Day 3, Game 4 - Kouryou (Hiroshima) v. Mie (Mie)

(Writeup to follow later)

Kouryou (Hiroshima)
SS Akagawa Taichi
RF Matsubara Ryouyuu
3B Sano Yuuta
C Oota Hikaru
1B Kita Shingo
LF Hirokane Asato
CF Hayashi Takuma
P Yoshikawa Kazuki
2B Fujishiro Rei

Mie (Mie)
CF Nagano Hayato
2B Sada Taiki
SS Utsunomiya Touma
1B Nishioka Musashi
LF Inaba Ryuuya
3B Uchida Ren
RF Seko Ren
C Nakabayashi Kengo
P Imai Shigetarou

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16:09 - First Pitch!

Top 1st
Before the siren finishes, Akagawa swings and flies out to Inaba for out #1.  Matsubara flies out as well, and it might look like a short inning. Sano though spoils it with a single to left.

Doesn't last for long though as Oota grounds to 3rd and the side is retired.

Bottom 1st
Nagano makes a routine groundout to 1st very close as he runs through the bag. Just thrown out by a step.

Sada and Utsunomiya hit comebackers to Yoshikawa and just like that the side is retired.

Top 2nd
If Kita was hit, he must have been barely grazed.

Hirokane with a ball down the left field side all the way to the wall! That dead ball as it was comes around to score on the double and Kouryou leads 1-0!  Hayashi bunts the runner to 3rd.

Yoshikawa hits a fly to fairly deep right, allowing Hirokane to score making it 2-0.

Fujishiro grounds to 2nd to end the inning, and Kouryou has the early lead.

Bottom 2nd
Nishioka leads off with a single to right.

Yoshikawa though uncorks a wild pitch and Nishioka advances to 2nd. Inaba wasn't bunting, and wound up striking out.  Nishioka makes it as far as 3rd, but is stranded when Seko grounds to short.

Top 3rd
Matsubara gets a one out base hit, but he's replaced by Sano after they can't turn the normal way,

Oota flies out to right and the side is retired.

Bottom 3rd
Mie can manage only a 2-out single by Nagano, bunt they can't get anwhere as Sada grounds out to end the inning.

Top 4th
Situation brewing for Kouryou as Hirokane singles up the middle, and then Yoshikawa follows that up with a base hit to left center. Fujishiro can't drive him in as he grounds out to end the inning,

Bottom 4th
After a hard liner by Utsunomiya, Nishioka is able to draw a walk.  They elect to not bunt, but Inaba almost hits into a double play after hitting a grounder to 1st. Instead Kouryou only gets the lead runner and the inning continues.

Uchida checks in with a base hit as he singles through the right side.

Seko with a liner into center for a base hit!  Nishoka rounds 3rd and will score on the play! Mie cuts the margin to 2-1!! Now Nakabayashi with a chance to tie the game!

Nakabayashi reaches down and hits a slider! Akagawa going back to try and field it, but it's over his head! Uchida scores and we're all tied at 2-2!

Imai grounds out to end the inning, but not before Mie make it a whole new ballgame!

(Once again, due to lack of sleep ~2 hrs and me getting older, I dozed off sometime after the bottom of the 4th. I managed to catch certain bits throughout and will include them here.)

So with momentum on Mie's side, they threatened one again in the 5th.  After a base hit by Nagano and a sac bunt, Utsunomiya would get hit by a pitch and Mie had a legitimate rally going.  Yoshikawa stuck to the game plan though and pitched outside exclusively to Nishioka, which earned him a K when he painted the fastball on the outside corner. Inaba would turn over a ball to 2nd and that ended the threat.

The mid-game break would prove to be a good reset point for Kouryou after conceding the lead.  After a quick 6th inning, Yoshikawa would come to bat to start the 7th and he would punish a misplaced fastball just inside the foul pole giving Kouryou back the lead at 3-2.

That would rattle Imai as he would later load the bases, and then hit Kita to drive in another run, reestablishing the 2-run margin Kouryou had earlier.

Mie would scuffle in the 7th and 8th innings, and soon found themselves in the bottom of the 9th still trailing by 2.  With one down, Seko and Nakabayashi would string together back-to-back hits putting the douten runner at 1B.  With nothing to lose, the PH for Imai, but #10 Yamamoto would fly out.

Now down to their last out, Nagano did whatever he could to keep the game alive and with Yoshikawa temporarily unable to find the zone, reached on a walk to load the bases.  But that brought up Sada, who hadn't gotten a hit all game.

That all changed when Yoshikawa left a fastball up in the zone and Sada sent it back up the middle.  Both Seko and Aoki (running for Nakabayashi) would score, tying the game and keeping Mie alive.  Utsunomiya would be unable to win it in regulation, so off to enchousen we went.

Neither team however seized control of the game in the 10th, which meant the momentum Mie built by tying the game had disappeared.  Not to mention the fact that because Mie went all in during the 9th they had to get a little creative with their defense.  #12 Mori would come in to pitch, #14 Kan would take over at 1B, and Nishioka would go from 1B to C!

In the top of the 11th, it looked like Mie had run out of time.  After a 1-out single by Akagawa, a ground ball to Utsunomiya would be thrown away and instead of getting an out, Kouryou suddenly had runners at 2nd and 3rd.  But Mori and his funky delivery would find a way to strike out Sano, and get Oota to fly out to center, ending the threat!

Of course with that, momentum was squarely back with Mie.  Seko took full advantage hitting a gapper for a leadoff double.  Kan laid down the sac bunt, but Yoshikawa gambled, throwing to 3rd instead.  But his throw was offline and everyone wound up being safe!  Mori had a chance to end the game right then and there, but wound up hitting a comebacker to Yoshikawa for the 1st out.

With an extra base and Nagano having 3 hits on the day, they elected to walk him with the open base available.

It seemed to pay off when Sada hit right to 2nd and Fujishiro went home for the 2nd out.

Utsunomiya was up and he was hitless on the day as well.  But Yoshikawa's pitch count was already at 160+ and before he knew it, he was behind 3-0.  He managed to put a fastball in for a strike, but on the 169th pitch of the game, he threw it high and inside for the oshidashi, sayonara win for Mie.