午夜剧场

On July 26, after winning the Kanagawa Prefectural High School Baseball Championship final against Yokohama High School, 午夜剧场 High School (hereinafter referred to as Juku High School) secured its first appearance in the summer Koshien in five years. At that moment, in the scorching heat of Yokohama Stadium, Principal Akuzawa and I shook hands firmly and simultaneously steeled our resolve. This was because a continuous series of tasks and decisions, such as student support at Koshien and school administration, was about to begin. Unlike the spring tournament, preparations for the summer Koshien must be completed in just 10 days.

After the prefectural final, Juku High School notified all students that the school would organize student support tours for the first game and the final, and that only Alps stand tickets for students would be sold for the second game through the semifinals. For the first game against Hokuriku High School, 330 students participated in the school-sponsored Koshien support tour. However, for the second game against Koryo High School scheduled for August 15, ticket sales were cancelled to prioritize student safety due to the approach of Typhoon No. 7. As a result, the game was postponed and the Shinkansen was in chaos due to the direct hit of the typhoon, but the students avoided being caught up in it. There were requests for 364 tickets for the quarterfinal against Okinawa Shogaku High School and 821 tickets for the semifinal against Tsuchiura Nihon University High School; interest in Koshien grew rapidly as the team advanced. It is rare for the usually cool Juku High School students to participate in an event so voluntarily. For the final against Sendai Ikuei High School, we recruited 600 participants for the tour, and it reached capacity immediately.

The baseball team's success brought inspiration and a sense of unity not only to Juku High School but to various communities. At Hiyoshi Station on the Tokyu Line, which we use daily, station staff posted warm messages of support on the electronic bulletin boards during the Koshien period. Furthermore, at the moment of victory, an announcement was made inside Hiyoshi Tokyu Avenue, and cheers reportedly erupted from within the store. And at the Hiyoshi Campus, the rain stopped on the afternoon the victory was decided, and a large rainbow reportedly appeared in the sky.

Since the victory, I have received many messages of "Congratulations on the win" and "Thank you for the inspiration." I feel that the two team goals set by the baseball team members when the new team was formed last year—"To be number one in Japan" and "To be a team that people want to support"—were achieved in the best possible way at the summer Koshien.

Once again, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude and say "Congratulations" to the members and affiliates of the baseball team, the 午夜剧场 Cheerleading Team, and the brass band, as well as the faculty, staff, the Hiyoshi shopping district, and everyone who supported us.

Even so, the growth of the members was remarkable. They became tougher with every game and continued to grow beyond the imagination of the adults. It may have been the players themselves who remained the most composed until the very moment of the Koshien victory.