82nd Spring Koshien Field Set

So, we have the field set for the 82nd Spring Koshien. While most of the teams recapped back in November made the field, there are some additions/subtractions.

Hokushou (Hokkaido) - 3rd appearance, 1st in 10 years
Akita Shougyou (Akita) - 6th appearance, 1st in 4 years
Moriokadai Fuzoku (Iwate) - 2nd appearance, 1st in 7 years
Toukaidai Sagami (Kanagawa) - 8th appearance, 1st in 4 years
Hanasaki Tokuharu (Saitama) - 2nd appearance, 1st in 7 years
Toukaidai Bouyou (Chiba) - 1st appearance
Maebashi Kougyou (Gunma) - 4th appearance, 1st in 15 years
Teikyou (Tokyo) - 14th appearance, 1st in 3 years

Nichidai-san (Tokyo) - 17th appearance, 1st in 8 years
Huh? The committee took the Kanto/Tokyo bid and gave it to Nichidai-san, who lost in the semifinals to Teikyou 5-4.

Nichidai-san looks to erase their poor Natsu Koshien appearance with ace Yamazaki Sachiya (山崎 福也) at the helm. Converted from 1B last year, he throws in the high 130 km/h range, and also plays some 1B. He's a decent hitter, but certainly not a power 1B type.

The only video I found is one that follows the Teikyou squad in the aforementioned game, but it has a part (starting at 0:50) showing him warming up.

The other player is Yoshizawa Shougo (吉沢 翔吾) who had a good Natsu Koshien showing, going 2-6 with a double and RBI.

Takaoka Shougyou (Toyama) - 4th appearance, 1st in 4 years
Tsuruga Kehi (Fukui) - 3rd appearance, 1st in 2 years
Oogaki Nichidai (Gifu) - 2nd appearance, 1st in 3 years
Chuukyoudai Chuukyou (Aichi) - 30th appearance, 2nd consecutive

Mie (Mie) - 10th appearance, 1st in 15 years
Mie earns the Tokai Meiji Jingu bid. Perhaps it was their showing at Koshien that helped them earn their bid.

Kobe Kokusaidai Fuzoku (Hyogo) - 3rd appearance, 1st in 5 years
Osaka Touin (Osaka) - 4th appearance, 1st in 3 years
Ritsumeikan Uji (Kyoto) - 2nd appearance, 1st in 6 years
Shinkou Gakuen (Hyogo) - 5th appearance, 1st in 4 years

Tenri (Nara) - 20th appearance, 1st in 3 years
Chiben Wakayama (Wakayama) - 9th appearance, 1st in 2 years
The committee went with the big names here. Tenri's returning players have to think to play better after their lackluster performance last summer. And for Chiben Wakayama, certainly the fact that Takashima-kantoku is 1 win away from having the all-time Koshien win record doesn't hurt.

Kaisei (Shimane) - 2nd appearance, 2nd consecutive
Kanzei (Okayama) - 10th appearance, 1st in 3 years
Imabari Nishi (Ehime) -12th appearance, 4th consecutive
Kochi (Kochi) - 15th appearance, 1st in 3 years

Kouryou (Hiroshima) - 22nd appearance, 1st in 3 years
It's speculation at best, but it appears that the committee didn't want to award another prefecture a 2nd bid, so Koryou gets the nod. Not like they didn't have good players though.

Kadena (Okinawa) - 1st appearance
Miyazaki Kougyou (Miyazaki) - 1st appearance
Jiyuugaoka (Fukuoka) - 1st appearance
Kounan (Okinawa) - 4th appearance, 2nd consecutive

The three 21st century bids go to the following teams:
Yamagata Chuo (Yamagata) - 1st appearance
Yamagata Chuo earns their first appearance, and they have to thank 1st year ace Yokoyama Yuuya (横山 雄哉). He's a southpaw with a fastball in the low 130 km/h range (~81 mph), and has a slider and a large breaking curveball (which has supposedly been backed up by a Rakuten Golden Eagle scout). It was good enough to limit perennial power Sakata Minami to 1 run in the prefectural semifinals before falling to Nihon Yamagata 7-0. And in the super-regionals, he held Akita Shougyou scoreless in the quarterfinals until giving up the sayonara run in the 9th.

Kouyou (Wakayama) - 15th appearance, 1st in 36 years
Kouyou gets the nod, but I can't find anything really special about them. About the only notable thing from their run was their game against Tenri in the 1st round of the super-regionals where they lost 4-3. Even then, their 3 runs seemed to come thanks to timely hitting. I could be proven wrong, but the team doesn't stand out.

Kawashima (Tokushima) - 1st appearance
The same goes for Kawashima. They were blown out in the prefectural semifinals by Komatsushima, then in the super-regionals, they defeated Takamatsu before going toe-to-toe with Kouchi before also giving up a sayonara run.

They do have one possible person to watch in their 1st year shortstop 大平 祐輝 (Oohira Yuuki), but it's more on the defensive side than anything else.

I wonder if the committee wanted to avoid giving a 21st century bid to a team that might challenge like Rifu did last year...