Sports Jul 8, 2023 6:00
Daiki Komatsu of Okaya Higashi High School working on batting practice for the last summer tournament
The summer high school baseball tournament in Nagano is about to begin. Daiki Komatsu (18), a third-year student at Okaya Higashi High School, is the only member of the baseball team among the 72 teams competing in Koshien. In this tournament, which will begin on the 9th, he will participate as a member of the combined team of Kayano, Higashi Okaya, and Susumu Minowa. “I want to give back to the people who have supported me so far.” Standing on the stage of the culmination with gratitude to the surroundings.
When I joined the club two years ago in the spring, there were three senior members in the third year and one senior member in the second year. became the only “I was lonely and anxious” in an environment where there were no friends to share the joys and sorrows, but he had no choice but to quit his beloved baseball. Since then, he has been practicing alone.
On weekdays, he focuses on batting practice that can be done by himself, such as transferring the bat, and on weekends, he participates in joint practice of a federation team formed by schools with a shortage of members. Each time, her mother Saori (40) drove her from her home in Suwa City to the fields of Tatsuno High School and Susumu Minowa High School. In her individual training, she had the coach and female manager support her, and she said, “She has a lot of people who support her. She wanted to respond to that feeling.” She overcame the plain and painful winter training alone, such as running and strength training.
At the beginning of joining the club, he set a goal of “hitting a home run” and has been polishing his characteristic hitting. What should I do to increase the certainty and extend the flight distance? “I was able to grow while facing my own issues,” says Komatsu. True to his words, he hit a home run in practice games this season. Hideki Koyama, a 40-year-old teacher who has been coaching Okaya Higashi since April, said, “As a single member of the club, I think there were some hardships that only I could understand. Even so, I had the desire to improve myself and thought about what I was lacking. It’s really great that you’ve progressed to ,” he said.
Last summer’s tournament was active in the first match against Nagano South, with 3 hits and 1 RBI in 5 at bats, contributing to the allied team’s walk-off win. Nagano Nihon University is the first opponent of this tournament, but Komatsu, who is the third hitter and the main axis, said, “I’m looking forward to seeing how well my power will work. I’ve heard that he’s a good pitcher, but I want to hit one.” Burn your fighting spirit. He joins forces with fellow students from other schools who are in the same situation, saying, “I hope I can finish with a smile and no regrets at the end.”
2023-07-09 11:26:57
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