Saturday, August 9, 2008

Day 8 - Game 4 - Chiben Wakayama vs. Kisaradzu Sougou (Higashi Chiba)

Now the second round begins for the teams that have already played. And the last game features a team that almost never disappoints.

Chiben Wakayama faced a tough Seibi team, but under Okada held them scoreless on their way to a 3-0 victory.

On the other hand relative newcomer Kisaradzu Sougou had a struggled against Tottori Nishi, only winning the game with a 5-run 8th inning.

Facing Tottori Nishi is one thing. Chiben Wakayama is something completely different.

It'll all come down to Kisaradzu's offense, one of the best statistically in all prefectural qualifiers. Get out in front early, and you may be able to pull off the upset.

I'm mixed about my feelings on Chiben here. I'd like to see Kisaradzu win though...

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Chiben Wakayama
SS Urata (6)
RF Shibata (1)
2B Katsuya (4)
1B Sakaguchi (3)
C Morimoto (2)
LF Takahashi (7)
CF Tanbo (8)
P Okada (10)
3B Nishikawa (18)

Kisaradzu Sougou (Higashi Chiba)
3B Saitou (5)
CF Iwasaki (8)
SS Saeki (6)
C Jibiki (2)
1B Arakawa (3)
RF Miyata (9)
LF Sugizaki (7)
P Tanaka (11)
2B Takada (14)
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4:24 PM
First pitch!

Top 1st
Tanaka looking good early, retiring the side in fairly efficient manner.

Bottom 1st
Saeki with the 2-out single, but he's thrown out trying to steal 2nd.

Top 2nd
With one down, Morimoto hits a grounder to Saeki. But it's off his glove and into left field! E6.

Takahashi tries to put the bunt down but Tanaka field it quickly and makes the play at 2nd!

2 down for Tanbo. Drive to right center! Goes all the way to the wall! Takahashi rounding the bases and he scores on Tanbo's triple! 1-0!

Okada flies to center, but it's Chiben with the early lead!

Bottom 2nd
Arakawa draws the one-out walk. After a Miyata strikeout, Sugizaki steps up.

Single to right! Arakawa heads for 3rd! Shibata up with the throw! It's there! No! It's off Nishikawa! There's no backup! Arakawa comes home to tie the game! 1-1!

2 down, Sugizaki at 2nd for Tanaka. First pitch single to right! Sugizaki comes home! Throw by Shibata again! Morimoto up the line, gets the ball! Sugizaki runs around! Misses home! Touches it. SAFE! No tag! Kisaradzu comes back with 2 runs of their own to take the 2-1 lead!

Top 3rd
Nishikawa with the safety bunt! Tanaka with the ball, double clutches! Drops it! Nishikawa on with the safety bunt!

Urata bunting on a 1-2 count! Gets it down! But Tanaka once again up with the ball and his throw to 2nd is in time!

Shibata up now. Grounder to short. High hop goes over a surprised Saeki! Runners at 1st and 2nd!

Katsuya with the liner to right! That's in for a base hit! But Miyata throws it back home quickly and the runners have to hold up. But manrui for cleanup batter Sakaguchi!

Tanaka goes ahead 0-2. Would love a double play here.

Sanshin! But a strikeout does just fine.

Morimoto to try and regain the lead. But he pops it up! Watch out! Saeki makes the catch after bumping into Takada and Kisaradzu is out of the inning!

Bottom 3rd
Okada finally gets a break and retires the side in order.

Top 4th
Tanaka gives up a single to his counterpart, but that's all.

Bottom 4th
The lights start to turn on at Koshien as we pass 5 PM...

Jibiki starts the inning with a bloop down the left field line! SS, 3B and LF all converge, but it falls in!

After he's bunted over, it's one down for Miyata.

And on the 2-2 pitch, Miyata swings on a pitch wide! It gets away from Morimoto and Miyata races to 1st. The throw, not in time! Runners at the corners for Sugizaki!

Sugizaki strikes out too, only this time, there's no wild pitch. However, Miyata takes 2nd on the K.

Down to Tanaka to help his own cause. But he falls behind 0-2. Ball, 1-2. Just fouled off! Check swing? He went! Home plate umpire says he went, and that's the inning!

Top 5
Urata blasts the ball to deep right center! That's past a leaping Miyata! He's in with a leadoff triple!

Shibata, liner down the left field line! Urata scores on Shibata's double! 2-2!!

Katsuya with the 3rd consecutive hit, a single up the middle! Shibata scores! Chiben retakes the lead!! 3-2!!

Sakaguchi with another hit! This time a single to left! Runners at 1st and 2nd, still no down!

Morimoto puts down the bunt. Tanaka with the throw, Saitou has to reach out and he can't grab it. All safe!! Manrui for Takahashi!!

He grounds to 2nd. But Takada elects to get the 4-6-3 DP instead and not go home! Katsuya scores! 4-2.

Tanbo strikes out to end the inning, but Chiben Wakayama has stormed back to retake the lead!

Bottom 5th
Saitou with the 1-out double to left field, but nobody can get the timely hit to bring him home.

Top 6th
I noticed that at least right now, the shadows are in between the mound and home plate. This gives the pitchers an advantage for now.

Although I guess Chiben doesn't care about that stuff...

Okada gets a leadoff single up the middle. Nishikawa tries to put the bunt down, but instead gets Okada thrown out at 2nd. Then with 2 down, Shibata singles to right to put runners at the corners!

However, Katsuya would fly to right in foul territory to end the inning.

Bottom 6th
1-2-3 inning for Okada. Could be cruising here for Chiben Wakayama.

Top 7th
Sakaguchi opens he inning with a single to right. Moromoto tries to put down the bunt, but he pops out to C. Takahashi tries the same, but he gets Sakaguchi thrown out at 2nd.

But Tanbo gets a base hit through the left side. Okada does likewise!! Takahashi comes in to score, and the lead is now 5-2!

Bottom 7th
After Tanaka gets a 1-out base hit, he's lifted at first for #18 Yamaoka, meaning that ace Awaji will be entering the game next inning.

Top 8th
And indeed Awaji enters the game. He gives up one hit to Katsuya, but nothing else.

Bottom 8th
Okada gets into a small pinch, giving up an infield hit and hitting a batter with 2 down, but getting Miyata to ground out.

Top 9th
Kisaradzu goes down swinging, striking out all 3 times.

Chiben Wakayama continues it's strong showing at Koshien, this time putting runs on the board when they get a multitude of hits. Kisaradzu has nothing to be ashamed about. They got the lead against Chiben Wakayama. And while they lost the game, they still played very well.

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