98th Natsu Koushien - Day 11, Game 2 - Hanasaki Tokuharu (Saitama) v Sakushin Gakuin (Tochigi)

This inter-regional matchup is probably the marquee game of the day as both Hanasaki Tokuharu and Sakushin Gakuin fight for a spot in the quarterfinals.

Hanasaki Tokuharu (Saitama)
2B Chimaru Tsuyoshi (千丸 剛)

RF Takahashi Toshiki (高橋 哉貴)

SS Okazaki Daisuke (岡崎 大輔)

LF (15)Nishikawa Yoshinari (西川 愛也)

3B Kusumoto Kouki (楠本 晃希)

CF Yamamoto Yuuya (山本 優也)

1B Nishime Kizuku (西銘 築)

P (10) Tsunawaki Sui (綱脇 慧)

C Nomoto Masayasu (野本 真康)

Sakushin Gakuin (Tochigi)

SS Yamamoto Genki (山本 挙輝)

RF Yamanoi Ryuuga (山ノ井 隆雅)

1B Irie Taisei (入江 大生)

CF Kobayashi Koutarou (小林 虎太郎)

2B Fujino Yuusuke (藤野 佑介)

LF Ikari Taisei (碇 大誠)

3B Shinozaki Takashi (篠崎 高志)

C Ayugase Kazuya (鮎ケ瀬 一也)

P Imai Tetsuya (今井 達也)

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10:50 - First pitch!

Imai out to show his presence on the mound, pumping in faster and faster fastballs. He strikes the first 2 batters out maxing at 152 kph (95 mph). That's good and all, but you have 8 more innings and 3 more games to go.

As for his counterpart, Tsunawaki won't be mistaken for such a fireballer. Unfortunately he gets into early trouble walking Yamamoto. Good thing though is that he's thrown out trying to steal 2nd. But with 2 down, he gives up back to back line drives to Irie and Kobayashi. He escapes out of the inning, but it appears he might have some work ahead of him...

Hanasaki Tokuharu gets their first hit out of the way quickly after, with Kusumoto hitting a ball to right center and hustling for a double. That's all they get though, but at least they've proven he's not unhittable.

And then we have our proverbial (at least this tournament) big inning. Sakushin Gakuin goes to town on Tsunawaki with singles from Ikari, Shinozaki, Imai and Yamanoi making it 3-0 before Irie blasts a HR to left center. 5-0 and #11 Shimizu enters the game.

(I'm coming down with a headache as well as being fatigued. Will be updating when I can)

Hanasaki Tokuharu does manage to score a run before the break, However, they had runners on the corners with 1 down in the 4th, and manrui with 2 out in the 5th and were not able to score any further to close the gap. There's some hope there in getting base runners, and in Imai's control, but they need to convert these with just 4 innings to go,

Quite predictably, Hanasaki Tokuharu doesn't recover from the deficit, unlike me who at least doesn't have the headache anymore (but I'm still tired as all heck). The spot start hurts them as they fail to win today to make use of resting the ace.