In the hotel lobby where the Seidou High School baseball team was staying, the players were sitting in a large circle, listening attentively to Coach Kataoka's instructions.
Their match was the first one, tomorrow.
Tomorrow, they would play against Hoshiryu High School.
In the afternoon, the Seidou High School baseball team had already thoroughly reviewed the opponent's data.
Everyone was fairly familiar with them, and they knew quite well about their opponent's strengths, skills, and characteristics.
Now that their key players had all entered their third year, their strength had indeed improved significantly.
Even the members of Seidou High School, after watching their opponent's game footage, couldn't help but give a thumbs up in admiration.
They had indeed made considerable progress!
But that's about it.
If they were to say anything more, it would seem like an exaggeration.
In the past two years, the Hoshiryu High School players had indeed improved rapidly.
But the Seidou High School players hadn't been slacking either; they had been battling through difficult matches.
How many tough games had they played?
Not long ago, they even embarked on an expedition to America.
They had a good match against the legendary American Dream Team.
Although the result wasn't perfect, the Seidou High School players didn't come out the worse for wear.
As the national champions, they had great confidence in their own strength.
That American trip further boosted their confidence exponentially.
Looking back now, when they reassessed the strength of Hoshiryu High School…
The Seidou High School players admitted that they were strong, but when it came to competing against Seidou, it didn't seem to pose any pressure!
The players even felt that, even if their Ace Sawamura didn't play in this game, they were confident they could still win.
The Kanetsu-Norin team, which had just played against Seidou, was probably on par with Hoshiryu in terms of strength.
Though the two teams played differently, if we were to assess their overall strength, the two teams should be on equal footing.
The point here is to highlight that the Hoshiryu High School baseball team wasn't weak.
However, when compared to Seidou High School, their threat level was far from that of Kanetsu-Norin.
For Seidou High School, Kanetsu-Norin was a true dark horse.
Faced with such an opponent, Seidou would naturally face more difficulty.
Although Seidou had watched and studied the previous game footage of Kanetsu-Norin, the Kanetsu-Norin team hadn't even played at full strength in those games, so Seidou's so-called "study" was essentially a futile effort.
That's why their previous match was so passive.
On the other hand, Hoshiryu High School's strength might be slightly tougher.
But Seidou's understanding of Hoshiryu was far more comprehensive.
With this advantage, they know what to expect and how to deal with any surprise.
The match would come down to strength and depth.
And in these areas, the Seidou players had plenty of confidence.
They believed they could definitely win!
"This game, Sawamura will play as an outfielder. Unless absolutely necessary, you won't be on the mound," Coach Kataoka decisively made this decision considering the upcoming matches.
The reason Sawamura wasn't excluded from the starting lineup was because he still wanted to make use of his batting.
Once Sawamura's position was confirmed, the rest of the lineup adjustments became much simpler.
The opponent was strong, so even though they might underestimate them strategically, Seidou's players couldn't afford to be careless tactically.
Coach Kataoka scanned the players' faces before finally setting his gaze on Furuya.
Apart from Sawamura, Seidou's most reliable pitcher at the moment was probably Furuya.
Although third-year Kawakami was strong, and Nishiyama had once been a world runner-up pitcher, compared to Furuya, they were still a little lacking.
It's just that in Seidou, a pitcher like Furuya had to settle for being a substitute.
In another school, he would be the undisputed ace pitcher.
"Furuya, you'll start tomorrow. Kawakami, Nishiyama, get ready for the fifth inning."
After assigning tomorrow's lineup, Coach Kataoka announced the meeting was adjourned.
Miyuki deliberately walked over to Sawamura Eijun and asked him, "What do you think?"
"What to think about?"
Sawamura could only helplessly shrug.
"There's no problem. If something unexpected happens, we'll just adjust. No need to worry too much!"
Wasn't he already on the field?
If something really couldn't be handled, he could just be sent to the mound, right?
Sawamura was very open about it.
Miyuki, on the other hand, wasn't as optimistic.
He frowned, thought for a moment, and then expressed his doubts.
"We've all seen the progress of Hoshiryu High School over the years. During the spring tournament, didn't you say they didn't give it their all?"
"Everyone has ups and downs. Although they looked like they didn't give it their all, that was still at Koshien. Maybe they did give their all but just didn't perform well. I can't be sure about that."
"So you mean, it's possible they've been hiding their strength?"
"It's a possibility."
At another hotel...
The Golden Generation from Nagano Prefecture was also preparing for their game against the Seidou High School baseball team.
Since the draw results were announced, they have already held three meetings.
They were all about studying their opponent and finding ways to cope.
After all their research...
The players from Hoshiryu High School, the so-called Golden Generation from Nagano Prefecture, were all wearing faces full of pessimism.
It wasn't that they were trying to lift others up while putting themselves down.
But playing against the Seidou High School baseball team really left them with no chance at all.
How strong is Sawamura? No one knew better than these guys.
The miracles created by the Seidou High School baseball team couldn't really be called miracles if you looked at it closely.
In terms of strength, they were already the top team in high school.
Their opponents, at most, were evenly matched with them.
If you really wanted to say there were teams stronger than them, it seemed there really weren't.
The players from Hoshiryu High School lost all their confidence.
They had no chance—not even a little.
No matter how many meetings they held or how much they tried to motivate themselves, it was all useless.
The gap in strength couldn't be made up with those things.
They would lose—definitely lose...
The players from Hoshiryu High School had this premonition.
This made their Coach deeply troubled.
His players had made great progress in the past few years and were now ranked among the top in the nation.
But every time they faced Sawamura, they lacked confidence.
Before the match even started, their morale was already several levels lower.
'What could be done about this?'
…