After the preliminaries ranking results come out, the players will be given two days to rest. After relaxing yesterday, everyone decided to have a good rest and prepare for the competition in the hotel these two days.
The scheduling of Pitcher Lineup was also a problem. During the preliminaries, in the five games, including Kōshū, a total of two pitchers completed the pitches. The other two games were supported by six pitchers Bullpen. The preliminaries were okay, with two days of rest time. No rest time was given in the finals, which was directly scheduled the day after the second preliminaries.
Among the pitchers of the Japanese team this time, only Kōshū's ERA is less than 1. The others, except for the Russian game, are all above 5. Kōshū finished pitching on the fourth day. After three days of rest, he will probably be allowed to appear in the first game of the rematch, and then take another day of rest to pitch in the finals. Of course, this is the most ideal situation. In the worst case, Kōshū needs to play in all three games to get a hemostatic bandage.
"Is there an interview?" Kōshū didn't hear the news. Hayakawa wanted to be interviewed as a team representative, so he said it.
"Well, the U15 game didn't get as much attention as the U18 game, but it was also reported by two media outlets."
"U18, three years later." Kōshū murmured.
"Yes, there are generally more U18 media outlets because high school baseball has a high level of attention, and there is a high probability that players like Koshien will be chosen to play, so the topic will be even greater." Hayakawa packed himself up and gestured to everyone behind him to take pictures, "You guys have to work hard. I'll probably take pictures of the practice scenes soon."
"Hey -" Kōshū, who had no partner, could only play toss and catch with other pitchers.
After about an hour, Kōshū went to the bathroom and went back to the room to get something. When he went back out, everyone said that they had finished shooting the scene, and he happened to miss it at that time.
"Damn it, if Lang Zhi knew about this, they would definitely suspect that I didn't come at all." Kōshū had a headache.
"Who is Lang Zhi? Don't you know it just by watching the game?"
"My brother, he doesn't care if it's true or not, as long as he catches me."
"I also have a younger brother..." Everyone practiced swinging the bat and started chatting again. Only towards the end of the afternoon did everyone suddenly realize the urgency of time, shut their mouths, and quickly practice according to their weaknesses.
The first preliminary game was against any team Team B. The Japanese team faced Korean Team. Korean Team also ranked second in Group B, but their score ratio was 2.5, which was slightly worse than the Japanese team.
As expected, Kōshū will be the main investor, and depending on the situation, Bullpen will take over.
I am used to seeing the heights of other races, and when I meet an Asian team again, I feel particularly friendly. Kōshū I haven't watched a Korean professional baseball game yet. I listened to other people chatting and learned that when the Korean professional baseball team plays a game, there will be a special beautiful cheerleading team to support them?
"Don't we have one too?"
"Not during the game. In Korea, it seems that there are cheerleaders during the game."
"If that's the case, it's really a nice place." I don't know who was whispering next to me.
While everyone was discussing, Kōshū was still memorizing the characteristics of Korean hitters. Although Korean Team's score-to-loss ratio was only 2.5, they won 4 of the 5 games in the preliminaries and only lost to the United States. The ranking rules for the finals are based on the team's winning rate in the first two rounds.
'In nine at-bats, five of them have batting averages of 30%, 40%, or 50%, and the pitcher who came on today was also in perfect condition. He is really tough. '
Kōshū Closed the cheat sheet, the Japanese team's early batting, in the first half of the first inning, although they struggled to capture the first and third bases, they did not score any points. It was his turn to come on and give three duck eggs to the opponent's batter.
Korean Team put the most powerful hitter on the first pitch today. He was worthy of being a hitter with a batting average of over 50% during the preliminaries. Kōshū felt trouble and held on to seven balls before Hayakawa had enough groundwork. Outside Corner Ball was followed by Inside Corner Ball who was near the knee. He failed to hit the ball well and was banned from first base.
After sending away the bat, Kōshū breathed a sigh of relief. The remaining two batters were unable to pose a threat to him for the time being. Hayakawa wanted to consider saving Kōshū's energy in the beginning, so he equipped Changeup and left it to the defense.
"Yoshi, change the scene!"
After a round, both sides had zero eggs, but the order of playing lines was faster and slower.
"Bump--" Kōshū, who had eight at bats, hit a hit that went through first and second base, reaching first base and sending six at bats to second base. As a hitter with a batting average of 30%, he is ranked at the end, which can effectively string together the batting line and save energy at the same time. It seems that compared to his hitting, the coaching staff pays more attention to Kōshū's pitching ability.
In the second inning, with one out and one on second base, it was the turn of the ninth bat, and both sides were deadlocked with 0 points.
After receiving instructions from the coaching staff, Nine Baseball hit runners to capture second and third bases. There were two players in the scoring circle, and he hit a single in the last inning. Today, the Japanese team and the coach of Korean Team seemed to have discussed it, and they both put the most stable hitter first.
In such a situation, it was impossible for Korean Team not to lose points. Fortunately, with two outs, he could not hit the ball. He hit a straight ball and hit the deep position in the center field. Kōshū listened to the third base instructor's "go go" and went straight to home plate without thinking. After a while, the Japanese team scored two runs in a row, and a runner stood at the second base.
The next two bats hit Fly Ball in the right field direction, ending the first half of the second inning. The Japanese team is now leading by 2 points.
In the second inning, Hayakawa still used the energy-saving Pitching Strategy method, and used Changeup more to make the batter fail, leaving it to the defense to solve the problem. However, the four-bat guessed the straight ball and scored a one-run hit. Then Korean Team suddenly hit both batters, sending the four-bat to third base.
"Why are they playing like this? You can't hit with six sticks. You can try to hit with five sticks. Don't you have the confidence to hit the ball?"
"Probably because I want to score a point first."
"But the pitcher is the next at bat."
Under normal circumstances, pitchers' hitting is ranked in the later stages of the bat. They focus more on pitching practice, so their hitting will be slightly weaker. Of course, this is generally the case. There are many pitchers in high school baseball who are very powerful and can also carry baseballs.
But obviously this pitcher didn't belong to this type, and an infield ground ball was out.
After two games, the two sides were almost at par with each other. The Japanese team was slightly better, leading 2:0.
"How many balls are there?" Coach Ninomiya asked.
Scorer: "The opponent scored 36 goals and we scored 25."
Kōshū won't throw too many shots, and will probably end the game in the 4th or 5th game, so now is the time to open up the score. Coach Ninomiya asked the players who will play next one by one.
By the fifth inning, the score had reached 6:1. Kōshū faced only one batter and was immediately taken off the field.
He made 78 shots in this game. He will probably face Chinese Team again tomorrow and will not play.
At the end of the first preliminary round, Japan won 8:3 against South Korea. Both sides changed more than one pitcher.
In the temporary office in the evening, the coaching staff began to discuss tomorrow's playing list.
"I agree with Kōshū's continuous appearances. Today Chinese Team and Venezuela have each lost one game. Now Cuba is competing with us for the first place in the group. The score ratio is 3. We are now It is 2.6. Cuba will face Netherlands tomorrow. It is conceivable that they have already won two wins in the rematch. If we win tomorrow, it will be two wins. The victory ratio is the same, and we may be able to win the first place in the rematch group."
What this coach said is also what some people present are thinking, because in the finals, the champion will be determined among the first places in the two groups, and then the rest will naturally be the runner-up. If you are ranked second in the group stage, you will only compete with the second place in the other group for third place.
"So, should we put the outcome of the final first? But don't forget, the score ratio of Cuba in the preliminaries is 4.45, and we only have 3." Coach Ninomiya calculated in his mind, "And if we don't play Kōshū tomorrow, even if we lose, we will still have one win and one loss. Compared with Chinese Team, who also has one win and one loss, our score ratio has always been at an absolute advantage."
In this case, if you steadily win second place in the group, you will have an advantage in competing for third place.
The coaches discussed it very late in the office, and finally decided to save their ace and compete for third place tomorrow. The second place in the opposite group will most likely be South Korea or Mexico, which are also difficult teams to deal with. And to be honest, the Japanese team wants to compete with Cuba for the group place. First, the chance is not high. The first baseman in the Cuba team is very good. They have hit two Home Run so far in the game. They also have 8 players with a 345-meter hitting size and two very good pitchers. No matter how you look at it, they are not players that the Japanese team can shake.
"Today is Demotion from the Mound's day..." Coach Ninomiya didn't even put Kōshū in left field, but he will probably put him in Pinch Hitter when the pitcher changes.
"Tomorrow's opponent is Mexico. Please take a good look at their information." Today is another night match. In the day match, the second place opponent of Team B has already been determined to be Mexico.
Cuba beat Venezuela with a score of 9:0, so they won both games, and the score ratio was over 7. Fortunately, the coaches were not blinded by ambition and coveted the top spot in the group.
"That Cuba first baseman hit another Home Run shot yesterday. It was probably his third shot. It's the highest so far."
"Yes, that shortstop is pretty good too. He has a skill, what's it called?"
Dugout occasionally chatted, and at the same time the situation on the field changed. In the first two games, the Japanese team clung to the score, maintaining 3:2, and entered the third game with a 1-point lead. Then the pitcher was hit by consecutive hits, and after four bad balls, the score was tied. The Japanese team could only start Bullpen again, but there were not many pitchers available. In the end, they lost to Chinese Team at 5:6 by one point.
After tonight's game, tomorrow's ranking and game order will be released. The competition between the fourth place in the group will start first. The night game is the championship game, and the Japanese team's third place battle will be Intercontinental Baseball Stadium at 2 p. m.
"Come on, Ace," Hayakawa encouraged his roommate before going to bed. If Kōshū doesn't have obvious problems tomorrow, the coaches will definitely let him vote to the end. "The third place is also very good. The Japanese team has not finished third place in several years."
Kōshū replied, "The game will be over tomorrow and I have to leave early the day after tomorrow. It's my first time here and I haven't done much shopping yet."
"Don't think so much, I turned off the lights." Another companion informed and turned off the voices in the room.
The finals are tomorrow. Kōshū originally thought he would not be able to sleep, but he fell asleep within two minutes. It seems that insomnia is not suitable for a heartless teenager.
Friday is the release day. Although I told the editor on Monday, I forgot to remind him on Thursday. I don't know if this chapter can be successfully released. Anyway, it doesn't matter. It's either this week or next week. I will finish my work report on Friday. There will be no report on my work before the New Year except for the project report.
Years ago, I prepared to study the issue of speed
PS: I found that Qidian lacks SOPs about common sense for authors. For example, you need to open a new volume after it is put on the shelf. I searched Zhihu and found it. There are also previous ones. I don't know much about the difference between listing and signing. I feel that a poster is very clear. Write an article-sign a contract-contact the editor-list it-and so on.