The summer tournament for high school women’s baseball (National High School Baseball Championship) will begin on the 24th in Tamba City, Hyogo Prefecture. This year, which is the 25th time, only the final will be played at the Hanshin Koshien Stadium for the first time in history. A dream stage where girls couldn’t even aim because they couldn’t participate in official games at the Takano Ren tournament. Three schools will challenge from within Saitama prefecture. (Yasuhiro Teramoto)
Saitama Sakae High School
Saitama Sakae High School (Nishi-ku, Saitama City), which has participated in the first tournament in 1997, is a traditional school that boasts the highest number of championships in Japan, seven times. Hinata Sakamoto (18), a third-year pitcher, went on to play baseball from a junior high school in Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture. The stage of the final was decided on Koshien, and he faced the tournament with a strong feeling, “I was happy. I definitely felt like doing it at Koshien.”
Hanasaki Tokuharu High School
Hanasaki Tokuharu High School (Kazo City), which has 45 members, is also a team that has won the championship. The captain, Shiho Mizuno (17), said, “I thought Koshien belonged to boys, so I’m happy to have girls on the stage of my dreams.” We value team play and improve our defense for the tournament.
Eimei High School
Eimei High School (Koshigaya City) aims to break through the first match. The road to the final is steep, but captain Makoto Yoshizawa (17) said, “I feel like I’m going to practice because the final is decided at Koshien.”
Mr. Yoshizawa, who was a deputy captain of the Boys League team when he was in junior high school. “I once thought that boys were good because girls don’t have Koshien.” However, now I am devoting myself to practice, encouraging the existence of a female team member who says “I can be like a family”.
All the players say, “Koshien is the stage of longing.” Inflate your heart with hope and challenge the match.
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The tournament is sponsored by Tamba City and the National High School Women’s Baseball Federation, and will be held in the city until the semi-finals on August 1. Forty teams from all over the country will participate and fight in tournaments. The final at Koshien will be held on August 22nd, which is the rest day of the National High School Baseball Championship held at the same time.
