CHAPTER 49: CHAPTER 49: THE DRAW CEREMONY

On August 4, 2010, at the Hyogo Prefectural Art and Culture Center, the drawing lots ceremony for the 92nd National High School Baseball Tournament began as scheduled. Forty-nine champion high schools from all over Japan gathered here, where they would be paired up into eight brackets; a redraw would occur after the quarterfinals.

The players from each school had already donned their uniforms and, led by their school leaders and team coaches, entered the auditorium neatly and orderly, taking their seats in pre-assigned areas.

TV station staff were adjusting equipment to ensure the complete recording of the event and its presentation to the audience; the reporters from various news magazines and weeklies also streamed in to ensure the drawing results could be published immediately and to interview relevant players.

Seated on the main stage alongside the guests attending the drawing ceremony were the captains of each team—they would represent their teams and, to some extent, decide their team’s fate. Because of the 49 teams participating in the Summer Koshien, one lucky team could go directly to the second round due to the draw.

On the table in the center of the stage were cards printed with bracket numbers; only by fully drawing a card could one know their bracket. Due to Tokyo Region having two slots, Suzuki Kensuke, the draw representative for Waseda, would be one of the first to draw.

Below the stage, in the area where the Waseda Jitsugyo Baseball Club was seated, everyone’s eyes were fixed on Suzuki Kensuke on the stage. He casually picked a card from the pile and drew it out of the slot.

Sitting behind Lin Guanglai, Kenshu Yasuda murmured, "I wonder if Senior Suzuki can draw that bye card; skipping a round would give a significant advantage."

Next to him, Matsunaga Kenta disagreed: "Let’s not skip a round—the first-round bye means playing on the 13th, more than a week of just training, meaning over half a month without intense matches, which might not be a good thing!"

Matsunaga Kenta’s words resonated with others: indeed, maintaining match readiness is crucial, and during the Summer Koshien period, there are no practice matches to speak of. As one of the teams finishing the regional tournament earliest, not playing matches for a long time is not favorable for Waseda.

"West Tokyo representative, Waseda Real." As the host on the stage read this name, in the Waseda Jitsugyo formation below, everyone immediately straightened up in their chairs, sitting upright in a proper manner.

"Waseda Real, 17B." As Suzuki Kensuke drew out the card, the giant battle board behind the stage placed Waseda’s name in the 17th bracket—they would have their first match on August 9th, the second match on the third day of the tournament.

Soon, Waseda’s opponent emerged—their first-round opponent would be the regional representative from Okayama Prefecture, Okayama Prefectural Kurashiki Commercial High School, marking their third consecutive year in the Summer Koshien tournament.

"Ahhhhhhhh—" A painful scream suddenly erupted from the players’ area below the stage. Looking in the direction of the sound, it was the representative from the Tokushima Region, where Naruto High School was located.

Lin Guanglai glanced at the battle board on the stage and couldn’t help but sympathize with them—as a school returning to the Summer Koshien after 15 years, Naruto drew the strongest recognized team of the tournament in the first round, the champion of Okinawa Prefecture, the spring tournament winner, Konan High School.

Though Koshien is a breeding ground for upsets, ultimately the hard strength of both sides is crucial—while admitting that saying this might be somewhat unkind, for Naruto, their Koshien journey might just end in the first round.

In an atmosphere of mixed joy and sorrow, this year’s Summer Koshien drawing ceremony concluded smoothly. The final segment was to decide the player representative for the opening ceremony oath, which would be taken up by Oogura Reiko of Fukui Commerce, who is both captain and catcher.

After the drawing ceremony ended, the members of Waseda followed Vice-Chairman Sasaki and Mr. Izumi back to the inn—now that the draw was over, studying their opponents was next.

Once the Koshien participating schools are determined each year, various media outlets will provide power ratings for each school—the ratings range from C to A, with higher ratings representing stronger teams and better chances at the championship.

This year’s 92nd Summer Koshien was considered by the media as the most balanced in average strength, with commentators being quite conservative in their strength ratings:

Apart from a few schools participating for the first time receiving C ratings, most teams were rated B Level, with only one receiving an A Level rating, aiming for their historical sixth spring-summer consecutive victory, Consul High School.

In other words, in this tournament, the strength of opponents in every match would not be low, requiring Waseda’s players to give their utmost effort.

"First, let’s look at the materials on the first-round opponent, Kurashiki Commercial—" assembling the team, Mr. Izumi analyzed.

"From the power ratings given by various media, the opponent and us both hold B Level ratings, meaning there’s not much difference in strength between the two sides."

"It’s important to note their ace pitcher, Shimada Keita, right-handed, not fast in velocity but an excellent controller of breaking balls."

"Therefore, when facing him, I hope you don’t rush—while this type of breaking ball pitcher is indeed challenging initially, once you grasp their pitch pattern, the relatively slower breaking ball pitchers should pose no problem to our batting lineup."

Using Kurashiki Commercial’s Shimada Keita as a starting point, Mr. Izumi thoroughly analyzed the opponent with the Waseda members, seemingly doing their homework based on the available data.

After the session on studying the first-match opponent concluded, Tsuchiya Ryota lay down directly on the tatami mat in the inn, yelling at the ceiling, "Ahhhhhhhh, the competition hasn’t even started and I’m already feeling a bit nervous?"

After entertaining himself for a bit, he suddenly sat up as if he remembered something:

"Speaking of which, I checked the draw sheet—if we can win against Kurashiki Commercial, our second-round opponent would be Chukyo University from Aichi Prefecture?"

Recalling some painful memories, Tsuchiya Ryota howled while clutching his head, "Ahhhhhhhh, could my only journey at Koshien end at no more than the second round? I’m so unwilling!!!"

Lin Guanglai, somewhat puzzled, asked: "Senior, although I know Chukyo University was last year’s Summer Koshien champion, their main players have graduated, isn’t it overly worrying?"

Tsuchiya Ryota looked at Lin Guanglai with eyes full of disbelief: "Guanglai, did you look at this tournament’s player list?"

Lin Guanglai shook his head.

"While last year’s main players at Chukyo University have retired, many of their current third-year players were already playing key roles last year—never mind their nationally ranked pitcher-catcher pair, just their three outfielders are beasts themselves!"

"Iwatsuki Youma, Iwai Kawa Yuuta, Koizumi Shu, among the three, the one with the shortest throw can throw 90 meters, while that Iwatsuki Youma has a 50-meter dash that takes just over 5 seconds;"

"It seems like our chances are really slim..."

Tsuchiya Ryota’s inclination to prepare excuses before facing the battle didn’t sit well with Lin Guanglai, who comforted his senior:

"Don’t think like that, Senior Tsuchiya; let’s focus on winning the first match first."

"And besides, even if we do face Chukyo University, I believe with our strength, we might actually crush them."