After hearing Senior Sachiko's words, Sendou curled his lip.
It was not that Sendou was arrogant; he simply did not pay much attention to anyone other than his opponents.
After all, Ichidai San High had lost to Yakushi in the Autumn Tournament!
Remembering every opponent's characteristics was not Sendou's job, either.
Although Yoshida, today's ninth batter, was a qualified lead-off hitter and a standard high-on-base batter.
Since the lead-off hitter had been placed ninth, though, he was clearly not a runner they could not bear to part with.
"Neither side held anything back and sent out all their starters!
If they win this game, they will secure a spot in the Kanto Tournament!
With summer in mind, I suppose neither team wants to expose its weaknesses to the other!" Owada Akiko said as she looked at the lineups on the scoreboard.
"Most of the starting players are already mature, after all!" Mine Fujio said.
The starters they meant were naturally those core members.
"Top of the First Inning, Seidou High School's offense,
First batter! Shortstop, Kuramochi-kun!"
"Train... train!... Run with everything you've got!!
Train... train!... Don't stop moving!!
Train... train!... Run with everything you've got!!
Train... train!... Don't stop moving!!
Hit it, Kuramochi!
..."
As Kuramochi stepped into the batter's box, the brass band struck up the cheering song, its vocals echoing throughout the stadium.
"Run toward glory~, ride that train!!
Da da da da da!!!
Run!!!" Sawamura's presence alone was worth an entire squad!
"Play!!"
"Mm~~" At the head umpire's command, the stadium rang with its traditional air-raid siren.
Kuramochi stared at Amakusa with a serious expression. Not only had the coach ordered him to carefully watch the ball trajectory and choose hittable pitches.
He also understood that opportunities like this at the start of the game were rare.