They won!
The boys of the Seido High School Baseball Team finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although they had already sensed that victory was inevitable in the later stages of the game, as long as the final out had not been recorded, nothing truly felt reassuring.
Now it was over.
Seido High School Baseball Team defeated Hosen High School and secured their first victory at Koshien.
At the same time, they advanced into the top sixteen.
For a powerhouse, reaching the top sixteen at Koshien was barely an acceptable result. But for Seido High School Baseball Team, which had failed to reach Koshien for several consecutive years, this already meant they had completed their initial mission.
After this, they could return to Tokyo with their heads held high.
Of course, none of the Seido players were satisfied with just this result. They would continue to work hard and strive to create even greater miracles.
Still, this victory was different.
After all, it was their very first win at Koshien Stadium.
More importantly, this game gave the Seido players solid confidence. Through this match, they truly realized that their strength was formidable even on the Koshien stage.
They had felt this before. In private practice games, they had not lost to powerhouse teams from other regions.
But practice games could never fully put people at ease.
In practice matches, Seido High School Baseball Team rarely fielded their complete main lineup. Other powerhouse schools were the same. Most of them were still adjusting their rosters and had never fought with their full strength.
This was not to say that the players were not serious. Rather, the lineups used in practice games were usually not the strongest possible.
In other words, even if you defeated an opponent in a practice game, whether you could truly defeat them in an official match remained uncertain.
But now, everything was different.
This was a real game.
The Seido players could be one hundred percent certain that Hosen High School had not held back in the slightest. In an elimination match, losing meant the end of everything. Everyone had to go all out, using every ounce of strength they had.
There was absolutely no room for restraint.
If there ever was restraint, it would only appear after gaining an overwhelming advantage, just like Seido had done.
After the game ended, the players of Hosen High School cried bitterly.
For most teams, simply making it to Koshien was already the greatest achievement.
But there was a prerequisite.
You had to win at least one game at Koshien.
If you made it to Koshien only to lose your very first game, and lose badly at that, then no matter how excited you were beforehand, the final feeling would never be pleasant.
That was exactly how Hosen High School felt.
They were extremely frustrated.
Why were they so unlucky as to run into Seido High School Baseball Team?
If it had been any other opponent, they could have relied on their tenacity to put up a fight. But against Seido, they could barely resist and were crushed outright.
Although there were one or two innings where they performed exceptionally well, even managing to tie the score at one point, none of that changed the overall reality.
They were suppressed.
Especially in the latter part of the game, Hosen High School had no power to resist at all, becoming nothing more than meat on the chopping block, completely at their opponent's mercy.
That feeling was unbearable.
Most teams already felt immense frustration when losing their first game. For Hosen High School, which had once harbored ambitions of reaching the top eight and had even won games at Koshien before, the heartbreak was magnified several times over.
"Still crying? You're not skilled enough, so lose gracefully. Don't make such a shameful display. Otherwise, don't call yourselves my students anymore."
The Hosen High School coach spoke coldly.
Surprisingly, his words worked immediately.
The crying players quickly straightened up and became obedient.
Zhang Han, who had hurried over to prepare for the mutual bow, felt a chill run through his heart.
These Hosen players had truly been trained into tools if they could endure such an attitude from their Director.
However, when Zhang Han noticed the faint tears welling up in the coach's eyes, he realized that there must be genuine affection there.
Although Zhang Han could not understand this kind of affection, it undeniably existed.
What exists has its reason.
"Thank you for the game!"
"Thank you for the game!"
The players of both teams bowed deeply to each other. Afterward, the Seido players turned to thank the spectators who had come to cheer them on.
The school song was played, interviews were conducted, and everything became bustling and lively.
It took nearly half an hour before the Seido players finally left Koshien Stadium and returned to their dormitory.
During the post-game interviews, Seido High School had only answered a few scattered questions, which left the reporters unsatisfied.
They relentlessly chased after the team, hoping for more interview opportunities.
If there had not been other games scheduled at Koshien Stadium, Seido High School Baseball Team might not have been able to leave so easily.
"Director, should we accept interviews? The principal just called and said…"
"Why is he still calling? Didn't he come to watch the game himself? Just tell him to come directly."
Takashima Rei adjusted her gold-rimmed glasses as she spoke.
"The principal is afraid of disturbing the players' preparation, haha."
Manager Ota replied, glancing at Coach Kataoka's expression.
The principal and the dean naturally wanted to interact closely with the players. At the same time, they were worried about disturbing Kataoka.
After all, the baseball team had finally made it to Koshien, and their prospects looked very promising.
If their presence added unnecessary pressure to the players, they would feel terrible about it.
That was only one reason.
Another reason was Kataoka himself.
Even the principal and dean, as his superiors, felt considerable pressure when facing him.
Even before Kataoka led the team to Koshien, people had been intimidated by him. Now that he had done so, and it looked like the team might advance even further, that pressure only increased.
"What did the principal say?"
Kataoka asked.
In truth, the principal and dean had misjudged him. With the team reaching Koshien, Kataoka was actually in a good mood and would not have objected to them coming.
"The principal said we should accept interviews. After all, it wasn't easy for the team to make it to Koshien, and this is a chance for our school to gain national recognition…"
The more Manager Ota spoke, the darker Coach Kataoka's expression became.
Cold sweat practically poured down Zhang Han's forehead.
He had seen people who were bad at speaking before.
But he had never seen someone this bad.
What did "not easy to make it to Koshien" even mean?
Did that imply they had only made it this time through luck, and that making it again in the future would be difficult?
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