Our penultimate matchup in the 2nd round has teams looking to enter or are in uncharted territory.
For Ube Koujyou, they're already there. They're appearing at their first Natsu Koushien, and have won their first game. Now they're looking to advance for a chance at the Best 8.
Against fellow first-timers Toyama Kougyou, they put runners on base almost every inning putting pressure on their ace Kamezawa, rallying from an early deficit to walk off 5-4.
Their ace Sasanaga as mentioned struggled, giving up 4 runs in the first 3 innings, capped off with a 3-run HR by Toyama Kougyou cleanup hitter Araki. He settled down afterwards, but he needs to avoid the big inning early if he want to help Ube Koujyou advance.
Meanwhile Sasebo Jitsugyou will be looking for their 2nd win this summer, something they haven't been able to do.
In their first round win against Sapporo Dai-ichi, Sajitsu like Ube Kougyou put runners on every inning with less than 2 outs, and always were just a step ahead of the Minami Hokkaido representatives. They had quite a few base hits, but were also taking their fair share of walks.
Ace Kimura scattered 10 hits, 6 of which were thanks to 2 Sapporo Dai-ichi batters. I'm not sure how Ube Koujyou would compare to Sapporo Dai-ichi, especially since the lack of K's in prefectural play did not correlate once they got to Koushien.
Ube Koujyou's done well for their first Natsu Koushien, but I do expect their run to end here in the 2nd round.
Ube Kougyou (Yamaguchi)
LF Tomonaga
C Nishino
SS Yamaoka
RF Hinoguchi
CF Kanemaru
3B Oono
P Sasanaga
1B Sugita
2B Yasuda
Sasebo Jitsugyou (Nagasaki)
CF Nagatani
C Ura
3B Yamaguchi Akira
2B Matsuyama
RF Tateishi
P Kimura
LF Sakai (#17)
SS Yamaguchi Makoto
1B Nagayama (#13)
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10:45 - First Pitch
Top 1st
Tomonaga swings on the first pitch, ball deflects off Kimura to the right side, as Matsuyama picks it and throws to 1st to record the first out just as the siren trails off.
After a strike out swinging on an inside slider, Hinoguchi hits a ball past the infield into right.
But Kanemaru flies to right to end the inning.
Bottom 1st
Nagatani goes down looking on a fastball for the first out.
Ura stands in, takes a 5-pitch walk. Akira laying down the bunt, and it's a safety bunt! Ball goes towards the right side as both Sugita and Yasuda go for the ball. Sugita gets the ball, but no one's covering 1st! Everyone's safe!
But Matsuyama bails Sasanaga out by grounding into the 6-4-3 double play to end the inning!
Top 2nd
Oono with a drive to deep right center! Nagatani and Tateishi head towards the wall and it falls in just in front of it! He goes for 3rd as the relay throw goes wide! And he's in safely!
Sasanaga with a chance to put Ube Koujyou up early, but he sofly lines out to 2nd!
Nishino gets the job done with a fly to right! Tateishi there to make the catch and Oono scores to make it 1-0 Ube Koujyou!
Yasuda follows that up by blooping a ball over Akira's head for a base hit!
Kimura ends the inning by freezing Sugita on a fastball, but the newcomers strike first!
Bottom 2nd
Sasanaga with a quick inning as he induces 2 groundouts from Tateishi and Kimura and throws 3 strikes to Sakai for a clean sheet in the 2nd.
Top 3rd
Tomonaga with a drive to left! Sakai to the wall as the ball bounces off the fence! Leadoff double for Ube Koujyou!
Yamaoka with the sac bunt threatens to extend their lead!
Hinoguchi hits a fly to center, but it's short! Kanemaru with it and Tomonaga can't tag up!
And cleanup batter Kanemaru grounds to 2nd for the 3rd out!
Bottom 3rd
One down, new 1B Nagayama (in because Sasahara was injured last game) draws a walk and flips the lineup back to Nagatani.
Hit-and-run! Nagayama takes off as Nagatani singles through the infield to right! Hinokuchi fires to 3rd, but Nagayama is in safely! And Nagatani smartly advances to 2nd on the throw!
Big chance for Ura if he can at least get a sac fly.
But he goes down on a slider inside and there's 2 down!
Up to Akira now to get the douten run home. He fights off a couple after the count goes 2-2.
Single through to left! Nagayama scores! Nagatani being waved around! Throw from Tomonaga...not in time! Akira with the 2-out 2-run double gives Sajitsu the 2-1 lead!
Now Sasanaga walks Matsuyama and Ube Koujyou really in trouble here!
Tateishi with a first pitch line shot to left! Akira holds up at 3rd. Manrui now for Kimura.
But he swings away and hits a fly to right! Hinokuchi back and makes the catch for the 3rd out! Sasanaga limits the damage, but can't preserve the lead.
Top 4th
Oono with a shot to deep left! Sakai running back, reaches out his glove, and makes the catch as he tumbles in front of the wall! Nice play!
Sasanaga gets on base with a single back up the middle.
Ozaki-kantoku puts on the hit-and-run,and Nishino singles through to left! Sasanaga holds at 2nd.
Chance for Ube Koujyou to score the douten run, but Yasuda hits a fly to center! Nagatani with the catch and Sasanaga doesn't tag up!
Doesn't matter though as Sugita rolls a grounder to 1st. Nagayama takes it to the bag to retire the side.
Bottom 4th
Sakai with a sharp liner to right for a leadoff single. Makoto lays down the bunt, Nishino goes to 2nd, but the throw is wide! Everyone's safe!
Nagayama successfully lays down the bunt and now a base hit can really expand the lead.
But Sasanaga catches Makoto off base! He throws to 2nd and that's the 2nd out! One more and he's out of the pinch!
Nagatani gets the bat around on an inside pitch and singles to left again! Sakai scores to make it 3-1 Sajitsu!
Ura with a grounder that deflects off Sugita! Nagatani rounding 2nd pressing for 3rd, and is in safely!
Ura taking off for 2nd, throw from Nishino there, but the ball is knocked out and goes into center! Nagatani scores on the error and it's now 4-1!!
Akira grounds to 3rd to end the inning, but Sajitsu doubles their run total here in the 4th!
Top 5th
Kimura leaves one up and Tomonaga lines it down the left field line fair! He's in with his 2nd double of the day!
Yamaoka with a ball to right center! Tateishi, playing in ranges to his right, dives, and misses it! It goes to the wall with Nagatani in chase! Tomonaga scores as Yamaoka has an RBI triple! It's 4-2!!
Hinoguchi now with a single to right! Yamaoka scores to make it a 1-run ball game! It's 4-3!!
Shimizu-kantoku calls for a pitching change. #11 Yamashita comes in for Nagayama and takes over on the mound. Kimura moves to 1B.
But to Kinoshita's first batter, he falls behind Kanemaru 3-0 before getting a strike.
Kanemaru completely crushes a hanging slider from Kinoshita!! There's no doubt about this one! The ball clears by a wide margin as Kanemaru hits a gyakuten 2-run HR to give Ube Koujyou the 5-4 lead!
Kinoshita finally gets the first out of the inning as Oono flies out to right. But Sasanaga keeps the hit parade going with a chopper back up the middle!
But Kinoshita finally shuts the door on the inning as Nishino grounds to 1st and Yasuda to short. But 4 consecutive hits, capped of by Kanemaru's 2-run HR has given newcomers Ube Koujyou the lead!
Bottom 5th
Matsuyama looks to get the lead back for Sajitsu as he flares one to center.
He then takes off on the 2-2 pitch! Ball inside and dropped by Nishino and Matsuyama reaches safely.
Tateishi tries to keep his AB going, but his attempt to foul one off leads to a flyout to shallow center to Yamaoka.
Kimura with a fly ball to center, but Kanemaru is there for the out. And Yamaoka makes a great stop on a grounder by Sakai for the 3rd out.
We hit the break with Ube Koujyou having come through big in the 4th to take the lead and knock out the ace of the Sajitsu staff. The question will be if the relief staff can hold on and if the offense can mount a rally.
Top 6th
Sugita reaches out and grounds one through the right side for a leadoff single. Nagatomo lays down the bunt to put him in scoring position for Yamaoka. He first pitch singles past a diving Makoto. Runners on 1st and 3rd now for Ube Koujyou!
Hinokuchi slices a ball past Akira, fair! It's fair down down the left field line as Sugita scores! Hinokuchi with a RBI double to make the lead 6-4!
Kanemaru up with 1st base open, they can be careful with him.
Or not.
Kinoshita puts once over as Kanemaru singles to right! Yamaoka and Hinokuci both score and now it's Ube Koujyou who has doubled up Sajitsu at 8-4!
Oono goes down swinging for the 2nd out.
Kanemaru now takes off for 2nd during Sasanaga's AB and he just beats the throw from Ura.
Sasanaga flies out to center to end the inning, but it is starting to look clear that Sajitsu does not have the armpower to stay in this game.
Bottom 6th
One down, and Kinoshita, who I guess is not used to going up to bat, arrives late then hits a single to center!
Nagatani gets the green light on 3-1 and grounds into the 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.
Top 7th
One down and Yasuda hits a letter high fastball to left for a base hit.
Sugita with a grounder to 2nd, and it goes under Matsuyama's glove into right! Runners on 1st and 3rd now for Ube Koujyou on the error!
Tomonaga with the bunt, but Yasuda not going home! So only Sugita advances on the bunt. 2 down.
Yamaoka with a liner... fair! Fair down the 3rd base line! Sakai quickly gets it in, but not before both runners score to make it 10-4.
Hinokuchi strikes out swinging to end the inning, but they've extended their lead.
Bottom 7th
It's an easy inning for Sasanaga as he strikes out 2 in a clean 1-2-3 inning.
Top 8th
Kanemaru reaches down and his one down the right field line. Tateishi running over, puts his glove out but can't catch it! He chases it down as it goes to the wall and Kanemaru slides in with a triple.
Oono with a hit past a diving Makoto into center for a base hit.
Shimizu-kantoku decides at this point to probably let his ace finish it, so Kimura takes the hill once again with #14 Yoshitake coming in for Kinoshita and going to 2st.
Sasanaga with his 3rd hit of the day, a single to left.
Nishino reaches down and hits one to center. Nagatani makes the running catch and makes the easy toss to 1st for the third out.
Bottom 8th
Sasanaga records 3 more groundouts here in the 8th as they are dormy to advance now.
Top 9th
Yasuda with another ball slicing past Akira down the left field line. Sakai there to, he slips! Sakai slips and falls as the ball follows the curvature near the foul pole! Yasuda continuing to run to 3rd, and turns for home! Throw in in not in time and it's a running HR for Yasuda. 12-4.
Kimura retires the next 3 batters to end the inning, and now it's last call for Sasebo Jitsugyou.
Bottom 9th
#7 Tanaka in to hit for Makoto, draws a 4 pitch walk. #10 Koyanagi in for Yoshitake also draws a walk (he's replaced by #15 Fukuda).
Nagatani with a ball to left. That's over Tomonaga's head. Tanaka scores on the double to make it 12-5.
Ura follows that up with a ball to the left center field gap. It rolls all the way to the wall as both Fukuda and Nagatani score to make it 12-7 on the double.
Akira tries to go for it all with a drive to left. But Tomonaga is there near the foul pole for the 1st out. If the rally was to be serious, he needed to try and draw a walk. The HR would have still put them down 3.
Matsuyama does indeed sit, and he walks on 4 straight.
Ozaki-kantoku's waited as long as he could, but before it gets out of hand, he sends in Kanemaru from center to take the mound. Sasanaga goes to replace him in center.
Tateishi flies out to right for the 2nd out.
Last chance for Sajitsu lies with ace Kimura.
Kimura pops it up. Nishino under it and makes the catch to send Ube Koujyou to the round of 16 with a 12-7 win! Sajitsu tried to mount a last minute rally, but it was just too much Ube Koujyou pounded out too many hits against an ineffective Sajitsu staff.
So for Sajitsu their road ends in the 2nd round, unable to win their 2nd consecutive game. Things did look good early as they were able to get to a 4-1 lead, but Ube Koujyou was able to figure out ace Kimura and it was game over. Still, getting a win is getting a win, so they should be proud of that, though it still hurts.
For Ube Koujyou, their cinderella run at Koushien continues as they wait for the winner of the next game in the 3rd round for a spot in the Best 8. For a first timer team, they certainly aren't playing like one. And I'm not impressed by their hitting because their hitting is for the most part hard and low.
And I guess I was dead wrong about Ube Koujyou in this game. Not gonna jinx them now.
Notable Players
Kanemaru Shou (Ube Koujyou) - 3-5, 2B, HR, 2 R, 4 RBI
Yamaoka Yuuki (Ube Koujyou) - 3-5, 2B, 2 R, 3 RBI
Hinokuchi Yoshio? (Ube Koujyou) - 3-5. 2 R, 2 RBI, K
Yasuda Shou (Ube Koujyou) - 3-5, Running HR, 2 R, RBI
Nagatani Ryouya (Sasebo Jitsugyou) - 3-5, 2B, 3 R, RBI
Yamaguchi Akira (Sasebo Jitsugyou) - 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI
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