Chapter 109: Number For Players (End Of This Volume)

Sawamura never expected things to turn out this way.

Also, what did that look in Sanada's eyes mean?

Why did Sawamura feel like he saw sympathy in them?

"You guys really are quite unlucky!"

The semifinals and finals are back-to-back.

Unless something unexpected happens, the Inashiro Industrial High School baseball team will meet the Seidou High School baseball team in the semifinals.

The organizers were evidently more fair than Sawamura had thought. This time, the lottery really had no tricks or hidden traps.

Otherwise, it would have been hard to place Inashiro in that spot.

Such an arrangement might have even been worse if they let Inashiro play Seidou in the first round.

Inashiro Industrial High School is the only team that has the strength to challenge the reigning champion, Seidou High School.

It's also the only team that shares the top spot on the general strength rankings in the magazine, tied with Seidou High School's baseball team.

In terms of scores, Inashiro's team has a slightly higher overall score than Seidou's team.

However, in terms of results, Seidou's team is clearly superior.

The matches between the two teams have been fairly even, with both teams having victories and defeats.

During the media ranking, Inashiro, Komadai, and Seidou were all placed in the first tier.

Of course, Seidou's name came before the other two.

The match between these two teams is bound to become a historic battle.

The loser, of course, would be eliminated, so there's no need to say anything more.

The winner, however, will still suffer.

Even the winning team will only have a pyrrhic victory.

How much strength will they have left to face their final opponent in the finals?

If the organizers had even a little foresight, they wouldn't have arranged things like this. But since the results turned out this way, it means the organizers were actually very fair.

No wonder Sanada said that Sawamura and the others were unlucky.

"Your situation is the same, right? Inashiro is tough, and Sankou isn't just resting either. Do you think you can score against Amahisa?"

Sawamura smiled, without holding back.

He isn't the type to ignore provocations.

"We won't lose. See you in the finals!"

Sanada's confidence was at its peak.

Before this summer, they had already prepared to fight any opponent, and that naturally included the three big teams in West Tokyo.

Now, the two biggest threats to them would meet each other early, meaning one of them would be eliminated.

This was like a gift from the heavens for Yakushi High.

Such a favorable group arrangement made Sanada full of confidence.

"See you in the finals!"

Sawamura Eijun said calmly.

Contrary to what Sanada thought, Sawamura didn't feel unlucky at all.

On the contrary, he felt very lucky.

Before entering the professional world, Sawamura only had two remaining wishes.

One was to create glory with his teammates at Seidou High.

Three consecutive championships!

Four consecutive championships!!

Five consecutive championships!!!

He had only just completed half of his journey to dominance in Koshien.

He was far from his ultimate goal.

Apart from this grand goal, Sawamura had another wish.

That was to flip the high school baseball world upside down!

This summer's tournament, to be able to face Inashiro and Yakushi consecutively, was truly a stroke of luck.

He was actually afraid that, because Seidou was first seeded, they wouldn't meet any strong opponents until the finals, eventually winning by default.

Then they would face a weakened Inashiro, Yakushi, or Sankou!

That would be meaningless…

Sawamura Eijun thought so, but this didn't mean that his Seidou High teammates thought the same way.

Among the players, there were still many who had different opinions.

They didn't mind cruising into the finals by default. If they could win their way into Koshien or even dominate the nation by doing so, that would be even better!

"Your luck with the lottery really stinks!"

In dorm 5, Kuramochi was giving Sawamura a "brotherly love" education.

After more than a year of adaptation, Sawamura was no longer defenseless.

He moved his body swiftly while explaining.

"Isn't this great! We get to face such strong opponents..."

"You're still saying that!"

Kuramochi was simply venting his dissatisfaction.

Seidou High's baseball team was the first seeded, and no matter how the groups were divided, the result would never be too bad.

It was almost impossible to be placed in a situation where they would face the three big teams consecutively.

Under such circumstances, Seidou didn't want to face Inashiro early. The chance of Inashiro being in the same group as Seidou was 1/4.

Even then, the situation wouldn't have been the worst.

The worst-case scenario would have been for Inashiro to be placed in Group B.

If that happened, Seidou's players would be forced to face Sankou or Yakushi the very next day after playing Inashiro.

Originally, Seidou's players had a 50-60% chance of smoothly advancing to Koshien.

But this group arrangement had suddenly reduced their chances by 20%.

For someone like Kuramochi, who was already in his third year, this was very frustrating.

Though he knew that Sawamura had nothing to do with the arrangement, Sawamura didn't even participate in the draw.

But Kuramochi was still upset.

Sawamura decided that it was better to slip away.

The lottery wasn't just frustrating for Kuramochi.

From the very beginning, Seidou's baseball team had never had good luck with group arrangements.

Last summer, last Fall, including the spring tournament and the Kanto Tournament…

For every major tournament, Seidou's draw was never a free win.

Many people were affected by it and felt that they had to work harder to help the team get through this crisis.

But more people, however, didn't care about all this.

That's because the main roster of Seidou's baseball team had still not been announced!

That meant that they still didn't know exactly who would be in the main 20.

Later that evening, the players received an urgent call to gather.

At that point, everyone pretty much knew the reason.

The only purpose of gathering everyone was to announce the jersey numbers!

It was also the time to confirm the 20-player roster.

Before the list was announced, the players were all anxious.

Especially those who weren't sure if they would get a main roster number or if they would even stay in the first team.

Their anxiety was several times greater than the others.

In a short time, Coach Kataoka, President Ota, Coach Ochiai, and Vice President Takashima appeared in front of them.

Also accompanying them were two third-year team managers, holding the number tags in their hands.

"After much discussion among the coaching staff, the final roster has been confirmed. Next, the players whose names are called will come up to collect their jersey numbers."

Surprisingly, this process was extremely simple.

But no one knew how much effort the players had put in just to hear their names from Coach Kataoka.

They did everything, not one mistake, not one slip-up, each and every action, from the first to the last, all of it! How much effort had they put in?

Although most people had already anticipated the outcome, they still felt nervous the instant before Coach Kataoka announced the names.

"Number 1, Ace, Sawamura Eijun!"

This was the most unquestionable jersey number, and all the players of Seidou High School's baseball team were sincerely applauded.

Sawamura Eijun had earned this number with merit.

Sawamura himself also felt that it was well-deserved.

Although during this time, Furuya had launched multiple challenges against him, those challenges were still immature and not enough to shake Sawamura's position.

Coach Kataoka looked at Sawamura as he stepped forward to collect his jersey, a hint of thoughts flickering in his eyes.

Before the semifinals, they would simply not let Sawamura play, and when it came to the semifinals, Sawamura would take out Inashiro Industrial with a single blow.

This suggestion seemed reasonable and quite helpful for Seidou's chances of winning.

"Number 2, catcher, Miyuki Kazuya!"

Just like Sawamura's position, Miyuki's position was unshakable.

Although the three first-year catchers had performed admirably,

Miyuki's position on Seidou's baseball team remained undisputed.

The three catchers were somewhat immature and not yet qualified to compete for the starting catcher role.

As for the future, once Miyuki retires, even if those three catchers had the thought in their hearts, they wouldn't have a chance to show it.

"Number 3, first baseman, Maezono Kenta!"

To be honest, Maezono's position was not solid.

The coaching staff debated this for nearly half an hour.

His main competitors were two: the third-year powerful hitter, Yamaguchi, and the first-year newcomer, Yuuki.

Both were distinctive and posed significant threats to Maezono.

However, after weighing everything, Maezono still had the edge.

One important reason for this was Maezono's role on the field.

He could boost the team's morale!

This was something his two competitors completely lacked.

So in the end, Maezono beat them both to become Seidou High School's starting first baseman.

"Number 4, second baseman, Kominato Haruichi!"

Although Kijima had grown rapidly during this time, compared to the second Devil Brother, he was still lacking in some areas.

In the end, Kominato Haruichi was technically superior and became the starting second baseman.

"Number 5, third baseman, Kanemaru Shinji!"

This was probably the most surprising choice. Kanemaru's performance hadn't been particularly eye-catching before, but he had never let the team down.

Though there were many competing for the third baseman spot, none were truly exceptional.

In the end, the bigger player won the position. Kanemaru became the starting third baseman.

He looked more excited than anyone else to get his number.

As he walked down, his body was practically floating.

"Number 6, shortstop, Kuramochi Youichi."

This was an obvious choice.

Now, among Seidou High's baseball players, there were only three positions that were completely without any doubt:

Sawamura, Miyuki, and Kuramochi.

"Hyaa-ha-haa!"

Despite this, Kuramochi still looked extremely happy to get his jersey.

"Number 7, left fielder, Asou Takeru!"

For the outfield, Coach Kataoka finally chose Asou, who was quick on the return throws.

Although he didn't have a dominant advantage among the outfielders, he had never made any major errors in the practice matches.

And because the left fielder position has a high rotation rate, it was crucial to have someone who could maintain their fighting spirit at all times.

Thus, Asou became the most suitable candidate.

"Number 8, center fielder, Toujou Hideaki!"

"Number 9, right fielder, Shiratsu Kenjiro!"

The nine starting players were almost the same as during the Kanto Tournament.

Although some of the first-year players had been making a lot of noise recently,

Their impact on Seidou High's baseball team was not as big as everyone had imagined.

In the nine main roster spots, not a single one was taken by a first-year.

Next came the substitutes, and just like the main roster, many of them were already without any doubt.

For example:

"Number 10, Kawakami Norifumi!"

"Number 11, Furuya Satoru!"

"Number 12, Ono Hiroshi!"

Although these three were substitutes, their positions were as secure as the main players.

Their stability was evident from their jersey numbers.

The players weren't paying much attention to these names, as many had already guessed them.

"Number 13, Yamaguchi Ken!"

"Number 14, Kijima Rei!"

"Number 15, Higasa Shoji!"

The main substitutes were all third-year players.

So far, the list had been completely unrelated to the first-years.

It seemed like the first-year players were in a precarious position.

Had Coach Kataoka, in the end, also fallen into the usual routine, deciding to focus on upperclassmen to build the team?

"Number 16, Yuuki Masashi!"

Just as the first-year players were beginning to feel uneasy, Coach Kataoka announced five more freshmen in quick succession.

"Number 17, Okumura Koushu!"

"Number 18, Nishiyama Kibo!"

The first 18 players could almost be considered the lineup for Koshien.

The remaining two were Number 19, Han Lee-Hyun, and Number 20, Yui Kaoru.

The third-year players, including Kawashima, Mimura, Nakata, the second-year Takatsu and Kaneda, and the first-years Matsumoto and Hirota,

Had all been eliminated from the main team.

...

(End Of This Volume.)

…

T/N: This Volume is Completed! The next Volume will be the Summer Tournament!

As always, Thank you all for reading!!

And I hope you all have a good day!

You also can check my Patre0n for extra Chapters.

https://www.patre0n.com/ColdColt

There are +170 Chapters there.