Chapter 324: Koshien Final Day

The day before the final.

The foot traffic in the entire Nishinomiya city has increased by who knows how many times, and the fervent atmosphere has reached its peak for the entire year; all of this is because the greatest festival of this summer is about to welcome its final decisive battle, and the final between Seido High School and Komadai Fujimaki High School has captured the hearts of audiences nationwide.

This time, will it be the champion team Seido High School that achieves the great feat of consecutive summer Koshien titles, or will the dark horse team Komadai Fujimaki go all the way to the end and ascend as the new king?

Before the sun had even risen, the hotels where the two teams were staying were already surrounded by crowds three layers deep; aside from the most numerous and excited fans, among the rest, the reporters from major news media were the most hardworking.

In this summer Koshien final where attention has reached its zenith, neither reporters nor editors would let any piece of news slip by, especially the attention Seido High School is currently receiving, which makes them salivate.

Within the team, setting aside the second-year twin stars, there are also two players among the third-years who are highly regarded by professional baseball. Yuki Tetsuya and Takigawa Chris Yu; one is a power hitter and the other a catcher, and both have long been on the radar of professional baseball.

Among them, Chris, as a catcher, although he previously had a blank period caused by injury, returned to the field this summer and followed the team to Koshien as the starting catcher, and has now reached the final; this is already enough to prove his strength.

Especially in a situation where major professional teams are relatively lacking in excellent catchers, Chris can be considered a hot commodity.

As for Yuki Tetsuya, his outstanding performance on the field has long since won him everything.

The Seido High School members are aware of the clamor outside, but they do not care; after conducting simple preparation training during the day, they began to arrange the strategy for tomorrow's game in the hotel conference room at night.

Regarding Komadai, although Huangqian Yangyi has expectations in his heart, they are just expectations; after all, in the original story, this team defeated Inashiro Industrial in the final, and they can be considered a boss-like existence.

But even in that final between Inashiro Industrial and Komadai Fujimaki, Narumiya Mei suppressed Komadai alone for a full nine innings, and only lost the game due to exhaustion in extra innings.

To put it bluntly, Komadai's batting lineup is actually not that great; when it comes to scoring ability, they are more than one grade behind Seido.

The reason they were able to defeat Inashiro in the original story, and even achieve consecutive Koshien titles, relied mainly on their pitching staff.

To put it crudely, if you can't score yourself, then don't let the opponent score either, and drag it out to the end to see whose stamina is better.

This is not looking down on Komadai, it's just that for Komadai's championship, their coach's tactics deserve a lot of credit; Coach Nitta is someone who really has substance.

"Now, I will announce tomorrow's starting lineup."

"First batter! Shortstop! Kuramochi Yoichi."

"Yes!"

"Second batter! Second Baseman! Kominato Ryosuke!"

"Yes!"

"Third batter! Center Fielder! Isashiki Jun!"

"Yes!"

"Fourth batter! First Baseman! Yuki Tetsuya!"

"Yes!"

"Fifth batter! Pitcher! Huangqian Yangyi!"

An absolutely unquestionable ace; on the incomparably important stage of the Koshien final, Seido must have the ace Huangqian Yangyi start the game.

"Sixth batter! Catcher! Takigawa Chris Yu!"

"Yes!"

Chris is a bit excited at this moment, and his hands are trembling slightly.

"Seventh batter! Third Baseman! Masuko Toru!"

"Yes!"

"Eighth batter! Right Fielder! Shirasu Kenjiro!"

"Yes!"

"Ninth batter! Left Fielder! Sakai Ichiro!"

"Yes!"

With the 9 Seido starters confirmed, Huangqian Yangyi sat next to Miyuki and nudged him with his elbow, "How is it, the taste of sitting on the bench?"

Miyuki rolled his eyes, "I played the full 9 innings during the semi-finals, okay."

"Hehe, the opponent is different, Komadai Fujimaki will definitely be more fun," said Huangqian Yangyi.

"That's true," Miyuki nodded in agreement; he actually also really wanted to face Komadai.

Just then, Coach Kataoka continued, "Miyuki, Tanba, Kawakami, you all be prepared as well."

"Yes!" the three answered simultaneously.

One night passed, Hyogo Prefecture, Nishinomiya, Hanshin Koshien Stadium.

Even though it was only 8 o'clock in the morning, the entire Koshien Stadium was already crowded with dense throngs of people, and the scene of a sea of people was broadcast to all parts of the country via high-altitude aerial shots from helicopters.

Fans of both sides, wearing jerseys of different colors, poured into the venue all at once; the scene was once overcrowded, and police from the Nishinomiya City Police Department were also maintaining order at the scene.

The 89th National High School Baseball Championship, after multiple rounds of fierce fighting, finally, only two teams remained out of forty-nine.

The kings from Tokyo, Seido High School.

The super dark horse from Hokkaido, Komadai Fujimaki.

When all the spectators were seated, the time was approaching 9 o'clock in the morning.

The players of the two teams passed through the tunnels on both sides of the stadium, led by their respective coaches, and appeared in the dugouts on both sides with heavy steps; at this instant, the heat from the stands made the entire century-old stadium shake.

"Oh Oh Oh! They're here!!"

"Seido!!!"

"Komadai!!!"

"Win the championship!!!"

"You have to win!!"

"The peak! Charge to the peak!"

"Seido! Consecutive titles!"

"Komadai! Defeat Seido!"

"Coach Kataoka! Coach Ochiai!"

"We're counting on you!"

"Director Nitta! Use your Nitta Magic to defeat Seido!"

"Hongo!!"

"Huangqian!"

"Ace-sama!!"

The game had not yet begun, but the fans of both teams in the stands had already started a cheering war; needless to say, the Seido fans were crushing those of Komadai.

Although Komadai had attracted a lot of attention and gained many fans by charging into the finals as a dark horse, they were still far behind a powerhouse like Seido that had accumulated years of history, not to mention that Seido was currently at their absolute peak.

The fans of Huangqian Yangyi alone were enough to make the other side unable to catch their breath.

"Hmph!"

On the Komadai bench, Hongo Masamune was very dissatisfied with the atmosphere, which felt as if it were Seido's home field, and his expression became somewhat fierce and ferocious.

Seeing this, Hongo Masamune's friend Okajo Renji said in the tone of a mother, "Alright, the game is about to start, get ready."

Hongo Masamune said nothing and silently turned to sit on the bench.

On the Seido side, they were very satisfied as they felt the atmosphere of the venue.

"It's the final game; whether we achieve greatness or exit in sorrow, everyone, believe in yourselves, believe in every step you have taken—sweat will not lie to you!"