Games on 12th through 14th

So updates will be coming fast and furious, and I still don't know how to get the brackets to show properly because Google Documents' conversion blows it up...

Aomori
The 12th denoted the end of the first round for Aomori, and the notable game was held at Aomori Miyano where Noheji and Misawa Shougyou were in a slugfest. Misawa went from a 6-2 lead to a 6-6 tie to a 9-6 lead all in one inning! And if that weren't enough, Noheji scored 5 to lead 11-9! Misawa found a way to tie it up in the bottom of the 9th, but didn't have the ability to keep up in extras. Noheji scores a run in the 10th to advance.

The 13th featured the top teams kicking off their campaigns. Kousei Gakuin had no trouble with Hirosaki Higashi winning 10-0 in 7. #4 seed Hirosaki Minami though fell flat against Aomori Chuo, losing 2-1 and managing only 9 hits. #3 Aomori Yamada took it easy on Noheji, winning 7-0 in 7. And perhaps shocking of all, Hachinohe Koudai Dai-ichi struggled against Rokkasho. They fell behind 3-0 before tying it in the 5th, and then in the 6th fell behind again 4-3. Just 3 outs away from one of the biggest upsets in Aomori, they give up 2 runs and are sent home.

On the 14th, the lower 4 seeds played and some did not survive. #6 Oominato gave up runs in each of the first 4 innings and lost 5-2 to Hirosaki Jitsugyou. #8 Hachinohe Koudai Dai-ni held a slim 2-1 lead over Hachinohe Kougyou. But Toyomaki couldn't hold the lead and Kougyou scored a run in the 8th and 9th innings to take the lead and the victory.

Iwate
They began play on the 13th with 2 shutouts. Misawa defeated Morioka Nougyou 4-0, and Morioka Chuo defeated Miyako Kougyou 10-0 in 8 innings.

Games were rained out on the 14th.

Miyagi
Miyagi's top 4 opened play on the 13th, and it wasn't a good day.

#3 seed Touryou was upset against Shidzugawa, and in fact never led at any point in the game. #2 seed Oosaki Chuo traied Sendai Minami 2-1 going into the bottom of the 9th, but managed to rally for the win.

Games across Miyagi were rained out on the 14th except at Ishimaki. And all the games were close. First, Oogawara Shougyou had taken a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the 6th, but couldn't hold it against Kesennuma Nishi. They would score 2 in the 8th to tie, and then push the winning run in the 10th.

Pretty much the same thing happened to Sendai Tousen Natori. They had a 2-0 lead on Miyagi Suisan, but allowed them to tie it in the 8th and lost it in the 9th.

And in the late game, Miyagi Nougyou was able to make an early 3-0 lead stick despite Izumi Shouyou pulling within 1 in the 5th.

Fukushima
More seeded teams began their run. #2 Higashi Nippon Kokusaidai Shouhei managed just 6 hits against Shoin Gakuen Fukushima, but won 2-0. All seeded teams managed to advance past their first games.

Unfortunately though, the weather did not quite comply as the last game at Shirakawa Green was rained out right after Shirakawa scored 2 in the top of the 1st against Fukushima Seikei.

Next day, the weather didn't let up as more games were cancelled across the prefecture. Of those played, they included Haramachi overcoming an early 2-0 deficit to defeat Aoi 3-2. Adachi rallied from 3-0 down to defeat Kooriyama 4-3 in the 9th inning. Odaka Kougyou up 6-3 over Fukushima, lost the lead in late innings and went into extras. But 2 runs for Odaka in the 10th would be just enough.

The 14th allowed the 2nd round games to finish, and Teikyou Asaka continues to roll. Certainly they're not as good as their scores indicate, but it continues to prove that across the country, it's generally good to be a player for a Teikyou school.

Gunma
Takasaki Shoudai Fuzoku rallied from a 3-0 deficit to Tanamura with 2 in the 7th, 1 in the 8th and the sayonara run in the 9th.

Games were rained out on the 13th, but were able to be made up the next day.

Fujioka Chuo sent Tsumagoi home with a sayonara run in the 9th.

Tochigi
Seeded teams started to fall right off the bat. Mooka held a 3-2 lead on Ashikaga going into the bottom of the 9th, only to give it up.

Rain canceled most games on the 13th. The only game completed was Tochigi Nougyou defeating Kurubane 9-2 in 7.

The entire schedule was pushed back one day, and the game of the day was at Tochigi Sougou. Nasu Seihou tried to pull away from Oyama Hokuou, having a 1-0 lead, a 3-1 lead and a 6-3 lead. And each time Oyama would level the score. And so the game would go into extras. But the problem with extras is that if you're the away team, you can't rally from behind anymore. So when Nasu scored a run in the 11th, that was it for Oyama.

Ibaraki
Ibaraki almost had a no-hitter (well kinda) as Kashima's Kubo one-hit Mito Heisei to a 7-0 win in 7 innings. Hitachi Shougyou came back from down 3-1 to defeat Iwase 4-3 in 10 innings. Chuo tried to rally late against Moriya, but fell short, losing 3-2.

Saitama
Thanks to the feed provided by Ken (see above), I started having prefectural games on my other laptop while working on the brackets. Unfortunately, I ended up seeing Ageo defeating Ageo Tachibana 55-0 in 5 innings. It's a bit sad seeing teams with such a disparity playing against each other, but this is the dream of getting to Koshien after all. Theoretically, anyone can make it, but this is a byproduct of such.

In other games, Ooi and Saitama Sakae were locked in a battle late with leads switching sides when Ooi dealt the final blow with a run in the bottom of the 9th.

Ogawa and Tokorozawa Nishi were in a scoreless draw in extras when Tokorozawa Nishi scores the sayonara run in the 13th.

Seibou Gakuen continues their run after defeating Urawa Shougyou 9-0 in 7 and will face #3 seed Kawagoe Higashi.

In other parts of the bracket, Sugito survives Sayama Keizai 5-3 in 10 innings after losing a 3-1 lead late.

The 2nd round ended on the 14th with the rained out games from Kumagaya. Okegawa trailed the entire game against Namegawa Sougou, but had managed to pull within 1. But in the bottom of the 9th they scored 2 runs for the come-from-behind win. And if that weren't enough, Koshigaya Kita had taken a 2-1 lead over Urawa Nishi in the 8th. But Urawa would make it two sayonara sendoffs with 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th.

Chiba
Sakura Minami was just one step behind Funabashi Nishi it seemed. When Funabashi scored 4 in the 3rd, Sakura scored 4 in the 4th. When Funabashi scored 2 in the 4th, Sakura scored 2 in the 5th. They caught up when they both scored 1 in the 6th, and then out of nowhere Sakura scored 3 in the 7th to take the lead! But all it was was a delay as Funabashi scored 3 in the top of the 9th to level the score. But Funabashi would not be given a chance to respond as Sakura scores a run in the bottom of the 9th for the win.

Chiba Meitoku scratched back against Chousei to send it into extras and would win in the bottom of the 10th.

The 13th was an interesting day at Chiba Prefectural...

...as long as you weren't a seeded team...

The first game between Chiba Keiai and top seeded Choushi Shougyou (there are actually four #1 seeds) turned after the break in the 5th to work on the field. Chiba Keiai would come together for 3 runs in the top of the 6th to take a 5-3 lead that they would not relinquish.

Then top seed Urayasu fought against Chiba Kougyou. After falling behind 1-0, a timely double in the 4th would tie the game. Now up 3-1, a solo HR to left which almost cleared the field brought Chiba within one.

And then a reversal of a ruling decision allowed Chiba Kougyou to tie the game in the 6th. Runners on the corners with one down, Chiba attempts a squeeze. It fails and the runner at 3rd is hung up. The runner from 1st has occupied 3rd and the tag was made on both players. What happened was that the runner from 2nd went off the bag, and it was called a double play. After the Urayasu members ran off the field, the runner from 2nd went home to score.

What was eventually ruled was that the tag itself pushed the runner off the bag, therefore no double play and the run scores.

Chiba seemed to have the momentum, and in the bottom of the 7th they had runners at the corners with 2 down, but a fly to left ended the inning.

In the 8th, a leadoff double gave Chiba another chance. Urayasu sent in reliever Kobayashi and after a failed bunt, induced a popup and groundout to keep the game level.

But time seemed to run out. Top 9, one down for Urayasu, a ground to 2nd is bobbled and there's a runner on first. Then a grounder to short takes an irregular bounce and gets past into center. Base hit to center scores one, and one to left scores another for a 5-3 lead. The next batter grounds to 1st, seemingly setting up a double play, but the shortstop can't handle the throw and everyone's safe. With Urayasu in a manrui situation, the next batter grounds to 3rd. He initiates the 5-2-3 double play, but all seems lost.

One down for Chiba in the bottom of the 9th, the batter legs out an infield hit. A single to center puts runners at the corners. After a long AB, the next guy strikes out, but the runner from 1st advances to put the tying run in scoring position. Under pressure, Kobayashi walks the next batter giving Chiba a manrui situation! Down to their last strike, Kobayashi throws a wild pitch and a run scores! It's 5-4 and the winning run is in scoring position!

But Kobayashi gets the batter to swing at an offspeed pitch to end the game!

And in the final game, #5 Shounan only managed 4 hits and lost to Hakuryou 2-0.

In other games, Chiba Higashi rallied for 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th to defeat Gyousei Kokusai 5-4.

On the 14th, there was a slugfest between Kohoku and Wasegaku. After Wasegaku leveled the score at 3 in the 3rd, they outscore Kohoku 6-1 the next two innings. And while Kohoku gets a run back in the 7th (well, they scored 3 and Wasegaku scored 2), they're still down 4. A run in the 8th makes it better, but still behind. But in the top of the 9th, they rally for 4 runs for the 12-11 win!

Meanwhile, Narashino clears their first game against Tokyo Gakkan Funabashi 8-0 in 7 innings. Fellow #1 seed Chiba Reimei managed just 8 baserunners against Chiba Nichidai Dai-ichi but won 1-0.

Nishi Tokyo
The first seeded team to fall was #3 Hachiouji couldn't stop Kokubunji's barrage of runs early and found themselves down 8-2. They got within 2, but lost 10-7. Later that day Musashi scrapped a win against Kunitachi after the lead changed hands 3 times.

On the 13th, Kodaira Minami scored a sayonara run to defeat Toyotama, but their gift for winning is #1 seed Nihon Tsurugaoka. Meanwhile #4 Kokugakuin Kugayama couldn't even get past their first game, losing to Horikoshi thanks to a 4-run 4th.

2nd round play continued with Fuji rallying for 4 runs in the final 3 innings to defeat Meihou 4-3. Teikyou Hachiouji defeated Eimeikan 6-1. And in an interesting and funny twist, Meijidai Nakano and Meijidai Meiji will face each other in the next round after both had mercy win victories.

Higashi Tokyo
Teikyou is making their march from way back in the bracket with a 9-0 win over Rokugou Kouka.

Tsukubadai Fuzoku somehow managed 6 runs against Jyouhoku's Yoshikawa to come back from a 5-0 deficit for a 6-5 win.

We also almost had another 15 inning draw, but Katsushikano plated a run in the 14th against Akabane Shougyou for a 5-4 win.

In another extra inning game, Risshisha broke a 2-2 tie in the 12th with 3 runs against Gakushuuin.

Kanagawa
On the first full day of competition, we had Motoishikawa coming back from down 6-0 to Fujisawa Seiryuu with 7 runs in the last 4 innings for the win.

The next day, over at Fujisawa Happe stadium, Tachibana and Fujisawa Nishi played to a 15-inning 1-1 draw. The next day, Fujisawa Nishi wins 3-2, although Tachibana scored a run in the 9th to make things interesting,

Aikawa blew a 4-0 lead to Yokosuka Kougyou, but won in the bottom of the 10th, Kanazawa defeated Isogo 3-2 in 10, and Kibougaoka outlaster Maioka 6-5 in 13. In other games, Atsugi Kita scores 5 in the 9th to blow open their game against Hodogaya, winning 6-2.

Yamato and Chigasaki were deadlocked at 1, and Chigasuki scores a run in the top of the 13th which seemed to be the winning run. But Yamato somehow scores 2 in the bottom of the 13th and sends the Chigasaki boys home.

Niigata
6 of 8 seeded teams began play on the 14th. All 6 teams advanced without issue.

Nagano
Almost as expected, Nagano is plagued by rain. Judging from 4 years ago (when I was there), rain will continue to be an issue in the mountainous prefecture. I'm surprised that they don't start a bit earlier.

I suppose it doesn't help that teams like Suwa Futaba and Hotaka Shougyou play to a 4-4 draw... after being rained out two days straight...

The schedule is a bit messed up, as a key, any date with two dates and no ame kanji denote the original date and the date of the actual game.

Shiga
Shiga was supposed to start on the 13th, but the opening game has been rained out twice.

Looks like they've been able to get underway on the 15th though.

Yamanashi
Yamanashi has gone without a hitch so far. Koufu Higashi did survive a 4-run 9th inning by Nourin to advance 11-10.

Most of the top seeds advanced without issue, but Toukaidai Koufu certainly did not. In fact, Kyounan's 4-run 7th actually gave them a 6-5 lead. And then even when Toukaidai took the lead, they leveled it in the top of the 9th.

But up comes Hayashi with two on and delivers a sayonara 3-run homerun to advance the top seed into the next round!

Kyoto
Kyoto still had some weather issues, but got things back on track. As for that Doushisha Kokusai-Kyoto Yawata game, Doushisha got the upper hand once again, but this time Yawata took the lead with a 3-run 5th and never looked back.

Unfortunately, the weather came back and rained out the 14th...

Nara
Nara has been rained out on the 13th and 14th, so the top teams have yet to take the field.

Wakayama
Wakayama has totally been rained out the last couple of days.

Hyogo
Rain in the Kansai area has wreaked havoc for the qualifying as games have been canceled at some stadiums. Hyogo managed to get most games in on the 12th, almost none on the 13th and some on the 14th.

Of the games that were played, Harima Minami scored a run in each of the last 4 innings to say sayonara to Kakogawa Minami 5-4. Akashi Jyousai almost did the same thing to Kobe Kouhoku also by the same score.

When surprisingly unseeded Toyoudai Himeji finally took the field, they needed 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th to defeat Shiritsu Kagaku Gijyutsu 2-1. Ikawadani Kita defeated Youka 5-4 in the same manner. Yumenodai defeated Aioi Sangyou 3-2 in 10 innings.

Okayama
Games were rained out on opening day (14th)

Hiroshima
Hiroshima has been rained out for 4 days straight.

Kagawa
After being rained out for 2 days competition got started again when Takamatsu Dai-ichi scored 5 runs in the last 2 innings to defeat Jinsei Gakuen 5-4.

Fukuoka
Fukuoka has had their draw for the prefectural finals.

The high profile teams have been for the most part spread out. Toukaidai Dai-go gets one quadrant, Higashi-Fukuoka gets another, Fukuoka Koudai Jyoutou gets the third, and in the 4th sits Iidzuka and Yanagigawa (although they face each other to start...)

Saga
Saga was fully rained out...

Nagasaki
Nagasaki has had trouble getting games run over at Sasebo due to the weather, but Nagasaki Prefectural hasn't been affected.

No surprises so far.

Kumamoto
More rain has canceled almost all games here too.

Oita
They've gotten only 2 games in the last 3 days.

Kagoshima
Kagoshima seems to be the only prefecture not affected by the rain. They've been on track and are now in the round of 16.

But apparently they had to sacrifice a seeded teams to do so.

(Kidding... kind of.)

Kamimura Gakuen was the first sacrifice. Kagoshima Shougyou managed just 3 hits, but scored 3 runs while they limited Kamimura to just 5 hits. Kamimura's run ends quickly with a 3-1 loss.

Meanwhile Kagoshima Tousen and Konkouwan played to a 2-2 draw, so they're not doing themselves any favors at this point. Next day, Konkouwan scores 2 in the 8th and 9th for a 6-2 win.

Unfortunately, the sacrifice lasted until just the 14th. Kagoshima Gyokuyuu and Kagoshima Minami were scoreless going into extras when their game was called due to rain. Not a good thing.

And that covers it up to the 14th. One last message to the weather gods.

STOP RAINING!!