交流試合が開幕　各校１試合だけの夏―高校野球

　２０２０年甲子園高校野球交流試合は１０日、兵庫県西宮市の阪神甲子園球場で開幕した。初日は２試合が行われ、花咲徳栄（埼玉）と明徳義塾（高知）が白星を飾った。
　新型コロナウイルス感染拡大の影響で春と夏の甲子園大会が中止されたのを受け、球児の救済措置として無観客で開催。選抜大会に出場が決まっていた３２校が１試合ずつ戦う史上初の試みで、６日間で全１６試合の熱戦が繰り広げられる。
　試合に先立ち開会式が行われ、日本高校野球連盟の八田英二会長が「全国の高校球児の思いを胸に、憧れの甲子園の地で悔いのないプレーをしてほしい」とあいさつ。続いて第１試合の大分商の川瀬堅斗、花咲徳栄の井上朋也両主将が、合同で「最後まで戦い抜く」と力強く選手宣誓をした。（2020/08/10-16:46）

A series of Japanese high school baseball games started at Hanshin Koshien Stadium on Monday as an alternative special event following the cancellations of hugely popular official tournaments this spring and summer due to the spread of the novel coronavirus.
   The event brings together the 32 teams that had been selected for the canceled spring invitational tournament, with each school having only one game, for a total of 16 games, during the period through Aug. 17. Games will be played on six days, with two days--Thursday and Friday--reserved in case of bad weather.
   Ahead of the first game on Monday, the opening ceremony was held at the stadium in the city of Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan. "I want you all to play to the fullest at your dream stadium of Koshien by keeping the thoughts of all high school baseball players in your hearts," Eiji Hatta, head of the Japan High School Baseball Federation, said in a speech at the ceremony.
   "We are determined to fight until the last minute," Kento Kawase, captain of Oita Commercial High School from Oita Prefecture, southwestern Japan, and Tomoya Inoue, captain of Hanasaki Tokuharu High School from the eastern prefecture of Saitama, said in a joint pledge representing all players participating in the closely watched summer event. The two teams met in the day's first game.
   There was no entrance procession to prevent coronavirus infection. The epidemic led to the cancellations of the invitational high school baseball tournament in March and the national high school baseball championship this month, both at Koshien, the home stadium of the Hanshin Tigers professional baseball team and the holy site for high school baseball players.