Chapter 44: Rising Heroes

By the time Seidou High School faced Nihon Shouno High School, five of the national top eight teams had already emerged.

Looking around, most of them were familiar faces from Seidou High.

The biggest dark horse in this year's Spring Koshien Invitation Tournament was Yakushi High School from Tokyo.

They had overcome their opponents with their formidable offensive power.

The star player of Yakushi High School was, of course, the monstrous batter, Raichi.

In the first round of the tournament, he hit two home runs, one single, and four RBIs.

He also received one Walk.

His on-base success rate was 100% across all at-bats.

This is what it means.

If Raichi had achieved these results in the Tokyo area tournament, the excitement would have been limited to Tokyo itself.

But achieving such results at Koshien was different—it made Raichi famous nationwide.

In their next game, Raichi hit two more home runs and received two more Walks.

In just two games, he had accumulated four home runs.

The record of five home runs set by Sawamura in the Summer Koshien might have been rewritten if Raichi was a first-year.

With four home runs in two games and a spot already secured in the third round, the big news of this Spring Koshien was how many home runs Raichi would end up with.

In addition to Raichi, another team from Tokyo, Inashiro Industrial High School, also advanced to the top eight after a grueling battle.

The Tokyo Prince, Narumiya Mei, maintained his record of no lost runs.

However, their opponent was a formidable one—currently a very strong team, Osaka Seiseisha.

In a repeat of their first-round strategy, Inashiro Industrial High School did not dare to let their substitutes play.

Given Osaka Seiseisha's strength, if Inashiro Industrial High School dared to send in their backup pitchers, it would be equivalent to seeking their own demise.

The final score remained 2:0.

It was yet another incredibly tough pitching battle.

Narumiya Mei, who pitched the entire game, performed exceptionally well but also revealed some vulnerabilities.

Among the groups before the top eight, the group with Inashiro, Osaka Seiseisha, and Nishiura was undoubtedly the strongest death group.

Although Inashiro Industrial High School emerged from this death group, they were severely drained.

Especially Narumiya Mei, their Ace, who hadn't rested at all.

If the same scenario continued in the top eight, Inashiro Industrial High School might not make it to the end.

Unless they added another Narumiya Mei to their team, even their overall strength wouldn't be enough.

Besides these two Tokyo teams, the other three advancing teams were also familiar faces from Seidou High.

Hakuryu High School, who had previously faced Seidou High School in the Kanto Tournament, also advanced by defeating their opponent 7:1.

Their terrifying mobility caught their opponents off guard!

Following them was the Komadai Fujimaki!

Their score was even more terrifying—10:0, sweeping away Shoubi High School.

The scariest part was that their Ace pitcher didn't even pitch; he was rested for the entire game.

One must note that the grouping system was indeed a frustrating aspect.

In terms of overall strength, Inashiro Industrial High School was not inferior to the Komadai Fujimaki.

Yet, they followed completely different paths.

The Komadai Fujimaki advanced to the top eight while keeping their Ace pitcher, ready to face the semifinals in full form.

Inashiro Industrial, on the other hand, had a rough journey.

They faced the top teams in the nation and barely advanced after fierce battles.

Narumiya Mei's physical exhaustion was severe; by the later stages against Osaka Seiseisha, he was clearly struggling.

If not for the support of his teammates, he might have collapsed on the field.

Under these conditions, facing a top-eight strong school, Inashiro Industrial's future looked grim.

Yakushi, Inashiro, Komadai Fujimaki, Hakuryu!

These four schools were well-known to Seidou High.

The fifth advancing team was also familiar.

Seihou High School!

Under the leadership of Akashi Seiya and Coach Nishidera, Seihou High School advanced smoothly as well.

And they won both games by large margins.

Over the past few months, they had reshaped their offense and defense with the graduation of Akutsu and Sano not losing their level as a National Tyrant.

With the top eight teams now decided, it was soon Seidou High School's turn to play.

Their opponent was Nihon Shouno High School.

Like Inashiro, Seidou High School also had bad luck.

If Inashiro Industrial's group was the first death group, then Seidou High was placed in the second death group.

Homei was a Famous team and a regular in the Senbatsu Tournament.

Nihon Shouno High School was also among the top elite teams.

Facing such teams consecutively, Seidou and Inashiro, both from Tokyo, were indeed like typical unlucky siblings.

On the day of the match, Seidou High School's starting pitcher was Furuya.

Sawamura sat on the bench.

The example of Inashiro Industrial was too daunting!

Although Sawamura didn't pitch the entire first game, his consistently increasing pitching speed had drained him significantly.

Pitching continuously like that was a heavy burden on him.

After consulting with Coach Ochiai, Superintendent Kataoka decided to use Furuya.

There were reasons for this decision.

In the past few months, Furuya and Sawamura had been practicing together and had made significant progress.

Another reason was to catch the opponent off guard.

Facing the top elite teams, they would surely expect Seidou High to send out their Ace.

By sending in Furuya, there was a chance of surprising the opponent.

'Excellent!'

The more they thought about it, the better the idea seemed. Kataoka and Ochiai agreed to proceed with it.

And indeed, the result was impressive.

Seeing Furuya take the mound, Nihon Shouno High School was clearly bewildered.

They seemed at a loss.

Especially after Furuya's first pitch, their confusion was magnified manifold.

Roaar!

Like a bomb beast, the white ball with astonishing momentum zipped into Miyuki's glove.

Boom!

One pitch—just one pitch.

Furuya stunned the entire field.

Already a memorable player at Koshien, he had now pushed his brilliance to a new level.

On the electronic speedometer, a large number displayed prominently.

Pitch Speed: 156 km/h!! (97 mph)

In today's high school baseball world, where talents are plentiful and monsters are rampant, very few can pitch at 150 km/h.

In this year's Koshien, only three players achieved it.

Narumiya Mei, with a top speed of 151 km/h and an average speed under 150 km/h. (93~mph)

Hongou Masamune, with a top speed of 153 km/h and an average speed fluctuating around 150 km/h. (95~93 mph)

And Furuya, who effortlessly threw 156 km/h.

In this Koshien, Furuya's first pitch had set a new record, surpassing both Narumiya Mei and Hongou Masamune.

He was unquestionably the fastest pitcher in high school!

…