Monday, October 20, 2014

The road to senbatsu - Hokkaido champion decided!

Well, guess who's on a roll now?

After finally getting back to Koushien this past summer, Toukai Dai-yon decided that they liked it there enough to go back there again in the spring!

Oddly, they had trouble in the quarterfinals of the super-regional against Kitami Kougyou, as they rallied from down 2-0 in the final 2 innings with 2 in the bottom of the 9th to walk off to the semifinals. Compare that to the very next game where they mercy-ruled Komadai Tomakomai 14-7 in 7 innings!

They would have to face a Hokkai squad looking to wipe the bad taste of the summer from their mouths, and having to face Hokkaido Sakae, Hokushou and Sapporo Nichidai just to reach the finals - certainly more difficult that what Toukai Dai-yon had to face,

And yet, while the game was close, Toukai Dai-yon never trailed - scoring a run in the first on their way to a 3-2 win for their 5th title and 1st in 14 years.  This guarantees them a bid at senbatsu and a chance to earn the region one more bid at the Meiji Jingu tournament.