In terms of rules, baseball was never called "men's baseball." Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Because there are very few direct physical confrontations, in fact, the problem of male and female competition is not big.

Whether it's a youth hard team at all levels outside the school system, a social person, or an independent professional league. There are always female players participating.

Although there are no active female players in the NPB league of professional baseball, the rules do not prohibit it.

The only competition at the university level is that not only female players are not allowed to participate, but even to assist in training in Koshien.

On the evening after the practice, Li Yuanrang returned to the hotel and turned on the TV. News of female managers from other teams being ejected for assisting with training is being reported on news programs.

Takanoren's stipulation has rightly become the target of criticism.

"I don't know how Coach Aragaki will react when he sees this news."

Li Yuanrang pointed to the TV screen and said to his roommate Yabe.

"She, I guess she's happy to go shopping now, and she doesn't have the heart to think about this."

Yabe took out his phone and showed a photo to Li Yuanrang.

Kazusa Aragaki who traveled to Kansai at public expense as the coach of the team is now traveling in the bustling area of Osaka with the team manager Asakura.

She just uploaded a photo of the two on her social networking site. In the background is a Glico billboard in Dotonbori.

"I don't know when these two people got together."

This is Li Yuanrang's comment after seeing this photo.

"It's been a while."

Yabe replied.

Kazusa Aragaki is aiming to become a professional player who has been drafted by NPB teams through the draft.

Although several women have signed with teams in the Independent League, they have become "professional players" in the broad sense of the word. Several female contestants also sign up for the annual draft competition. But so far, no team has been selected by the NPB to enter Japan's mainstream professional baseball league.

In order to get closer to his dream, Aragaki accepts an invitation to work as a part-time coach at the Peace Academy. Here she not only got to know the players. I also made friends with two female managers.

Minami Asakura, who is older than the public information, made a suggestion to Aragaki.

"It's too hard to win the favor of the team completely based on strength, and you still have to have your own special advantages."

This is what Asakura said at the time.

In Asakura's view, professional baseball, like performing arts, is ultimately a performance.

Whether it's to attract viewers to make a profit directly, or to expand the team's visibility, advertise the parent company.

There is never a team that thinks they are being paid too much attention.

The scouting department doesn't necessarily pay attention to a player just because it's a woman. Because there are more options for male players under the same conditions.

But when it comes to media attention, it's a different story.

"Haven't you noticed that Coach Aragaki hasn't gained muscle mass recently?"

Yabe shared what he observed with his teammate Lee Wonrang.

Kazusa Aragaki lacks strength, both as pitchers and fielders.

There is already a limit to what can be done in terms of arm strength. According to the general training theory, you should increase the muscle mass of the lower disc and waist and abdomen.

But lately, Aragaki seems to be avoiding his muscle mass.

"Asakura's idea is that those female baseball players in the past failed to set off a trend, and in the final analysis, it is not that the ball is not played well, but that the appearance has not conquered the audience."

Female players who play for social or independent leagues are mostly used by the team as a promotional board. But strictly speaking, the previous ones are still a little rough in appearance after all, and they don't make people feel bright.

Compared to them, Aragaki and Sand actually have an advantage in appearance. So Asakura's advice is to increase strength instead of adding muscles. It is better to maintain a well-proportioned and toned body to attract attention.

"But isn't that the objectification of women? Coach Aragaki himself would have agreed. ”

Li Yuanrang has always felt that relying on his own skills to enter professional baseball can be regarded as dignified.

"What do you think of Coach Aragaki's skills?"

"Yes, the speed of swinging the baton can keep up with the speed of the ball in college games, and the defensive skills are also solid. The strength of the shoulders will not be worse than that of the average college student. ”

"Professional teams don't sign with the average college student."

Baseball can be said to be a sport that attaches great importance to innate physical conditions.

In the case of congenital deficiency, even if it is hard. There will always be bottlenecks on the road to development.

Perhaps with the potential of Aragaki and Sasa, he can enter the professional baseball team and take on the task of being a tool player. However, if you want to impress the team's formation department, you really need to rely on other factors.

……

After all the participating teams finished the Koshien practice, a lottery ceremony was held at a venue in Osaka.

The competition schedule for the Summer Koshien Games is entirely determined by lottery. Before the start of the tournament, the combination of the first two rounds will be selected. After that, the schedule will be arranged according to the progress.

There are no restrictions except that the representative teams of North and South Hokkaido and East and West Tokyo will not meet local teams in the first round.

Since there are no seeded teams, there is a possibility that there will be a collision between the favorites in the first two rounds.

Correspondingly, it's not an accident that a first-time team like the Peace School directly meets another first-time team.

"Rentian Industrial College, what kind of school is this......"

After the results of the lottery came out, Li Yuanrang ran to Tian Gu, who was in charge of intelligence gathering, to inquire about the news of his opponent.

"The representative of Kyoto Prefecture is also making his debut this year, and judging from the results of the preliminary selection meeting, his strength should not be weak."

The teams that can make it to Koshien are naturally the champions of each region.

It's different from the Peace Academy, which perfectly avoids most of the powerhouses to qualify. At this year's Kyoto Conference, Rentian Industrial University swept all the powerful people and won the championship.

Although it is the first appearance of Koshien, the strength should not be underestimated.

The match between these two teams will take place in the fourth game of the third day of the tournament.

Members of the baseball club returned to the hotel from the scene of the lottery meeting, and several buses were parked at the door. Hundreds of high school students are getting off the bus one by one.

"Isn't this our school's wind club?"

One of the team members recognized an acquaintance from the crowd.

In order to help the baseball club, Principal Morimoto mobilized almost all the students who could be mobilized.

It's a pity that the scale of the Peace School is not too large. In total, only about 100 people went to the Kansai area.

"If there are more than 100 people, there will only be a small piece in the Koshien stands."

Li Yuanrang thought to himself.

Even if it is a general mobilization, the support lineup of the Peace Academy is only this scale.

Some other famous baseball schools can often mobilize support groups of several thousand people to occupy an entire stand.

This is not only due to the strength of the school's teachers and students or OB, but also to the wide popularity of college baseball fans.

In this regard, the Peace Academy still has a long way to go. (To be continued.) )