93rd Koshien Qualifying - July 10th & 11th (Part 1)

I'm going to mention as many schools as possible, but as all 49 regions eventually get underway, it'll be hard. Heck it's already hard as it is. Not to mention watching games live on the computer, which I was never able to do until recently.

Anyways, here we go!

Miyagi
Furukawa Reimei at Sendai Municipal shuts out Ishinomaki Koubunkan 3-0 despite just getting 3 hits. At Shibata, Ishinomaki gets the city on the board, though they defeat another devastated town and school in Kesennuma Nishi 9-1 in 7.

At Nango Chuo, Tohoku Gakuin looked to be dormy against Tohoku Seikatsu Bunkadai after scoring 3 in the top of the 9th to lead 9-1.

But in the early stages, heck in any stage, no lead is ever safe. Just ask Chuukyoudai Chuukyou 2 years ago.

And indeed Seikatsu mounts a comeback. One run became two, then three, then five, then seven!! Suddenly it was 9-8 and Tohoku Gakuin was in full freefall! Reliever Yamashita, brought in earlier to stop the bleeding and who had already given up 6 hits, finally records the final out and punches his team's ticket to the next round.

Rifu, who drew one of the 1st round games, cruised by Miyagi Kougyou 12-6.

Finally, at Tohoku Fukuji Daigaku's grounds, Kesennuma Kouyou gives that city their first win with a 6-2 win over Kurokawa while in a battle of Sendai, Sendai Shougyou scores the only run against Sendai Nishi.

On the 11th, it was a good day for the Ishinomaki schools as both Ishinomaki Kita and Ishinomaki Shougyou won their games at Shibata Stadium.

Same goes for Sendai at Sendai Municipal as Sendai Dai-ni and Sendai Dai-san, along with Ishinomaki Nishi all won. The trifecta of Sendai schools was completed when Sendai Dai-ichi defeated Zaou 6-4 at Rifu.

And at Tohoku Fukuji, Miyagi Nougyou led initially against Tagajyou but they would pull it out in the bottom of the 9th with the sayonara run.

Gunma
Over in Kiryuu Stadium, #8 seed Kiryuu Dai-ichi had no trouble with Ooizumi winning 8-2.

At Takasaki Jyounan, #2 Jyutoku mercy ruled Matsuida 14-0 in 5 innings.

Top seed Maebashi Shougyou needed 8 innings, but the team allows just 2 hits in a 7-0 shutout of Gunma Tousen at Shikishima.

And over at Maebashi Municipal. #7 seed Maebashi Ikuei has little trouble defeating Isesaki Kougyou. The final game between Kantou Gakuendai Fuzoku and Tatebayashi wound up being interesting as well. Kantou was leading 6-1 after 5 innings when Tatebayashi tried to close the gap. But whenever they scored runs, Kantou would score just as many in the bottom of the inning. And so after 7 it was 9-4.

That was when Tatebayashi decided to test Kantou in the 8th by scoring 4 runs to pull within 1!

Kantou this time had no answer and had to nurse home a one-run lead. Ace Kanai was able to hold on for the victory.

On the 11th, we had our first upset of the tournament as #6 seed Tokyo Noudai Dai-ni squandered a 1st inning 3-0 lead to Tone Shougyou at Isesaki. Tone scored the tying run in the top of the 9th and would score the go-ahead run in the 11th against ace Endou.

The last inning heroics would continue in the next game when Tomioka broke a scoreless tie with a solo HR by Fukuda in the top of the 8th against Chuo Chuto. But Chuto's RF Fukuyama would deliver the sayonara 2-run hit to send Tomioka home.

At Kiryuu, #5 seed Takasaki Shougyou didn't suffer the same fate, as they defeated Takasaki Kougyou 5-0.

At Takasaki, #3 Kiryuu Shiritsu Shougyou pulled away late against Seta Nourin, but did win 6-1.

And over at Shikishima, #4 seed Takasaki used a 10-run 1st to defeat Shimonita 12-2, while Takasaki Shoudai Fuzoku outlasted Fujioka Kougyou 3-2 in 13, and their reward is the aforementioned Takasaki.

Tochigi
Tochigi Prefecural was home to the seeded teams today. Sakushin Gakuin had no trouble with Nasu Takuyo winning 9-2 while Bunsei Geijyutsudai Fuzoku needed 5 innings to defeat Koufuku Gakuen. And in the only non-seeded game, the pitching seemed to fatigue late as Mashiko Housei and Tochigi Shounan combined for 15 runs in the last 3 innings. Sadly for Tochigi, it was 10-5 in favor of Mashiko.

In Tochigi Municipal, the final game of the day saw Sakura Seishuu with a 7-3 lead over Yaita early, but then in the bottom of the 9th Yaita begins a rally pulling within 3 then 2 and then 1! But Sakura ace Sugiyama finally shuts the door.

Moving on to the 11th, Sano Nichidai scored early and cruised to an 8-4 win over Tochigi at Kanuma.

In Prefectural Tochigi, Utsunomiya Seiryou led right off the bat against Oyama Nishi, then had to score a run in the 9th to tie it up. 2 runs in the 11th though gave them the win. Yaita Chuo blanked Nikko Meihou 10-0 in 5 in the 2nd game.

And in Shiritsu Tochigi, seeded Oyama cleans out Sano Shouyou 9-0 in 8 while Imaichi Kougyou allows 7 runs in the last 3, and 4 in the bottom of the 9th to blow a 5-0 lead and fall 7-6 to Kuroiso.

Ibaraki
The featured game today was at Mito Municipal, Sakai held an 8-0 lead over Seishin Gakuen after 4½ innings.

And then Seishin mounted a comeback...

4 runs in the 5th, and 2 more in the 6th meant that it was just a 2-run deficit with just 3 innings to go. Still, after a run in the 7th for Sakai it was a 3-run game.

But in the bottom of the 8th, Seishin puts up a crooked number on the board...

And that number happens to be 4!!!

Seishin going into the last inning takes the lead 10-9!!!

Sakai with one last try to tie the game is unsuccessful and Seishin Gakuen completes the comeback!

2nd place goes to the Katsuta-Touyoudai Ushiku where Katsuta led 4-0 after 2 innings. However Touyoudai goes on a 10-1 run in the last 7 innings for a 10-5 win.

1st round games continued on the 11th as Hitachi Kougyou and Sanwa fought at Kasama. Not literally of course. Hitachi would break out to a 4-0 lead before Sanwa tied it up soon thereafter. The teams traded runs the rest of the game and they would head into enchousen tied at 7. They wouldn't be there for long though as Hitachi scores 2 in the top of the 10th. Sanwa mounts a rally, but can only score 1.

Ken's favorite team, Mito Sakuranomaki, had no trouble at home against Makabe winning 26-0 in 5.

Saitama
Saitama with so many teams, throw out 24 games on Day 2. and 23 the next day.

Games on the 10th included Wasedadai Honjyou defeating Miyashiro 3-0, 9-16 seed Tokorozawa Kita will have to wait another week before playing their first game as Koshigaya Higashi forfeited their game to them, while fellow seed Sayamagaoka advanced 6-2 over Tokorozawa Shougyou and Rikkyou Niiza defated Fukuoka 16-0 in 5.

We saw some better games on the 11th, especially at Koshigawa Municipal. Dokkyou Saitama led Souka Minami 2-0 before Souka scored 4 in the 7th. Dokkyou recovered to tie the game in the 8th to send it into extras. 2 innings later, Dokkyou would score the go-ahead run.

In the 2nd game, Souka and Shouwa would go 12 innings before Souka scores the sayonara run to win 2-1.

At Iwatsuki, Tokorozawa scores 2 in the bottom of the 8th to pull ahead of Kasukabe Higashi to win 2-1 while at Koshigaya, Kodama Hakuyou let Sugito Nougyou level the score after leading 5-0, but scored 3 runs thereafter to separate themselves again.

5-8 seed Shiritsu Kawaguchi led the featured games over at Prefectural Oomiya as they faced Kuki Hokuyou. Shiritsu Kawaguchi was never able to shake off Kuki Hokuyou the entire game, as both teams had numerous scoring opportunities and neither team led by more than 2. Down 7-6 Shiritsu Kawaguchi would tie the game sending it into extras, but 2 innings later, Kuki Hokuyou would score the go-ahead run. LF Furukawa would deliver a triple to put the tying run 90 feet away, but Yamada would pop out to 2nd to end the game. The next game saw fellow seed Kasukabe Kyouei shut out Jyousaidai Kawagoe. And no, Konata nor Kagami were to be found. To round it out, 9-16 seed Kawaguchi defeated Matsubushi 20-0 in 5.

At Shiritsu Oomiya, 1-2 seed Hanasaki Tokuharu had an auspicious start against Fujimi. Leading by just a margin of 2-0, Fujimi scored 2 in the 6th to tie the game. It wouldn't be until the bottom of the 9th before Hanasaki Tokuharu would win the game. The other 1-2 seed, Ageo , handled Misato Kita nicely 6-1 at home over at Ageo Municipal.

In other games, Yorii Jyouhoku made a 4-run 1st stick against Iwatsuki Shougyou, winning 4-3. Kawagoe Kougyou trailed 1-0 to Sakado Nishi right from the get-go, and needed all 9 innings to score the tying run. The perseverance paid off 2 innings later as they scored the sayonara run to send they boys from Sakado home crying.