At this stage of the tournament, the schedule remains packed. The entire West Tokyo qualifier must be completed in just over a month, spanning six to seven rounds of competition.
Even a seeded team like Seidou High School is no exception.
That means, on average, a team must play a game every four to five days from start to finish.
In the early rounds, due to the sheer number of participating teams, the interval between games is longer. But as the tournament progresses and teams are eliminated, the time between games gets shorter—sometimes just a day or two.
Just like now.
Seidou High School has advanced to the quarterfinals of the West Tokyo tournament.
Their quarterfinal game is scheduled for the morning of the day after tomorrow—leaving them with just one day of rest.
At the same time, their next opponent has also been decided.
They played their match at Hachioji Stadium, finishing just twenty minutes after Seidou's game.
"It's Shinshō High School!"
Takashima Rei announced crisply.
"So it's them, huh!"
None of the Seidou players looked particularly surprised.
That so-called dark horse team had been hyped up a lot recently, but most of the Seidou players hadn't even heard of them.
With over a hundred teams competing in West Tokyo, there are only about twenty that the Seidou players are truly familiar with.
The rest? Just vaguely familiar names at best.
While they didn't know much about that dark horse team, Shinshō High School was a different story.
Shinshō was a perennial powerhouse in West Tokyo—regulars in the round of 16 or quarterfinals.
Although they had never made it to the semifinals, they were still better than 90% of the teams in the region.
They were part of the top 10%.
Their strength was undeniable.
If they had been competing in a less competitive region, Shinshō might have made it to Koshien already.
"That dark horse team got so much hype, and this is all they amounted to?"
Clearly, the media reports couldn't be taken at face value.
After nine innings, Shinshō shut out the so-called dark horse team, winning 4–0.
The score spoke volumes about the gap between them.
"Let's prepare thoroughly!"
Despite the tight schedule, Seidou was fortunate to have a deep bench.
While the team had been battling Seiko Academy, two of their third-string players had taken professional recording equipment to scout Shinshō's game.
After returning to school, the Seidou players headed straight to the conference room.
Although there was no training scheduled for the afternoon, they still had two important tasks ahead of them.
The first was to review their match against Seiko Academy.
"That loss was on me. I mistimed the pitching change."
Coach Kataoka took responsibility without hesitation.
And in truth, it had been a misjudgment.
Seiko's cleanup hitter had been relentlessly training his swing, refining it to an extraordinary level.
Even if Tanba's pitches were on point, he might've still been crushed by that kind of hitter.
Kataoka's decision was partly an honest admission of fault, and partly an effort to shield Tanba from the blame.
He didn't want this game to shatter Tanba's confidence—that would've been a real loss for the team.
Fortunately, Tanba didn't seem traumatized by the defeat.
Apart from that one inning, Seidou had played a near-perfect game.
It was understandable to get caught off guard by Yamamoto's unorthodox pitching at first.
But they had adjusted quickly—maybe not instantly, but in time to turn the tide.
As Kataoka owned up to his mistake, Zhou Hao glanced at him thoughtfully.
Word around the team was that Coach Kataoka was particularly hard on Tanba.
But Zhou Hao sensed something else—something more complex.
With Zhou Hao and Yoshida now handling the pitching load, the team had more than enough arms for critical moments.
Even the other two Tokyo powerhouses couldn't always field two reliable pitchers.
In that context, Tanba—now their third-string pitcher—wasn't that essential.
And yet, Kataoka continued to support him.
It almost seemed like he was trying to develop Tanba into a true ace.
"Could it be that Coach sees something of his younger self in Tanba?"
Zhou Hao didn't really believe that.
After all, Coach Kataoka had been a star from the start—an ace in his first year who led his team to the runner-up spot at Koshien.
A novel could be written about his high school career.
How could someone like that see himself in a player who had spent most of his career as a benchwarmer?
As Zhou Hao pondered this...
Just as the Seidou team was immersing themselves in preparing for their next opponent, the news broke online:
Seidou High School had shattered a historical record by becoming the team with the most consecutive hits.
Starting from Miyuki's pinch-hit appearance, the batting lineup went full circle.
They scored 12 runs in a single game.
Thirteen total hits.
Once the edited highlights hit the internet, it quickly blew up.
Had the Seidou players not taken their foot off the gas near the end, this record might have been pushed even higher.
In today's digital age, viral content spreads at the speed of light.
Something that outrageous happening in the West Tokyo quarterfinals? Of course, it caught everyone's attention.
Reporters—whether from traditional outlets or new media—jumped on it with zeal.
Previously, they had kept a reserved tone in their articles.
Now, they didn't hold back at all.
"The Strongest Batting Lineup in the Nation: Seidou High School Baseball Team!"
"After Four Years of Frustration, Seidou Seeks Its Moment of Glory!"
"Where Are They Headed? Seidou's Freshman Ace Zhou Hao Speaks Out!"
The first two headlines were fine, but the third?
Clickbait.
Many fans who read the article felt misled and vented in the comments.
But the reporters didn't care.
And as for the Seidou players?
They weren't too bothered either.
The only two people who seemed emotionally affected weren't even from Seidou.
One of them was Manaka from the City Junior High School baseball team.
He suddenly realized—this year, Seidou might be their biggest obstacle.
Meanwhile, at Inashiro Industrial, a certain freshman was yelling Zhou Hao's name with intense passion.
"The strongest in the nation—Zhou Hao-kun!"
"We will meet!"
The semifinals would begin on the third day after the quarterfinals.
There would be only a one-day break between the semifinals and the final.
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