August 6, 2011, drawing meeting.

From hundreds of thousands of Japanese high school baseball youth, 49 schools comprising 882 players gathered at the Osaka Prefectural International Convention Hall, awaiting the start of the drawing ceremony.

Everyone wore their school's official uniform, seated in positions arranged by Takano Ren; as team captain, Lin Guanglai, along with other captains from different schools, was invited onto the stage.

Sitting on the stage, Lin Guanglai glanced around and discovered that many school captains were just like him, mostly the team's ace pitchers—an easily understandable phenomenon.

After all, the special nature of the pitcher position means it must be someone with tremendous skill, fully trusted by all teammates, and can be relied upon to handle the game; protagonists of several baseball manga like Hoshi Hyuuma, Uesugi Tatsuya, and Shigeno Goro are also pitchers, further deepening people's focus and admiration for them.

Of course, quite a few teams have their captains as the core infielder, shortstop, or the core outfielder, central fielder; occasionally, some catcher captains appear.

Especially in recent years, with the popularity of the manga "Ace of Diamond", the catcher position has broken away from the image of the chubby figures in Seiji Mizushima and Adachi Mitsuru's manga, leading more baseball youth to aspire to emulate Miyuki Kazuya's elegance and become catchers.

Seated on the stage, compared to those captains who were on the Koshien stage for the first time, nerve-wracked, his mood was comparatively tranquil:

Firstly, he hadn't missed a Koshien tournament yet, growing accustomed to such scenes;

Another reason is that, to him, aiming for victory in the Summer League, Waseda Jitsugyo, no matter what draw they get, it is the opponent who should be worried for their team's future—Waseda Jitsugyo just needs to defeat all opponents blocking their path within 14 days.

As the only two regions with two participating schools, Hokkaido and Tokyo region took the stage first for the draw, and the numbers drawn are immediately hung on the match diagram behind the stage.

Amid the eyes of teammates and the entire audience, Lin Guanglai drew a card with the district number—with the instant the card was shown, the hall erupted in loud noise, with players from each school watching the captains on the stage drawing lots with anticipation.

Just four teams were drawn, unexpectedly producing a thrilling matchup for the tournament's first game:

[Day 2 of the tournament]

[Match 3]

[Waseda Jitsugyo (West Tokyo) VS Teikyo (East Tokyo)]

When Lin Guanglai saw his number card, he couldn't help but laugh, shaking his head and marveling at the wonders of fate.

When the players of Waseda Jitsugyo checked into Shuiming Manor, they were told another school chose to stay there too—that school being Shuiming Manor's longtime client, Teikyo High School from East Tokyo.

Not far from Lin Guanglai, the captain of Teikyo High School, shortstop Matsuboto Gou's expression showed a bitter look, uncertain if he was crying or laughing.

For this tournament, as the champion team of the East Tokyo region, Teikyo High School arrived with a determination to seize victory, with the internal team's minimum target set for the semi-finals.

Who would have thought, the bad luck of their captain, during the first round drew the tournament's acknowledged strongest team and biggest champion favorite—making Teikyo's players feel at a breaking point mentally.

Not just the players from various schools, the journalists present at the venue also became instantly excited upon seeing this matchup.

To know, in media and newspaper ratings of this Summer League's participating teams, five schools received a 5A Level rating:

Fukushima representative Holy Light Academy, Chiba representative Narashino, East Tokyo representative Teikyo, Fukuoka representative Kyushu International University, and Senbatsu champion, biggest favorite, West Tokyo representative Waseda Industries.

And two hot teams were about to face off directly in the first round—this was undoubtedly a major headline event!

The drawing continued, with more schools being drawn, gradually completing the match diagram behind the stage.

Apart from the first-round matchups, with 49 schools involved, media reporters and players present were concerned about one matter—which school would become the first lucky team of the tournament, directly qualifying for the second round.

Soon enough, the answer was revealed:

Kondo Kensuke raised his number card high, laughing skywards, and gave a thumbs up toward his team's section—greeted by laughs and cheers from his teammates.

Kanagawa representative Yokohama High School became the first team to enter the second round of this Summer League.

When Hanamaki East captain Kikuchi Was walked onto the stage and casually picked a number card, Lin Guanglai also turned his head to look at the matchup chart behind, revealing a satisfied smile.

[Day 2 of the tournament]

[Match 4]

[Hanamaki East (Iwate) VS Yamanashi Academy University (Yamanashi)]

This matchup did not stir much in the venue.

After all, in most media and journalists' view, although Hanamaki East had fairly good results in recent years, Kikuchi Yuusei had long left; now, despite having the young talent named Ohtani Shohei, they haven't made much of a name yet;

As for the other side, Yamanashi Academy University, rated 5C, means most think their destiny is likely first-round elimination, experiencing the atmosphere of Koshien, and nothing more.

In comparison, those teams that have proven themselves in this year's various competitions are more worth attention.

But in Lin Guanglai's mind, such a drawing result couldn't be more satisfying:

Given Hanamaki East's strength, defeating the relatively average Yamanashi Academy University shouldn't be a significant issue—meaning, as long as Waseda Jitsugyo beats Teikyo, he could once again face off against Ohtani Shohei on the grounds of Koshien in the second round.

As for whether his team would be eliminated by Teikyo High School—sorry, this matter has never been within Lin Guanglai's considerations.

As a team also from the Tokyo region, Waseda Jitsugyo had frequent encounters with Teikyo this year, familiar to each other inside and out:

He of course knew Teikyo High School's batters were strong, he also knew that official matches and exchange training matches were different—yet he had confidence, aiming to use his pitching and hitting to help his team win over the opponent in both offense and defense.

"We know the opponent's strength, but I equally know our own level, the team will strive with all its might to compete for victory—hope to bring a wonderful game with Teikyo High School for the spectators present and those watching through their TVs."

Lin Guanglai stated this during a post-draw interview with Takano Media.

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