Chapter 315: The First Round

With some trepidation, he turned his head to look at his older brother Kominato Ryosuke, who was smiling right at him.

Whew~

Taking a deep breath, Kominato Haruichi shouted, "Yes! Coach!"

Coach Kataoka nodded, "Perform well."

"Third batter, Center Fielder, Isashiki Jun!"

"Yes!"

As the batter who connects the top and bottom of the Seido lineup, Isashiki Jun's violent swing also possesses an extraordinary explosive power at critical moments.

"Fourth batter! First Baseman, Yuki Tetsuya."

Seido's main slugger, the true Immovable Wisdom King.

"Yes!"

Yuki Tetsuya replied calmly.

"Fifth batter, Left Fielder, Huangqian Yangyi."

As expected, for the first game, Huangqian Yangyi was placed in the left field position to conserve his stamina.

"Yes!" Huangqian Yangyi raised an eyebrow slightly; the coach was still good to him. An opponent like Naruto High School was best suited for racking up Home Run numbers.

"Sixth batter, Catcher, Chris."

"Yes!"

Chris smiled faintly; this was his first time entering Koshien, after all.

"Seventh batter, Third Baseman, Arima Kazuto."

Just like Kominato Ryosuke, Arima Kazuto also earned a starting opportunity at Koshien.

"Little brother Arima, good luck," Masuko Toru said, giving a thumbs up.

"Yes!" Arima Kazuto shouted excitedly.

"Eighth batter, Right Fielder, Shirasu."

"Yes, Coach," Shirasu remained in his usual indifferent manner.

Finally, Coach Kataoka looked up, paused for a few seconds, and then called out.

"Ninth batter, Pitcher, Sawamura Eijun!"

Boom!

Everyone's heart shook; for the first game of Koshien, the starting pitcher was actually Sawamura!

Tanba and Kawakami turned their heads to look at Sawamura, while Furuya had flames in his eyes, staring fixedly at a certain stunned fool.

"Eh?!"

"Me?"

"Really?"

Sawamura stood up in surprise.

"It's you, perform well," Coach Kataoka paused, then added, "Don't embarrass yourself!"

"Yes! Bigboss!"

Sawamura stood at attention and saluted.

Coach Kataoka's face darkened, then he looked elsewhere, "Kawakami for middle relief, Furuya for the finish, you two also need to be prepared!"

"Yes, Coach!" Kawakami stood up in surprise.

Furuya, however, still had a blank expression. Seeing this, Coach Kataoka looked at him, "Furuya, is there a problem?"

"No," Furuya said hurriedly after reacting.

"Very well, that's it, meeting adjourned!"

On the other side, Naruto High School was also holding their pre-game meeting at this moment.

"In the first round, it is highly likely that Seido will not send out their ace, Huangqian Yangyi, in order to conserve strength. This is an opportunity. We must seize this opportunity. In the first three innings, we must actively attack to score, establishing an advantage in one go. Only then can we have more initiative in the latter half of the game."

Coach Tanaka of Naruto High School said while pointing at the Seido player data on the screen.

"Yes, Coach!"

The Naruto High School members below responded loudly.

Coach Tanaka nodded, "The starting pitcher is likely the third-year Tanba Koichiro. This pitcher's performance last year could only be described as average, but he seems to have grown this year. His most frequent pitch is the Curveball. In addition, his drop curve and forkball also have a fairly high level of maturity. When facing him, swing actively and attack the inside corner, appropriately giving up on outside pitches. Do you understand?"

"Understood!"

"Very well, now let's talk about Seido's batting lineup. Barring any surprises, Seido will put their ace in left field. With him and that 4th batter, Seido's center batting order will be terrifying. Therefore, before the batting order reaches them, try your best not to let anyone get on base, especially their leadoff hitter. He is a left-handed batter with very fast speed. No matter what, you must lock him down. As long as he doesn't get on base, Seido's offensive momentum will drop significantly," Coach Tanaka said, pointing at the name Kuramochi Yoichi on the screen with a small stick.

"Yes, I understand," Naruto High School ace Kuroda Shota nodded, his tone serious.

Soon, after analyzing Seido and setting the tactics, Coach Tanaka patted the table in front of him.

"We all know that Seido is a very powerful team. There are even many people outside saying that they have already reserved this year's championship! This is the recognition and trust brought by strength; it is not fake, it is a high wall standing right in front of us. But! Since fate is such that we must face them in the first round, then we can only bring out our own baseball, bring out our own conviction!"

"Create opportunities! Seize opportunities!"

"Strive! Fight! Win the victory!"

Coach Tanaka raised his right fist high at the end: "Defeat Seido!!"

"Defeat Seido!!!!"

The Naruto High School players were fired up at this moment.

No team that can come to Koshien hopes to lose. Every team comes with the mindset of winning and taking the championship; even when encountering a strong opponent, they would never easily give up.

Time flew to August 7th. After the enthusiastic opening ceremony in the morning, the Hanshin Koshien Stadium hosted the opening game, a ruthless slaughter by Osaka Kiryu High School, with a final score of 13:1. This one point was likely a mercy, otherwise, being shut out in the opening game would have been a bit too much.

"Tsk tsk, these guys from Osaka Kiryu, aren't they too cruel?"

"It's just the opening game, beating others so miserably."

"That's normal. Those guys are all muscle and complete straight-laced men; how could they think that much?"

"Mm, muscles replacing brains."

The companions from Seido sat in the spectator stands, making snide remarks.

After the opening game, there was only one more match before it would be Seido's turn.

As the sun rose, the temperature gradually climbed, reaching 34°C by noon, and the companions from Seido all left the spectator stands to head into the locker room.

As the previous game came to an end and the two teams had finished packing their luggage and left the field, the two teams slowly walked out from the player tunnels on both sides.

"They're here!! Seido!!"

"They're out, they're out!"

"The kings, Seido!"

Before they had even walked out, the audience's enthusiasm had already swept across the entire stadium; the mountain-shaking and sea-roaring cheers left the crowd from Meimon High School on the First Base side astonished—this was only the first round, yet the atmosphere at the venue was already more intense than their Tokushima Prefecture finals.

Soon, the two teams walked out from the tunnels; Seido, wearing blue and white uniforms, arrived at the Third Base dugout, and Huangqian Yangyi, as the ace, stood outside and waved to the spectators, immediately causing the stands to erupt into even louder cheers.

"Stop showing off, hurry up and come in."

"Exactly, so what if you're popular."

"Cocky guy!"

Turning a blind eye to his teammates' snide remarks, Huangqian Yangyi continued to do as he pleased, interacting with the audience for a while before walking into the dugout.