On August 6, 2011, at precisely 9 a.m.

The 93rd National High School Baseball Championship tournament grandly opened at Koshien Stadium.

The day after the previous draw, Takano Ren specially organized the 49 participating schools in this tournament to rehearse for the entrance—after all, on the official opening day, with the audience, journalists, media, related staff, and players from each school present, a conservative estimate puts the entire Koshien Stadium attendance at over 50,000 people. If any issues arise, it would be Takano Ren's face that gets lost, so a pre-event trial run is very important.

Since this year is an odd-numbered tournament, the school entrance order was arranged from north to south geographically, with North Hokkaido's Shirakaba Gakuen leading, and the last to enter being Okinawa's representative, Itoman High School.

It is worth mentioning that last year's Summer League winner, Konan High School from Okinawa Prefecture, had greatly reduced strength this year due to the graduation of strong main players and could not make it into the Summer League—therefore, as the winner of the 92nd tournament, their current captain had to go to Hyogo alone and return the championship flag today.

When Lin Guanglai stood at the front of the lineup and witnessed the new captain of Konan High School returning the championship flag, some thoughts emerged in his heart:

No matter what, next year he must not miss the Koshien tournament—he doesn't want to end up going to Hyogo alone, and in front of tens of thousands of people, walk out of the squad alone, and then leave dejectedly after the opening ceremony.

If possible, he would like the championship flags of both the Senbatsu and Summer League to stay in Waseda Jitsugyo's honor room for at least two years before anything else.

After the opening ceremony successfully concluded, everyone from Waseda Jitsugyo returned to the training field, methodically continuing their pre-match preparations.

While the players warmed up on the field, a large group of media gathered outside the training ground—with the difference from last year's long-awaited return to the Summer League, this year's Waseda Jitsugyo is undoubtedly a focal team combining strength and fame, naturally attracting considerable media attention.

In fact, the location of their training ground was discovered by these media and journalists on the first day they arrived in Hyogo; over the past few days of training, the players have even become accustomed to the occasional camera flash from the sidelines as they pass or hit the ball.

The next day arrived quickly, and the three matches on the opening day could each be described as more spectacular than the last.

In the opening match, Gunma's representative Takasaki Health Welfare University Takasaki staged a desperate comeback in the top of the ninth inning after trailing 4-6 at the end of the eighth inning: The fourth, fifth, and sixth batters hit consecutive hits to help the team achieve a stunning reversal against Ehime's representative Imabari Nishi, making history in their first tournament appearance.

The second match featured Ishikawa's representative Kanazawa High School and Mie's representative Ise Engineering. The most watched player of the two teams was undoubtedly Kanazawa's ace pitcher, Yoshinao Kamata, whose fastest pitch reached an astonishing 153 km/h, making him the fastest pitcher in this year's tournament.

In this match, Yoshinao Kamata did not disappoint Kanazawa's supporters or the professional scouts observing him: Throughout the game, he pitched an impressive 111 pitches, striking out 10 and allowing just 5 hits, leading the team to a 4-0 victory.

In the third match, one of the favorites to win, Fukushima's representative Holy Light Academy, led by last summer's standout pitcher Hiroaki Suenai, went to battle against Miyazaki's representative Hinan Academy, with the 4-4 score maintained until the end.

During the bottom of the tenth inning of the extra match, Hiroaki Suenai, who had sent out 16 strikeouts in this game, came up to bat, and with a walk-off hit to right field, helped the team advance after a hard-fought battle.

At over twelve o'clock on the second day of the tournament, the first two matches had already ended, leaving it to the players from Waseda Jitsugyo and Imperial Capital to enter the field.

Upon entering the player area of the stadium, Tanaka Justice experienced overwhelming excitement at being a player at Koshien for the first time in his life. Placing his backpack on the bench seat, he leaned over the railing of the player area, looking far into the distance, and couldn't help but marvel:

"There are so many people here today, even the outfield seats are fully occupied, um—it's making me feel a bit nervous."

To his junior's comment, Lin Guanglai smiled and teased him: "Justice, you can't be like that—you're meant to be the team's ace in the future. If you're nervous at a scene like this, aren't you worried the manager won't let you play during crucial matches later on?"

The highly anticipated clash between Waseda Jitsugyo and Imperial Capital happened to be arranged for a Sunday, with the match-up between these two championship candidate teams in the first round generating such excitement that the Koshien Stadium was unexpectedly full for a first-round match.

In the stadium, the staff were organizing the field—the just-ended match between Meitoku Gijuku Junior & Senior High School and Hokkai High School was another fierce battle, with the competitiveness sustained until the bottom of the ninth inning, leaving the entire infield in some disorder.

Taking advantage of this time, Lin Guanglai, with a glove in hand, went to warm up in the bullpen together with Uesugi Yasuyuki; other fielders meanwhile played catch on the open space in front of the player area.

On the first-base and third-base side Alps stands, both schools' cheering squads were ready at this moment:

Waseda Jitsugyo's cheering color was maroon, with all supporters in the stands dressed in corresponding colored cheering uniforms, the large and imposing wind instrument section was prepared; at the top of the stands, the signature big bass drum that didn't make it onto the field during the Senbatsu was now poised and ready.

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