Day 7, Game 4 - Kasukabe Kyouei (Saitama) v. Tsuruga Kehi (Fukui)

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Kasukabe Kyouei (Saitama)
SS Shimizu Shouta
2B Sano Naoki (#14)
C Moriya Genki
3B Harada Hiroki
1B Miura Tomohiro
P Kaneko Daichi
CF Nagaoka Daichi
RF Kobayashi Shintarou
LF Takano Ryouji

Tsuruga Kehi (Fukui)
1B Shinohara Ryou
3B Shimomura Takamasa
SS Asai Kouya
C Okada Kouta
CF Mine Kentarou
RF Oyana Shou
P Hiranuma Shouta
LF Yamamoto Akihiro
2B Nakamoto Takahiro

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15:20 - First Pitch!

Top 1st
Shimizu singles through the left side as the siren blares!  Sano tries to bunt him over, but Hiranuma is on the ball and goes to 2nd for the force.

After Moriya chases a slider in the other batter's box, Sano tries to steal 2nd, but Okada throws him out by a good margin to retire the side.

Bottom 1st
Shinohara with a chopper in front of home.  Kaneko takes it, throws to 1st, wide!!!  He throws it wide and Shinohara is safe!  Shimomura bunts him over.  And he moves to 3rd on a grounder from Asai.

Okada with a drive to center!  Nagaoka back to the fence!  He looks up!

HAITAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okada hits one to dead center and Tsuruga Kehi is ahead 2-0!

Mine grounds out to short, but Okada with the first strike!

Top 2nd
Meanwhle ace Hiranuma strikes out cleanup hitter Harada on an outside fastball, while Miura and Kaneko ground out to 2nd.

Bottom 2nd
Oyana starts out the 2nd with a base hit back up the middle.  Hiranuma tries to but the runner over, ends up with 2 strikes.

They go for the bust-and-run! Shimizu chases it down in the gap but he has no throw!  All safe!

Bunt from Yamamoto, Kaneko leaves it for Harada, but by the time he gets it he has no play!  All safe again!

Nakamoto with a chopper up the left side, AHHH!!   Harada perhaps didn't expect the spin, but it goes off his glove and Shimizu has to run it down!  Everyone moves up a station and it's 3-0 Tsuruga Kehi!

Shinohara with a chopper to 1st.  Miura goes home and cuts the run down. One out.

Shimomura tries the squeeze, but pushes it foul.  2 strikes.

Liner off of Kaneko!  It deflects to the right side and there's no play! 4-0.

Kaneko is hurt on the play and has to head to the dugout for treatment.  On replay, that hit him on his pitching arm.

After a small delay, Kaneko emerges, but it'll be left to see how he pitches.

Asai hard grounder to short, Shimizu fumbles the ball, can only go to 2nd for the out.  Nakamoto scores to make it 5-0.

Ah, and now Kaneko hits Okada to load the bases yet again.

Now a wild pitch!  Shinohara comes home and the game is getting out of hand at 6-0.

Kaneko finally gets out of the inning as Mine grounds to 3rd.  Harada goes across the diamond and gets the 3rd out.

Top 3rd
One down, Kobayashi with a ball to the right side, and is fielded by a diving Shinohara!  Throw to a covering Fujinuma is behind him and he's on safely!

But Takano goes down looking on a borderline pitch and Shimizu flies out to left.

Bottom 3rd
Hiranuma gets a one-out single, his 2nd in as many innings, but Kaneko retires Yamamoto and Nakamoto to end the inning.

Top 4th
Sano with a grounder to the left side, Asai stops it in the gap, but has no play.

Down 6 there is no bunting, but Moriya flies out to center.  Mine tries to be cool and double off Sano, but throws it away instead allowing him to advance to 2nd.

Harada hits a ball hard, but right to Asai for the 2nd out.  And no harm is eventually done as Miura hits a comebacker to Hiranuma for the 3rd out.

Bottom 4th
Shinohara with a hard hit ball to third, it trickles behind Harada for a base hit.  He's bunted to 2nd.

Tsuruga Kehi continuing to hit the ball hard.

Asai with a liner right to Harada, and after a walk, Mine's liner to right is robbed by a great running catch from Kobayashi.

Top 5th
It almost feels like Kasukabe Kyouei has waved the flag.  It takes just 8 pitches for Hiranuma to retire the side as Kasukabe Kyouei is aggressively attacking the pitches.

Bottom 5th
Tsuruga Kehi is fine with this pace and is happy to go down in order if it speeds up the game.  They go down in 6 pitches and we hit the break with Hokushinetsu ready to remain undefeated.

6th-9th Innings
There was almost nothing of note since Kasukabe Kyouei was already waving the white flag at the plate.

The one exception worth mentioning is the 8th when with Tsuruga Kehi at bat with one out, a runner on 3rd, and the count 2-1, Honda-kantoku replaced Sano at 2B with Kogure. Shinohara hit a ball right to him, he fired home and despite the collision, Moriya held onto the ball for the out.

That and Kasukabe Kyouei scored a run in the 9th to avoid the shutout.  Tsuruga Kehi advances with a 10-1 win.