CHAPTER 52: CHAPTER 52: FIERCE BATTLE AT KOSHIEN

The final match of the first day of the tournament was a collaboration between the Aomori representative Hachinohe Institute of Technology and the Kagawa representative Eimei High School.

Hachinohe Institute of Technology returned to the Summer甲 stage after 15 years, while Eimei High School made their debut appearance—neither team had achieved victory on the Summer甲 stage before, making this game a significant breakthrough for the winner’s school.

In the first seven innings, the two sides were evenly matched, tying at 4-4;

Then, at the bottom of the eighth inning, with the bases loaded and one out, the second baseman of Hachinohe Institute of Technology, Nakamura Kouda, hit a triple to right field against Eimei’s pitcher’s low-breaking ball, successfully clearing the bases. He then returned to home plate with the help of a teammate’s sacrifice fly, changing the score to 8-4 and helping Hachinohe Institute of Technology achieve a historic breakthrough, advancing to the next round.

It is worth mentioning that Nakamura Kouda, the biggest contributor to Hachinohe Institute of Technology’s victory, is not even a "full-time baseball player":

Before deciding to focus solely on baseball last fall, third-year Nakamura Kouda also competed in speed skating, even placing seventh nationally at the National Sports Festival and being selected for the national youth team.

With the arrival of the second day of Summer甲, there will be four games every day thereafter.

Compared to the opening day’s matches, the second day’s games were even more spectacular and exciting, thrilling baseball fans on-site and viewers in front of their televisions.

The first match of the second day was between Shiga’s North Otsu and Shizuoka’s Changye Academy Tangerine, where the two teams provided the audience with a "fireworks display."

In the entire game, the two sides combined for a total of 25 hits and 3 home runs, fully showcasing the charm of high school baseball.

From the beginning of the game, North Otsu’s lineup quickly hit their stride, displaying impressive offensive power: they established a 5-point advantage within five innings; although Changye Academy Tangerine launched a full counterattack afterward, they still could not complete the comeback.

Ultimately, in the first match of the second day, North Otsu won a decisive victory over Changye Academy Tangerine 11-4, defeating a strong opponent and advancing to the next round.

As a spectator, this game was very exciting; however, from the pitcher’s perspective, Lin Guanglai shivered: "For pitchers from both sides, this kind of game is probably something they would never want to experience again in their lifetime, right?"

The second match of the day, also a highlight battle of the day, was between Gunma representative Maebashi Commerce and Ehime representative Uwajima East.

Neither side was considered a strong favorite, yet the game attracted over 33,000 spectators, a rare occurrence.

Since most Koshien matches take place on weekdays, coupled with the hot summer weather, not every game sees a large number of spectators choosing to watch on-site; typically, the audience numbers for first-round games are around ten to twenty thousand.

But clearly, this match was not among them—the intrigue was simply too compelling: speaking of Maebashi Commerce, people might not be very familiar; however, one notable alumnus of this school is a household name throughout Japan.

Adachi Mitsuru, the renowned manga artist intimately associated with Koshien, graduated from Maebashi Commerce; in his works, main characters such as Uesugi Tatsuya, Kunimi Hiyu, and Jutamura Hikari all strive tirelessly for their Koshien dreams. Asakura Nan from Heroic Baseball is even the dream girl of several generations of baseball players.

Maebashi Commerce, from Gunma Prefecture, is the prototype of Mingqing Academy in Heroic Baseball—currently within the Koshien Stadium, in Maebashi Commerce’s cheering section, the brass band was playing the theme song of Heroic Baseball, "Touch".

Maebashi Commerce, cheered on by many spectators, did not disappoint and steadily maintained a 3-point lead until the end.

Eventually, Maebashi Commerce defeated Uwajima East 3-0, breaking through the first round for the first time in many years.

The third game that followed was between Iwate representative Ichinoseki Academy and Ishikawa representative Youxue Hall—last year’s Spring and Summer Koshien tournaments saw the "Hanamaki East Whirlwind" by Kikuchi Yuusei captivate all of Japan, and this year, Ichinoseki Academy, representing Iwate at Koshien, naturally aimed to replicate this success, bringing courage and attention to their hometown.

This was also Lin Guanglai’s most anticipated game of the day, eager to see the strength of the Iwate champions.

Since the start of the regional tournaments, Lin Guanglai had been paying close attention to the Iwate Conference;

The reason being simply his desire to face Ohtani Shohei again on the Koshien stage.

Unfortunately, Hanamaki East, having lost their ace pitcher and most third-year main players, was eliminated in the fourth round of the Iwate Conference—something Lin Guanglai found deeply regrettable.

Truth be told, Ichinoseki Academy’s performance in this game was destined to disappoint their supporters:

Firstly, their lineup was collectively in a slump that was alarming: throughout the first six innings, Ichinoseki Academy’s hitters couldn’t manage a single hit, besides a walk from a four-ball walk, and the rest of the half-innings ended in quick three-up three-down defeats;

In the stalemate of a 0-0 game through six innings, their ace pitcher Takahashi Takahiro suddenly lost his form, allowing consecutive four-ball walks and missed pitches, directly leading to the team’s collapse.

Even though Ichinoseki Academy’s manager timely replaced the pitcher, this near-gambling action was futile against a lineup that seemed to be sleepwalking: they allowed 8 runs in the bottom of the sixth inning alone, and only managed 3 hits throughout the whole game—this was the answer sheet Ichinoseki Academy submitted in their first summer match.

Ultimately, they were defeated 0-11 by Youxue Hall, bidding farewell to their last summer with immense regret.

The last match of the day, featuring Tochigi representative Sano University and East Tokyo representative Kantou Number One, was a "Kantou showdown"—Kantou Number One’s outfielder Shibazawa Aimi became the focus of the match.

This player, hailing from a musical family and whose name is inspired by Jamaican reggae music, hit two doubles and one triple throughout the game, drove in 3 runs, and made numerous spectacular outfield plays, making an indelible contribution to Kantou Number One’s victory, and bringing a passionate Caribbean breeze to the Koshien stage.

With Kantou Number One’s 9-2 victory in the first round, the second day’s matches at Koshien came to an end.

Waseda Jitsugyo will face their first summer甲 match in four years on the following morning, and the players are filled with excitement, yet also nervous and unsettled.

The night before the match, Mr. Izumi, perhaps anticipating what might happen, sent the players back to their rooms early to sleep.

Many players, lying together, inevitably suffered from insomnia—even the usually nonchalant Tsuchiya Ryota wasn’t spared.

"Guanglai, do you think we can win tomorrow?" Tsuchiya Ryota mumbled to the nearly asleep Lin Guanglai, staring at the pitch-black ceiling.

"Ah—" Lin Guanglai yawned, responding with deep sleepiness, "Don’t worry, senior... we... with so much effort... will definitely... win."

Finding reassurance from his junior, Tsuchiya Ryota nodded in the dark, then closed his eyes.

Soon after, the mixed sounds of his teammates’ breathing filled the area.