Chiben Wakayama focuses on batting practice for finals National High School Baseball Championship

(21st, 108th National High School Baseball Championship, rest day)

Chiben Wakayama, aiming for his fourth summit in five years, practiced in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture. During his approximately two-hour stay, he took up batting practice.

He firmly attracted and returned loose balls from the two batting pitchers, and his sharp shots toward center field stood out. In practice before the semi-finals, he used a hitting machine set at 170km/h in preparation for Yokohama's Shoki Oda, who hit 156km/h, the fastest at the Koshien tournament, but on this day, his swing was more like Kendai Takasaki, which has some soft pitchers.

Last summer, they lost in the first round of Koshien. This year, he has honed his batting ability and made it all the way to the finals.

Ryusei Kusumoto, who hit 3 runs in the semifinals, vowed to dominate with his "hitting" and said, "We will work as a team to score points and win in the end."

Yota Imoto, a second-year player who plays a central role in the tournament with a total batting average of over 70%, was also strong, saying, ``I want to approach the game with the image that I can hit without thinking too much about my own results.''