In the final of the Koshien tournament in Osaka, Osaka Toin, who are challenging for successive victories in autumn, spring, and summer, and Riseisha, who has won with the same strength even under the new coach Akira Tada, will face off as the “Osaka 2”. became.
Osaka Toin and Tenma Hoshiko, who hit a home run in the Senbatsu no Ichi Wakayama match this spring
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In elementary school, he was a teammate of the Japanese national team.
Before the tournament, when I was looking at the team data of both schools, my eyes stopped at the captain’s profile. This is because Tenma Hoshiko of Osaka Toin and Yuki Konishi of Riseisha were both from Kumamoto Prefecture.
When I asked Konishi about this when I interviewed Riseisha, the two said that they had played as teammates for the Japan national baseball team when they were in sixth grade. Continuing on, he made a surprised face and said, “It was a shock” about Hoshiko’s impression at that time.
“Since it’s a national team, the players come from all over the world, so basically they don’t know each other. You’re really the same age.’ He’s got great baseball skills, he’s got a bright personality, and he’s the kind of player who’s going to be the captain.
In junior high school, they each went on to a hard club team, with Hoshiko playing for the Kumamoto Sisui Boys and Konishi playing for the Yatsushiro Little Seniors. Soon after that, there was an event that led Hoshiko to Osaka Toin.
Hoshiko has an older brother three years older than him, who is also a baseball boy. The director of the hardball team that her older brother belonged to in middle school is now a junior of Toshiya Ishida, who is mainly in charge of scouting and pitcher guidance at Osaka Toin.
One day, information came in about Hoshiko’s older brother, saying, “There’s a player I’m looking forward to.” Shortly after, he was selected for the U-15 Japan national team, and later teamed up with Koreto Nakata (currently Orix), the ace of Osaka Toin. Ishida was interested in him, but when he heard that he wanted to go to a high school in Kyushu, the conversation ended there.
However, during some exchanges, I heard from a person involved that “Hoshiko’s younger brother is also wonderful.” At that time, his younger brother Tenshin was a promising candidate who was selected to represent Japan in the “BFA U-12 Asian Championship” in the 6th grade of elementary school. However, at that time, “If there is another chance …”, that was it.
