Volume 2: Dormant Rebirth Chapter 014: The unexpected welcome match
Seidou High School lost the spring competition, and it was a crushing defeat.
It’s nothing!
Qingdao's requirement for the spring tournament is that as long as they can get a place in the top 16 in Tokyo, nothing else matters.
Even losing to their old rivals, the City Juniors and the Qingdao High School baseball team, was not unacceptable.
In recent years, Qingdao has been unlucky and has not been able to enter Koshien for several years.
If we can't make it to Koshien, we won't be able to attract top-notch players. If we can't recruit good players, the team's strength will naturally not improve.
If the team's strength cannot be improved, it is natural that they will lose.
In this vicious cycle, Qingdao has lost to the city's third team and Daocheng more than once or twice in recent years.
After all, this was just one of those times. It was embarrassing, but to be honest, it was nothing to worry about.
The key point is that this game completely exposed the shortcomings of the Seidou High School baseball team.
Their ace is quite strong, their batting line is very powerful, and even their defense is the best in all of Tokyo.
From the looks of it, the Seidou High School baseball team should be a very strong team that is very competitive in the Tokyo area.
Not only that, there are many well-known players in their team. On paper, they are not much worse than Daocheng and Shidasan.
But they just can't win!
The team's performance was very unstable, not only the pitcher, but also the batting line occasionally performed poorly.
This was not shown at all when they played against weaker teams .
In the Tokyo Spring Tournament, the first few games of the Seidou High School baseball team basically ended early?
The process completely crushes the opponent.
It gives people the feeling that Qingdao is extremely powerful!
But once they encounter a team of equal or even stronger strength.
The team will frequently have problems, either with the pitcher or the batting line. Especially the pitcher, the probability of being blown up and the probability of him performing well.
It's a fifty-fifty split...
Can such a team eventually make it to Koshien?
If we ask ourselves honestly, Director Kataoka would not dare to make any guarantees at all.
Judging from the current lineup of the first team, it would be strange if they could make it to Koshien.
If it was so easy to get into Koshien, why had Seidou and Kataoka been blocked from entering for so many years?
After comprehensively evaluating the strength of his current team, Coach Kataoka came to this conclusion.
They didn't stand a chance.
Even if they are lucky and perform well in a certain game, they can defeat one of their opponents.
When the next tough battle comes, they will still be defeated.
“Something has to change!”
In the past, the policy of the Qingdao High School baseball team was to focus on third-year students, and to select potential seedlings from the second and first years and train them in advance.
This tradition is not only true for the Seidou High School baseball team, but also for the vast majority of teams in the island country.
This way, it is fair to the vast majority of players.
Real talents will get opportunities in advance, and ordinary players in the third grade will also be promoted as long as you have the ability.
Kataoka has been carrying out this tradition in the past few years.
But now it seems that this tradition has long been outdated. He should learn from the Guoyou supervisors in Daocheng and promote people based on their talents.
As long as the contestant is really capable, he should be promoted even if he is only a freshman.
As the saying goes, kindness cannot command an army, and righteousness cannot make money.
Although there are differences between managing a football team and managing an army, there are also some similarities between them.
Having made up his mind, Kataoka directly called his two assistants, the baseball club's captain Ota and vice-captain Takashima Rei.
"That's the plan! The current third-year players have great potential. But they are like toads in warm water, and have gradually become accustomed to their current positions. They have even become accustomed to their positions in our team! We must set a lofty goal for the players and establish a brand new system."
This plan had been brewing in Director Kataoka's mind for a long time.
But there has never been a suitable opportunity to bring it up.
From this perspective, they lost to the city's third-tier team, and it was a crushing defeat.
This turned out to be a good thing.
"After the team reform, we will either lose miserably or let the team be reborn with passion!"
Director Kataoka's attitude is very firm.
Minister Ota rubbed his hands nervously.
As a traditional islander, he found it very difficult to adapt to this sudden change in tradition.
Not that he could point out any mistakes or make any suggestions.
It was instinctive , he thought.
The third-year players have been training for longer periods of time, and their talents are already superior to those of the second-year players.
It is only right that he gets the main position.
Why did Director Kataoka suddenly come up with such a crazy idea?
Takashima Rei crossed her arms, thought for a long time, and finally nodded in support of Kataoka.
"This is not a solution! The potential and ability of our players, as well as the talent they showed in junior high school, are not as good as those of Inashiro and Ichi! Even if our training is more rigorous and thorough, the training of those two teams has not fallen behind. In other words, the gap between us should not change much. Even if there is, the change will hardly change the strength relationship between us. In this case, if we still want to enter Koshien, we can only choose to win by surprise. I agree with Coach Kataoka's strategy."
Deputy Minister Rei Takashima expressed support.
Minister Ota was in a dilemma, as he himself was actually unwilling to change the past tradition.
After all, didn’t the previous coach Sakaki rely on the same tradition to lead the team to Koshien several times?
He even won the Koshien Championship.
It would be fine if you don’t cherish the ready-made successful experience, but how can you give it up so easily?
But he is only the captain of the baseball club, and Kataoka is in charge of the training and other arrangements of the baseball club.
Matters in the team's recruitment department, as well as diplomatic issues.
The person in charge is Rei Takashima, who has a very deep background and strong personal abilities.
Although he is nominally the head of the baseball club, he is currently doing odd jobs.
Mainly responsible for the training and competition matters of the Second Army.
Now that Director Kataoka and Rei Takashima have already agreed, what else can he, a handyman, say?
In the end, he had no choice but to surrender.
"How exactly should we do this?"
"Let's start with the welcome match! Bring out the underachieving substitutes from the first team, including Hidetawa and Tamba. Let them join the second team and play the welcome match against the freshmen."
"Aren't the normal orientation games supposed to be in May?"
"We can't wait until then!"
…
