High School Baseball Summer Koshien "Words left by the corona generation baseball players" August 23, 17:35

Sendai Ikuei High School in Miyagi won the championship for the first time as a Tohoku group in the summer national high school baseball tournament, bringing the curtain down on the tournament.

The third-year students who participated in this year's tournament are the so-called "corona generation baseball players" who have been affected by the new coronavirus since they entered high school.

What is the meaning of the words left by the baseball players who overcame many hardships and arrived at Koshien in the last summer?

(Osaka Broadcasting Station reporter Yasuhiro Namimatsu)

Called the “corona generation”

Yokohama captain Haruki Tamaki

"I was able to overcome the difficult times because of Koshien"

At the player's oath at the opening ceremony, Yokohama (Kanagawa) captain Haruki Tamaki expressed his gratitude that the stage of Koshien had become an irreplaceable goal for baseball players of the corona generation. .

For the third-years, this year's summer Koshien, which will be the culmination, was the place they arrived at after overcoming many hardships.

The infection of the new coronavirus spread from the beginning of my enrollment two years ago, and many schools were closed, and for about two months, I couldn't even meet my teammates, let alone play catch.

In the meantime, the cancellation of summer national high school baseball has also been decided.

I was confronted with the reality that it is not natural to have a dream stage.

Since last year, tournaments have been held at Koshien in the spring and summer, but the infection has spread among the teams, and some schools have had to withdraw from the tournament.

In addition, spectators were limited to school officials only, and brass band performances were not allowed.

still continued

Even so, there are still numbers that show that many members have continued to play baseball while facing hardships.

According to a survey by the Takanoren = Japan High School Baseball Federation, the percentage of club members who continued until the third grade was 92.7%, the highest since 1984 when the aggregation began.

High school baseball coaches and others involved said, "Because there are various restrictions, I think that the numbers show that we have worked hard to overcome them by cooperating with our friends." .

During the period when the whole team could not practice, the baseball players of the corona generation held online meetings to connect their feelings, created an SNS group, and shared videos of each player practicing and videos of rival team players.

Even though we spent less time together, we all worked hard together and overcame the difficulties.

On the sunny stage of baseball players

When they arrived at Koshien, what awaited the baseball players was a stand filled with a large crowd for the first time in three years.

In the middle stage of the tournament, which overlapped with the Obon holiday, the tickets were sold out every day, and 560,000 people visited in 14 days.

Cheering aloud was prohibited, but for the players who were encouraged by the performance of the brass band and the loud applause, it was the Koshien they had longed for since childhood.

Nihon Bunri (Niigata) Haruya Tanaka

"When I was in the second grade, there were no spectators even when I went to Koshien, so there were a lot of spectators, so I had a lot of fun that I didn't have last year."

Pitcher Sota Ueyama Mie

: “My high school baseball life started with Corona, and I don’t know if I can play a game.

Konan (Okinawa) Captain Moritaro Neha

said, "It was a cheering that I couldn't feel at the Okinawa tournament. I wanted to say thank you because I was able to show more than I could in Koshien, a special place."

Osaka Toin Shion Matsuo

"Koshien is a place where people can grow, and being able to play with friends is an asset. I want to make use of what I lost to improve for the next time."

The reason why Kyoto Kokusai Ace “smiles even when they lose”

Rudai Morishita, the ace pitcher of Kyoto Kokusai High School, is one of the players who has been greatly affected by Corona.

Last summer, when I was a sophomore, I made it to the top 4 in my first appearance.

However, Koshino Senbatsu, who was expected to be active, was forced to withdraw due to the spread of the new corona infection within the team just before the tournament, while grabbing the right to participate.

Morishita himself was also infected, causing pain in his dominant left elbow.

While the team's morale was low, what was important for pitcher Morishita was to keep smiling.

Despite the difficult situation, the atmosphere of the team gradually brightened and the cohesion increased toward the final summer.

At Koshien, they were eliminated in the first round and were unable to demonstrate their true potential, but pitcher Morishita had a smile on his face.

Kyoto International Pitcher Rudai Morishita

“Three years, especially since I withdrew from Senbatsu, I was frustrated, painful, and things didn’t go as planned, but in the end, it was fun to play in the best place in high school baseball. I smiled naturally.”

don't send a team to quit

It's just that this competition was not without the impact of the new corona.

6 schools were judged to be infected with the PCR test before the tournament.

In past competitions, teams that became infected had to withdraw from participation.

Last summer, this year's senbatsu and several schools were forced to withdraw from before and during the tournament, and I was worried that this time would be the same.

Under these circumstances, Takanoren and others took unusual measures such as changing the schedule to wait for the players to recover, and allowing them to participate if all the players were confirmed to be negative due to the replacement of members.

It was a last-ditch measure from the desire to prevent the players from losing the opportunity to play as much as possible.

One of the teams that was judged to be an outbreak, the prefectural Gifu commercial, replaced 10 members and went to the match.

Although I lost by a large margin, I desperately chased the white ball until the end with the feelings of my teammates in my heart.

Prefectural Gifusho captain Saki Ito

"I received a message from a player who was undergoing medical treatment to 'play hard and play as hard as you can', so I played for my teammates in front of the TV. I felt like I had no choice but to withdraw. , Thanks to the people involved, I can only thank you for letting me play even one match.”

Reasons for using all 18 members

The leaders also came to the competition with a special thought.

Coach Sue Wataru of the champion Sendai Ikuei (Miyagi) used all 18 players who were on the bench in the first match.

Sendai Ikuei Director Wataru Sue

"This generation is a generation that suffered a lot from Corona, so I wanted to let everyone out no matter what the situation was."

Furthermore, at the practice held at Koshien Stadium the day before the final, the reserve members who were not on the bench stepped out onto the ground and stepped on the turf of the Yumebutai.

Those players fully demonstrated the skills that they had honed in the midst of difficulties at Koshien, and were able to bring back the deep red flag for the first time to the Tohoku region.

In an interview immediately after the victory was decided, Director Sue praised the hard work of the “corona sick baseball players” while holding back tears.

Sendai Ikuei Director Wataru Sue

“I probably couldn’t even attend the junior high school graduation ceremony properly, let alone entering the school, and high school life is completely different from the high school life we ​​adults spent. Even if I was told that I couldn't do that, even if I was active, it would stop at some point.Even in such a difficult situation, I didn't give up.What made it possible was the efforts of high school baseball players all over the country. It's a gift, it's just that we stood here at the end, so please give a round of applause to the high school baseball players all over the country."

The Importance of “Sunny Stage”

The spread of the new corona infection is still unstoppable, and future tournaments will be required to operate while taking countermeasures.

With restrictions on social life and various events continuing, it is also true that there is an opinion that "only sports, only high school baseball should be treated specially" in holding the tournament.

During this tournament, while I was interviewing baseball players, what left an impression on me was their words of gratitude for being able to play baseball at Koshien.

And he looked forward, proud of having done his best.

“We will bring out what we have accumulated on the stage that will be the culmination, and make a new start for the future.”

There should be a lot of things that live later as much as you have a painful experience.

It was a tournament that made us feel the importance of such a “sunny stage”.

Reporter Yasuhiro Namimatsu ,

Osaka Broadcasting Station

After working at the Niigata and Sendai stations, I will be in charge of high school baseball coverage from the fall

of

2021