Childish."

"I actually think it's understandable; he's a young man, after all," Miyuki said.

"Hey, Kazuya, what are you thinking!" Huangqian Yangyi was startled. He hadn't noticed it before, but does this guy actually have a tendency to be a love-struck fool too?

"Just kidding, just kidding," Miyuki said hurriedly.

After finishing the relevant information on Fengdao Yingtai, the intelligence on the rest of this team was even more pitifully scarce. The only discovery was that this team's tactics were very distinctive: Bunting!

A large number of bunts would occur in a single game; even the members of the heart of the batting order would bunt every now and then.

"Are they sick? This use of bunting shows absolutely no intent; it's like they've lost their minds," Zhitian Jiangtai complained.

"Hmm, but such a sudden move can also startle the Pitcher, and occasionally it can have unexpected effects," Nantian Dazhi said.

"It's not just that; their bunting level is quite good. Most of the time, the landing spot of the baseball is just right. They must have trained it as a priority," Tanaka Wataru said with a frown.

"A low-spec version of Hakuryu?" Huangqian Yangyi said.

Miyuki nodded: "A bit like it. Hakuryu Academy itself is known for suppressing opponents with speed. The whole team has extremely strong base-running ability and is adept at creating scoring opportunities through tactics like Stolen bases and Bunting."

"By comparison, the people at Seika are far worse than Hakuryu in base running, and their batting is not on the same level either."

"Now that you mention it, it feels like Seika is nothing to fear, haha," Isashiki Jun laughed loudly.

"Do not be careless!"

Coach Kataoka knocked on the table with a dark face, "Every team that can enter Koshien must be taken seriously. Let's watch the footage first, Chris!"

"Yes, Coach." Chris turned around and began to play the game footage of Seika Academy.

Compared to the difficulty Seido had in collecting intelligence on Seika, Seika Academy, upon learning their opponent was Seido, collected a huge pile of information on Seido in a short time.

Seido was already a top-tier powerhouse famous nationwide. Although their reputation had declined slightly due to failing to enter Koshien in recent years, the reason for that was the "Devil's District" of West Tokyo.

Coupled with Seido's strong comeback this year, having toppled two top national powerhouses in the semi-finals and finals of the regional tournament, they instantly became one of the favorites to win Koshien and a key target for every team's preparations.

On the internet, Seido's game footage could be downloaded easily. From the first game to the final, every one was complete, and there were even many analyses by industry insiders.

Every player on the First String had been dissected clearly.

"Tsk tsk, a genius First Year, the strongest Pitcher of the same generation."

Fengdao Yingtai couldn't help but click his tongue as he looked at the evaluation of Huangqian Yangyi in the reports.

"The batting order is also so strong."

"The defensive coordination is also too skillful."

"As expected of a top-tier powerhouse."

"Hey, hey, are we really going to play against a team like this?"

The little companions of Seika Academy looked at their manager with trepidation.