"Ahh......hh

The players who stayed in the rest area on the first base side looked at the four-batter Ryohei Hashimoto who was knocked out by the pitcher on the field, his sweaty face was full of gloom, and some people even covered their mouths because they were going to lose the game immediately, and they didn't want to believe such a reality, and they showed disbelief because they showed an expression of disbelief for this.

“……”

At the same time, the audience seat where the cheerleaders and support group of Chikuba Wakayama were located also became silent because Ryohei Hashimoto was knocked out by his opponent.

"In the first half of the ninth inning, the attack of Chikuba Wakayama High School, five bats, third baseman, Tatsuda-kun." When Ryohei Hashimoto retired and returned to the rest area, the announcer's voice sounded again from the court.

Kento Tatsuda, a five-batter who played baseball, looked up at the sun in the sky covered by dark clouds, and his inner monologue emerged: "I've been playing baseball with my heart all along......"

"But this one may be the last... Am I not going to be able to reach the final with my team and reach the top of the country? ”

"Even if that's true, the meaning of everything I've done in the past is here!"

Kento Tatsuda, who was standing in the left-hit area, held the bat forward with his right hand, grabbed his shirt on his chest with his left hand, and turned his head to look at the pitcher on the pitcher's mound.

"I'm not going to let you get your way, I'm going to take the initiative to attack!"

Kento Tatsuda, who had this belief, swung his bat in his right hand and rested it on his left shoulder, and after the referee reached out his right hand to signal the pitcher to start pitching, he raised the bat on his shoulder forward and waited for the blow.

"I'm going to stop their offensive here anyway......"

Driven by this thought, Catcher Kuraza Naoya raised his hand to straighten the face guard, took a step outward, crouched behind the junction between the home plate and the right hitting area, placed the ball cover above the back of the right hitting area, and asked the Jinguji senior in front of him for an outside corner low ball that would be crossed from the outside of the good ball area.

"Whew!"

Jinguji followed the catcher's code, waved his arm to throw a diagonal straight ball to home plate, but unfortunately due to physical exertion and rain, the diagonal straight ball he threw was flying from above against the good ball area, which was far from the low ball in the outside corner that the catcher asked him for.

"Bang!"

When the batter did not swing the bat, catcher Naoya Kuraza moved the ball sleeve, which was originally parallel to the hitter's knee, upwards to catch the baseball flying from the pitcher's mound at a speed of 141 km/h.

"Whew!"

After throwing a bad ball at the opening pitch, Jinguji waved his right hand and threw the inside corner into the belt curve towards home plate at a speed of 128km/h.

"Bang!"

When the batter stops swinging the bat, and is not ready to strike, the baseball, which has been moved diagonally down from the front of the batter's belt, flies diagonally down to the left side of the zone, and then grabs the ball cover stretched out by the catcher Kuroza behind the corner of the zone.

“bad shot.“ When the referee did not raise his right hand to make a good decision, Seido pitcher Jinguji threw two bad balls in a row in the face of the attack of Kento Tatsuda of Chikuba and Ukayama Gobon.

"Whew!"

Reaching out and lifting the cap, Jinguji, who had readjusted after taking a deep breath, stepped forward with his leg raised and threw a knee-high straight ball into the home plate.

"Huh!"

When the pitcher's swing of the baseball flew past the hitter's right leg at a speed of 141 km/h, the batter Kento Tatsuda had just swept the bat in the low corner of the corner.

"Bang!"

At the same time as the hitter's swing missed, Kuroza Naoya opened the ball sleeve forward and caught the baseball thrown by the senior into it.

"Whew!"

Jinguji followed the catcher's code, flicked his right hand towards home plate and threw a high diagonal straight ball with a speed of 135km/h.

"Ping!"

Moments before the baseball was about to fly over the home plate and into the catcher's open ball sleeve, the bat, which was swung out by Kento Tatsuda, hit it and flew high to the left.

Kuraza Naoya reached out and removed the face shield from his head, and while looking up at the baseball that was being hit high by the victim, he got up from behind home plate and ran to the left after the baseball that was speeding in the air.

"—catch!" There was only one thought in Naoya's unusually clear eyes, and that was to catch the high flying ball that the hitter had sent out of bounds.

"Catch..."

Running from home plate to the Kurato next to the rest area on the side of third base, Naoya, in the surprised eyes of his teammates, kicked the ground with his left leg, and the whole person stuck under the net in front of the stands, and the left hand stretched out upwards successfully caught the baseball falling from the air.

“…… Dangerous! As Kuraza's right shoulder hit the bottom of the barricade, I heard the exclamations of my teammates.

"Porphyry!"

Unfortunately, he didn't have time to respond to his teammates' concerns, so he fell backwards to the ground, just in front of the ball cover and the entrance to the rest area on third base.

“retire.“

After he got up from the ground and raised his left hand upwards, signaling the baseball inside the case to the presiding judge, the presiding judge clenched his right hand into a fist and raised it forward.

"Nice catch! Kuraza – "As his teammates raised their hands and applauded him for his catch, or gave him a thumbs up, the semi-final between Seido and Chikuba Wakayama came to an end.

"Catch and kill - out! Since the beginning of the game, the two sides have been attacking and defending back and forth, and until the first half of the ninth inning, Qingdao still maintains the lead in the score......"

"In the end, the first-year catcher Kuraza-kun caught the high-flying ball that flew out of bounds by the five-batter Tatsuda-kun and got the third out, bringing the game between the two sides to an end!"

“…… Seido High School, which won the championship, reached the Koshien finals for the first time in 12 years, and Superintendent Kataoka transformed from an ace pitcher 12 years ago to a famous coach who led Seido to re-emerge. (In fact, so-called famous coaches should be put in quotation marks.) ）

"Chikuro Wakayama High School pressed Seido until the last minute, and unfortunately missed the opportunity to reach the Koshien final for the fourth time."

"But in this tournament, there is no doubt that Chikuro Wakayama High School has regained its reputation in the country." (I'm going to pick the 2006 Chikuro Wakayama for two years in a row before that.) ）

After lining up on either side of the home plate, the players from Seichi and Chikuro Wakayama reached out to take off their caps and bowed to each other under the guidance of the home base judges.

"Salute!"

"Thank you for the advice..."

After saluting each other, the players came together to shake hands with each other amid the sound of the siren over the court, and Jingu Tereichi, who contributed the most in today's game, smiled the most happily and shook hands with each of the players from Chikuba and Ukayama.

"Buzz-buzz-buzz-"

After the air raid sirens stopped, the players of Chikuro Wakayama left the field one after another, ran to the rest area on the side of first base and stood in a line, took off their caps and looked at the Qingdao players standing in a row at home base, and sang the school song of Qingdao after the announcer finished broadcasting.