"Do you still want to take pictures?"

After walking around the stadium for most of the time, I finally came to the front of the words "Hanshin Koshien Stadium". Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

According to the original plan, Li Yuanrang planned to let his teammate Yabe take a photo of himself with his mobile phone in this position as a souvenir.

But after actually standing here, Li Yuanrang looked left and right, and always felt that something was wrong.

"This wall looks a little awkward, it's different from what I remember."

"What's the difference?"

"It's so big on the left that a brick wall is exposed."

What Li Yuanrang found awkward was the iconic vines on the exterior wall of Koshien.

Whether it's a comic or a photo I've seen in the past. The exterior walls of Koshien are covered with vines.

When I actually arrived at the scene, I saw a completely different situation. The green is somewhat sparse, and in many places there are pale yellow brick walls.

"Oh, this one, the entire exterior wall was redone during the renovation of Koshien a few years ago, and now the new one is not yet full."

The devastating earthquake of 1995 caused structural damage to the old Koshien Stadium. Plus the aging of the equipment. From 2007 to 09. Koshien was renovated during the gap between the baseball season.

Prior to this, Konoren distributed Koshien vine plants to all of the more than 4,000 member schools. After the renovation was completed, hundreds of well-developed plants were selected and transplanted back to Koshien.

"Actually, our school also has vines transplanted from Koshien, but they didn't grow very well, and they weren't selected to be transplanted back in the end."

Yabe introduced while taking a photo.

And when it was Li Yuanrang's turn to take pictures of Yabe, the number of people on the side of the court began to gradually increase.

"There's a game today, right?"

Li Yuanrang noticed that many of the crowds walking around the stadium were wearing professional baseball jerseys. Most of them are Hanshin team clothes. A small number are Nagoya's Chunichi Dragons jerseys.

"It seems to be the second of a three-game battle with the Chinese and Japanese dragons."

This season, the competition between Hanshin and China and Japan is as fierce as the name of the team. The rankings have been biting very tightly.

The trifecta that took place this weekend is also closely related to the rankings. However, the two teams are not fighting for the top spot in the league, but from the bottom of the quagmire.

"You should still be able to buy tickets in the away stands, do you want to go and see it?"

"Forget it, it's better to go back and rest early."

Yabe originally just asked casually.

Because the pitcher has a clear division of labor, and often uses tactics such as playing and walking. A game in professional baseball often takes more than three hours.

If the pace is a little slower or if you run into a play-off. It is not uncommon for games to start at 6 o'clock in the evening and finish after 10 o'clock.

At this point in time, it's not worth the night to delay for an ordinary professional baseball formula battle.

The sun sets late in the summer. The baseball club didn't set up any specific access control for the players. Li Yuanrang and Yabe planned to go around the neighborhood again.

Just then, a group of high school students with typical baseball club hairstyles appeared in front of them.

"May I ask you two from Nishitokyo, who represent the Peace School Baseball Club?"

Several boys with thick lines twisted and pushed each other away for a while, and finally the tallest one stepped forward to greet Li Yuan.

"Oh? How do you guys see it. ”

The other party pointed to the sporting goods bag that was used as a backpack on the arrow, and the name and emblem of the school were printed on it.

"We are from the Naritaka Baseball Club, the closest university to Koshien."

The leader is Takashi Tokiwa, who is also a first-year student this year, and after introducing himself, he invited Li Yuanrang and Yabe to take a group photo together.

Nishinomiya Municipal Naruohama High School is the closest high school to Koshien. It's only a 10-minute walk away.

Their baseball club is also steeped in history.

However, as neighbors of Koshien, they only appeared once at the spring convention 60 years ago.

"So, your school also has a baseball field."

Li Yuanrang asked.

"Of course there is, although it's shared with other societies."

Li Yuanrang listened to the other party's answer and turned his head to look at Yabe.

Yabe understood what he meant, nodded, and then opened his mouth to ask the next question.

"Can we borrow it for training?"

"Huh? I can't do that. ”

"It's okay, we can let the instructor talk."

……

The Koshien participating teams only have half an hour for each team to train in Koshien during the tournament.

At other times, Takano Renren will arrange some practice venues for each team to use.

However, in order to increase the time for practice, many schools will also contact the training venue themselves.

Peace Gakuen has never played in Koshien before. The school lacks connections in the Kansai area.

After winning the Nishitokyo region, there was no time to arrange a training venue.

As the captain of the team, Issei Fukushima has even made plans to rent an amateur baseball field by the river or in the park for practice.

Now, a chance encounter with a member of the baseball club of Nariohama High School has created an opportunity to solve this problem.

Li Yuanrang and Yabe brought back the contact information of the other party's instructor.

Originally, Mr. Sato was supposed to make contact. And Principal Morimoto, who came with the team, found out about this and called the other party in person.

Without waiting for the other school to speak, Morimoto proposed to sign a long-term cooperation agreement. There are also conditions such as donating equipment to the baseball club.

"The long-term agreement is that we can often come to Koshien to compete, right?"

After the relevant details reached the ears of Li Yuanrang and others, everyone felt so.

……

Due to the enthusiasm of the principal, from the next day, the baseball club of the Peace School began training at the stadium of Naruohama High School.

It is a square field of 100 meters square. In one corner of the field there is a mound of pitchers who don't quite fit the standards of the game.

On the other side, there are goals for soccer training.

As a public school with limited funds. Most of the outdoor sports clubs at Naruo Hamako train on this field.

"If you set up a net, you can also use it as a tennis court."

As a liaison, Tokiwa, a first-year student in the baseball club, introduces his school's facilities to everyone at the Peace Academy.

It was almost the first time that Li Yuanrang had visited a public school campus.

Compare this site to your own school's facilities. He understands why the strongest teams in urban areas like Tokyo and Osaka are concentrated in private schools.

But Hyogo Prefecture is different, and the winning team of this year's Hyogo Prefectural Games is also a public school.

"By the way, this year we are the top eight in the county convention."

Tokiwa's words are full of pride.

More than 160 schools participated in the Hyogo Prefectural Games. It is a more competitive area than Nishitokyo.

Naruo Hamadaka also lost to the final champion before being eliminated. It's a strong force in the county. (To be continued.) )