The weather was still very cool at the beginning of April, but fortunately, the spring rain that had been falling intermittently for a few days finally stopped.

After lunch, the Qingdao runners stood in line at the entrance of the hotel with their backpacks and bags on their backs and waited for the school bus.

There were many fans around who came to cheer, and they stood together waving cheers related to Qingdao, shouting slogans such as "King Qingdao" and "National Domination", and whenever a Qingdao player looked at it, their reaction would become more enthusiastic.

"It seems that the number of fans coming to the hotel has increased recently." Kuramochi looked at the fans who came to the hotel several times to support: "It seems that someone shouted downstairs last night..."

"It's a lot better than last summer, and there aren't as many people coming to help." Jun Izagiki, who helped the team go through last summer, asked Yoichi Kuramochi to get on the bus quickly for fans who were far inferior to summer in terms of numbers.

Kuramochi Yoichi, who was forced to get into the car, saw Miyukiichi, who was in the car earlier than him, sitting in his seat, smiling and looking out of the car window.

When he walked over and looked, he saw a few female students from other schools holding signs that read "Miyuki Kazuya" and waving frantically to the school bus.

Gee...

Kuramochi glared at him rather unpleasantly, but unfortunately Yukiichi didn't notice the malicious gaze behind him at this time; Seeing this, he had no choice but to carry his backpack and sit down in the row behind Miyukikazuya, and then raised his foot and kicked on the back of the front seat, kicking Miyukiichi forward.

"What are you doing!?" Yukiichi also turned his head with a dark face and glared at Kuramochi Yoichi, the other party raised the corners of his mouth with a stalk on his neck, and said very badly: "Can't I stretch my legs?!" ”

Kuraza Naoya and Nan Yunshi, who were sitting next to them, looked over because of the movement of the two, and after finding that it was the two enemies of Miyuki and Kuramochi, they took their eyes back and didn't pay much attention to it.

After everyone got into the car, Superintendent Kataoka and Miss Takashima counted the number of people together to make sure that no one had been missed, and then signaled that the driver could drive.

……

The hotel is not far from the Hanshin Koshien Stadium, and the car arrives from the hotel in no time, and when the car stops, Yagami Ye bends down to pick up his backpack and follows the others out of the car, and then passes through the players' tunnel at the Hanshin Koshien Stadium to the lounge inside the stadium.

Putting a backpack in the lounge, Yagami Ye began to pay attention to the game that was nearing the end on the field, defeating the city junior who defeated Guangxing Academy 5:2 to advance to the quarterfinals and the quarterfinals of Saitama Prefecture's strong Hao Shengwang Gakuen.

At 13:06 in the afternoon, the city junior defeated Shengwang School Park with a score of 4:2, taking the lead in the quasi-decisive victory, which made Tanba Koichiro excited because the agreement with the city's three aces was about to be realized.

After the players from both sides finished exiting, the Qingdao people took the backpacks and bags they brought with them and walked out of the players' tunnel and came to the rest area on the side of the first base.

After putting away the backpack and taking out his cap and gloves, Yagami turned around and watched Chris take out the catcher guard one by one, he helped get a shin guard to help Chris stretch his leg, and then picked up the catcher's chest guard to help him put it on his body, and after Chris was all dressed, the two walked out of the rest area together and walked to the cowshed next to him.

"How are you feeling now?" Chris asked as he walked.

"It's good." Yagami Yagami, who turns the baseball in his left hand, feels that he is in good shape because of the familiar touch in his hand.

……

The warm-up time passed quickly, and when the base judges signaled that the game was about to start, the players on both sides stood in a row in front of the rest area, and then, with the order of the chief judge, they shouted and rushed to the field with the players on the opposite side of Sendai Ikuying, and then formed two teams in front of the home plate.

"Please advise..."

After taking off his hat and bowing with the base judges, the Qingdao players turned around and left the field, and Minami Yunshiichi, who returned to the rest area, picked up the batting cap and put it on, and then put on the protective gear neatly, clamped the bat under his armpit, and walked forward while wearing the batting gloves.

After the warm-up two minutes before the start of the game, Shiichi Nagumo walked from the waiting area to home plate, he took the bat and looked at the pitcher on the pitcher's mound, nodded to the chief judge and catcher next to him, and walked into the right ball area in front of him.

After stepping on the sand with his head down, making sure that the ground was not muddy, he stood on the hitting area with his legs apart, and while looking at the pitcher, he swung the bat in his hand, and when he was almost ready, he raised it high and waited for the pitcher to pitch.

"Buzz-buzz-buzz..."

At 13:40 in the afternoon, Sendai Yuki Sato, who was standing on the pitcher's board with his back to the hitter, turned to face the pitcher, and raised his hands above his head to step forward with his legs raised in the air defense sirens over the court, waving his right hand to the home plate to throw a fast ball with two seams in the outside corner.

"Ping!"

The fast ball, which moves longitudinally down from the height of the hitter's belt at a speed of 130km/h, crosses the edge line and flies behind the center of the outside corner, and the beater Nagumo hits it with a swing of the bat, and flies backwards to the right.

"Smack!"

The baseball, which landed on the right to the back of home plate in the cowshed area, was caught by right fielder Takahashi who ran from the right field.

"Out of bounds!"

Last summer, Sendai Ikuei, who re-entered the summer Koshien after six years, lost to Hidai Yamagata with a bye in the first round and stopped in the second round; Just like last year's Seido, Sendai Ikuei, who had stopped at Koshien to win the victory, re-entered the spring Koshien after six years, and while realizing the resurrection of the famous family, he also wanted to make his Koshien journey go far enough and long enough... To do this, they must defeat Qingdao!

After the air raid sirens ended, Nagumo Shiyi returned to the batting area with his bat and stood up again.

"Whew!"

In the second ball, Yuki Sato followed the code given to him by the stopper, waving his right hand to the home plate and throwing a straight ball near the knee in the inside corner.

"Smack!"

With a ball speed of 141 km/h, a straight ball that flew over the home plate on the edge line below the good ball area was caught by the glove of Kentaro Nemoto in a low position behind the inside corner and next to the hitter's right calf.

“Strike.“

On the third ball, Yuki Sato, who forced the hitter to the second best ball, reached forward with his left foot and waved his right arm to shoot a straight ball from the outside corner that was obviously high at home plate.

"Bang!"

With a ball speed of 138 km/h, the ball flew from the pitcher's mound to the top of the outside corner, and the straight ball was held by the opponent's Kentaro Nemoto's straight left hand.

“Ball.“

On the fourth ball, Yuki Sato followed the code given to him by the catcher's ratio, raised his leg and stepped forward, and danced his right arm to throw a speedball to home plate.

"Smack!"

The 102 km/h speed ball fell forward on the edge of the back of the left zone during longitudinal displacement, and was then covered by Kentaro Nemoto's outstretched glove.

“Ball…“

The ball was tied at 2-2, and Yuki Sato waved his arm to throw a belt-high straight ball to home plate at the request of the catcher.

"Whew!"

It was a ball played by Yuki Sato, and at a speed of 148 km/h, it flew to the edge of the outside corner to the back of the high position of the outside corner, and grabbed it with the left hand of Kentaro Nemoto.

"Bang!".

“Strike out.“

When the presiding judge behind the catcher raised his right hand over his shoulder, he strode to the back of home plate and left home plate with his bat, and he was promoted to the top position by Kataoka Superintendent after the batting time of the mat, and it was the first time that he was struck out by a pitcher in the first round.