CHAPTER 51: CHAPTER 51: SUMMER, THE OPENING

When the players’ formation stood on the infield, the flag-raising ceremony of the opening meeting began.

In Koshien Stadium, the flag of the "92nd National High School Baseball Championship Memorial Tournament" was slowly rising.

At the same time, the sound of the classic high school baseball tune began to play—"For You, the Crown Shines," a song that has been used as the theme for the Koshien games since 1948, known by everyone in Japan.

At this moment, the entire audience stood from their seats and, along with the vibrant high school baseball players in the stadium, softly hummed the familiar lyrics:

"Clouds rolling, brilliance spreading, high skies and light clouds, pure white ball, today it shall fly high."

"Energetic people, just in the cheer of response. Revitalize your spirits and bloom with hope."

"Ah, the laurel shines for you! Ah, the crown shines for you!"

As the music reached its end, the tournament flag was also raised to the highest point of Koshien Stadium, flying high above the scoreboard at the back of Central Field.

After the flag-raising ceremony, Oshima Takakou, president of the Japan High School Baseball Federation, began his speech.

Despite the hot weather and the crowded audience making this phase somewhat tormenting, in such a once-in-a-lifetime grand occasion, the players still managed to brace themselves, showing their youthful vigor.

"I hope you can play the game in such a manner—when the teams that couldn’t fulfill their dreams watch you play, they will feel comforted by losing to such a great team." With this encouragement, Oshima Takakou ended his speech.

The next segment was undoubtedly the most exciting one:

The captain of last year’s championship team, Chukyo University’s Moriyama Junpei, holding the victory flag, jogged from the player formation to the front of the podium—as the defending champions, Chukyo University needed to return the victory flag.

In the players’ formation, everyone’s eyes were locked onto the flag in Moriyama Junpei’s hand—each glance revealed a greedy expression, as every high school baseball boy wanted to personally raise this flag.

Moriyama Junpei handed the heavy national championship flag back to President Oshima Takakou, and received back a flag for the 91st Championship Tournament, which the school could keep permanently.

This is a fixed segment of every Koshien tournament, a symbol of Koshien’s heritage and respect—if the previous year’s championship team fails to make the Summer甲 the following year, the team’s captain may even have to bring the victory flag to Koshien alone as a representative to attend the meeting.

Each champion will have the opportunity to hang a ribbon on top of the victory flag’s pole—the more ribbons hung, the heavier the whole flag becomes, which is the weight of history.

Once Moriyama Junpei returned to the formation, the final ceremony of the opening meeting was about to begin.

The broadcast at the venue reported at this moment:

"Next is the athletes’ oath, with the representative, the captain of Fukui Commercial High School, Oogura Reiko, called on stage."

At the front of Fukui Commerce’s formation, Oogura Reiko handed the tournament victory flag to his vice-captain, then stepped out to the podium alone, took a deep breath, and began the oath.

The content of the oath was the result of discussions with his teammates over several days, familiar to the point of unconscious memory:

"Our summer has arrived on schedule again this year."

"Today, as the representatives of all the national players, we stand proudly on the stage of our dreams, at Koshien Stadium."

"This year’s weather is getting hotter day by day—however, we hope to bring encouragement with our spirits even more passionate and fiery than the intense heat!"

"I swear, trusting in my past efforts, grateful for the opportunity to battle here, I will enjoy every game with a smile."

"Summer’s dreams, let us start running from now on!"

"The declarant, player representative, captain of Fukui Commercial High School, Oogura Reiko!"

As Oogura Reiko’s words fell, the entire Koshien Stadium erupted in warm applause—his words, full of passion and enthusiasm, undoubtedly moved the audience present; at the same time, with his speech, the true summer was about to begin.

After the opening meeting, the first game of Summer甲 Day 1 immediately took place, with Kyushu Academy, representing Kumamoto, competing against the debuting Matsubara High School, representing Nagano.

The opening pitch for this year’s Summer甲 came from Tamura Eiji from Takagawa in Miyazaki Prefecture—serving as the representative of Miyazaki Prefecture, which was suffering from a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, he threw the first ball of this tournament.

After the opening meeting, the members of Waseda Jitsugyo left the stadium to return to the hotel, and, after a brief rest, they would head to a nearby site to start training.

Due to the Summer甲 regular competition starting soon, the intensity of these days’ training wouldn’t be high, mainly consisting of regular field training, pitching, and batting practice.

Lin Guanglai was in the bullpen for pitching practice, his training more intense—if they passed the first round successfully, Lin Guanglai would welcome his Koshien debut in the second round.

The time quickly reached noon, and once the players returned to the hotel, they switched on the television, sitting together to watch the games.

The opening match had ended, with Kyushu Academy defeating Matsubara High School 14-1—a cruel score that made the Waseda Jitsugyo players in front of the TV smack their lips.

According to the data, Matsubara High School, making their first appearance in Summer甲, committed almost every mistake a new team could:

There were numerous errors and wild throws in field defense; the lineup was completely suppressed by Kyushu’s pitcher.

During the entire game, Kyushu’s ace pitcher, Watanabe Masakatsu, struck out 9 batters.

And now on TV, the competing teams were the Chiba representative, Narita High School, and the Wakayama representative, Wisdom Wakayama—the game had reached the end of the top of the fifth inning, with the score still at 0-0.

The turning point came in the bottom of the fifth inning: Wisdom Wakayama’s sophomore left pitcher, Aoki Yuuto, first gave a four-ball walk to advanced Narita’s eighth batter, Daiki Anzui, then was consecutively hit with base hits—with this wave of offense, Narita took a 2-point lead in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Although Wisdom Wakayama pulled back a run in the top of the fifth inning, the subsequent match entirely became a showcase for Narita’s ace pitcher, Nakagawa Ryosuke.

As one projected noteworthy player of this year’s tournament, Nakagawa Ryosuke stands 180 cm tall, weighs 79 kg, throws and bats right-handed, with a top speed of 143 km/h, and specializes in sliders, change-ups, and curveballs—in high school-level games, he is a truly versatile pitcher.

Using his sharp arsenal of breaking balls, Nakagawa Ryosuke made Wisdom Wakayama’s batters lament—in the sixth inning, he continuously created ground balls and flyouts with his breaking balls, while striking out 6 batters, successfully suppressing the opponent, and maintaining the lead.

Finally, relying on Nakagawa Ryosuke’s strenuous 129 pitches and 14 strikeouts throughout the game, Narita High School defeated the formidable opponent, advancing to the second round, and allowing their school anthem to once again play at Koshien after twenty years.

"Nakagawa-senpai is amazing!" Lin Guanglai sighed in front of the television, "It’s just a pity that we’re not in the same bracket as Narita High School, so if we want to face each other, we have to reach the quarterfinals first—what a shame."