Our first day of Senbatsu ends with the eastern 21st century team Koyamadai facing off against formidable Riseisha. There isn't really much else to say regarding this matchup other than wishing Koyamadai the best of luck against the Osaka opponents.
Toritsu Koyamadai (Tokyo)
3B Kawai Kanta
LF Kazama Wataru (#16)
2B Oomichi Kouhei
1B Koumura Hiromi
P Itou Yuusuke
SS Nishiwaki Kouichi
C Yoshida Ryuuhei
RF Yamazaki Morio
CF Suwa Kenta
Riseisha (Osaka)
2B Inoue Kazuya
3B Tsuji Motomasa
SS Yoshida Yuuki
LF Nakayama Shouta
RF Nishimura Takahiro
C Hatta Natsu
1B Kinuta Shouta (#14)
CF Tateishi Satoshi
P Mizota Yuuto
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15:49 - First Pitch!
Top 1st
Mizota tries to catch the outside corner on Kawai, but doesn't get the call. Kawai though stays tough fouling off Mizota's offerings before he finally puts an outside slider into play - a dribbler up the 1st base line for the 1st out..
Kazama with a chopper to the right side as well, but this time Kinuta can't field the short hop and it bounces away from him for a base hit.
(Hey it's Ama-chan!)
Kazama takes off on the slow pitch, but it's high and Hatta is in position to throw to 2nd, nailing Kazama for the 2nd out. Oomichi meanwhile after getting up 3-0, finds himself full at 3-2.
Oomichi with a big hit to right! Nishimura going back, and makes the catch in front of the wall for the 3rd out. Not a bad swing though from Oomichi, just a little under is all.
Bottom 1st
One down, and Tsuji gaps one to right center for a double.
A short curve by Itou allows Tsuji to take 3rd and already Riseisha is threatening... But Itou buckles down and gets Yoshida swinging on a slider for the 2nd out!
And when I thought Itou wanted nothing to do with cleanup batter Nakayama falling behind 3-0, he goes right in the zone to fill up the count, then puts the fastball down and away for the K! Not bad!
Top 2nd
Koyamadai's ouen-dan is all yellow with a green narrow "K" for their school. Nice to see different colors out there, and a lot of support.
Koumura showing patience fo the #4 hitter, but while he makes contact, it's to Tateishi in deep center.
Mizota doesn't look anything more than the average pitcher with average velocity and the general repertoire. Location can be hit and miss.
Itou gets jammed by Mizota, Tsuji cuts off Yuuki and fires to 1st barely beating out a sprinting Itou.
Nishiwaki goes for the swinging away strategy, but grounds right to Miura for the out.
Bottom 2nd
Riseisha has a small section of deep blue with a yellow "R".
Nishimura leads off the inning with a ball under Nishiwaki for a base hit. Hatta has some trouble laying down the bunt, but does so with 2 strikes.
And there's another wild pitch from Itou putting a Riseisha runner again on 3rd.
Once again, Itou falls behind 3-0, and Kinuta gives it a rip, but it sharply slices foul to fill up the count. And Itou just misses down and in with his fastball, walking Kinuta.
Tateishi trying to lay down the safety bunt, pushes it foul. Itou is a few clicks faster than his counterpart, with apparently more control. This as Tateishi is swinging away. Kinuta picks a good time to steal 2nd as Itou buries the ball leaving Ryuuhei with no throw.
And while Itou attacked the middle of the order, he nibbles versus the lower part leaving the bases loaded for Mizota.
Mizota, recognizing his place, works the count as best he can, eventually running it full...
AH! Oshidashi! Itou's fastball is outside and he walks in a run! Riseisha leads 1-0!
And then after 3 walks, Itou comes back and gets Inoue to climb the ladder for the 2nd out.
Oh dear...
Tsuji with a ball to deep right, Yamazaki is giving up on it!
HAITAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's a manrui HR for Tsuji as Itou's issues against the bottom of Riseisha's lineup come back to haunt him in a big way. It's now 5-0 Riseisha.
Itou gets Nakayama to strike out to end the inning, but the damage is comprehensive.
Top 3rd
Koyamadai seems to at least to see the ball well, but it's not really equating to much here early. As I think that though Ryuuhei chimbs the ladder himself and goes down for the 1st out.
And then Yamazaki goes through a fastball inside for Mizota's 2nd K. Suwa swings early and hits an easy comebacker to Mizota for the 3rd out. 9 up, 9 sorta down.
Bottom 3rd
The on-again, off-again control of Itou continues as he hits Nishimura on a 58 foot pitch.
Hatta tries to bunt the runner along, but three-bunts and fouls out.
Itou goes after Kinuta and gets a chopper back to him for the 2nd out, and Tateishi to fly to left for the 3rd. It's a shame Itou did what he did in the 2nd...
Top 4th
Kawai unfortunately becomes Mizota's 3rd K as the umpires continue to call the high strike, calling him back on the 3-1 pitch. Kazama too goes full on Mizota, but waves on a change for the 2nd out.
Oomichi breaks up the Ks, but only with a weak groundout to 1st.
Bottom 4th
Itou seems to have lost the zone against #9 batter Mizota no less. But when Inoue pops hi bunt, Itou races towards the line, makes the pick right off the ground and fires to 1st to double off Mizota.
Itou continues to go after Tsuji and finally retires him, as he slices one to Nishiwaki who goes to first to retire the side.
Top 5th
With such a large lead, Mizota goes fastball on Koumura, catching the outside corner for the K. The rest of the inning look a lot like the last as Itou swings and misses on the change and Nishiwaki grounds right to Kinuta.
Bottom 5th
Itou back on his game again, gets ahead of Yoshida and just puts one down and out of his reach for his 6th K of the game. And then behind 2-0 to Nakayama, he once again fights his way to level before tying him up on an inside fastball to strike him out for the 3rd time.
Itou's switch gets turn off momentarily as he walks Nishimura, but then comes right back to put the fastball on the outside corner to strike out Hatta - striking out the side and putting him with 8 Ks.
*sighs*
Top 6th
Back to Mizota, he does look like more than a serviceable pitcher, as he can throw strikes with his variety of pitches. It will just be hard to to judge against the Koyamadai offense.
The bottom of the lineup goes down in order, with Yamazaki's K sandwiched between two weak grounders.
Bottom 6th
Kinuta with a grounder to short, Nishiwaki short hops Koumura and it bounds up and away into the camera well. Tateishi gets his bunting work in moving him to 3rd.
In addition, Mizota gets practice with the squeeze bunt as well with the game somewhat in hand. However, instead he takes a high fastball deep to left center for a RBI double, 6-0 Riseisha.
Inoue then gets out in front of a slider, but moves the runner along to 3rd with his grounder to Koumura.
With Tsuji up, Itou falls behind 3-0, then comes back to make it full. His change though is wide and Tsuji takes his base.
Yoshida bloops one to left center, Kazama charges in... but it drops in just in front of his diving attempt. Mizota scores to make it 7-0.
Nakayama finally gets the upper hand on Itou as he tags a slider left too much over the plate to center advancing all runners to the next position making it 8-0.
Nishimura pops out to Kawai to end the inning, but if reality hasn't been setting in for Koyamadai, I'm guessing it will be soon...
Top 7th
6 pitches for Mizota as the top of Koyamadai's order goes down on 3 groundouts.
While my records say this isn't the case, the official scoreboard has something I'm not going to mention.
Bottom 7th
Hatta finally gets the better of Itou as he draws a walk. After Kinuta sac bunt, Tateishi checks in with a hit past Nishiwaki.
Mizota does finally get his bunting practice in with a successful squeeze to make it 9-0. Inoue grounds to 2nd to end the inning.
Top 8th
4-5-6 batters for Koyamadai trying to prevent insult to injury. Koumura though pops out to Hatta near home plate.
Itou and Nishiwaki then proceed to ground out, and to the official scorers Mizota is 3 outs away from a no-hitter (I had that error in the 1st as a hit).
Bottom 8th
#12 Iseki comes in to catch for Yoshida.
After Tsuji is retired for just the 2nd time, Yoshida hits a comebacker that Itou stabs at, but deflects to the left side behind the mound for a base hit.
Nishiyama meanwhile, turns the tides on Itou again though he gets on base by getting hit. He's replaced at first by #16 Furutani.
Nishimura singles through the right side to make it 10-0, and a sac fly from Hatta makes it 11-0.
Kinuta grounds to 1st to end the inning...
Top 9th
And it's Koyamadai's last chance to avoid the no-hitter (according to the official score).
New C Iseki winds up watching strike 3 go by for the 1st out.... 2 to go.
#17 Takeshita in to hit for Yamazaki.
He gets jammed! The ball falls in behind Mizota! Tsuji charging in fires to 1st...
SAFE!!!!!
Takeshita beats out the throw from Tsuji and definitively breaks up the no-hitter!!
Having avoided being part of the wrong side of history, Suwa and Kawai ground into fielder's choices to end the game.
Well, Riseisha had that game from start to finish, but things may have been more competitive for a while had Itou avoided that early big inning. But he didn't and Riseisha cruised. Or should I say Mizota cruised for 8.1 innings before Takeshita broke up the no-hitter. Riseisha should be careful though and not let the easy win put them into complacency for the next run.
As for Koyamadai, they certainly should be happy to have gotten the chance to play at Koushien, but it probably stings to be routed in such a fashion. Hopefully they'll make another run in the summer.
Notable Players
Mizota Yuuto (Riseisha) - CG, SHO, 1 (I have 2) H, 8 K, 0 BB
Tsuji Motomasa (Riseisha) - 2-4, 2B, GS HR, 2 R, 4 RBI, BB
Nishimura Takahiro (Riseisha) - 2-3, R, BB, HBP
Mizota Yuuto (Riseisha) - 1-1, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB
Itou Yuusuke (Koyamadai) - CG, 8 ER, 10 H, 8 K, 8 BB, 2 HBP
Takeshita Naoki (Koyamadai) - 1-1
Kazama Wataru (Koyamadai) - 0-3 (I had him at 1-3 on that 1st inning play)
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