Baseball-The essence of “no-sign baseball” at Wakayama University “Do not wait for instructions” with players | 4years. #Student sports

• # 71st Japan National Collegiate Baseball Championship

• # Wakayama University

I was not satisfied with the “good fight”.

Wakayama University has participated in the 71st Japan National Collegiate Baseball Championship for two consecutive tournaments. With “no sign baseball”, he won the Kyushu Sangyo University last year and fought a close battle with the winning Keio University. This year, he played against Kinki University in the first round and lost 2-4, but he suffered a strong man. Captain Atsushi Kanaya (Kanetani Haruki, 4th year, Soshi Gakuen) regretted, “It was a winning match. We haven’t put out half of our strength.”

High “game intuition” because there is no power

Kanaya participated in the 100th National High School Baseball Championship Memorial Tournament in 2018 and is stepping on the soil of Koshien Stadium. Junya Nishi (currently the Hanshin Tigers), a second-year student one year younger than him, was the ace.

However, at Wakayama University, there are no players who are attracting attention from professional baseball. The practice ground is shared with the American football club. Why can national universities, which are not blessed with the environment, fight so far? There was a part of the answer in the match of the day.

Wakayama University batters rarely hit the first ball. Even with a batter-friendly count such as 2 balls or 3-1 counts, wait for 1 ball. This was in contrast to the Kindai hit line, which was aggressively swung from the first strike.

He had no hits until the third inning, but he shook the pitcher with a bunt stance and got 34 dead balls and made the opponent pitcher throw 48 balls.

It lived four times, chasing one point. Ryoma Matsuda (2nd year, Riseisha) hit a double in the middle left, hitting a double with a hit by pitch and a hit by pitch. In the 6th inning, he was defeated by taking 3 runs in reverse, but it was a splendid attack.

“We can’t win with speed and power, so we break the opponent with base running and small details. That’s our baseball,” says Kanaya. Director Hiroshi Ohara also explains, “I don’t have the power, but I’m good at intuition. I have a high on-base percentage and I don’t have a lot of goals.”

Repeated meetings during actual battle practice

Spring Kinki student first division league match that fought in 6 schools. Although Wakayama University won the championship, the player with the highest batting average in the entire league was Kanaya in 7th place. He has a stance of sticking to the base. For example, during the Osaka Tourism War on April 25, he had three pitchers throw a total of 210 pitches in nine innings.

No-sign baseball has become synonymous with Wakayama University, but it does not mean that you can hit it as you like. The players have discussed in advance and selected the strategy.

One day practice. He tried a hit-and-run with one death and one third base at a time. However, the batter missed and failed to steal the second. We stopped playing here and everyone gathered on the mound. It’s a meeting.

“Why didn’t you choose squeeze?”

“I wasn’t confident in Bunt.”

“It’s okay to hit, but why did you miss it?”

“The head has gone down, conscious of aiming to the right.”

“Because the runners are off to a start, I think we don’t have to cramp to aim right.”

Discuss in this way and confirm each other’s intentions. One ball, one ball, does not move with the sign of the bench. “I don’t have to wait for instructions, but I gain independence. I think this is education.” Director Ohara nods.

With the water outage last year, the Self-Defense Forces and water supply work

As a national university rooted in the community, we are also aiming to contribute to the local community. At the Wakayama High School Baseball Championship, the players volunteer to maintain the ground and disinfect. Sometimes he also serves as a base judge.

When the water supply was cut off due to the collapse of the aqueduct in Wakayama City in October last year, I helped with the water supply work together with the Self-Defense Forces. Kanaya says, “There are people who support me both physically and mentally, even though I don’t have the funds at a national university. I play baseball. If there are any difficulties in the area, I would like to give back as much as possible.”

After the defeat that day, Kanaya said. “I found out that our baseball is a little good. After that, we have a strong feeling and how to succeed.” I will improve the accuracy and return to this stage again in the fall.