Inashiro Industrial's dominant championship win had a real impact on the Seido High School Baseball Team players.
They had been carrying so unease before. Now that had turned into sothing closer to confidence.
In the Sumr Tournant and the Autumn Tournant, they had lost both and failed to go the distance. But the teams that defeated them had both gone on to beco national champions. And in those matches, Seido had never been completely suppressed or made to look helpless.
They had given the crowds genuinely exciting gas. More than that, in both matches Seido had held a chance to win. That, taken together, was indirect proof that Seido possessed genuine top-tier strength at the national level, and that a championship run was not out of reach.
The reason it hadn't happened ca down to misfortune: running into Inashiro Industrial and Osaka Kiryuu, both of whom were simply stronger at those monts.
Looking at this year's Spring Koshien, Osaka Kiryuu had lost too much to graduation and couldn't go the distance. Inashiro Industrial, by contrast, still had surging morale.
They had four second-year players as their core. As long as those mainstays remained, even after this year's team graduated, the next Inashiro Industrial squad would still be formidable. These two years could safely be called the strongest period in Inashiro Industrial's history.
It wasn't that Seido wasn't strong enough. Their luck had simply been bad.
With the end of the Spring Koshien, Inashiro Industrial beca the undisputed most talked-about program in the country. Many predicted they would have an extraordinary Sumr Tournant.
Of course, others offered a different view. However dominant Inashiro Industrial looked right now, the Sumr Tournant had a way of producing upsets. The team that had just swept through Spring Koshien could very easily stumble when it mattered most.
Those who said so had their reasons.
West Tokyo was simply too tough a region.
There was Ichidai Third High School, who had also perford well at Spring Koshien. Their match against Osaka Kiryuu had drawn real attention. And then there was Seido, who had almost knocked Inashiro Industrial off its perch in the Tokyo Autumn Tournant.
Seido had lost to Osaka Kiryuu in the Sumr Koshien, and to Inashiro Industrial in the Autumn Tournant. But the impression they left was no smaller than either of those national champions.
There was a clear reason for this. Seido had scored the most runs against both national champions of anyone who faced them.
In the Sumr Koshien, Seido had put up over ten runs against Osaka Kiryuu. In the Autumn Tournant, they were the only team to score more than five against Inashiro Industrial.
That kind of offensive power was genuinely the best in the country.
If their defence could improve to match it, the next ti Inashiro Industrial and Seido t, the outco would be anyone's guess.
And that answer would co soon enough.
With the Spring Koshien concluded, Tokyo's Spring Tournant had begun.
When the bracket was released, the Seido players crowded around it.
The groupings got their blood up.
After months of waiting, they were ready to play.
Although Seido had lost in the Autumn Tournant, they had still reached the top eight. That earned them a seeded spot for the Spring Tournant. They would not be called up until the third round.
Unseeded teams, by contrast, had to start from the first round.
All of Tokyo, with over two hundred competing teams, required eight or nine elimination rounds from start to finish. A seeded team only needed to play six or seven. That advantage alone was significant.
Seeded teams could rest and gather intelligence while their opponents burned through gas, then step onto the field with fresher legs and better information. For a team as physically conditioned as Seido, the stamina difference might not be decisive on its own. But a seeded spot still mattered. At the very least, it kept them from running into strong opponents too early.
Strong teams were distributed across different groups and generally would not et before the top sixteen.
Over two hundred teams had been divided into eight groups: A through H. Each group had over thirty teams competing through the elimination rounds.
Seido was the seeded team in Group C. Their old rivals, Inashiro Industrial and Ichidai Third High School, had been placed in other groups. A eting in the group stage was impossible. If they t at all, it would be in the semi-finals or the final.
Within their own group, there were no particularly notable opponents.
The absence of strong competition left the Seido players feeling slightly flat.
"Every team out there is fighting with everything they have. Don't underestimate anyone."
Coach Kataoka wanted to say sothing to sharpen their focus after seeing the draw. But looking at the teams on the list, he genuinely struggled to find words of warning that didn't ring hollow.
Many of these teams he barely recognised, even within Tokyo. There were public high schools, and even an agricultural college or two. The only team that seed to carry any real weight was Nanamori.
But honestly, even that was a stretch. Given the gap between the two sides, Coach Kataoka couldn't in good conscience describe Nanamori as a genuine test for Seido.
The real challenges would co after the top eight. That was where Seido would truly need to push themselves.
"For now, focus on recovery and getting the team right."
That was the best he could offer.
There was another consideration. Inashiro Industrial and Ichidai Third High School had both reached the top eight at Spring Koshien, aning they were already committed to the Kanto Tournant. For those two teams, the Spring Tournant's main priority was probably just making the top sixteen to secure a Sumr Tournant seed. After that, their motivation to push further would likely drop off.
The honest truth was that Seido might not face a genuine test until much later in the Spring Tournant.
One week after school started, Seido's first opponent was confird. The other team had co through two hard-fought matches to get there.
It was Ushimaru Agricultural High School.
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