A selection meeting will be held remotely on the 29th to determine the 32 schools (28 general selection slots and 4 21st century slots) to participate in the 93rd Selected High School Baseball Tournament (Koshien for 13 days from March 19). At 3:30 pm, the 21st century frame will be announced, followed by the schools participating in the general selection. Tokai University Sagami (Kanagawa) ace Shun Ishida (2nd year), who is aiming for the 6th school in Kanto and Tokyo, has been practicing by believing in the election. Winter has grown as an ace. Wait for the good news of the decision to participate with confidence.

   ◇   ◇   ◇

“If there is even a 1% chance of participating, I will not erase it. There should be something I can do.” Ishida believed in this word from director Keiji Monma (51) and has been absorbed in practicing.

Show off your grown up nationwide. This winter I worked on a form fix. Be aware of the weight shift of the lower body and put effort into it at the moment of release. Weight will increase by 2 kg from autumn to 75 kg. Through training and throwing, I got a response saying “the sharpness is getting better”.

I used the regrets of the autumn Kanto tournament as food. In the quarter-finals, he lost to Tokai University Kofu in the 9th inning. “I felt the sweetness of the stuff. I couldn’t win as an ace,” he blamed himself, but “I can’t change the fact of losing. I practiced believing that I would be chosen, not if I was chosen.” I changed my mind and turned to the front. I changed my attitude from practicing and didn’t cut corners on any menu. In the dash, the first one and the last one do not lack concentration. I grew up both physically and mentally.

Beyond Senbatsu, we also look to summer. Manager Kadoma expects the players to say, “If you practice in March, you can go to summer.”

Ishida’s dream in middle school was to participate in Koshien. In the summer of 19 and last summer’s interleague game, my dream turned into a goal. “Koshien isn’t on TV, it’s changed to a place where you can go if you do your best. But I haven’t won yet. I definitely want to win next time.” In March, I have an image of standing on the mount of Koshien.[Yoshiko Hosaka]