87th Haru Koushien Field Announced!

So the field has been announced for the upcoming 87th Haru Koushien (aka Senbatsu). And while I goofed in only putting one team from the Hokushinetsu and Tokai regions in my projections, had I done it properly, I would have had all but one of the 29 main invitees pegged:

Hokkaido

• Toukai Dai-yon

Tohoku

• Sendai Ikuei (Aomori)
• Oomagari Kougyou (Akita)

Kanto

• Urawa Gakuin (Saitama)
• Kisaradzu Sougou (Chiba)
• Takasaki Kenkoudai Fukushi (Gunma)
• Jyousou Gakuin (Ibaraki)

Tokyo

• Toukaidai Sugao
• Nishogakushadai Fuzoku

Hokushinetsu

• Tsuruga Kehi (Fukui)
• Matsushou Gakuen (Nagano)

Tokai

• Shizuoka (Shizuoka)
• Kenritsu Gifu Shougyou (Gifu)

Kinki

• Tenri (Nara)
• Ritsumeikan Uji (Kyoto)
• Ryuukokudai Heian (Kyoto)
• Naradai Fuzoku (Nara)
• Osaka Touin (Osaka)
• Oumi (Shiga)

Chuugoku

• Ube Koujyou (Yamaguchi)
• Okayama Ridai Fuzoku (Okayama)
• Yonago Kita (Tottori)

Shikoku

• Eimei (Kagawa)
• Imabari Nishi (Ehime)

Kyushu

• Kyushu Gakuin (Kumamoto)
• Itoman (Okinawa)
• Kamimura Gakuen (Kagoshima)
• Kyushu Sangyoudai Kyushu (Fukuoka)

Meiji Jingu Bid

• Hachinohe Gakuin Kousei (Aomori)

21st Century Schools

• Toyohashi Kougyou (Aichi)
• Touin (Wakayama)
• Matusyama Higashi (Ehime)

Just to explain, it would generally be hard to pass up the runner-ups in the Hokushinetsu and the Tokai regions for a semifinalist. It would have taken a strong resume in order to do so (in my opinion anyways).

And as it turns out, the committee doesn't always go after brand name. Though I think there is a difference between Yokohama and Meitoku Gijyuku. Anyways, Meitoku does not get the benefit of the doubt this time around and the floating bid goes north to Yonago Kita - it's not like it's not well-deserved either.

As for the 21st century schools, they certainly did not consider baseball strength this time around. The 3 teams selected had some of the weakest resumes of the final pool. To be fair though, the 21st century invites were never supposed to be based on baseball merit.  Good for the trio though, the kids get an opportunity to play on the hallowed grounds of Koushien stadium - if even for a game.

There are a lot of familiar names this year - dotted with some newcomers. It may be scratch this time around, but hopefully it'll still end up in exciting baseball come March.