Chapter 58: The Draw

The schedule of the summer Koshien is divided into two stages.

The first stage is a group elimination round.

That is, the teams are divided into eight groups, and through single-elimination matches, the teams that make it to the final stage will successfully advance.

After advancing, the eight teams will be re-arranged and face off in one-on-one matches.

The team that reaches the end will naturally be the champion of the Koshien.

The teams that advance to Koshien are the top teams from their respective regions, chosen from among hundreds of teams. Even if their strength is relatively weak, they are still of a certain standard.

On this basis, after the group elimination, the teams that make it to the top eight are all strong contenders. No weak teams are left.

The entire tournament, lasting only two weeks, has already used up most of the time by the end of the group elimination.

What remains is three intense matches.

Time is tight, and the task is heavy!

Under such circumstances, the importance of the draw is self-evident.

If they continuously face strong opponents, even Seidou High School might not be able to survive.

Back in the Spring Koshien, how strong was Inashiro?

At that time, they could certainly be described as unstoppable.

Even Seidou, facing Inashiro back then, had no confidence in winning.

In the end, they ended up facing a series of strong opponents.

By the time they encountered Seidou's baseball team, they had already exhausted their energy and tactics.

When they met Seidou, they were practically helpless.

Even though Sawamura had an injury, Inashiro couldn't defeat Seidou.

Talking about this, not just Inashiro, but even Seidou's teammates couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic.

"Inashiro, what a pity!"

Now that the top eight teams had been decided, the next step was the draw.

On the day of the draw, Seidou High School only sent Miyuki and Ochiai as representatives.

The rest of Seidou's baseball team sat in front of the TV, watching the live broadcast.

The opening ceremony and such formalities were not worth mentioning. These ceremonial things are unnecessary but essential.

Perhaps real experts could observe something different through the opening ceremony, but unfortunately, Seidou's baseball team teammates clearly didn't have that ability.

They stared at the screen for a long time but couldn't make out any clues.

Everything was waiting for the draw result.

The first to step up was Yamamori.

They drew Group H, the last of the eight teams.

The representative from Yamamori showed no change in expression.

They couldn't react anyway.

At this point, they didn't even know who their opponent would be, so how could they have any reaction?

Next came Seidou's biggest rival, Seihou High School.

As expected, their ace Akashi wasn't present.

Seihou revealed their draw result.

Group D!

The fourth spot in the groups.

For now, it meant nothing.

Following that was Komadai Fujimaki, with their Coach Nitta bringing Renji, who wasn't the team captain but still one of the team leaders.

Now, two teams have confirmed their positions.

Komadai's draw revealed something.

At this point, even in the hotel where Seidou's baseball team was staying, the players were staring at the TV, watching Komadai's draw intently.

To be honest, although Seidou had the determination and confidence to defeat any opponent, if possible, they really didn't want to face Komadai this early.

In the match against Kanetsu-Norin, Sawamura performed flawlessly, breaking two records in one game.

The fans were fired up, and Seidou's teammates felt exhilarated.

But anything that seems beautiful comes at a cost.

Behind Sawamura's record-breaking performance was his high-focus pitching.

Deliberately getting strikeouts meant high demands on Sawamura's control and pitching variations.

Although he only pitched just over 80 pitches, the fatigue wasn't any less than if he'd pitched over 100.

Considering that there were still three intense matches ahead, if possible, Sawamura should rest in the next game.

But if they faced Komadai, their Ace Sawamura could not possibly rest.

Although currently, Furuya's performance was also commendable, their teammates and Kataoka weren't comfortable with entrusting such crucial games entirely to him.

Especially at this important moment, with Seidou High School on the verge of becoming legendary.

Seidou absolutely couldn't afford any accidents.

Sawamura should rest, but not against Komadai.

This was the consensus among the teammates, so they naturally didn't want to face Komadai.

Therefore, the draw of Komadai was especially important.

"G! G!! G!!!"

Kuramochi muttered while watching the TV screen.

"What are you doing?"

Sawamura, slightly puzzled, asked.

"Don't bother me! I'm doing something important!"

Kuramochi said, annoyed.

Hearing this, Sawamura couldn't help but roll his eyes.

As if muttering would actually change Komadai's draw.

If Kuramochi had that kind of superpower, Seidou's baseball team wouldn't have faced both Teito and Inashiro back to back last Fall.

If that were the case, Seidou would have completed their Grand goal by now, and wouldn't still be dragging it out.

Although Sawamura wasn't particularly satisfied with Kuramochi's behavior, he genuinely didn't want to face Komadai.

Records and performance weren't particularly important to Sawamura.

As long as Seidou's baseball team could successfully make it to the legendary level, his personal achievements and records didn't matter much.

After all, he had already earned most of the records and honors he could at this stage.

Compared to that, he didn't want to focus too much on trivial matters.

He didn't have the same determination as Hoshitaru and didn't intend to burn himself out in high school.

He still wanted to enter the professional leagues and win more honors on that stage.

The match against Kanetsu-Norin was a tough battle.

If they immediately faced Komadai afterward, it would be another tough battle.

The semifinals, finals…

Such a burn-out, while Sawamura could probably endure, he didn't want to take that risk.

Komadai was better off facing them in the semifinals or finals.

At this point, Komadai's representative, Renji, revealed their draw result to the public.

Group G!

"YES!!"

"Whew!"

Seidou's teammates were ecstatic.

Miyuki finally came through this time!

"Now, we can accept any result left," Maezono said.

"By the way, hasn't he drawn yet?"

At this point, the teammates let out a big sigh of relief.

When Miyuki draws, it's always a wild card.

The results of his draws are never ordinary.

They're either incredibly good or shockingly bad.

As the representatives from each team took their turns drawing, the results settled.

In the end, the draw result wasn't particularly bad or good for Seidou.

Their opponent was neither Komadai, Hakuryu, nor Seihou, which were all tough teams, nor Yamamori or Osaka Kiryu, which were weaker teams.

Among the top eight teams, their opponent was one of the teams in the middle of the rankings.

For Sawamura, this was a familiar and comfortable opponent.

Hoshiryu High School.

The representative from Nagano Prefecture, Hoshiryu High School.

"The odds of facing them in the quarterfinal match are 1 in 7. We really are lucky!"

Sawamura stared at the draw results for a long time, then shook his head.

They were bound to face each other sooner or later, and now that it had happened, there was nothing more to say.

That night, Kataoka

held a meeting with the team.

Everyone was quite satisfied with the results of the draw.

Three rounds of matches.

Their first opponent was Hoshiryu High School from Nagano.

If they won, they would face the winner between Seihou and Osaka Kiryu in the second round.

Although Seidou had a good relationship with Osaka Kiryu, honestly speaking, considering their current strength, defeating Seihou seemed a bit unrealistic.

If all went as expected, the winner would be Seihou.

They would become Seidou's second-round opponent.

The last two matchups were Teito against Hakuryu and Komadai against Yamamori.

"So soon, we meet already!"

In the hotel where the Seidou High School baseball team is staying.

Hirota looked at the match-up draw in his hands and sighed with amazement.

Beside him, Matsumoto wore the exact same expression.

Hoshiryu High School.

Previously, it was an unknown school.

This school didn't have much except for money. They used their financial power to bring in the best Coach and the best players they could from Nagano Prefecture.

The big Akagi fans from Nagano found consoles in this school after Sawamura left for Tokyo.

They instantly filled the gap in the hearts of Nagano's baseball fans.

Although Hoshiryu had never won a championship and hadn't even made it to the finals, they frequently reached Koshien and became a regular contender.

This was already impressive.

Nagano Prefecture's fans were content.

As for not winning the championship, they weren't too bothered by it.

After all, the championship hadn't gone to another team, it was still in the hands of the Seidou High School baseball team.

With the "demon king" from Nagano in their team, what problem couldn't be solved?

Outwardly yes, but internally, not everyone is comfortable with this.

One team was their own, with their most respected senior, while the other was the representative of their hometown, the team they supported emotionally.

These two teams were about to clash.

For Hirota and Matsumoto, this was naturally a painful situation.

They stayed behind at the hotel to help.

This task wasn't something anyone could get.

Theoretically, only the official representatives who made it to Koshien were qualified to stay here.

But Seidou High School's baseball team had deep pockets.

In addition to the main players, there were seven or eight first- and second-year students who stayed behind to help out.

The expenses for this were naturally reimbursed by Seidou High School's baseball team.

They were kept behind, one to help the first-string players practice, and the other reason was to help them experience the atmosphere of the competition early on.

This way, once the third-year players graduated, they could smoothly step up.

This suggestion was made by Coach Ochiai.

Seidou High School's journey to Koshien was bound to be long.

This was of course a good thing for them now.

The further they went, the more they won, and the players and the team naturally had every reason to celebrate.

But for the upcoming Fall tournament that would start in early September, the new team wasn't set up yet, and Seidou High School's future seemed uncertain.

It was precisely to avoid this situation that Coach Ochiai made such a suggestion.

After the suggestion was made, everyone agreed with it.

To ensure the team continued to prosper, Seidou High School's chubby principal and the thin dean were as generous as ever.

Matsumoto and Hirota were beneficiaries of this rule.

Apart from them, there were also Lee-Hyun and Yui Kaoru, who had just been dropped from the first team.

And three other first-year students.

Of the nine who stayed behind, seven were first-year students, and only two were second-year seniors.

Takatsu and Kaneda.

As for the other players.

There was no choice; they had to return to school by bus.

Compared to letting so many people stay in the hotel, the cost of everyone returning by bus was significantly lower.

Though the principal and director of Seidou High School's baseball team were generous, they didn't have a habit of being wasteful.

Moreover, they had to answer to the school board, so they couldn't make unnecessary decisions.

Seidou vs Hoshiryu.

The impending match between these two teams made many feel uneasy.

For example, at Hoshiryu High School.

In their hotel.

Upon seeing the match-up draw, the players from Hoshiryu High School wished they could chop off the hand of the person who made the draw.

"There are seven teams in total, and the probability of drawing the baseball team is only 1/7. How could we draw them? Are you a spy sent by another team?"

Facing the questions from his teammates, Oda wore a bitter expression.

Being able to face Sawamura and Seidou High School's baseball team again was always a dream for Oda.

He hoped to stand on the same field as Sawamura Eijun once more.

Even as opponents.

Such a game made him extremely excited.

When he went to bed at night, he didn't even know how many times he'd dreamt about it.

Although he longed to face Seidou High School, honestly.

He wasn't willing to meet them so soon.

This was just the quarter-finals...

According to Oda's original plan, he had hoped to face Seidou High School in the finals, or at least in the semi-finals.

Now, meeting them felt a bit too early.

...

T/N: As always, Thank you all for reading!!

And I hope you all have a good day!

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