Day 6 - Game 3 - Tenri (Nara) vs. Riseisha (Osaka)

The afternoon session features one of my favorite teams, and another that ran through a tough prefecture and completely dominated it through offense.

Riseisha didn't really use pitching to get through the gauntlet that is Osaka. Starter Iidzuka Takashi is clocked as being the 2nd slowest thrower (with a supposed max fastball of just 130). He still managed to pull decent numbers while doing so (7.93 K/9, 1.07 BB/9).

But that might be as a result of the offense. In their 8 games, they won by a combined score of 71-12! Two players to watch are Yamada Tetsuto who was in his 4 games 5-13, with a HR and 8 RBI's, and Ishii Gen.

Tenri probably returns the best team they've had in a while. Most of the starting 9 from last year returns for a 2nd, and hopefully longer, run.

Tenri (Nara)
2B Iwasaki Ryouta
RF Inoue Noriaki
3B Nakamura Shougo
SS Yasuda Kouki
1B Uchino Satoshi
LF Hasegawa Shouma
C Kamezawa Hideaki
P Numata Yuuga
CF Yanagimoto Keisuke (#17)

Riseisha (Osaka)
CF Kaifu Daito
2B Ebara Shouta
SS Yamada Testuto
3B Ishii Gen
LF Oonishi Kouhei
RF Ideguchi Daikyou
1B Masaki Kentarou
C Sakamoto Seishirou
P Iidzuka Takashi (#10)

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14:46 - First Pitch!

Top 1st
Iwasaki with a routine grounder to short, but it somehow eats up Yamada! His throw to 1st is late! E6!

Inoue bunts him along for Nakamura, and AH! He's hit by Iidzuka!

Iidzuka's slow pitches really show as he's hitting no higher than 123 to start.

But Tenri's batters perhaps aren't used to it. Yasuda grounds to 3rd. Ishii double clutches and goes to 2nd for one. 2 down.

Sanshin! Uchino looks at a ball low and gets called looking. Tenri is denied here in the 1st.

Bottom1st
Kaifu with a liner that hits Numata in the arm and deflects up the middle. Takes a couple of practice pitches and says he's fine.

Ebara bunts the runner along for Yamada. And Yamada draws a walk. Developing situation here for Riseisha.

Wild pitch from Numata moves the runners along!

Eh? Numata and Kamezawa talk to the home plate umpire and they convene, and call dead ball. Manrui for Riseisha.

Oonishi up and he singles to left! Kaifu scores, and it's 1-0 Riseisha! Morigawa-kantoku calls time as the bases are still loaded for Riseisha.

Ideguchi in for his first AB. Liner! But right to Yasuda for the 2nd out.

Masaki trying to give Riseisha a bigger cushion here early.

SANSHIN!!! Numata gets Masaki on a change to end the inning, but Riseisha strikes 1st here in the 1st!

Top 2nd
Full count to Hasegawa and the umpire call time and awards him 1st. I'm trying to figure out what happened there. Perhaps something to do with the length of time before the pitch, I'm not sure.

Either way, Hasegawa bunts the runner to 2nd for a douten opportunity. But Numata grounds out to short leaving it up to last batter Yanagimoto.

But he grounds back to Iiduzka for the 3rd out.

Bottom 2nd
Sakamoto takes the 1-0 pitch and drives it to left! That's off the wall for a leadoff double!

Iidzuka bunts the runner over as the lineup turns back to top batter Kaifu.

He hits a fly to left. Hasegawa has to go back on the ball, and this will score another run. 2-0 Riseisha!

Ebara strikes out to end the inning, but Riseisha scores for the 2nd straight inning.

Top 3rd
Iwasaki with an excuse me hit to left for a leadoff single. Inoue bunts the runner along for Nakamura.

Nakamura with a drive down right field!! That goes all the way to the wall! Iwasaki comes in to score! 2-1! Nakamura heading for 3rd! Relay throw comes in.... OUT!

Nakamura tries to stretch out the double, but it doesn't pay off! 2 down!

Yasuda in the batter's box now, battles against Iidzuka, and fouls off the inside pitches Iidzuka continues to pound.

He eventually hits one fair, but he's jammed and it's a liner to left to end the inning. Tenri though has cut the deficit in half.

Bottom 3rd
Yamada with a liner right off Numata! He puts his hand over the upper chest area and goes down.

The umpires come over and call the trainers. He's responsive as he's being looked at. But he's taken to the dugout as #11 Nishiguchi Tasuku warms up...

5 minutes later, and Numata comes out and retakes the mound! Honest to God, I don't see how he's okay at all after taking that hit, but he's on the mound again.

Yamada moves to 3rd after a bunt and a groundout. Ideguchi now looking for a one-timer...

But he pops it up! Kamezawa under it and catches it for the 3rd out!

Hopefully Numata is really okay as Tenri goes to pick up the sticks.

Top 4th
Tenri still having issues timing Iidzuka it appears. They're swinging, early, late and under pitches. As a result Iidzuka gets a 1-2-3 inning.

Bottom 4th
Masaki with a grounder to the right side after a stubborn AB. Uchino goes to field it, but slips. He tosses to Numata who makes the putout.

Sakamoto collects his 2nd hit as he singles past a diving Yaduda. And Okada-kantoku once again elects to bunt, and looking for a timely hit from Kaifu.

But he's jammed and pops it up! Yasuda behind the bag at 2nd, secures it for the out.

Top 5th
One down, Morigawa-kantoku calls in #16 Moriguchi Yuuki to pinch hit for Yanagimoto.

He grounds to 2nd, but Ebara doesn't field it cleanly! E4! #8 Sakakura Yuuki comes in to pinch run.

Iwasaki not bunting here, but it's a pop fly! Kaifu under it for the 2nd out.

And now Sakakura takes off on the 1st pitch! Sakamoto throws to 2nd and he's gunned down, 3 out!

Bottom 5th
Sakakura stays in the game at center.

Ebara with a drive to right, that's to the wall for a leadoff double!

Yamada trying to bunt, but fouls two off! He has to swing away, but Numata doesn't give him a pitch! The count runs full.

Grounder to 3rd! Irregular bounce and it's off Nakamura and deflects back towards Yasuda! But he was going to back up and he's out of position to get it! It goes off his glove and deflects to center! Sakakura up with the ball, but with Yasuda having the ball deflected and Iwasaki going to get it, no one is covering 2nd! Yamada advances without issue!

Tenri in a big pinch now!

Ishii with a slicing shot to right center! Sakakura running over makes the catch, but Ebara will easily score on that play, making it 3-1 Riseisha!

One down for Oonishi and he grounds to 1st. Uchino can only go to 1st and Yamada advances.

And Ideguchi walks putting runners at the corners.

AH! They have Ideguchi off 1st, but it's a trick! Yamada takes off on the pick off and scores! Ideguchi is run down but not before Riseisha plays add on! 4-1 as we head to the break!

Top 6th
Inoue with a single to center for a leadoff single.

There's no bunting for the middle batters as Nakamura swings away, but flies out to Ideguchi on the right field line.

Yasuda gets a hold of a ball and drives it to left center! Kaifu plays it off the wall as Yasuda is in with a double.

AH! But Uchino screws himself into the ground on a ball inside for strike 3! 2 down!

And Hasegawa first pitch swinging chops one back to Iidzuka! He goes to 1st and gets out of the jam!

Bottom 6th
Sakamoto collects his 3rd hit of the day as he singles to left.

Iiduzka sac bunts against for the 3rd time to cycle the lineup for Kaifu.

Kaifu with a liner, but it's right at Nakamura to end the inning.

Top 7th
Tenri with another leadoff baserunner as Kamezawa drives a ball to the center field wall for a double.

Numata grounds out to 2nd and that does the same as a bunt, moving Kamezawa over.

New CF Sakakura in against Iiduzka, and he is a pain in his side, continuing to foul off pitch after pitch after pitch. 12th pitch and Sakakura inexplicably takes it for strike 3. That after fouling off any pitch that was close...

And Iwasaki strikes out swinging on a pitch outside for strike 3.

Bottom 7th
Ebara with his 2nd hit of the day, a single to left. He takes off on the 3-2 pitch, and while Yamada strikes out, it's the same as a bunt.

And now Ishii walks on 4 straight.

Morigawa-kantoku calls a conference. At this point though, Tenri needs offense more than anything.

Oonishi grounds to Iwasaki, and he does a good job of getting the out at 2nd.

2 down for Ideguchi. It's a high chopper to short and Yasuda tosses it to 2nd for the 3rd out.

Top 8th
Tenri gets another leadoff runner as Inoue draws a walk. That's the 6th leadoff runner allowed by Iidzuka.

Oh? And #1 Taira Hirota comes in now to pitch for Riseisha!

And after Nakamura flies out to right, Yasuda grounds into the 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.

Bottom 8th
#11 Nishiguchi Tasuku comes in for Numata here in the 8th.

Masaki lines one at Nishiguchi but it's off to the side and off his glove. He recover and makes the play at 1st.

Sakamoto with another comebacker to Nishiguchi and there's 2 down.

Taira goes down looking, but Riseisha is 3 outs away from advancing.

Top 9th
Last ups for Tenri. Uchino with a dribbler up the right side, Taira gets it and takes it to the bag himself for the first out.

Hasegawa with a single to center, bringing up Kamezawa. But he hits into the 6-4-3 double play to end the game.

Riseisha showed that they were the better team in this game in all aspects, with the pitching if Iidzuka complimented by Taira, the hitting shown by batters such as Ebara, Yamada, and Sakamoto, and the thinking of their manager in Okada-kantoku with the fake pickoff.

For Tenri, it's another disappointing loss that is a reflection of the last 5 years. Without any improvement, they border on the line of being an Aomori Yamada...