Thank you for your enthusiastic support for The Fighters this season. Next season, we will be aiming to win the league championship for the first time in 10 years, and Nishikawa will be returning to Hokkaido for the first time in five years. Nishikawa and I are in the same year and are in the same grade. We are both right-handed pitcher left-handed hitter, so we have been competing with each other since our first year.

When he was younger, he wasn't getting the results he wanted in the minor league night games, and there were times when he and another player would swing their bats indoors in Kamagaya until after midnight. He has a serious and hardworking personality. I've seen him not go home until he was satisfied with his performance. Having gained experience with other teams, I'm excited to see what new "Haruki Nishikawa" he will show us, while showing respect for the current The Fighters. number will be the same "7" as five years ago. He humbly said that he was "being allowed to wear it," but I think that it is because he himself has made number "7" so great that he has been given the chance to wear it again. I look forward to seeing Nishikawa shine even brighter in his new uniform.

Next season, not only will Nishikawa be joining the team, but pitcher Shimamoto will also be joining from Hanshin Tigers, and the number of players born in 1992, such as pitcher Kato and pitcher, will also increase. Because The Fighters have many young players, I feel that the team's strength will increase significantly when players over 30 perform well. I would like to pay even more attention to players born in the same year next season.

F Village will be entering its fourth year of operation next season. I've introduced various aspects of it in this column since before it opened, but it's still not in its final form. I hope you'll look forward to F Village's further evolution. This will be the final installment, so thank you for reading my column in Sports Hochi. I hope you'll continue to give your enthusiastic support to The Fighters next year! (Yuya Taniguchi) =End=