So yesterday we relatively eased into Koushien. After two games that went as expected, the team that perhaps surprised everyone in Soushi Gakuen almost did it again taking Hokkai to the wire.
The changes made at Koushien this year because of the Great Tohoku-Kanto Earthquake which include speeding up time between games means that the action just keeps on rolling from game to game, and there's little time to catch one's breath.
Today should be no different.
Opening today's action will be our first 21st Centrury team in Oodate Houmei. They took a circuitous route to Koushien which normally wouldn't happen if this was the Natsu Koushien. In the Kita regionals, they had lost to Noshiro Shougyou then won their part of the loser's bracket to make the prefecturals. There they had a quality win against Honjyou on their way to winning the prefecturals. Finally, they had went wire-to-wire with Aomori Yamada falling short 4-3.
They received their invitation based upon their strong play in the fall as well as their recent performance, and it is noted that the staff of 76 teachers do their best to balance work and extracurricular activities.
Oodate Houmei's opponent on paper is a team that should have a good chance to win it all. Yet much like a Texas or a Pittsburgh in college basketball, they underperform when it gets to tournament time.
That team is Tenri.
This year, they won their 7th super-regional title. The prefecturals were yet another formality as they, Chiben Gakuen and Kooriyama all reached the Best 4 for the n-teenth time. And with a 10-3 win over Kooriyama secured a spot in the super-regionals. There they wound up facing a relatively easier schedule early in the super-regionals , missing Osaka Touin (who was upset by Kakogawa Kita). They then had to scramble against Chiben Wakayama after giving up 5 runs in the 7th & 8th innings scoring a pair in the 8th, and 2 more in the bottom of the 9th for a sayonara win. Finally, they avenged their loss to Riseisha at last year's Natsu Koushien, taking the title 2-1.
Tenri's squad continues to be rather deep and solid, but surprisingly they were not challenged as much in the strong Kinki super-regionals. This could easily mask weaknesses that were not exploited in the fall, and could spell yet another early exit from Koushien. Although perhaps for one game, that may not be the case.
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Oodate Houmei (Akita) - 21st Century Team
2B Shinomura Kyouhei
CF Yoshida Hayato
SS Onuki Keita
1B Sakuma Ryousuke
3B Sasake Kousuke
LF Takko Masaya
C Narita Shou
RF Satou Tasuku
P Saitou Kouhei
Tenri (Nara) - Kinki Champions
2B Nishura Jyouji
SS Okabe Ryou
LF Moriguchi Yuuki
1B Hasegawa Shouma
3B Date Shougo
CF Yanagimoto Keisuke
RF Higashida Motohiro
C Yoshida Ryouta
P Nakatani Keita (#11)
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9:00 - Game start!
Top 1st
It's Nakatani on the mound. I think the longer he's out there, the better Tenri is.
Shinomura with a grounder up the middle. Okabe makes a diving stop behind the bag! Throw to first in time! Nice play by the Tenri defense to start the game!
Yoshida with a pop up to 2nd for the 2nd out.
Nakatani is about to get out of the inning when he walks Onuki. And with a runner on, I forgot that Nakanani pays a LOT of attention to the runner. He throws at least 5 times over to 1st.
Nevertheless, he comes back to strike out Sakuma to end the inning.
Bottom 1st
Saitou off to a good start as he gets Nishiura to pop out in foul territory.
He looks to have Okabe retired, but Onuki boots it! Throw is late and Tenri has a runner.
Morikawa-kantoku elects to go for the sac bunt, and Moriguchi lays it down. That sets it up for cleanup batter Hasegawa.
And a wild pitch from Saitou! Okabe goes to 3rd!
But Saitou settles down and gets Hasegawa to pop up to shallow center. Shinomura camps under it and makes the catch ending the threat.
Top 2nd
Sasaki with a base hit to left! Oodate Houmei gets a leadoff runner!
Takko looks to bunt the runner along, but falls behind 1-2. Nakatani gets him to hit a fly to center. Yanagimoto runs in and makes the catch.
おっと。Nakatani hits Narita. It looks close on the replay, but I can see some deflection.
えぇぇぇぇぇぇぇぇぇ？ Nakatani hits Satou?????? It's manrui for Oodate Houmei!!
Saitou up, showing bunt, but it's probably a buster stance. Either way, he looks at 3 straight and there's 2 outs.
Back to the top of the order and Shinomura. Nakatani bearing down gets ahead 1-2, then gets Shinomura to pop up! Hasegawa under it just in foul territory and makes the catch! Tenri gets out of the jam!!
Bottom 2nd
One down for Tenri, and Saitou "hits" (if you want to call it that) Yanagimoto with a slow curve.
There's no bunt here, but Higashida pops it up. Narita out from behind home plate down the 3rd base line makes the catch.
Yoshida up and Yanagimoto takes off for 2nd! He gets a good jump and steals the bag.
あら？ Yanagimoto takes off for 3rd! It's a slow curve, but Narita fires the ball to 3rd in plenty of time! I wonder if he got a good jump at all to be caught like that.
Top 3rd
Just to look at Nakanani for a second, he's a southpaw that throws in the high 120's occasionally hitting 130. He has a slider in the 110's, and a curve in the 100's.
After retiring Yoshida to center, he can't find the plate against Onuki again and walks him for the 2nd time.
Saitou-kantoku calls for his cleanup batter to bunt, and Sakuma lays it down. Oodate Houmei will play for the run.
Sasaki though gets jammed on an inside slider and chops it back to Nakatani. He goes to 1st and the inning is over for Houmei. Nakatani's control doesn't look that sharp and it looks like there might be more opportunities for them in the coming innings.
Bottom 3rd
Yoshida with a scorcher up the 3rd base line! Sasaki can't pick it! It's down the line and Yoshida's in with a double!
Nakatani tries to bunt him along, but it's too hard! Sakuma charges in and makes sure that Yoshida can't advance!
Back to the top of the order, and Nishiura. Saitou falls behind and walks him on 4 straight.
Okabe up, and he bunts!
Narita out quickly to field it, throw to 1st hits Okabe! Okabe collides with Sakuma! The ball goes in foul territory and the runners take off! Yoshida comes in to score and Tenri takes the lead on the throwing error by Narita! 1-0!
Moriguchi with a pop fly to shallow left. Takko charges in and looks to have it... but he reaches back and it goes behind him! Nishiura comes around to score and it's 2-0 Tenri!
Hasegawa with a single to left center. That's going to score Okabe and now it's 3-0!
Date with a base hit to right! That will load the bases for Tenri!
And now Yanagimoto with a drive to left center! That's into the gap, and the runners will wheel around! Everyone scores on Yanagimoto's triple and like that it's 6-0 Tenri!
And there's still one down.
Make that two. Higashida grounds out to 2nd. Shinomura checks the runner before recording the out.
Yoshida up for the 2nd time, and he collects his 2nd hit of the inning! It's a rocket single to left that scores Yanagimoto making it 7-0.
Saitou finally ends the inning as he gets Nakantani to hit a foul fly. Narita in foul territory has it for the 3rd out.
But 11 batters and 7 runs later, things don't look so good for Oodate Houmei.
Top 4th
One down, and Narita singles to left to try and get the offense going. Satou goes for the safety bunt down the 3rd base line, but Date charges in and makes a fine throw just beating a hustling Satou (See everyone? You go faster when you run through the bag!).
#17 Uesugi comes in to PH for Saitou. His day is mercifully done as #11 Yuzawa warms up in the bullpen.
Uesugi certainly is fighting at the plate fouling off 4 pitches after the count goes 2-2, but Nakatani gets him to ground out to 2nd to end the inning.
Bottom 4th
I was going to talk about Saitou, who was a lefty that threw in the 120's and had primarily thrown a lot of slow off-speed pitches, but as you can see, some good solid hits after an untimely misplay spelled his demise.
Yuzawa is a righty who seems to primarily throw fastballs which are in the low-mid 130s. Nishiura probably wasn't ready for the slight uptick in speed and goes down swinging.
But fastball seem to be the only thing he can throw as he walks Okabe on nothing but them.
Moriguchi keys in on it and hits a shot at 1st. Sakuma though makes a great pick! Steps on 1st for one, but the throw to 2nd is a bit off.
Hasegawa up, and we see an off speed pitch! But it's in the dirt and gets away from Narita! Okabe advances to 3rd.
Hasegawa then grounds one through the left side making it 8-0.
Date then hits a single to left, and Yanagimoto walks to make make it a manrui situation again. But Yuzawa with what looks like a shuuto strikes him out looking to end the inning.
Top 5th
Oodate Houmei's batter seem to be making better contact, but it's not helping. Shinohara flies out to deep left, and after a nice single by Yoshida, Onuki flies out to left, and Sakuma grounds to short to end the inning.
Bottom 5th
Yoshida with a hard shot at 3rd. Sasaki with the diving stop! Throw to 1st is short, but Sakuma makes a great pick to get the out!
Nakatani collects his first hit of the day as he singles to right.
Nishiura barely catches the end of the bat on the first pitch. Ball dribbles to Sakuma who makes the play at 1st.
With 2 down, and after getting ahead of Okabe 0-2, he walks him to put runners at 1st and 2nd.
2 more balls to Moriguchi and one wonders about how Yuzawa's endurance is.
Yuzawa does get Moriguchi to fly out to right to end the inning. The game heads to the break with Tenri comfortably ahead and in a great position to advance.
Top 6th
Nakatani still having some control issues as he grazes Sasaki's jersey on an inside fastball.
Takko hits a short pop. Nishiura charges in and picks it for the first out.
Narita hanging in there, can't hold up on his swing and goes down on strikes.
Satou with a grounder to 1st, and it bounces over Hasegawa's glove into right! That seemed like a whiff there.
#14 Togashi comes in to bat for Yuzawa, confirming that he was probably at the end of his line there in the 5th.
Two balls from Nakatani and Morikawa-kantoku calls for a conference.
Right after that, 2 strikes to even the count.
Tokashi hits a weak grounder to 2nd. Nishiura makes the easy flip to Okabe to retire the side.
Bottom 6th
# Kameta comes in to pitch for Oodate Houmei. He has a fastball that seems to sit in the mid-120's and a slider in the high 110's. The control isn't quite there though.
He does get Hasegawa to ground out to 1st, but has trouble against Date. Eventually Kameta retires him with a fly to center.
Yanagimoto swings through an inside off-speed pitch, and while he gets plunked, he's retired to end the inning.
Top 7th
Shinomura with a grounder to short. Okabe makes a nice stop but he hangs his throw up a little allowing Shinomura to reach safely!
Nakatani comes back to strike out Yoshida, and then Onuki hits a grounder to 2nd! Nishiura flips it to Okabe for 1, throw to 1st is in time for the 4-6-3 double play.
Bottom 7th
There's a slow curve from Kameta to Higashida. Oh, and then he hits him with another offspeed pitch.
After Yoshida bunts him along, #14 Yoshimura comes in to pinch-hit for Nakatani which means we'll see Nishiguchi in the next inning.
Kameta's control issues continue to plague him as he walks Yoshimura. #10 Masuoka comes in to run for Yoshimura.
Oodate Houmei thinks that turnabout is fair play as Kameta gets Nishiura to ground into their 4-6-3 double play to end the innning.
Top 8th
Right off the bat Nishiguchi has trouble hitting the plate. After falling behind 3-1, Sakuma singles to right.
Now Nishiguchi is a hard thrower. Probably the 1st so far to be able to hit the 140 mark.
But it doesn't matter how hard you throw it if the batters can hit it. Sasaki takes a pitch through the right side for another base hit.
#18 Abe in to PH for Takko. Certainly Oodate Houmei senses an opportunity here.
And Abe with a hard hit to the left side! Okabe ranges over to his right and fields it! He flips to 2nd for the force. One down, but still a good scoring opportunity.
Nishiguchi though surprises Narita with an offspeed pitch! Narita grounds to Nishiura who once again starts the 4-6-3 double play to end the inning!
Bottom 8th
Tenri looks to be ready to end the game as they quickly are retired 1-2-3 to end the inning.
Top 9th
Of course Nishiguchi isn't quite in a rush. He hits Satou on the first pitch. Pretty good plunk too. Follows that up with 2 more balls before throwing a strike. The count winds up full, and Nishiguchi walks Kameta.
Remember what I said at the beginning of the game about Nishiguchi?
And now Nishiguchi falls behind Shinomura 2-1! He manages to throw a strike in there to level the count, and finally gets enough control to throw 2 good pitches in a row to strike out Shinomura looking.
Yoshida looking to wait on pitches, but Nishiguchi works the count to 2-2. But Yoshida is fooled on a high fastball and knows it.
Last chance now in Onuki.
But he hits a soft liner to Okabe who secures it for the final out.
One misplay by Takko in the 3rd spelled disaster for Oodate Houmei. If not for that, they may have had a decent chance against Tenri.
Nonetheless Tenri does advance, however they will have to play better than that if they want to advance any further. Their bats will have to come alive in more than just one inning, and whatever Morikawa-kantoku does, he must find a way to keep Nakatani on the mound as long as possible. As seen in the last couple of innings, ace Nishiguchi can throw hard, but not effectively.
Notable Players
Oodate Houmei
Sasaki Kousuke - 2-3, HBP
Satou Tasuku - 1-1, 2 HBP
Tenri
Nakatani Keita - W, 7 IP, 0 ER, 5 H, 3 K, 2 BB, 3 HBP
Hasegawa Shouma - 2-5, R, RBI
Date Shougo - 2-4, R
Yoshida Ryouta - 2-3, 2B, R
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Day 1 - Game 3 - Soushi Gakuen (Okayama) vs. Hokkai (Hokkaido)
Closing out the festivities of opening day is a team that is quite the story.
Soushi Gakuen's ballclub can almost be considered a real-life Seishuu Gakuen (see Major). Prior to 2010, the school was an all-girls school. In less than just one year this team of 1st years finished runner-up in the prefecturals - albeit getting steamrolled by Kanzei, then clearing the super-regionals only to lose once again to Kanzei - this time by a respectable margin. This after losing to Konkou Gakuen 7-0 in the opening round of the summer qualifiers! Soushi Gakuen now holds the record for a team to reach Koushien after the clubs inception!
So given the very small history of the team, there's very little to go on on these guys.
Soushi Gakuen, much like the other first-timers today did not get an easy 1st round draw. Instead, they draw a "mid-major" team in Hokkai. Hokkai has made numerous appearances at Koushien, however much like most Hokkaido teams they seem to wilt once they head southwest.
Hokkai wasn't challenged in block play save for a game against Toukai Dai-yon, and then not until the quarterfinals when they defeated Hokkaido Sakae, Sapporo Dai-ichi and Hokushou to win the title.
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Soushi Gakuen (Okayama) - Chuugoku Runner-up
SS Noyama Shinsuke
CF Tomamori Naoya
3B Yoshida Hiroki
1B Kanayama Takahiro
LF Tamai Ryouta
C Sutou Ryousei
2B Suetani Shuuto
P Tomita Kazushige
RF Koyama Yuuji (#18)
Hokkai (Hokkaido) - Hokkaido Champions
SS Mori Takahiro
3B Tama Taisuke
2B Kawasaki Kazuya
RF Kawagoe Seiji
LF Ujiie Ryou
1B Zeniya Kouki
C Tamaki Kouta
P Tamakuma Shouichi
CF Isoda Kouyou
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14:45 - Game start!
Top 1st
Captain Noyama with a grounder past a diving Kawasaki into right! Nagasawa-kantoku playing by the traditional book has Tomomori bunting the runner along.
But Yoshida goes down swinging, so it's up to Kanayama. He goes down swinging, so no dice for Soushi Gakuen in their 1st inning.
Bottom 1st
Huh, Tomita has an interesting delivery where he hold the ball down near his hip. I'm not sure I've noticed that before.
Mori though fights a couple off before hitting a single to right. Hirakawa-kantoku also calls for the bunt, and this time, Kawasaki hits a comebacker past the glove of Tomita into center! Mori stops at 3rd, but quickly Tomita and Soushi Gakuen is in a pinch.
That doesn't help... Sudou loses sight of the 1-1 pitch and Kawasaki goes to 2nd.
Kawagoe zips one past a diving Suetani into right, and Mori scores from 3rd! Kawazaki is held at 3rd, but Hokkai is on the board at 1-0! Nagasawa-kantoku with a conference to try and settle down the team.
Tomita records the 2nd out as he induce Ujiie to pop out to Suetani in foul territory.
But perhaps nerves are involved here as Tomita's control continues to have issues. He walks Zeniya giving Hokkai a manrui situation.
And after a ball to Tamaki, Nagasawa-kantoku goes into panic mode? #10 Yamamoto comes in for Koyama and takes the mound. Tomita goes to left.
Yamamoto is a sidewinder, but not a low thrower.
And he gets Soushi out of the jam!! He strikes out Tamaki and limits the damage to one run!
Top 2nd
Soushi Gakuen not fazed it seem by that pinch. Tamai bloops one into left for a leadoff single!
Sutou looks to have gotten a hold of one, but not enough as Ujiie is able to range over to his right for the catch.
Suetani tries to surprise with the sac bunt, and Tamakuma bobbles the ball, but his throw to 1st is just in time for the out.
So Nagasawa-kantoku will look for the one-timer from Tomita.
But Tomita is fooled by Tamakuma, and the inning is over.
Bottom 2nd
So Yamamoto has a fastball in the high 120's and a slider in the 110's. He seems to be having more success on the mound, and has better control of his pitches.
He gets Tamakuma to ground out easily to short, but Isoda flares one to left for a base hit.
Back to the top of the order, and while Yamamoto gets ahead of Mori 0-2, Mori continues to foul off pitches.
Hirakawa takes the opportunity to take off for 2nd! But Sutou makes a good throw which leads Noyama right into Hirakawa blocking him for the out.
Finally Yamamoto wins the battle, getting Mori to groundout to 2nd on the 10th pitch of the AB.
Top 3rd
Hokkai's ace Tamakuma isn't flamethrower, but he does locate well. He works at a very fast clip, and has one heck of a curve which is almost like a D-curve of sorts.
Yamamoto goes down on 3 straight pitches, and we're back to the top of the order. After getting ahead in the count, Tamakuma throws 2 bad pitches, hitting Noyama.
And on a 1-1 pitch Noyama takes off! The throw goes into 2nd, but both players are backing up and he's in safely!
But Tomomori is fooled on a V-slider and there's 2 down.
And Noyama takes off for 3rd??!
Tamaki with the throw in plenty of time and the inning is over. Perhaps it's to setup the next inning in case it's unsuccessful?
Bottom 3rd
Yamamoto continues to locate really well, getting the outside corner to get Tama looking.
He continues to throw strikes at Hokkai forcing them to swing away. Of course after going 0-2 on Kawasaki, he throws 2 balls. Still, he gets Kawasaki to fly out to 2nd.
Hm... with 2 down, Yamamoto seems careful around Kawagoe. He gets him to pop up to shallow right center, but Tomita continues to charge in... and can't get to it! It falls in the outfield triangle and Kawagoe winds up at 2nd!
Yamamoto is perhaps too careful around the middle batters, but it doesn't hurt him for now as Ujiie grounds out to 2nd to end the inning.
Top 4th
Yeah, Tamakuma's pitching isn't spectacular, as his fastball is in the low-mid 130's, but he can locate. In addition, Soushi's batters are swinging away. Yoshida grounds back to Tamakuma, while Kanayama and Tamai fly out to center and left making for a quick inning and Hokkai back on the sticks.
Bottom 4th
It would seem that the Hokkai batters are losing patience after facing so many strikes from Yamamoto. Zeniya swings 2-0 and grounds to Noyama. Tamaki first pitch flies out to left.
Tamakuma tries to extend the AB, and it pays off with a shot back up the middle, past a diving Noyama into center.
Perhaps the Hokkai batters are getting a better feel as Isoda also hits one back up the middle past Yamamoto. But Suetani charges in, makes a nice pick and throw to retire the side.
Top 5th
Soushi Gakuen is making contact on Tamakuma's pitches, it's just that it's either bad contact or right at someone (or both).
Sutou grounds out to 2nd, Suetani hits a liner, but right at Kawagoe, and Tomita hits a weak chopper back to Tamakuma.
Bottom 5th
Mori with a dribbler that just gets past a diving Noyama into left center gives Hokkai its first leadoff runner since the 1st.
Tama squares to bunt, but instead pops it up! Sutou springs from behind the plate and makes the catch up the 3rd base line.
One down, and now it's Kawasaki's turn to start fouling off pitches. Yamamoto grounds to 2nd. Suetani makes a great flip to 2nd for one, but Noyama's relay isn't in time. 2 down.
Oh? A slow curve from Yamamoto? Kawagoe fouls that off.
うまい！ Yamamoto freezes Kawagoe on a 2-seamer back over the plate and we head to the break with RP Yamamoto holding the fort against the established Hokkai squad. However, they can't seem to solve Tamakuma just yet.
Top 6th
Part of Tamakuma's success is his varying speeds. There's that fastball in the mid 130's, then that curve at the high 100's, and that slider in the 110's.
Yamamoto goes down swinging, and Noyama looks up in disgust as his knees break on a slider over the plate for Tamakuma's 2nd K of the inning.
And Tamamori swings on a low slider and just walks away. Tamakuma strikes out the side, and Soushi continues to have no answer.
Bottom 6th
While the Soushi offense continues to frustrate, Yamamoto continues to do the same to the Hokkai batters. Certainly they're seeing the ball, but not well enough to get a hit. Try as Tamaki might to foul off pitches, he is retired along with Ujiie and Zeniya in Yamamoto's 2nd 1-2-3 inning.
Top 7th
A blast from Yoshida! He drives a hard curve to left center! And he's gunning for two! The throw is offline and Soushi has the tying run in scoring position!
Nagasawa-kantoku is electing not to bunt!
Kanayama reaches down and flares one to left-center! That's in front of Ujiie, and suddenly there's runners at the corners with no out!
Tamai isn't showing squeeze either! But Tamakuma gets ahead quickly 0-2! Now what?
SQUEEZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But Tamai pulls the bunt back! Kanayama takes off for 2nd! Throw from Tamaki is there, but Kawasaki can't make the tag!! Now a base hit can give them the lead!
Tamai with a fly to left! Ujiie has to back up! He gets under it, makes the catch! Yoshida charges home! Relay from Mori, not in time! 同点!!! Soushi Gakuen ties the game on the sac fly from Tamai! 1-1!!!
Sutou tries to take advantage of the momentum, but instead takest he first pitch and pops out to 2nd.
Suetani with a chance to give Soushi the lead!
But Tamakuma breaks his knees with another slider! He's out of the inning, but not before Soushi levels the score!
Bottom 7th
Tamakuma with a fly to deep left center. Tomita ranging over looks to have it... but whiffs!!!! Tomomori backing up the play gets the ball in, but not before Tamakuma's in with a double!
Nagasawa-kantoku, perhaps seeing that he'll be riding Yamamoto, pulls Tomita for #9 Shouji.
And now with Isoda's sac bunt, Hokkai threatens to retake the lead!
Worse yet, it's the top of the order up now!
Mori with a shot to the left side! Noyama in makes a diving stop!!!!!! Throws to 1st and Kanayama makes a great pick! Tamakuma has to hold! Nice play by Noyama keeps the hope alive!
Tama up looking for that timely hit, gets ahead 2-1, but cannot get his timing right. Count goes even, then he fouls one off away.
He makes contact, but it's right at Noyama!! Soushi is out of the jam! We're in a 2-inning game now, who will take it?
Top 8th
Shouji up for his first AB, and is completely fooled by Tamakuma. One down.
Yamamoto with a grounder up the middle... Mori loses the ball! Throw to 1st is late and Soushi has a runner on! Of course Yamamoto makes it closer by diving, but we've been down that road before.
Again, Nagasawa-kantoku electing not to bunt.
Ooooo.... down 0-2, Noyama lets a close one go by for a ball. Noyama fighting here at the dish. But Tamakuma gets him to fly out to Ujiie for the 2nd out.
Up to Tamamori now. He grounds to 2nd. Kawasaki fields it near the bag, bobbles, but has enough time to flip it to Mori for the force.
Bottom 8th
The longer Hokkai leaves the game as it is, the greater the chance Soushi has to win. Hokkai should be looking to get ahead now.
It's perfect given that the 3-4-5 batters are up now, but none have been able to get to RP Yamamoto. Kawasaki hits a fly to left, but Tamai runs it down at the line.
Kawagoe with a drive to right center! Tomomori and Shouji run to the wall...
HAITA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cleanup batter Kawagoe gets to Yamamoto in the biggest way possible with a homerun! There's a bit of confusion as the ball bounced back into play, but the replay clearly shows it clearing the fence. Nevertheless Hokkai does indeed retake the lead at 2-1!!
After a groundout by Ujiie, Zeniya hits one to deep left center! That falls at the base of the wall and Zeniya is in with a double!
Is Yamamoto at his limit?
Perhaps, although he gets Tamaki to ground out to 2nd.
But that one slip up by Yamamoto may be the difference!
Top 9th
Yoshida with a comebacker at Tamakuma! It's off Tamakuma! Mori charging in, throws to first against a diving Yoshida....
OUT!!!!!
Yet another case of a team robbing themselves of a hit.
Kanayama with a drive to right center! Kawagoe running towards the wall, makes the catch!!!
Tamai with another drive, this time to left center!!! Isoda can't run it down! Tamai in with a double!!!
Hirakawa-kantoku sending out Captain Nishio to settle the team. #16 Suzuki comes in to pinch run!
Up to Sutou now...
Grounder to short! Mori up with it! Throw to 1st...
Game set!
Despite a valiant effort by the first timers, one late mistake winds up being the difference in the ball game. Certainly, the first years showed that their performance was no fluke and they do indeed belong here at Senbatsu. If they can just get past Kanzei, perhaps they have a real chance to get back here in the summer.
As for Hokkai, they certainly should feel lucky they were able to escape with a victory. But they will not be able to get away with such play in the next round. Although if favorite Tenri manages to get past the 1st round, I won't guarantee that they need their A game to move onto the Best 8.
Notable Players
Soushi Gakuen
Yamamoto Ryou - L, 8.1 IP, ER, 7 H, 3 K, 0 BB
Tamai Ryouta - 2-3, 2B, RBI
Yoshida Hiroki - 1-4, 2B, R
Hokkai
Tamakuma Shouichi - CG, ER, 5 H, 10 K, BB
Tamakuma Shouichi - 2-3, 2B
Kawagoe Seiji - 3-4, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, K
Mori Takahiro - 2-4, R
Soushi Gakuen's ballclub can almost be considered a real-life Seishuu Gakuen (see Major). Prior to 2010, the school was an all-girls school. In less than just one year this team of 1st years finished runner-up in the prefecturals - albeit getting steamrolled by Kanzei, then clearing the super-regionals only to lose once again to Kanzei - this time by a respectable margin. This after losing to Konkou Gakuen 7-0 in the opening round of the summer qualifiers! Soushi Gakuen now holds the record for a team to reach Koushien after the clubs inception!
So given the very small history of the team, there's very little to go on on these guys.
Soushi Gakuen, much like the other first-timers today did not get an easy 1st round draw. Instead, they draw a "mid-major" team in Hokkai. Hokkai has made numerous appearances at Koushien, however much like most Hokkaido teams they seem to wilt once they head southwest.
Hokkai wasn't challenged in block play save for a game against Toukai Dai-yon, and then not until the quarterfinals when they defeated Hokkaido Sakae, Sapporo Dai-ichi and Hokushou to win the title.
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Soushi Gakuen (Okayama) - Chuugoku Runner-up
SS Noyama Shinsuke
CF Tomamori Naoya
3B Yoshida Hiroki
1B Kanayama Takahiro
LF Tamai Ryouta
C Sutou Ryousei
2B Suetani Shuuto
P Tomita Kazushige
RF Koyama Yuuji (#18)
Hokkai (Hokkaido) - Hokkaido Champions
SS Mori Takahiro
3B Tama Taisuke
2B Kawasaki Kazuya
RF Kawagoe Seiji
LF Ujiie Ryou
1B Zeniya Kouki
C Tamaki Kouta
P Tamakuma Shouichi
CF Isoda Kouyou
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14:45 - Game start!
Top 1st
Captain Noyama with a grounder past a diving Kawasaki into right! Nagasawa-kantoku playing by the traditional book has Tomomori bunting the runner along.
But Yoshida goes down swinging, so it's up to Kanayama. He goes down swinging, so no dice for Soushi Gakuen in their 1st inning.
Bottom 1st
Huh, Tomita has an interesting delivery where he hold the ball down near his hip. I'm not sure I've noticed that before.
Mori though fights a couple off before hitting a single to right. Hirakawa-kantoku also calls for the bunt, and this time, Kawasaki hits a comebacker past the glove of Tomita into center! Mori stops at 3rd, but quickly Tomita and Soushi Gakuen is in a pinch.
That doesn't help... Sudou loses sight of the 1-1 pitch and Kawasaki goes to 2nd.
Kawagoe zips one past a diving Suetani into right, and Mori scores from 3rd! Kawazaki is held at 3rd, but Hokkai is on the board at 1-0! Nagasawa-kantoku with a conference to try and settle down the team.
Tomita records the 2nd out as he induce Ujiie to pop out to Suetani in foul territory.
But perhaps nerves are involved here as Tomita's control continues to have issues. He walks Zeniya giving Hokkai a manrui situation.
And after a ball to Tamaki, Nagasawa-kantoku goes into panic mode? #10 Yamamoto comes in for Koyama and takes the mound. Tomita goes to left.
Yamamoto is a sidewinder, but not a low thrower.
And he gets Soushi out of the jam!! He strikes out Tamaki and limits the damage to one run!
Top 2nd
Soushi Gakuen not fazed it seem by that pinch. Tamai bloops one into left for a leadoff single!
Sutou looks to have gotten a hold of one, but not enough as Ujiie is able to range over to his right for the catch.
Suetani tries to surprise with the sac bunt, and Tamakuma bobbles the ball, but his throw to 1st is just in time for the out.
So Nagasawa-kantoku will look for the one-timer from Tomita.
But Tomita is fooled by Tamakuma, and the inning is over.
Bottom 2nd
So Yamamoto has a fastball in the high 120's and a slider in the 110's. He seems to be having more success on the mound, and has better control of his pitches.
He gets Tamakuma to ground out easily to short, but Isoda flares one to left for a base hit.
Back to the top of the order, and while Yamamoto gets ahead of Mori 0-2, Mori continues to foul off pitches.
Hirakawa takes the opportunity to take off for 2nd! But Sutou makes a good throw which leads Noyama right into Hirakawa blocking him for the out.
Finally Yamamoto wins the battle, getting Mori to groundout to 2nd on the 10th pitch of the AB.
Top 3rd
Hokkai's ace Tamakuma isn't flamethrower, but he does locate well. He works at a very fast clip, and has one heck of a curve which is almost like a D-curve of sorts.
Yamamoto goes down on 3 straight pitches, and we're back to the top of the order. After getting ahead in the count, Tamakuma throws 2 bad pitches, hitting Noyama.
And on a 1-1 pitch Noyama takes off! The throw goes into 2nd, but both players are backing up and he's in safely!
But Tomomori is fooled on a V-slider and there's 2 down.
And Noyama takes off for 3rd??!
Tamaki with the throw in plenty of time and the inning is over. Perhaps it's to setup the next inning in case it's unsuccessful?
Bottom 3rd
Yamamoto continues to locate really well, getting the outside corner to get Tama looking.
He continues to throw strikes at Hokkai forcing them to swing away. Of course after going 0-2 on Kawasaki, he throws 2 balls. Still, he gets Kawasaki to fly out to 2nd.
Hm... with 2 down, Yamamoto seems careful around Kawagoe. He gets him to pop up to shallow right center, but Tomita continues to charge in... and can't get to it! It falls in the outfield triangle and Kawagoe winds up at 2nd!
Yamamoto is perhaps too careful around the middle batters, but it doesn't hurt him for now as Ujiie grounds out to 2nd to end the inning.
Top 4th
Yeah, Tamakuma's pitching isn't spectacular, as his fastball is in the low-mid 130's, but he can locate. In addition, Soushi's batters are swinging away. Yoshida grounds back to Tamakuma, while Kanayama and Tamai fly out to center and left making for a quick inning and Hokkai back on the sticks.
Bottom 4th
It would seem that the Hokkai batters are losing patience after facing so many strikes from Yamamoto. Zeniya swings 2-0 and grounds to Noyama. Tamaki first pitch flies out to left.
Tamakuma tries to extend the AB, and it pays off with a shot back up the middle, past a diving Noyama into center.
Perhaps the Hokkai batters are getting a better feel as Isoda also hits one back up the middle past Yamamoto. But Suetani charges in, makes a nice pick and throw to retire the side.
Top 5th
Soushi Gakuen is making contact on Tamakuma's pitches, it's just that it's either bad contact or right at someone (or both).
Sutou grounds out to 2nd, Suetani hits a liner, but right at Kawagoe, and Tomita hits a weak chopper back to Tamakuma.
Bottom 5th
Mori with a dribbler that just gets past a diving Noyama into left center gives Hokkai its first leadoff runner since the 1st.
Tama squares to bunt, but instead pops it up! Sutou springs from behind the plate and makes the catch up the 3rd base line.
One down, and now it's Kawasaki's turn to start fouling off pitches. Yamamoto grounds to 2nd. Suetani makes a great flip to 2nd for one, but Noyama's relay isn't in time. 2 down.
Oh? A slow curve from Yamamoto? Kawagoe fouls that off.
うまい！ Yamamoto freezes Kawagoe on a 2-seamer back over the plate and we head to the break with RP Yamamoto holding the fort against the established Hokkai squad. However, they can't seem to solve Tamakuma just yet.
Top 6th
Part of Tamakuma's success is his varying speeds. There's that fastball in the mid 130's, then that curve at the high 100's, and that slider in the 110's.
Yamamoto goes down swinging, and Noyama looks up in disgust as his knees break on a slider over the plate for Tamakuma's 2nd K of the inning.
And Tamamori swings on a low slider and just walks away. Tamakuma strikes out the side, and Soushi continues to have no answer.
Bottom 6th
While the Soushi offense continues to frustrate, Yamamoto continues to do the same to the Hokkai batters. Certainly they're seeing the ball, but not well enough to get a hit. Try as Tamaki might to foul off pitches, he is retired along with Ujiie and Zeniya in Yamamoto's 2nd 1-2-3 inning.
Top 7th
A blast from Yoshida! He drives a hard curve to left center! And he's gunning for two! The throw is offline and Soushi has the tying run in scoring position!
Nagasawa-kantoku is electing not to bunt!
Kanayama reaches down and flares one to left-center! That's in front of Ujiie, and suddenly there's runners at the corners with no out!
Tamai isn't showing squeeze either! But Tamakuma gets ahead quickly 0-2! Now what?
SQUEEZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But Tamai pulls the bunt back! Kanayama takes off for 2nd! Throw from Tamaki is there, but Kawasaki can't make the tag!! Now a base hit can give them the lead!
Tamai with a fly to left! Ujiie has to back up! He gets under it, makes the catch! Yoshida charges home! Relay from Mori, not in time! 同点!!! Soushi Gakuen ties the game on the sac fly from Tamai! 1-1!!!
Sutou tries to take advantage of the momentum, but instead takest he first pitch and pops out to 2nd.
Suetani with a chance to give Soushi the lead!
But Tamakuma breaks his knees with another slider! He's out of the inning, but not before Soushi levels the score!
Bottom 7th
Tamakuma with a fly to deep left center. Tomita ranging over looks to have it... but whiffs!!!! Tomomori backing up the play gets the ball in, but not before Tamakuma's in with a double!
Nagasawa-kantoku, perhaps seeing that he'll be riding Yamamoto, pulls Tomita for #9 Shouji.
And now with Isoda's sac bunt, Hokkai threatens to retake the lead!
Worse yet, it's the top of the order up now!
Mori with a shot to the left side! Noyama in makes a diving stop!!!!!! Throws to 1st and Kanayama makes a great pick! Tamakuma has to hold! Nice play by Noyama keeps the hope alive!
Tama up looking for that timely hit, gets ahead 2-1, but cannot get his timing right. Count goes even, then he fouls one off away.
He makes contact, but it's right at Noyama!! Soushi is out of the jam! We're in a 2-inning game now, who will take it?
Top 8th
Shouji up for his first AB, and is completely fooled by Tamakuma. One down.
Yamamoto with a grounder up the middle... Mori loses the ball! Throw to 1st is late and Soushi has a runner on! Of course Yamamoto makes it closer by diving, but we've been down that road before.
Again, Nagasawa-kantoku electing not to bunt.
Ooooo.... down 0-2, Noyama lets a close one go by for a ball. Noyama fighting here at the dish. But Tamakuma gets him to fly out to Ujiie for the 2nd out.
Up to Tamamori now. He grounds to 2nd. Kawasaki fields it near the bag, bobbles, but has enough time to flip it to Mori for the force.
Bottom 8th
The longer Hokkai leaves the game as it is, the greater the chance Soushi has to win. Hokkai should be looking to get ahead now.
It's perfect given that the 3-4-5 batters are up now, but none have been able to get to RP Yamamoto. Kawasaki hits a fly to left, but Tamai runs it down at the line.
Kawagoe with a drive to right center! Tomomori and Shouji run to the wall...
HAITA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cleanup batter Kawagoe gets to Yamamoto in the biggest way possible with a homerun! There's a bit of confusion as the ball bounced back into play, but the replay clearly shows it clearing the fence. Nevertheless Hokkai does indeed retake the lead at 2-1!!
After a groundout by Ujiie, Zeniya hits one to deep left center! That falls at the base of the wall and Zeniya is in with a double!
Is Yamamoto at his limit?
Perhaps, although he gets Tamaki to ground out to 2nd.
But that one slip up by Yamamoto may be the difference!
Top 9th
Yoshida with a comebacker at Tamakuma! It's off Tamakuma! Mori charging in, throws to first against a diving Yoshida....
OUT!!!!!
Yet another case of a team robbing themselves of a hit.
Kanayama with a drive to right center! Kawagoe running towards the wall, makes the catch!!!
Tamai with another drive, this time to left center!!! Isoda can't run it down! Tamai in with a double!!!
Hirakawa-kantoku sending out Captain Nishio to settle the team. #16 Suzuki comes in to pinch run!
Up to Sutou now...
Grounder to short! Mori up with it! Throw to 1st...
Game set!
Despite a valiant effort by the first timers, one late mistake winds up being the difference in the ball game. Certainly, the first years showed that their performance was no fluke and they do indeed belong here at Senbatsu. If they can just get past Kanzei, perhaps they have a real chance to get back here in the summer.
As for Hokkai, they certainly should feel lucky they were able to escape with a victory. But they will not be able to get away with such play in the next round. Although if favorite Tenri manages to get past the 1st round, I won't guarantee that they need their A game to move onto the Best 8.
Notable Players
Soushi Gakuen
Yamamoto Ryou - L, 8.1 IP, ER, 7 H, 3 K, 0 BB
Tamai Ryouta - 2-3, 2B, RBI
Yoshida Hiroki - 1-4, 2B, R
Hokkai
Tamakuma Shouichi - CG, ER, 5 H, 10 K, BB
Tamakuma Shouichi - 2-3, 2B
Kawagoe Seiji - 3-4, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, K
Mori Takahiro - 2-4, R
Day 1 - Game 2 - Maebashi Ikuei (Gunma) vs. Kyushu Kokusaidai Fuzoku (Fukuoka)
Interesting enough, all games on the docket for opening day all include teams who are new to senbatsu. Maebashi Ikuei is that team here in the matinee game, earning the floating bid over Kasukabe Kyouei, Kasumigaura and Chiba Keizaidai Fuzoku. That floating bid was automatically given to the Kanto super-region after Nichidai-san won the Meiji Jingu Tournament granting Tokyo a 2nd bid.
Maebashi Ikuei had a strong showing starting in the prefecturals where they defeated both Kiryuu Dai-ichi and Takasaki Shougyou to win the fall title, then after handling Washinomiya actually held the lead against Toukaidai Sagami before falling late.
I mentioned in a prior post that a lot of the teams that qualified were rather chalky (i.e. they were teams that have been there before and regularly). While Maebashi Ikuei isn't facing one of those teams per se, you could consider team a team quickly on the rise.
That team is Kyushu Kokusaidai Fuzoku - Kyukoku for short.
Kyukoku is led by Wakao-kantoku who worked with Darvish Yu back at Tohoku. He took over a program in a prefecture that is surprisingly fractured given the large population. In his time there he has sent the team to Natsu Koushien, and now to their 2nd ever senbatsu appearance. Teams in Fukuoka have been put on notice that if they're not careful, they'll all be left behind.
Kyukoku blew through the opening rounds of the prefectural tournament before winning close games against Touchiku and Kurume Shougyou to take the prefectural title. Then ace Miyoshi Takumi would get them though Senshuudai Tamana, Okinawa Shogaku and a plucky Hasami squad before he gave out in the late innings against Kagoshima Jitsugyou in the finals.
Kyukoku has shown they have offense for days, but it does seem to go away against tougher competition, so it'll seem unlikely that we'll see a blowout.
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Maebashi Ikuei (Gunma) - Kanto/Tokyo Floating Bid
CF Ida Manabu
2B Watanabe Yuuya
C Takahashi Ryousuke
1B Ushizaki Kouta
SS Mohara Masataka
RF Kanzawa Masato
3B Aoki Ryou
P Takahashi Takumi (#10)
LF Tajima Ryou (#11)
Kyushu Kokusaidai Fuzoku (Fukuoka) - Kyushu Runner-up
2B Hirabaru Yuuta
CF Andou Akito
P Miyoshi Takumi
C Takajyou Shuuto
RF Ryuu Kounosuke
1B Hanada Shun
LF Katou Ryou
3B Tokiyoshi Seiya
SS Ishisaki Yuuma
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12:36 - Game start!
Top 1st
Miyoshi gets the Ida to hit a weak comebacker to start the game.
Miyoshi works quickly and is getting strikes. He induces a grounder to 2nd from Watanabe, and another one to 1st on Ryousuke.
It's a quick inning, and Miyoshi's offerings are pretty much standard fare.
Bottom 1st
Ikeda looked to get off to a good start to as he got Hirabaru to pop out to short, and Andou to hit a grounder to 3rd. But then he issued a 4 pitch walk to Miyoshi.
AH!
Takajyou gets a hold of a pitch and drives it to left! Tajima goes back to the wall, looks up!
HAITAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Takajyou with the first home run of this year's senbatsu gives Kyukoku the 2-0 lead!!
Ryuu grounds out to 2nd to end the inning, but Maebashi Ikuei will have to play catch-up early!
Top 2nd
Miyoshi with the lead now goes on the offensive.
Ushizaki goes down swinging... and so does Mohara. And just to change things up a bit, Kanzawa is caught looking (although the pitch seemed a bit low). Miyoshi strikes out the side and Kyukoku is quickly back on the bats.
Bottom 2nd
Ikeda's pitching is more aggressive now, perhaps a bit peeved he gave up those runs. Hanada goes down after the ump calls he didn't check his swing. Katou too goes down swinging for 2 outs.
But again he can't close the deal, hitting Tokiyoshi to give Kyukoku a runner.
And then Ishisako lifts a ball to center! Ida running back, but it's over his head! That falls at the base of the wall and they're sending Tokiyoshi home! Mohara makes a strong throw, but it's just a bit late as Tokiyoshi slides around the tag making it 3-0 Kyukoku!
Now a 4 pitch walk to Hirabaru and things are getting bad for Maebashi Ikuei. Arai-kantoku calls a conference.
Andou with a grounder through the infield into left. Ishisako is sent home! Tajima with the throw, but it's offline and it's now 4-0 Kyukoku!
Ace Ikeda is warming up, but his jacket is on. I wonder if he was injured somewhere and that's why they went to Takumi.
Takumi does get Miyoshi to swing at a high fastball ending the inning, but the deficit for Maebashi gets bigger.
Top 3rd
Aoki gives Maebashi Ikuei their first hit with a single to center.
あら？ #7 Sakurai is hitting for Takumi, which means his day is over.
Sakurai grounds out to 2nd, but advances the runner. Perhaps Maebashi can get on the board.
But Tajima flies out to shallow left, and Ida hits a comebacker to Miyoshi to end the inning.
Bottom 3rd
Ace Ikeda takes the mound now, but perhaps a bit late. He looks to have a standard fastball in the low 130's with sliders and curves in the 110's.
The fastball looks to have some tailing action in on righties, and Takajyou flies out to right.
Ryuu grounds out to 2nd and Ikeda looked to have righted the ship. That is until he bounces one at Hanada and clips him on the foot as he tried to jump out of the way.
It doesn't matter though as Katou lines out to right to end the inning.
Top 4th
Watanabe gets another leadoff runner for Maebashi as he hits a liner over Hirabaru's head.
Ryousuke though goes down on 3 straight pitches, flailing on a ball way outside for the K.
But now Ushizaki earns a walk, and there's a chance for Maebashi Ikuei.
Mohara gets a hold of one and sends it to right! But he just gets under it and Ryuu is able to park in front of the wall for the 2nd out.
Kanzawa with a pop up to shallow right-center. Hirabaru backpedaling, turns around! The ball falls in between him and Andou! Watanabe comes in to score, and Kanzawa reaches 2nd! Big chance for Maebashi!
Miyoshi though gets Aoki to pop one up in foul territory. Tokiyoshi near the dugout makes the catch to retire the side, but not before Maebashi Ikuei gets on the board.
Bottom 4th
Ikeda has certainly settled down the team on the field. Tokiyoshi grounds out to Aoki who then makes a fine stop on a scorcher down the line by Ishisako. And a flyout to center from Hirabaru quickly ends the inning.
Top 5th
Miyoshi seems to have settled down from that shaky 4th inning. Ikeda flies out to right, and then Tajima and Ida both strike out looking for a 1-2-3 inning.
Bottom 5th
AH!!!!!!!!!
Ikeda leaves a fastball right down the heart of the plate and Andou crushes it down the right field line for a homerun!! 5-0 Kyukoku!
AH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Miyoshi goes down to get a curve and drive that to left center!! It can't be!!!
IT IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAITA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Back-to-back homeruns by Andou and Miyoshi and it's now 6-0!
Ikeda finally ends it getting Takajyou to ground out to Watanabe for out #1.
But the relief is short lived!!!
Ryuu with a drive down the right field line!!! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!!
Ryuu hits a homerun! That's 3 in 4 batters! 7-0 Kyukoku!!
Hanada gets a hold of a pitch and sends that to center. Ida is there to make the catch. Katou sends one to left, and Tajima is there for the 3rd out.
There's no doubt though that Kyukoku is seeing the ball well and driving it deep. Maebashi Ikuei will be happy to reach the break. Hopefully they can rally in the 2nd half of the game.
Top 6th
Miyoshi registers another K, this time on Watanabe on a high fastball.
And after a groundout to 2nd by Ryousuke, Ushizaki goes down looking on a nice slider for a quick inning by Miyoshi. It's pretty much cruise mode now.
Bottom 6th
Ikeda off to shaky start hitting Tokiyoshi, but after a sac bunt, he gets Hirabaru to fly out to left for the 2nd out.
But now comes that part of the lineup that crushed Ikeda. And the intimidation shows as he walks Andou.
He's able to go back into the dugout though after Mohara makes a nice backhanded stop to rob Miyoshi of a hit.
Top 7th
Mohara with a grounder to 2nd, but Hirabaru boots it! E4 and Maebashi gets a leadoff runner.
There's no bunting now, they need runs more than advancement.
Kanzawa pops out to right...
Aoki with a fly down the left field line. Katou can't run it down and the runners advance 90 feet.
But Ikeda grounds right to Tokiyoshi. He bobbles it, steps on 3rd for one, throw gets a slow Ikeda by a good bit for a double play. That was a bit surprising.
Bottom 7th
Takajyou with a short grounder down the 3rd base line. Aoki charges, but it glances off the glove! It's ruled a hit and Kyukoku has a runner on.
Looks like Wakao-kantoku wants to practice small ball, and has Ryuu bunt. Takajyou advances to 3rd after Hanada grounds right to Ushizaki.
Ikeda gets Katou to ground out to short for the 3rd out, but the game looks to be all but secured for Kyukoku,
Top 8th
#17 Ichiba is in to PH for Tajima, but goes down swinging on 3 straight.
Back to the top of the order and Ida hits a scorcher that bounces off Hanada. Hirabaru is there to field it, but the throw to 1st is late.
Miyoshi gets Watanabe to get under a pitch and Hanada moves in for the 2nd out.
Ryousuke goes down swinging on a high fastball yet again, and the side is retired.
Bottom 8th
#18 Kurihara comes in for Ichiba and takes over in LF.
Ikeda gets a fairly easy 1-2-3 inning against the 8-9-1 batters, and it'll be last ups for Maebashi Ikuei.
Top 9th
Miyoshi throwing a slow curve now in the low 100's, probably getting some work in. He retires the side quietly and just like that Kyuoku is in the next round.
As mentioned in the Koushien chat room, 2 blowouts. But with 2 new teams, that is to be expected. Kyukoku truly is a team on the rise, and it'll be interesting to see how they will fare against Nihon Bunri.
For Maebashi Ikuei, their stay at Koushien didn't last long, but I'm sure they enjoyed it nonetheless. Who knows? They may have a shot this summer to go again!
Notable Players
Maebashi Ikuei
Aoki Ryou - 2-3
Kanzaawa Masato - 1-4, 2B, RBI, 2K
Kyushu Kokusaidai Fuzoku
Andou/Miyoshi - Back-to-back HRs
Andou Akito - 2-3, HR, R, RBI, BB
Miyoshi Takumi - 1-3, HR, 2 R, RBI, BB
Takajyou Shuuto - 2-4, HR, R, 2 RBI
Ryuu Kounosuke - 1-3, HR, R, RBI
Miyoshi Takumi - CG, ER, 3 H, 11 K, BB
Maebashi Ikuei had a strong showing starting in the prefecturals where they defeated both Kiryuu Dai-ichi and Takasaki Shougyou to win the fall title, then after handling Washinomiya actually held the lead against Toukaidai Sagami before falling late.
I mentioned in a prior post that a lot of the teams that qualified were rather chalky (i.e. they were teams that have been there before and regularly). While Maebashi Ikuei isn't facing one of those teams per se, you could consider team a team quickly on the rise.
That team is Kyushu Kokusaidai Fuzoku - Kyukoku for short.
Kyukoku is led by Wakao-kantoku who worked with Darvish Yu back at Tohoku. He took over a program in a prefecture that is surprisingly fractured given the large population. In his time there he has sent the team to Natsu Koushien, and now to their 2nd ever senbatsu appearance. Teams in Fukuoka have been put on notice that if they're not careful, they'll all be left behind.
Kyukoku blew through the opening rounds of the prefectural tournament before winning close games against Touchiku and Kurume Shougyou to take the prefectural title. Then ace Miyoshi Takumi would get them though Senshuudai Tamana, Okinawa Shogaku and a plucky Hasami squad before he gave out in the late innings against Kagoshima Jitsugyou in the finals.
Kyukoku has shown they have offense for days, but it does seem to go away against tougher competition, so it'll seem unlikely that we'll see a blowout.
____________________________________________________________
Maebashi Ikuei (Gunma) - Kanto/Tokyo Floating Bid
CF Ida Manabu
2B Watanabe Yuuya
C Takahashi Ryousuke
1B Ushizaki Kouta
SS Mohara Masataka
RF Kanzawa Masato
3B Aoki Ryou
P Takahashi Takumi (#10)
LF Tajima Ryou (#11)
Kyushu Kokusaidai Fuzoku (Fukuoka) - Kyushu Runner-up
2B Hirabaru Yuuta
CF Andou Akito
P Miyoshi Takumi
C Takajyou Shuuto
RF Ryuu Kounosuke
1B Hanada Shun
LF Katou Ryou
3B Tokiyoshi Seiya
SS Ishisaki Yuuma
____________________________________________________________
12:36 - Game start!
Top 1st
Miyoshi gets the Ida to hit a weak comebacker to start the game.
Miyoshi works quickly and is getting strikes. He induces a grounder to 2nd from Watanabe, and another one to 1st on Ryousuke.
It's a quick inning, and Miyoshi's offerings are pretty much standard fare.
Bottom 1st
Ikeda looked to get off to a good start to as he got Hirabaru to pop out to short, and Andou to hit a grounder to 3rd. But then he issued a 4 pitch walk to Miyoshi.
AH!
Takajyou gets a hold of a pitch and drives it to left! Tajima goes back to the wall, looks up!
HAITAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Takajyou with the first home run of this year's senbatsu gives Kyukoku the 2-0 lead!!
Ryuu grounds out to 2nd to end the inning, but Maebashi Ikuei will have to play catch-up early!
Top 2nd
Miyoshi with the lead now goes on the offensive.
Ushizaki goes down swinging... and so does Mohara. And just to change things up a bit, Kanzawa is caught looking (although the pitch seemed a bit low). Miyoshi strikes out the side and Kyukoku is quickly back on the bats.
Bottom 2nd
Ikeda's pitching is more aggressive now, perhaps a bit peeved he gave up those runs. Hanada goes down after the ump calls he didn't check his swing. Katou too goes down swinging for 2 outs.
But again he can't close the deal, hitting Tokiyoshi to give Kyukoku a runner.
And then Ishisako lifts a ball to center! Ida running back, but it's over his head! That falls at the base of the wall and they're sending Tokiyoshi home! Mohara makes a strong throw, but it's just a bit late as Tokiyoshi slides around the tag making it 3-0 Kyukoku!
Now a 4 pitch walk to Hirabaru and things are getting bad for Maebashi Ikuei. Arai-kantoku calls a conference.
Andou with a grounder through the infield into left. Ishisako is sent home! Tajima with the throw, but it's offline and it's now 4-0 Kyukoku!
Ace Ikeda is warming up, but his jacket is on. I wonder if he was injured somewhere and that's why they went to Takumi.
Takumi does get Miyoshi to swing at a high fastball ending the inning, but the deficit for Maebashi gets bigger.
Top 3rd
Aoki gives Maebashi Ikuei their first hit with a single to center.
あら？ #7 Sakurai is hitting for Takumi, which means his day is over.
Sakurai grounds out to 2nd, but advances the runner. Perhaps Maebashi can get on the board.
But Tajima flies out to shallow left, and Ida hits a comebacker to Miyoshi to end the inning.
Bottom 3rd
Ace Ikeda takes the mound now, but perhaps a bit late. He looks to have a standard fastball in the low 130's with sliders and curves in the 110's.
The fastball looks to have some tailing action in on righties, and Takajyou flies out to right.
Ryuu grounds out to 2nd and Ikeda looked to have righted the ship. That is until he bounces one at Hanada and clips him on the foot as he tried to jump out of the way.
It doesn't matter though as Katou lines out to right to end the inning.
Top 4th
Watanabe gets another leadoff runner for Maebashi as he hits a liner over Hirabaru's head.
Ryousuke though goes down on 3 straight pitches, flailing on a ball way outside for the K.
But now Ushizaki earns a walk, and there's a chance for Maebashi Ikuei.
Mohara gets a hold of one and sends it to right! But he just gets under it and Ryuu is able to park in front of the wall for the 2nd out.
Kanzawa with a pop up to shallow right-center. Hirabaru backpedaling, turns around! The ball falls in between him and Andou! Watanabe comes in to score, and Kanzawa reaches 2nd! Big chance for Maebashi!
Miyoshi though gets Aoki to pop one up in foul territory. Tokiyoshi near the dugout makes the catch to retire the side, but not before Maebashi Ikuei gets on the board.
Bottom 4th
Ikeda has certainly settled down the team on the field. Tokiyoshi grounds out to Aoki who then makes a fine stop on a scorcher down the line by Ishisako. And a flyout to center from Hirabaru quickly ends the inning.
Top 5th
Miyoshi seems to have settled down from that shaky 4th inning. Ikeda flies out to right, and then Tajima and Ida both strike out looking for a 1-2-3 inning.
Bottom 5th
AH!!!!!!!!!
Ikeda leaves a fastball right down the heart of the plate and Andou crushes it down the right field line for a homerun!! 5-0 Kyukoku!
AH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Miyoshi goes down to get a curve and drive that to left center!! It can't be!!!
IT IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAITA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Back-to-back homeruns by Andou and Miyoshi and it's now 6-0!
Ikeda finally ends it getting Takajyou to ground out to Watanabe for out #1.
But the relief is short lived!!!
Ryuu with a drive down the right field line!!! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!!
Ryuu hits a homerun! That's 3 in 4 batters! 7-0 Kyukoku!!
Hanada gets a hold of a pitch and sends that to center. Ida is there to make the catch. Katou sends one to left, and Tajima is there for the 3rd out.
There's no doubt though that Kyukoku is seeing the ball well and driving it deep. Maebashi Ikuei will be happy to reach the break. Hopefully they can rally in the 2nd half of the game.
Top 6th
Miyoshi registers another K, this time on Watanabe on a high fastball.
And after a groundout to 2nd by Ryousuke, Ushizaki goes down looking on a nice slider for a quick inning by Miyoshi. It's pretty much cruise mode now.
Bottom 6th
Ikeda off to shaky start hitting Tokiyoshi, but after a sac bunt, he gets Hirabaru to fly out to left for the 2nd out.
But now comes that part of the lineup that crushed Ikeda. And the intimidation shows as he walks Andou.
He's able to go back into the dugout though after Mohara makes a nice backhanded stop to rob Miyoshi of a hit.
Top 7th
Mohara with a grounder to 2nd, but Hirabaru boots it! E4 and Maebashi gets a leadoff runner.
There's no bunting now, they need runs more than advancement.
Kanzawa pops out to right...
Aoki with a fly down the left field line. Katou can't run it down and the runners advance 90 feet.
But Ikeda grounds right to Tokiyoshi. He bobbles it, steps on 3rd for one, throw gets a slow Ikeda by a good bit for a double play. That was a bit surprising.
Bottom 7th
Takajyou with a short grounder down the 3rd base line. Aoki charges, but it glances off the glove! It's ruled a hit and Kyukoku has a runner on.
Looks like Wakao-kantoku wants to practice small ball, and has Ryuu bunt. Takajyou advances to 3rd after Hanada grounds right to Ushizaki.
Ikeda gets Katou to ground out to short for the 3rd out, but the game looks to be all but secured for Kyukoku,
Top 8th
#17 Ichiba is in to PH for Tajima, but goes down swinging on 3 straight.
Back to the top of the order and Ida hits a scorcher that bounces off Hanada. Hirabaru is there to field it, but the throw to 1st is late.
Miyoshi gets Watanabe to get under a pitch and Hanada moves in for the 2nd out.
Ryousuke goes down swinging on a high fastball yet again, and the side is retired.
Bottom 8th
#18 Kurihara comes in for Ichiba and takes over in LF.
Ikeda gets a fairly easy 1-2-3 inning against the 8-9-1 batters, and it'll be last ups for Maebashi Ikuei.
Top 9th
Miyoshi throwing a slow curve now in the low 100's, probably getting some work in. He retires the side quietly and just like that Kyuoku is in the next round.
As mentioned in the Koushien chat room, 2 blowouts. But with 2 new teams, that is to be expected. Kyukoku truly is a team on the rise, and it'll be interesting to see how they will fare against Nihon Bunri.
For Maebashi Ikuei, their stay at Koushien didn't last long, but I'm sure they enjoyed it nonetheless. Who knows? They may have a shot this summer to go again!
Notable Players
Maebashi Ikuei
Aoki Ryou - 2-3
Kanzaawa Masato - 1-4, 2B, RBI, 2K
Kyushu Kokusaidai Fuzoku
Andou/Miyoshi - Back-to-back HRs
Andou Akito - 2-3, HR, R, RBI, BB
Miyoshi Takumi - 1-3, HR, 2 R, RBI, BB
Takajyou Shuuto - 2-4, HR, R, 2 RBI
Ryuu Kounosuke - 1-3, HR, R, RBI
Miyoshi Takumi - CG, ER, 3 H, 11 K, BB
Day 1 - Game 1 - Kagawa Nishi (Kagawa) vs. Nihon Bunri (Niigata)
While the overlying tone of Koushien has been muted a bit because of recent events, the JHBF has decided that the show must go on. Personally, I agree with the sentiment because I think the kids who qualified should get the chance to experience Koushien (especially those who are representing their school's first appearance), and it brings a sense of normalcy to the people. So while things have changed a little (no march-in during the opening ceremony and no cheering in the oen-dan - which I will certainly miss), I believe it will help the people cope.
And with that, the opening game of the 83rd Haru Koushien is about to get underway!
I had always thought that Kagawa Nishi had been a strong team within the prefecture (and even within Shikoku), yet I'm surprised to see that this is actually their first time at senbatsu! Not only will this be their first time, but they get to open up the tournament!
Kagawa Nishi finished runner-up in the Shikoku Super-Regional, yet their fall was a mixed bag. They finished runner-up in the prefecturals, defeating Takamatsu Shougyou and Kanonji Chuo before giving up 2 runs to Sangawa in the bottom of the 9th. Then they edged Jyounan and defeated Kochi, but then was annihilated by Meitoku Gijyuku. So while they qualified, it's hard to judge just exactly how good they are.
Their first round test will be tough as they square off against 2009 Natsu runner-up Nihon Bunri. Nihon Bunri has always been a decent team out of the Hokushinetsu region, regularly reaching both the Haru and Natsu Koushien tournaments. But it wasn't until their 2009 run where they had one of the most exciting finishes in history that finally put them on the map.
While ace Itou Naoki has left, the effects of that game should have lingered on. In at least the short-term this should provide them with an added boost that may help sustain the success of the school.
So, how have they taken advantage of this opportunity?
Nihon Bunri also finished runner-up in their region, but their performance was much more even. They won the prefecturals on the back of good pitching primarily in 2nd year ace Tamura Yuuma. Their excellent pitching continued on through the likes of Matsushou Gakuen and Yuugakukan, but Ooi-kantoku decided to go with fellow 2nd year Hatano Yousuke instead (much like the Matsushou Gakuen game), and Kanazawa was able to take advantage for a 4-2 win.
Nihon Bunri's offense does not seem that extraordinary, so their run may be predicated on how their pitching holds up.
It should be a good game, given that Kagawa isn't a true newcomer, but I think Nihon Bunri should advance from this matchup.
____________________________________________________________
Kagawa Nishi (Kagawa) - Shikoku Runner-up
LF Oota Hiroto
2B Mori Kouichi
CF Kominami Kengo
3B Kobayashi Masakazu
1B Ogawa Shouhei
RF Fujiwara Shigeru
C Nakanishi Daisuke (#12)
P Utsunomiya Kenta
SS Yano Kouhei
Nihon Bunri (Niigata) - Hokushinetsu Runner-up
CF Karasawa Tomoya (#13)
2B Noguchi Tatsuyoshi
LF Yumoto Shouta
C Murakami Masashi
RF Nanba Masaya
1B Yoshida Yuu
SS Akiyama Masaki
3B Takahashi Kou
P Tamura Yuuma
____________________________________________________________
10:10 - Game start!
Top 1st
Tamura off to a good start as Oota pops one out in foul territory. Takahashi is under it for the first out.
Tamura's offerings aren't that fast and Mori shoots one back up the middle for a base hit.
The fastball is sitting in the low 130's and his curve in the mid 110's.
We see a slider against Kominami at the low 120's-high 110's... and Kominami lazily flies out to center.
Cleanup batter Kobayashi is rather patient at the plate, taking the first two pitches for balls and one for a strike.
And Tamura gets Kobayashi to hit an easy fly to right to end the inning. Not a bad start for Tamura, but the batters are taking pitches - 15 for the 1st inning.
Bottom 1st
One pitch, one out. Karasawa takes the first pitch right to Yano. He makes the putout at 1st.
Utsunomiya is about the same as Tamura. Fastball in the mid-130's, just hit 137 against Noguchi, with a curve/slider in the mid-110's.
Noguchi with a fly to center. Kominami running back, still running as it goes over his head! Noguchi in with a double!
Yumoto with a shot to right! That's in for a base hit! Fujiwara bobbles the bounce! They're sending Noguchi in, and the throw is cut off! Noguchi scores giving Nihon Bunri the 1-0 lead!
Murakami going on the first pitch hits one to the right side! Mori with the great backhanded stop! Goes to 2nd for one, throw to 1st by Yano in plenty of time to beat a diving Murakami to end the inning.
But Nihon Bunri gets on the board first!
Top 2nd
After a groundout by Oota to start the inning, Fujiwara takes his time at the plate, gets ahead 3-0, and is plunked for ball 4.
おっと。 The first pitch is high, and now Nakanishi is up 2-0. He's given the green light, but swings away at a high fastball. Slider is wide for ball 3, and Tamura's in danger of walking his 2nd batter. Nakanishi bails him out for a pitch by swinging at another high fastball. Count goes full and after a foul ball, Nakanishi is frozen on a slider for strike 3! Murakami fires to 2nd and Fujiwara is thrown out easily for the strike-'em-out-throw-'em-out DP to end the inning.
Tamura doesn't have the best control right now, and if Kagawa Nishi is patient, they may get that equalizing run sooner rather than later.
Bottom 2nd
Utsunomiya working at a quick pace. Nanba hits the first pitch to 2nd for the first out.
Working on Yoshida, he nibbles on the outside after getting ahead. After running the count full, Yoshida lines one back at Utsunomiya. He stops it with his glove and makes the play at 1st for out #2.
Akiyama also gets to a full count and hits one right to the gap in right center. It isn't hard, but it falls in the right place as Akiyama is in with a 2-out double.
Utsunomiya continues to work the outside corner against right-handed batters, and although he may have been squeezed, he walks Takahashi and it's getting slightly hairy.
But Tamura can't lay off the outside pitches, and he bails on a couple of pitches to end the inning.
Top 3rd
After making Tamura work the last two innings, the batters start swinging away with no results. Utsunomiya strikes out, Yano grounds to short, and Oota takes the first pitch to 1st where Yoshida takes it himself to end the inning.
Bottom 3rd
Back to the top of the order for Nihon Bunri and Karasawa flies out to left. Noguchi with a harmless grounder to 2nd and there's quickly 2 outs.
Yumoto taking a fastball past a diving Mori for his 2nd hit of the day!
But he takes off on the first pitch and Nakanishi makes a great throw to nail him for the 3rd out.
Top 4th
Mori falls behind 0-2, and while he evens the count, he grounds to 2nd.
Kominami once again patient, and he walks on 4 straight! Runner on for Kagawa Nishi.
Murakami perhaps crossed up there, has the ball get away, but Kominami doesn't advance.
Meanwhile, Tamura begins to throw a heavy diet of off-speed pitches, and falls behind Kobayashi 2-1. But Kobayashi hacks away and flies out to right.
Iwagami -kantoku calls for the hit-and-run! And Ogawa puts the ball where Akiyama was! Kominami rounding 2nd, going for 3! Throw from Yumoto not in time and the tying run is 90 feet away!
But Fujiwara gets a bit impatient. He swings at the first pitch, fouling it off - then after falling behind 0-2, swings on a low slider for out number 3.
There's progress, and there's still time, but Utsunomiya has to keep the team in it.
Bottom 4th
Murakami with a fly to right. Fujiwara backpedaling, speeds up at the last second, reaches up and makes the catch. A bit lazy there, but it worked.
おっと。 After getting ahead 1-2, Utsunomiya hits Nanba. Iwagami-kantoku calls for a quick conference.
Utsunomiya hasn't recovered yet, falling behind 2-0 to Yoshida. Two swings later though, and he's back to even. And a late slider fools Yoshida for strike 3.
And Yano snags a liner from Akiyama for the 3rd out.
Top 5th
Oh! The Tohoku squad is in the outfield stands watching the game!
Tamura still having control issues, falling behind Nakanishi 3-1, and issues a leadoff walk!
You have to assume Utsunomiya is bunting, and he is, but Tamura quickly fields it and fires to 2nd to get Nakanishi!
Yano is squaring to bunt as well, but Tamura starts off with 2 balls! #10 Yoshida is in the bullpen warming up.
Yano lays down the bunt, but there's 2 outs now.
Ah! A low pitch from Tamura goes under Murakami and to the backstop, and the runner advances to 3rd.
And now Oota takes a walk! Tamura back in the same pinch as last inning.
Mori looking to extend the inning, works the count full. But a grounder right to Yoshida ends the inning. Another opportunity wasted.
Bottom 5th
Nihon Bunri seems fine heading into the break as Takahashi first pitch swings to right center, and Tamura takes the first pitch to short.
Karasawa though takes a couple of pitches, gets ahead of the count, but he too grounds out to Yano to end the inning.
The lead is 1 for Nihon Bunri, but Kagawa Nishi is getting more opportunities on the basepaths.
Top 6th
Graphic shows that Tamura is already at 80 pitches. Will Kagawa Nishi continue to rack up the pitch count?
Kominami leads off, and is swinging away more now, fouling off several offerings from Tamura. Meanwhile, #11 Hatano is now up in the Nihon Bunri bullpen.
And it looks like Tamura gets the call on a tailing fastball that looked like it still missed the inside corner. Nevertheless, one out.
Kobayashi with an easy grounder to Nogawa for the 2nd out. And Nogawa with a fine throw after charging at a grounder from Ogawa to retire the side.
Bottom 6th
Yumoto collects his 3rd hit of the day with a one-out liner over a leaping Yano into left.
Ah! Ogawa misses the throw from Utsunomiya and it goes into foul territory! Yumoto advances to scoring position!
And now Murakami walks! Runners on 1st and 2nd and there is activity now in the Kagawa bullpen.
Nanba is almost hit by another ball, and the count runs full on him! He checks his swing on the pitch and now the bases are loaded!
Iwagami-kantoku calls for a full conference now as the situation is getting critical for Kagawa Nishi.
And now Ooi-kantoku calls on #15 Usuda to PH for Yoshida. Interesting call here.
Usuda falls behind 1-2 count goes even and Utsunomiya is shaking Nakanishi off over and over. Pitch is in the dirt and the count runs full again...
Slider is fouled off by Usuda...
And Usuda gets under a pitch and lifts it to left center! The outfield was shaded to pull and the fielders can't get to the ball! It falls in front of the wall as Yumoto and Murakami score! 3-0 Nihon Bunri with only one down!!
And Akiyama with a liner past a drawn in infield and that's into center! Kominami's throw is cut off as 2 more runners score making it 5-0 Nihon Bunri!!
Takahashi with a ball to deep left! But it goes foul. Utsunomiya gets him to bail on a low slider for the 2nd out. Tamura does the same to end the inning, but Usuda's timely pinch-hit sparks a 4-run inning giving Nihon Bunri what should be a comfortable lead.
Top 7th
Usuda stays in the game to play 1st.
After 2 quick outs by Fujiwara and Nakanishi, Utsunomiya takes pitches and eventually draws a walk.
That patient sentiment isn't shared by the bottom of the order though. Yano takes the first pitch and lines it just foul down the right field line. And after falling behind 0-2, pops one up. Noguchi moves in just in front of 2nd and makes the catch, retiring the side.
Bottom 7th
Karasawa attempts the safety bunt to get on base, but Kobayashi is there to make a great throw for the first out.
Noguchi dribbles one past the glove of Mori into center for a base hit. Runner on for Yumoto who is perfect on the day.
Noguchi with a great swing getting a low ball from Utsunomiya, but just lines it foul down the right field line.
Sanshin!! Utsunomiya gets Yumoto to swing on a slider in the dirt for strike 3!
Murakami flies out to right to end the inning, but down 5 with 2 innings to go it doesn't look good for the boys from Shikoku.
Top 8th
Oota with a popup in foul territory. Takahashi running towards his dugout, backhands... and falls into the dugout!
But he has the ball!! What a great (if not dangerous) play by Takahashi!
Mori with a bunt, but he pops it up! Tamura quickly off the mound to his left, reaches back and makes the catch!
And with Kominami grounding out to 1st, Nihon Bunri is probably all but assured a spot in the next round.
Bottom 8th
One out, and Usuda gets his 2nd hit lining one to left.
2-2 on Akiyama, and Utsunomiya looks like he was squeezed there by the ump. He subsequently walks Akiyama, putting runners at 1st and 2nd with one out.
Takahashi takes a flat offering from Utsunomiya and drives it to deep left center. That falls in front of the wall! Usuda and Akiyama score on a one-out triple by Takahashi! 7-0 Bunri.
And that'll be hit for Utsunomiya. #10 Okada comes in from the pen to relieve the ace. His compliment of pitches is about the same, as the speed too.
Oy. Okada's offerings too are rather flat, and Tamura plays add on with a liner to right. 8-0.
After a flyout to right, Okada plunks Karasawa, and the game threatens to get really out of control.
Okada does strike out Yumoto to end the inning, but the ending is surely not in doubt anymore. Kagawa will get their last at-bats, then gather their Koushien dirt and head back to Kagawa.
Top 9th
Kobayashi with a looper over Akiyama into left center for a base hit.
#15 Oosako comes into PH for Ogawa, and falls behind 0-2. He eventually swings high on an offspeed pitch and is retired for out #1.
Wild pitch from Tamura sends Kobayashi to 2nd. And another one on the very next pitch brings him to 3rd. Fujiwara then earns a walk, and perhaps Kagawa Nishi can avoid a shutout.
#13 Teraoka comes in to PH for Nakanishi. But he's fooled by the offspeed offerings of Tamura and falls behind 0-2. And he goes down swinging on a high fastball.
It's down to #2 Yamazaki, who is in to PH for Okada.
He hits a dribbler past a diving Noguchi into right! Kobayashi comes home and Kagawa Nishi avoids the shutout! 8-1!
And now Yano gets ahead 3-1 on Tamura. Count goes full, high chopper goes foul.
Yano swings at a low off-speed and it goes right to Noguchi, who retires him for the final out.
Kagawa Nishi put up a good fight early on against Nihon Bunri, but they were unable to get anything going. Eventually the pitching of Kagawa Nishi broke down and Nihon Bunri won going away.
Surely the boys of Shikoku are disappointed, but I think they made a good showing for the opening game.
Notable Players
Kobayashi Masakazu (Kagawa Nishi) - 1-4, R
Yamazaki Yuuichi (Kagawa Nishi) - 1-1, RBI
Yumoto Shouta (Nihon Bunri) - 3-5, R, 2 K
Usuda Hiroya (Nihon Bunri) - 2-2, 2B, R, 2 RBI
Noguchi Tatsuyoshi (Nihon Bunri) - 2-5, 2B, R
Tamura Yuuma (Nihon Bunri) - CG, 1 ER, 6 K, 5 BB
And with that, the opening game of the 83rd Haru Koushien is about to get underway!
I had always thought that Kagawa Nishi had been a strong team within the prefecture (and even within Shikoku), yet I'm surprised to see that this is actually their first time at senbatsu! Not only will this be their first time, but they get to open up the tournament!
Kagawa Nishi finished runner-up in the Shikoku Super-Regional, yet their fall was a mixed bag. They finished runner-up in the prefecturals, defeating Takamatsu Shougyou and Kanonji Chuo before giving up 2 runs to Sangawa in the bottom of the 9th. Then they edged Jyounan and defeated Kochi, but then was annihilated by Meitoku Gijyuku. So while they qualified, it's hard to judge just exactly how good they are.
Their first round test will be tough as they square off against 2009 Natsu runner-up Nihon Bunri. Nihon Bunri has always been a decent team out of the Hokushinetsu region, regularly reaching both the Haru and Natsu Koushien tournaments. But it wasn't until their 2009 run where they had one of the most exciting finishes in history that finally put them on the map.
While ace Itou Naoki has left, the effects of that game should have lingered on. In at least the short-term this should provide them with an added boost that may help sustain the success of the school.
So, how have they taken advantage of this opportunity?
Nihon Bunri also finished runner-up in their region, but their performance was much more even. They won the prefecturals on the back of good pitching primarily in 2nd year ace Tamura Yuuma. Their excellent pitching continued on through the likes of Matsushou Gakuen and Yuugakukan, but Ooi-kantoku decided to go with fellow 2nd year Hatano Yousuke instead (much like the Matsushou Gakuen game), and Kanazawa was able to take advantage for a 4-2 win.
Nihon Bunri's offense does not seem that extraordinary, so their run may be predicated on how their pitching holds up.
It should be a good game, given that Kagawa isn't a true newcomer, but I think Nihon Bunri should advance from this matchup.
____________________________________________________________
Kagawa Nishi (Kagawa) - Shikoku Runner-up
LF Oota Hiroto
2B Mori Kouichi
CF Kominami Kengo
3B Kobayashi Masakazu
1B Ogawa Shouhei
RF Fujiwara Shigeru
C Nakanishi Daisuke (#12)
P Utsunomiya Kenta
SS Yano Kouhei
Nihon Bunri (Niigata) - Hokushinetsu Runner-up
CF Karasawa Tomoya (#13)
2B Noguchi Tatsuyoshi
LF Yumoto Shouta
C Murakami Masashi
RF Nanba Masaya
1B Yoshida Yuu
SS Akiyama Masaki
3B Takahashi Kou
P Tamura Yuuma
____________________________________________________________
10:10 - Game start!
Top 1st
Tamura off to a good start as Oota pops one out in foul territory. Takahashi is under it for the first out.
Tamura's offerings aren't that fast and Mori shoots one back up the middle for a base hit.
The fastball is sitting in the low 130's and his curve in the mid 110's.
We see a slider against Kominami at the low 120's-high 110's... and Kominami lazily flies out to center.
Cleanup batter Kobayashi is rather patient at the plate, taking the first two pitches for balls and one for a strike.
And Tamura gets Kobayashi to hit an easy fly to right to end the inning. Not a bad start for Tamura, but the batters are taking pitches - 15 for the 1st inning.
Bottom 1st
One pitch, one out. Karasawa takes the first pitch right to Yano. He makes the putout at 1st.
Utsunomiya is about the same as Tamura. Fastball in the mid-130's, just hit 137 against Noguchi, with a curve/slider in the mid-110's.
Noguchi with a fly to center. Kominami running back, still running as it goes over his head! Noguchi in with a double!
Yumoto with a shot to right! That's in for a base hit! Fujiwara bobbles the bounce! They're sending Noguchi in, and the throw is cut off! Noguchi scores giving Nihon Bunri the 1-0 lead!
Murakami going on the first pitch hits one to the right side! Mori with the great backhanded stop! Goes to 2nd for one, throw to 1st by Yano in plenty of time to beat a diving Murakami to end the inning.
But Nihon Bunri gets on the board first!
Top 2nd
After a groundout by Oota to start the inning, Fujiwara takes his time at the plate, gets ahead 3-0, and is plunked for ball 4.
おっと。 The first pitch is high, and now Nakanishi is up 2-0. He's given the green light, but swings away at a high fastball. Slider is wide for ball 3, and Tamura's in danger of walking his 2nd batter. Nakanishi bails him out for a pitch by swinging at another high fastball. Count goes full and after a foul ball, Nakanishi is frozen on a slider for strike 3! Murakami fires to 2nd and Fujiwara is thrown out easily for the strike-'em-out-throw-'em-out DP to end the inning.
Tamura doesn't have the best control right now, and if Kagawa Nishi is patient, they may get that equalizing run sooner rather than later.
Bottom 2nd
Utsunomiya working at a quick pace. Nanba hits the first pitch to 2nd for the first out.
Working on Yoshida, he nibbles on the outside after getting ahead. After running the count full, Yoshida lines one back at Utsunomiya. He stops it with his glove and makes the play at 1st for out #2.
Akiyama also gets to a full count and hits one right to the gap in right center. It isn't hard, but it falls in the right place as Akiyama is in with a 2-out double.
Utsunomiya continues to work the outside corner against right-handed batters, and although he may have been squeezed, he walks Takahashi and it's getting slightly hairy.
But Tamura can't lay off the outside pitches, and he bails on a couple of pitches to end the inning.
Top 3rd
After making Tamura work the last two innings, the batters start swinging away with no results. Utsunomiya strikes out, Yano grounds to short, and Oota takes the first pitch to 1st where Yoshida takes it himself to end the inning.
Bottom 3rd
Back to the top of the order for Nihon Bunri and Karasawa flies out to left. Noguchi with a harmless grounder to 2nd and there's quickly 2 outs.
Yumoto taking a fastball past a diving Mori for his 2nd hit of the day!
But he takes off on the first pitch and Nakanishi makes a great throw to nail him for the 3rd out.
Top 4th
Mori falls behind 0-2, and while he evens the count, he grounds to 2nd.
Kominami once again patient, and he walks on 4 straight! Runner on for Kagawa Nishi.
Murakami perhaps crossed up there, has the ball get away, but Kominami doesn't advance.
Meanwhile, Tamura begins to throw a heavy diet of off-speed pitches, and falls behind Kobayashi 2-1. But Kobayashi hacks away and flies out to right.
Iwagami -kantoku calls for the hit-and-run! And Ogawa puts the ball where Akiyama was! Kominami rounding 2nd, going for 3! Throw from Yumoto not in time and the tying run is 90 feet away!
But Fujiwara gets a bit impatient. He swings at the first pitch, fouling it off - then after falling behind 0-2, swings on a low slider for out number 3.
There's progress, and there's still time, but Utsunomiya has to keep the team in it.
Bottom 4th
Murakami with a fly to right. Fujiwara backpedaling, speeds up at the last second, reaches up and makes the catch. A bit lazy there, but it worked.
おっと。 After getting ahead 1-2, Utsunomiya hits Nanba. Iwagami-kantoku calls for a quick conference.
Utsunomiya hasn't recovered yet, falling behind 2-0 to Yoshida. Two swings later though, and he's back to even. And a late slider fools Yoshida for strike 3.
And Yano snags a liner from Akiyama for the 3rd out.
Top 5th
Oh! The Tohoku squad is in the outfield stands watching the game!
Tamura still having control issues, falling behind Nakanishi 3-1, and issues a leadoff walk!
You have to assume Utsunomiya is bunting, and he is, but Tamura quickly fields it and fires to 2nd to get Nakanishi!
Yano is squaring to bunt as well, but Tamura starts off with 2 balls! #10 Yoshida is in the bullpen warming up.
Yano lays down the bunt, but there's 2 outs now.
Ah! A low pitch from Tamura goes under Murakami and to the backstop, and the runner advances to 3rd.
And now Oota takes a walk! Tamura back in the same pinch as last inning.
Mori looking to extend the inning, works the count full. But a grounder right to Yoshida ends the inning. Another opportunity wasted.
Bottom 5th
Nihon Bunri seems fine heading into the break as Takahashi first pitch swings to right center, and Tamura takes the first pitch to short.
Karasawa though takes a couple of pitches, gets ahead of the count, but he too grounds out to Yano to end the inning.
The lead is 1 for Nihon Bunri, but Kagawa Nishi is getting more opportunities on the basepaths.
Top 6th
Graphic shows that Tamura is already at 80 pitches. Will Kagawa Nishi continue to rack up the pitch count?
Kominami leads off, and is swinging away more now, fouling off several offerings from Tamura. Meanwhile, #11 Hatano is now up in the Nihon Bunri bullpen.
And it looks like Tamura gets the call on a tailing fastball that looked like it still missed the inside corner. Nevertheless, one out.
Kobayashi with an easy grounder to Nogawa for the 2nd out. And Nogawa with a fine throw after charging at a grounder from Ogawa to retire the side.
Bottom 6th
Yumoto collects his 3rd hit of the day with a one-out liner over a leaping Yano into left.
Ah! Ogawa misses the throw from Utsunomiya and it goes into foul territory! Yumoto advances to scoring position!
And now Murakami walks! Runners on 1st and 2nd and there is activity now in the Kagawa bullpen.
Nanba is almost hit by another ball, and the count runs full on him! He checks his swing on the pitch and now the bases are loaded!
Iwagami-kantoku calls for a full conference now as the situation is getting critical for Kagawa Nishi.
And now Ooi-kantoku calls on #15 Usuda to PH for Yoshida. Interesting call here.
Usuda falls behind 1-2 count goes even and Utsunomiya is shaking Nakanishi off over and over. Pitch is in the dirt and the count runs full again...
Slider is fouled off by Usuda...
And Usuda gets under a pitch and lifts it to left center! The outfield was shaded to pull and the fielders can't get to the ball! It falls in front of the wall as Yumoto and Murakami score! 3-0 Nihon Bunri with only one down!!
And Akiyama with a liner past a drawn in infield and that's into center! Kominami's throw is cut off as 2 more runners score making it 5-0 Nihon Bunri!!
Takahashi with a ball to deep left! But it goes foul. Utsunomiya gets him to bail on a low slider for the 2nd out. Tamura does the same to end the inning, but Usuda's timely pinch-hit sparks a 4-run inning giving Nihon Bunri what should be a comfortable lead.
Top 7th
Usuda stays in the game to play 1st.
After 2 quick outs by Fujiwara and Nakanishi, Utsunomiya takes pitches and eventually draws a walk.
That patient sentiment isn't shared by the bottom of the order though. Yano takes the first pitch and lines it just foul down the right field line. And after falling behind 0-2, pops one up. Noguchi moves in just in front of 2nd and makes the catch, retiring the side.
Bottom 7th
Karasawa attempts the safety bunt to get on base, but Kobayashi is there to make a great throw for the first out.
Noguchi dribbles one past the glove of Mori into center for a base hit. Runner on for Yumoto who is perfect on the day.
Noguchi with a great swing getting a low ball from Utsunomiya, but just lines it foul down the right field line.
Sanshin!! Utsunomiya gets Yumoto to swing on a slider in the dirt for strike 3!
Murakami flies out to right to end the inning, but down 5 with 2 innings to go it doesn't look good for the boys from Shikoku.
Top 8th
Oota with a popup in foul territory. Takahashi running towards his dugout, backhands... and falls into the dugout!
But he has the ball!! What a great (if not dangerous) play by Takahashi!
Mori with a bunt, but he pops it up! Tamura quickly off the mound to his left, reaches back and makes the catch!
And with Kominami grounding out to 1st, Nihon Bunri is probably all but assured a spot in the next round.
Bottom 8th
One out, and Usuda gets his 2nd hit lining one to left.
2-2 on Akiyama, and Utsunomiya looks like he was squeezed there by the ump. He subsequently walks Akiyama, putting runners at 1st and 2nd with one out.
Takahashi takes a flat offering from Utsunomiya and drives it to deep left center. That falls in front of the wall! Usuda and Akiyama score on a one-out triple by Takahashi! 7-0 Bunri.
And that'll be hit for Utsunomiya. #10 Okada comes in from the pen to relieve the ace. His compliment of pitches is about the same, as the speed too.
Oy. Okada's offerings too are rather flat, and Tamura plays add on with a liner to right. 8-0.
After a flyout to right, Okada plunks Karasawa, and the game threatens to get really out of control.
Okada does strike out Yumoto to end the inning, but the ending is surely not in doubt anymore. Kagawa will get their last at-bats, then gather their Koushien dirt and head back to Kagawa.
Top 9th
Kobayashi with a looper over Akiyama into left center for a base hit.
#15 Oosako comes into PH for Ogawa, and falls behind 0-2. He eventually swings high on an offspeed pitch and is retired for out #1.
Wild pitch from Tamura sends Kobayashi to 2nd. And another one on the very next pitch brings him to 3rd. Fujiwara then earns a walk, and perhaps Kagawa Nishi can avoid a shutout.
#13 Teraoka comes in to PH for Nakanishi. But he's fooled by the offspeed offerings of Tamura and falls behind 0-2. And he goes down swinging on a high fastball.
It's down to #2 Yamazaki, who is in to PH for Okada.
He hits a dribbler past a diving Noguchi into right! Kobayashi comes home and Kagawa Nishi avoids the shutout! 8-1!
And now Yano gets ahead 3-1 on Tamura. Count goes full, high chopper goes foul.
Yano swings at a low off-speed and it goes right to Noguchi, who retires him for the final out.
Kagawa Nishi put up a good fight early on against Nihon Bunri, but they were unable to get anything going. Eventually the pitching of Kagawa Nishi broke down and Nihon Bunri won going away.
Surely the boys of Shikoku are disappointed, but I think they made a good showing for the opening game.
Notable Players
Kobayashi Masakazu (Kagawa Nishi) - 1-4, R
Yamazaki Yuuichi (Kagawa Nishi) - 1-1, RBI
Yumoto Shouta (Nihon Bunri) - 3-5, R, 2 K
Usuda Hiroya (Nihon Bunri) - 2-2, 2B, R, 2 RBI
Noguchi Tatsuyoshi (Nihon Bunri) - 2-5, 2B, R
Tamura Yuuma (Nihon Bunri) - CG, 1 ER, 6 K, 5 BB
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Brackets and rosters are up (plus some notes)
Brackets and rosters for the 83rd Haru Koushien are now up! I realize that it's less than 24 hours before the first game, but at least they're up now.
A couple of notes for the upcoming Koushien:
A couple of notes for the upcoming Koushien:
- Because of my bowling league on Mondays, the 7th day of coverage may be delayed.
- Unlike in past years where I have to wait for archived footage on the main site, I may be able to liveblog like I have done in the past. Depends on what access I can get.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Senbatsu is on, but with a few changes
Haru Koushien will indeed go on, but there will be several changes which are quite understandable given the circumstances:
- The traditional march of teams into the stadium from the RF entrance will be canceled. As a result, games on Day 1 will be pushed ahead 20 minutes.
- The interval between games will be shortened to limit night games (to prevent usage of the stadium lights per the energy conservation order)
- The Alps stands (where the school's cheering section is - roughly from halfway up from the corner bases to the foul poles) will be prohibiting brabans (brass bands) and cheering. (Unfortunate, but sociologically makes sense)
- A portion of the ticket sales will go to help the victims of the quake/tsunami.
- Donation boxes will also be available for people at the stadium to make their own donations.
- Any ticket holder from the Tohoku region who cannot attend due to the earthquake/tsunami will receive a refund.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
83rd Senbatsu Cancelled?
(Hat tip Gen @ YakyuBaka)
It appears that there is a chance that senbatsu could be canceled due to the Great Tohoku Earthquake. Nothing is decided yet, although we would find out by the 18th at the latest.
I would think that they would consider postponing it in the hopes that things would settle down enough later, and I would think that having Koshien would bring a sense of normalcy, but at the same time canceling it in respect of the people and the situation is completely understandable.
It appears that there is a chance that senbatsu could be canceled due to the Great Tohoku Earthquake. Nothing is decided yet, although we would find out by the 18th at the latest.
I would think that they would consider postponing it in the hopes that things would settle down enough later, and I would think that having Koshien would bring a sense of normalcy, but at the same time canceling it in respect of the people and the situation is completely understandable.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Drawing Completed
The JHBF has decided to go ahead with the Haru Koushien perhaps as a way to bring a sense of normalcy to the country.
Unfortunately, because of Tohoku's issues, it isn't quite out of the picture. As a courtesy, Tohoku was given the final game of Round 1. However, it is still a question as to whether or not they will be able to participate.
So the draw was performed, and here are your brackets. Game will be played in descending order with 3 games a day starting on the 23rd.
Block A
Kagawa Nishi (Kagawa) vs. Nihon Bunri (Niigata)
Maebashi Ikuei (Gunma) vs. Kyushu Kokusaidai Fuzoku (Fukuoka)
Soushi Gakuen (Okayama) vs. Hokkai (Hokkaido)
Oodate Houmei (Akita) vs. Tenri (Nara)
Soushi Gakuen, the all-freshman team who now holds the record as the fastest team to ever reach Koushien, will get a fair test in Hokkai, and Maebashi Ikuei has a bit of an uphill battle against Kyukoku. Nihon Bunri gets an above average team in Kagawa Nishi. Tenri should be okay against Oodate Houmei, but I refuse to predict their potential anymore.
Block B
Yokohama (Kanagawa) vs. Hasami (Nagasaki)
Kanazawa (Ishikawa) vs. Kakogawa Kita (Hyogo)
Nichidai-san (Tokyo) vs. Meitoku Gijyuku (Kochi)
Seisei (Shizuoka) vs. Kyoto Seishou (Kyoto)
Hasami may have rejoiced in reaching Koushien, until they drew Yokohama in the 1st round... Kanazawa and Kakogawa Kita should be a good matchup although Kanazawa should be favored... Nichidai-san and Meitoku Gijyuku will be a good matchup of schools with experience, and Seisei and Kyoto Seishou should be a level match, although either will have a hard time in the 2nd round.
Block C
Suijyou (Ibaraki) vs. Kousei Gakuin (Aomori)
Chiben Wakayama (Wakayama) vs. Sado (Niigata)
Hiroshima Sougou Gijyutsu (Hiroshima) vs. Riseisha (Osaka)
Kokugakuin Kugayama (Tokyo) vs. Kyushu Gakuin (Kumamoto)
Suijyou draws Kousei Gakuin. It's not an ideal matchup, but strictly talking matchups I wonder what the midset of Kousei will be... Sado gets to go to Koushien, but Chiben Wakayama? That's just wrong man.... Riseisha should be favored over Hiroshima Sougou Gijyutus, and could have a chance at the Best 4. And Kyushu Gakuin gets Kokugakuin Kugayama - that should be good.
Block D
Houtoku Gakuen (Hyogo) vs. Jyounan (Tokushima)
Urawa Gakuin (Saitama) vs. Kagoshima Jitsugyou (Kagoshima)
Kanzei (Okayama) vs. Toukaidai Sagami (Kanagawa)
Oogaki Nichidai (Gifu) vs. Tohoku (Miyagi)
Houtoku Gakuen should advance over Jyounan, but Kagoshima Jitsugyou looms in the rear view mirror. I love Kanzei, but Toukaidai Sagami? Really??! And if Tohoku didn't have enough problems, should they be able to make it to Koushien, they have to play Oogaki Nichidai. That hurts.
I'll try to get something more on the matchups in the next couple of days.
Unfortunately, because of Tohoku's issues, it isn't quite out of the picture. As a courtesy, Tohoku was given the final game of Round 1. However, it is still a question as to whether or not they will be able to participate.
So the draw was performed, and here are your brackets. Game will be played in descending order with 3 games a day starting on the 23rd.
Block A
Kagawa Nishi (Kagawa) vs. Nihon Bunri (Niigata)
Maebashi Ikuei (Gunma) vs. Kyushu Kokusaidai Fuzoku (Fukuoka)
Soushi Gakuen (Okayama) vs. Hokkai (Hokkaido)
Oodate Houmei (Akita) vs. Tenri (Nara)
Soushi Gakuen, the all-freshman team who now holds the record as the fastest team to ever reach Koushien, will get a fair test in Hokkai, and Maebashi Ikuei has a bit of an uphill battle against Kyukoku. Nihon Bunri gets an above average team in Kagawa Nishi. Tenri should be okay against Oodate Houmei, but I refuse to predict their potential anymore.
Block B
Yokohama (Kanagawa) vs. Hasami (Nagasaki)
Kanazawa (Ishikawa) vs. Kakogawa Kita (Hyogo)
Nichidai-san (Tokyo) vs. Meitoku Gijyuku (Kochi)
Seisei (Shizuoka) vs. Kyoto Seishou (Kyoto)
Hasami may have rejoiced in reaching Koushien, until they drew Yokohama in the 1st round... Kanazawa and Kakogawa Kita should be a good matchup although Kanazawa should be favored... Nichidai-san and Meitoku Gijyuku will be a good matchup of schools with experience, and Seisei and Kyoto Seishou should be a level match, although either will have a hard time in the 2nd round.
Block C
Suijyou (Ibaraki) vs. Kousei Gakuin (Aomori)
Chiben Wakayama (Wakayama) vs. Sado (Niigata)
Hiroshima Sougou Gijyutsu (Hiroshima) vs. Riseisha (Osaka)
Kokugakuin Kugayama (Tokyo) vs. Kyushu Gakuin (Kumamoto)
Suijyou draws Kousei Gakuin. It's not an ideal matchup, but strictly talking matchups I wonder what the midset of Kousei will be... Sado gets to go to Koushien, but Chiben Wakayama? That's just wrong man.... Riseisha should be favored over Hiroshima Sougou Gijyutus, and could have a chance at the Best 4. And Kyushu Gakuin gets Kokugakuin Kugayama - that should be good.
Block D
Houtoku Gakuen (Hyogo) vs. Jyounan (Tokushima)
Urawa Gakuin (Saitama) vs. Kagoshima Jitsugyou (Kagoshima)
Kanzei (Okayama) vs. Toukaidai Sagami (Kanagawa)
Oogaki Nichidai (Gifu) vs. Tohoku (Miyagi)
Houtoku Gakuen should advance over Jyounan, but Kagoshima Jitsugyou looms in the rear view mirror. I love Kanzei, but Toukaidai Sagami? Really??! And if Tohoku didn't have enough problems, should they be able to make it to Koushien, they have to play Oogaki Nichidai. That hurts.
I'll try to get something more on the matchups in the next couple of days.
Monday, January 24, 2011
83rd Spring Koushien - Probable Teams
After a much needed break (not really a vacation as there's still my regular 9-5 job - whee....), I'm back to start coverage for the new year.
While the field will be announced later this week (the 28th, I think), we can cover most of the participants. This post will be continuously added until I cover all regions.
Edit: Well, after being busy all week, teams have been announced, so it's not probable anymore... heh... Seriously though the teams invited are chalk for the most part with one or two surprises.
Hokkaido Super-Regional (1)
Hokkai - Champions - 12th appearance, 1st in 16 years
Hokkai earns the bid for the Hokkaido region, and while they're a mainstay in the prefecture, it has not been smooth sailing when they head south.
The team is headed by freshman ace Tamakuma Shouichi (玉熊 将一). A righty with a 3/4 delivery, he was the staff ace in middle school as well.
He features a mid 130's fastball, with a mid 120's slider and mid 110's curve that has good break to it. He depends on his control, which will be needed against the tougher competition. This can be seen in their opening round loss in the Meiji Jingu Tournament to Nichidai-san. They'll be the longshot from up north to win it all.
Tohoku Super- Regional (2)
Tohoku (Miyagi) - Champions - 19th appearance, 1st in 3 years
Tohoku has been trying to return to prominence after the Darvish years, but have never really been able to capture that flash.
This time around, the ace number goes to 2nd year utility player Kamimura Kento (上村 健人), a good-sized righty who also is their slugger. He also throws in the mid-130's for his fastball, but has a 120's shuuto and change in addition to his slider. For someone his size, his delivery time from the stretch is a bit above average (1.1-1.2 seconds).
In their appearance at Meiji Jingu, he pitched a complete game shutout against Kanazawa, but surprisingly did not take the mound against Urawa Gakuin where they fell 7-2.
Videos of him are here (Super-regional) and here (Meiji Jingu)。
While he is the ace, he was relieved in early rounds of the prefectural and super-regionals by Natsui Yasukichi (夏井 康吉), a lefty. Interestingly, his oldest brother Natsui Daikichi (夏井 大吉) was a captain at Hanamaki Higashi, and his 2nd oldest Natsui Kenkichi (夏井 健吉) was captain at Meiou! There isn't much information on him, but there is a video of him here.
Kousei Gakuin (Aomori) - Runner-up, - 5th appearance, 1st in 2 years
Kousei Gakuin receives the 2nd bid out of Tohoku. And why not given their performance in the fall tournament?
Kousei is led by 2nd year ace Akita Kyoura (秋田 教良), who can hit 140 on the radar, and features a slider, cut fastball and curve.
But perhaps the two players to watch will be in the infield for Kousei. 2nd year Kanayama Hirotaka (金山 洸昴) and 1st year Tamura Tatsuhiro (田村 龍弘) lie in the heart of the order for Kousei and could provide some much-needed pop for their squad.
It may be a stretch to expect either team from Tohoku to win, but it's possible they could make a decent run as well.
Kanto Super-Regional (4 + at-large bid)
Urawa Gakuin (Saitama) - Champion - 7th appearance, 1st in 6 years
Urawa Gakuin earned every bit of their title, defeating Kanagawa powerhouses Yokohama AND Toukaidai Sagami in back-to-back games to win the fall super-regional!
But I can't find much information on any of their players!
I do know their ace is Satou Takuya (佐藤 拓也). He only reaches the low 130's and has a big curveball. Certainly though, that can't be just it as it wouldn't make sense that someone like him could singlehandedly defeat those Kanagawa schools.
Toukaidai Sagami (Kanagawa) - Runner-up - 9th appearance, 2nd consecutive
So, what is Toukaidai Sagami to do now in the post-Hifumi Shinta era?
Well, looking to fill that void on the mound is Kondou Masataka (近藤 正崇), and he's not that bad himself. He hits the upper 130's and can hit 140, and features a slider, curve and forkball. Relieving him in the key games is Kasama Akira(?) (笠間 圭).
Offensively, the team will be relying on returning players such as 2B Tanaka Shunta (田中 俊太), where baseball runs in the family (brother Kousuke plays for Toukai University), and outfielder Usuda Tetsuya (臼田 哲也) who are returners from last year.
Suijyou (Ibaraki) - 3rd/4th place - 1st appearance
I wanted to cover Suijyou first, mainly because, well... I just like them.
I liked them in their battle against Toukaidai Sagami in last year's Natsu Koushien, and thought the team had promise, even though they didn't have stars to speak of. Nonetheless, without big name players, and losing the majority of their starting squad, they worked their way back to Koushien. Leading them is Satou Kenta (佐藤 賢太), who sports the ace number after wearing #11 last summer.
Outside of him, again there's no real information on the team, so perhaps they may fly under the radar once again...
Yokohama (Kanagawa) - 3rd/4th place - 13th appearance, 1st in 3 years
And now onto Yokohama, who really hasn't been able to find that groove. They're good enough to reach Koushien, but lately not much else.
This time around, their leader on the mound is #10, super 1st-year southpaw Yamauchi Tatsuya (山内 達也) perhaps taking the most of an opportunity after ace Saitou Kenta (齋藤 健汰) injured his non-throwing wrist in an accident on the field. He can throw in the upper 130's with a slider and curve.
Then there's ace number Saitou Kenta (齋藤 健汰) who as mentioned before was the starter before being sidelined with that wrist injury. He's a righty whose fastball matches that of Yamauchi and has a slider, curve and change.
Offensively, there's C Kondou Kensuke (近藤 健介), who hit a scorching 0.481/0.741/0.622 in the prefectural tournament, and RF Otosaka Tomo (乙坂 智) who is supposedly Yokohama's version of Ichiro.
Maebashi Ikuei (Gunma) earns the Kanto/Tokyo at-large bid, probably in response to their strong showing in the quarterfinals against Toukaidai Sagami. Looking back at that game they actually held the lead twice before faltering late. Kasumigaura probably had a chance for the bid as they rallied against Yokohama late, but perhaps Toukaidai Sagami's recent performance gave them the edge.
Leading the team is ace Ikeda Yuuki (池田 悠紀) with Takahashi Hiromi(?) (高橋 拓已) spelling him at times starting games. I don't have much more on them other than that.
Looking at these teams, sadly Maebashi Ikuei and Suijyou probably have the hardest hill to climb (depending on the draw of course). I can't exactly figure out what to make of Urawa Gakuin... Toukaidai Sagami may have pitchers with better control but can the offense keep up? And Yokohama seems to have a solid team, but can they prove it at Koushien?
Tokyo Super-Regional (1 + Meiji Jingu bid)
Nichidai-san - Champion - 18th appearance, 2nd consecutive
So Nichidai-san once again makes a Koushien appearance. And they were oh so close against Haru-Natsu champions Kounan. The question will be can they make another run at it?
Taking the helm is new ace Yoshinaga Kentarou (吉永 健太朗). He was used sparingly last year, and when he was used, was rather ineffective. Somewhere along the line though after he was promoted to the ace number, a switch must have gone on in his head. While not utilized as much in the super-regional, he really shined in the Meiji Jingu tournament, pitching 3 complete games while giving up just 1 earned run in each of them, showing great control walking just 5 batters.
Yoshinaga can hit as high as 147 on the radar, throwing a sinker and curve in addition to a slider with all three being at least 20 kph slower. Here and here are videos of him during the summer in the semifinal against Nichidai Tsurugaoka, while this is him at the Meiji Jingu Tournament. Nichidai-san has always been a solid team, but in recent memory, I can't recall them having a dominating pitcher. That might change this year.
Assisting him are returning starters 3B Yokoo Toshitake (横尾 俊健), CF Azegami Shou (畔上 翔), and RF Takayama Shun (高山 俊).
Yokoo is a power hitting 3rd baseman who neatly hit .458/.480/.708 in last year's senbatsu, then hit the go-ahead homerun against Kagoshima Jitsugyou in the Meiji Jingu final. Azegami is a converted pitcher who has experience in timely spots (he hit the RBI triple there), while Takayama is Nichidai's leadoff hitter. He's not your prototypical leadoff man as he doesn't take walks, but can hit a homerun.
Nichidan-san has been a solid team year in and year out. And they have some good pieces returning. The question is whether the rest of the cast will help lead them to victory this time around.
Kokugakuin Kugayama - Runner-up - 3rd appearance, 1st in 26 years
Kokugakuin Kugayama has Nichidai-san to thank for reaching just their 3rd senbatsu in school history. Now, while the rosters have turned over from last year, they did beat teams such as Obirin, Shuutoku and Waseda Gakuin before falling 4-0 to Nichidai-san in the finals.
And they have ace Kawaguchi Takato (川口 貴都) to thank for that. A first-year ace, he can already hit the low 140's with a good slider. The only question is his stamina. Having pitched 4 complete games, two of which were called after 7, he faltered against Hachiouji giving up 7 runs in a 10 inning affair. Now, while they won, they had to go to backup Sekihashi Jyun(?) (関橋 淳), who did well giving up 2 runs in 6 innings. But as mentioned earlier, the offense could only manage 5 hits against Yoshinaga.
So the 2 questions for Kokugakuin are (1) how long can Kawaguchi last? And (2) can the offense deliver?
Hokushinetsu Super-Regional (2)
Kanazawa (Ishikawa) - Champion - 9th appearance, 1st in 7 years
Kanazawa takes the lead out of the Hokushinetsu region. Leading the charge is ace Kamata Yoshinao (釜田 佳直), who was given the reins as a freshman. All he did was lead them back into the best 4 of the prefectural fall tournament and then held tough against eventual fall champions Takaoka Shougyou, and hitting 145 on the gun.
So how would he follow that up? Well, in the summer he would hit 151 in an escape game against Kanazawa Shiritsu Kougyou before faltering late in the semifinals against fellow seed Oyamadai in the last 2 innings. Then in the fall prefecturals... well, after a 2-1 complete game win against Yuugakukan in the semis, they had a mess of a game against Kanazawa Sakuragaoka of which I have no idea what the team was doing. Still, they managed to win the prefecturals. Then perhaps with the team in order, he had no trouble giving the team the super-regional title and a spot in the 83rd Spring Koushien. And even in the Meiji Jingu tournament loss to Tohoku, he gave up 11 hits and 3 runs in a CG loss, while striking out 7.
Kamata in addition to his blazing fastball, has a variety of other pitches including a two-seamer, slider, change and curveball. So they have the pitcher. But what about the rest?
Nihon Bunri (Niigata) - Runner-up - 4th appearance, 1st in 2 years
Nihon Bunri is yet again at Koushien, and having been able to reach the finals once, hope to do it again. They were always considered the longshot being out of a prefecture not known for baseball, but after the thriller against Chuukyoudai Chuukyou 2 years ago, there's hope.
Leading the charge is Tamura Yuuma (田村 勇磨), a righty who can throw in the low140's with a good slider. Apparently accompanying him are Hatano Yousuke (波多野 陽介), another righty who can almost reach 150, and Yoshino Kazuya (吉野 和也) yet another righty who has a max of 141.
Outside of that, I don't know much more other than that there is still Yumoto Shouta remaining from the runner-up team of 2009 that is on the starting 9 who can provide some experience to the team.
Toukai Super-Regional (2)
Oogaki Nichidai (Gifu) - Champion - 3rd appearance, 2nd consecutive
Oogaki Nichidai returns to senbatsu probably thankful that Kounan (and more importantly Shimabukuro) is gone. Surely the 10-0 loss in the semifinals was a bitter pill to swallow.
Ace Kassai Yukiya (葛西 侑也) must especially be looking forward to this second chance. Since the loss to Kounan, he has buckled down culminating in a CG win against Tenri in the Meiji Jingu tournament. And while they lost to Kagoshima Jitsugyou, he yielded just 3 runs.
He's still not a hard thrower, but his control has improved - especially on his offspeed pitches (slider, change and a curve). In addition, his pitches have good variability in speed which helps keep batters off base (fastball - 136, change - 120's, slider - 110's, curve - 100's).
However, because he's not a hard thrower, he could face issues against high-powered offenses especially later in the tournament as the turnaround between games gets shorter and shorter.
Seisei (Shizuoka) - Runner-up - First appearance
Seisei makes just its 2nd overall Koushien apperance, and first senbatsu appearance. Looking at their road though, and their only probable quality wins were a 4-2 quarterfinal win over Tokoha Kikugawa in the prefecturals, then two extra inning wins against Komono (Mie) and Mie.
But while there may be some skepticism regarding how far they'll go, they did do what was necessary to get here, so they certainly have earned it.
On the mound for Seisei is Nomura Ryousuke (野村 亮介). He took over the ace number in his first year, and has a slider, changeup and an excellent forkball in addition to a fastball in the upper 130s. But with the poor performance against Oogaki Nichidai there is certainly room for improvement.
Kinki Super-Regional (6)
Tenri (Nara) - Champion - 21st appearance, 4th consecutive
Tenri is back yet again at Koushien, but I wonder if the team is frustrated at all that they have not had success in the last couple of years. Or perhaps the team has just began to settle for reaching Koushien. Whatever it is, if you've been reading my blog, you know I root for Tenri, albeit mostly in frustration. I do have to yield the fact that while Tenri has been to Koushien many, many times - when you have just 2 schools that go from Nara (3 if you include Kooriyama), one does have to wonder about the depth of talent.
Although Chiben Wakayama suffers from the same issue and yet they seem to have more success in recent years... *sighs*
Anyways, back on the mound for Tenri is newly promoted ace Nishiguchi Tasuku (西口 輔). In my analysis of Tenri last year, I said that in order for Tenri to advance they had to avoid the bullpen which, yep - you guessed it, included Nishiguchi. And when he did enter the game he was wildly erratic and pretty much sealed the team's fate.
So what changed?
Well for one, it seems like he has cut down on his wildness. While I don't have information on his prefecutral/super-regional play, in the Meiji Jingu game against Oogaki Nichidai, he threw 7 innings and gave up just one run on 4 hits, walked 2, and only struck out 3.
This despite being able to hit 148 on the radar gun, and now sporting a slider, change and curve. He seems to be throwing more downhill now, but he seems to struggle the later he goes into the game. His game against Oogaki Nichidai can be seen here.
So Tenri runs a tandem with 1st year pitcher Nakatani Keita (中谷 佳太), who shows excellent control for a freshman. While he only throws in the low-mid 130's, he not only locates his fastball, but his offspeed pitches which include a slider, curve and forkball. It would appear that this time, Tenri has a bullpen that they CAN use.
But with the entire roster turning over from last year, how will the newcomers fare?
Riseisha (Osaka) - Runner-up - 3rd appearance, 1st in 3 years
Riseisha, on the back of a mostly returning starting 9 from the summer was one game away from winning the Kinki Super-Regional only to lose a close revenge match against Tenri.
Iidzuka Takashi (飯塚 孝史) has been promoted to the ace number. I don't know if he's picked up any speed since we last saw him (he was throwing in the 120's). But he has a game plan for batters. Against righties he uses his slider and curve. On lefties, he utilizes his two-seam fastball.
As mentioned before, Riseisha returns most of its summer team. Some notable names within it are C Sakamoto Seishirou (坂本 誠志郎), 3B Ishii Gen (石井 元), and CF Kaifu Hiroto (海部 大斗).
Houtoku Gakuen (Hyogo) - 3rd/4th place - 18th appearance, 1st in 2 years
Houtoku Gakuen has apparently reloaded after their Best 4 appearance last summer despite having only one person returning from their starting 9.
But they're in good hands. Last year's super 1st year Tamura Ichirou (田村 伊知郎) showed poise beyond his years in the quarterfinal game last summer, pitching 7.2 strong innings against Niigata Meikun, striking out 9 and giving up just 1 run.
Tamura sports a fastball that can hit 140, along with a slider, curve and V-slider. Here he was at Natsu Koushien, and here he is during the fall tournament.
The supporting cast for Tamura is unknown as the roster has almost completely turned over, but they seem to be a strong bunch considering they made it to the super-regional semifinal.
Chiben Wakayama (Wakayama) - 3rd/4th place - 10th appearance, 2nd consecutive
Chiben Wakayama makes yet another appearance at Koushien. But while in past years, the stars were on offense, it seems like the key members of the team are all on the mound.
All 4 of them.
3 of them were on last summer's team. With ace number Yoshimoto graduating, the ace designation fell to Uenoyama Shouma (上野山 奨真). A side-arm pitcher, he can still get it up the high 130's with a slider, curve and shuuto. He hung in there against Narita last summer, but did give up 2 runs in 4.1 innings of work.
Then there's Miyagawa Yuuki (宮川 祐輝) who retains the #10 jersey. He can hit 142 on the gun, but his historical numbers suggest he might be better at the plate than on the mound.
Aoki Yuuto (青木 勇人) gets promoted to the #11 jersey, and may very well be the stronger of the 3. He put in 3.2 innings of scoreless ball against Narita in the summer, then in the fall pitched a CG win over Kyoto Gaidai Nishi before giving up 2 runs in 2.2 against PL Gakuen (he did strike out 6 though). He throws a slider, changeup and curveball.
Who's the 4th? He's a 1st-year by the name of Oojino Masaki (蔭地野 正起). He already has a spot on the main team wearing #12. He, like Miyagawa, can hit 142, but has a curve, slider and forkball to compliment his fastball. In 3 games during the summer qualifying against Kasada, Minoshima and Kouyou, he threw 9.2 innings of shutout ball giving up 6 hits while striking out 6.
4 pitchers on the roster for Chiben, but can the offense get itself going unlike last time?
In a slight shocker, Kyoto Seishou (Kyoto) and Kakogawa Kita (Hyogo) get the final two bids from the Kinki super-region ahead of PL Gakuen. However, Kyoto Seishou defeated Chiben Gakuen in the first round of the super-regional tournament, while Kakogawa Kita defeated Osaka Touin. That combined with their performances in the quarterfinals perhaps gave them the bids.
All I can find on Kyoto Seishou is their ace's name with is Nishino Kentarou (西野 健太郎), and a recap of their game against Nara 2 seed Chiben Gakuen. There's no information on their players, and their qualifying route is rather non-descript. The only notable games are in fact their semifinal loss to Kyoto Gaidai Nishi, and both of their super-regional games - a 3-2 win over Chiben Gakuen, and a 5-4 loss to Houtoku Gakuen blowing a 4-0 lead in the last 2 innings.
For Kakogawa Kita, I can find only information on their ace as well - Inoue-kun (the first name I can't figure out 井上 真伊人). He throws in the mid-upper 130's with a curve - although in this video it seems like the first curve he throws is a slow curve.
Chuugoku Super-Regional (2 + at-large bid)
Kanzei (Okayama) - Champion - 11th appearance, 2nd consecutive
Kanzei once again blew through the fall tournament, yielding just 4 runs in 12 games and shutting out all opponents in the super-regional! Although again it appears that their competition was rather light again.
Kanzei returns both pitchers from last spring - Katada Yuuta (堅田 裕太) and Mizuhara Hiroto (水原 浩登). Katada has added a couple of kph to his fastball, as well as a variety of pitches (a slider and curve for lefties, and a change and screwball for righties). Here was his appearance at last year's senbatsu. Mizuhara has been given the #6 jersey, suggesting that Kanzei may very well be keeping both pitchers on the field much like Sendai Ikuei last year or even Meihou with Imamiya. And in all intents and purposes, he's the right-handed version of Katada - featuring pretty much the same pitches and having a similar max on his fastball. I don't know if that's a plus or not, but it can't hurt.
Offensively, there's 3B Watanabe Yuuki (渡辺 雄貴), who was 3-4 with a double against last year's darling Shimabukuro Yousuke. Watanabe actually has moved from 3rd to LF (if the #7 uniform is any indication), but is apparently your super-utility player.
Soushi Gakuen (Okayama) - Runner-up - 1st appearance
Soushi Gakuen did not have as easy of a road as Kanzei. In fact, outside of the two games against Kanzei in the prefectural and super-regional finals, their games were almost always decided by 2 runs or less.
They depend primarily on 2 pitchers. Ace Yamamoto Ryou (山本 凌), and reliever (#11) Tomita Kazushige (富田 一成). But I don't have any more information on these players.
Hiroshima Sougou Gijyutsu (Hiroshima) - 3rd/4th place - 1st appearance
Perhaps as a result of the selection committee going with 2 teams from Okayama in the Chuugoku super-region, I think they almost had no choice but to give the Chuugoku/Shikoku at-large bid to this region - with Hiroshima Sougou Gijyutsu being the benefactor.
They avenged a 16-6 loss to Onomichi in the prefectural semifinal, then lost a 1-0 game against Kanzei in the super-regional semifinal.
Leading the way is 1st year ace Ida Yuki (伊田 有希), who actually wears #11. He was actually on the mound both times against Onomichi and Kanzei in the super-regional. The only thing I know is that he throws a slider. But then, who doesn't?
Shikoku Super-Regional (2)
Meitoku Gijyuku (Kochi) - Champion - 14th appearance, 1st in 3 years
Meitoku Gijyuku has successfully turned over its roster in the fall, won the Shikoku super-regional and thus an automatic bid.
Last year's #15, Omatsu Yoshio (尾松 義生) has become the new ace. Your average southpaw, he throws a slider, cut fastball, curve and change.
Omatsu has done all of the hard work for Meitoku, but there is note of a 1st year by the game of Fukunaga Tomoyuki(?) (福永 智之). He throws a slider and sinker, but I don't know much else.
Offensively, they have Kitagawa Rintarou (北川 倫太郎), who actually went 2-3 against Shimabukuro and both hits were to center. He's probably manning the cleanup spot again, but he'll definitely need help from the supporting cast.
Kagawa Nishi (Kagawa) - Runner-up - 1st appearance
It's been a while since we've seen Kagawa Nishi. An unknown team, they appeared first in the 2003 Natsu Koushien, and has actually had 3 summer appearances, but this is their 1st senbatsu.
But, the road they took is not all too convincing. The only game in the prefecturals that may garner attention is their 5-4 loss to Sangawa in the finals. Perhaps you can make a case for their semi matchup against Kannonji Chuo, but it's hard to say.
In the super-regional, the 3-1 win against Kochi would be a big plus...
...if not for the 15-1 loss to Meitoku Gijyuku the next day in the finals...
Sure it was raining that game, but unless the conditions were really sloppy, there's not much excuse.
Only player I have real info on is their ace Utsunomiya Kenta (宇都宮 健太). He throws in the upper 130s, with a slider, fork and change.
The loser out in the selection process was probably Kochi as they would have in all certainty earned a bid had Okayama not qualified 2 teams. Alas, they'll have to regroup and make a push for Natsu Koushien.
Kyushu Super-Regional (4)
Kagoshima Jitsugyou (Kagoshima) - Champion - 8th appearance, 1st in 15 years
Kagoshima Jitsugyou has had stretches of appearances followed by rebuilding. They seem to be in an upcycle now having been to Natsu Koushien last year, and returning as the Kyushu super-regional champion to start this year.
Noda Shougo (野田 昇吾) has been promoted to the ace number. Although technically the de facto ace given that all the pitchers from last year's Natsu Koushien team graduated, he's not bad himself. He sports a fastball that can hit the low 140's and compliments that with a slider, curve and change.
After a messy start against Kumamoto Kokufu, he handled Touin, and then performed brilliantly against Kyushu Gakuin and then Kyushu Kokusaidai Fuzoku, yielding a run each.
In the Meiji Jingu tournament he once again had trouble in the first game against Meitoku Gijyuku but managed to yield just 1 run even while giving up 9 walks. He settled down once again versus Oogaki Nichidai, and while he couldn't finish against Nichidai-san, it's not as if his numbers were terrible.
Two possible offensive players to look at are returning 1B Agemura Kyouhei (揚村 恭平), and RF Toyozumi Kouta (豊住 康太). They had good success at Koushien last summer, especially given that both did well against Kyushu Gakuin.
Kyushu Kokusaidai Fuzoku (Fukuoka) - Runner-up - 2nd appearance, 1st in 29 years
Kyukoku as they are called re-emerged on the scene in 2009 thanks to the efforts of Wakao Masahiro, former manager of Tohoku and Yu Darvish.
And they're back again here in the 83rd senbatsu.
And to my surprise, the ace on the mound for Kyukoku was on the 2009 Koushien team, #15 Miyoshi Takumi (三好 匠). He apparently has gone from #15 to #5 to #1. I think. And while they finished 2nd in the Kyushu Super-regionals, the only footage I can find of him pitching is when he was a 1st year. Which doesn't help much, but it certainly is an interesting path to the ace number. Even with that he can hit 143 with the traditional slider, curve and change.
However, the roughness shows. Against Senshuudai Tamana and Hasami he did well giving up 2 runs in 2 CGs. But against Okinawa Shogaku and Kagoshima Jitsugyou he gave up 11 runs and 24 hits again in 2 CGs.
Which means much like their Eastern Japan counterpart Teikyou (several years ago), it may have to be the offense that carries them.
His battery mate, Takajyou Shuuto (高城 俊人), was the backup catcher back in 2009. And he has become quite the player. He's hit 21 homeruns, and as the 3-4 batters respectively in the lineup, provide the heart of the offense.
To boot, he has a good arm and can get a ball to 2nd in 1.86 sec. I don't know if that's really fast, but he's been noted for his arm.
The final player of note is Katou Ryou (加藤 凌), a 2nd year who while hitting in the 7 spot, hit 7 homeruns in the fall tournament.
Kyushu Gakuin (Kumamoto) - 3rd/4th place - 4th appearance, 1st in 9 years
Kyushu Gakuin had fallen out of view over the better part of the last decade. This after experiencing a surge at the end of the last millennia.
Now, they had continued success as one of the better teams in Kyushu... just not good enough to get back to Koushien.
That changed last summer when they won the Kumamoto prefectural tournament and went to Natsu Koushien, and after blowing through the first 2 rounds, faced the aforementioned Kagoshima Jitsugyou, and beat them before losing to Toukaidai Sagami.
But with a young bench, they quickly turned around, finished 2nd to Shuugakukan in the prefecturals, defated last year's haru-natsu champions Kounan before losing a close game to Kagoshima Jitsugyou.
1st year Ootsuka Takahito (大塚 尚仁) has become the new ace for Kyushu Gakuin. I don't have any other information on him.
Where I do have information is on the supporting cast. First and foremost is 3B Hagiwara Hideyuki (萩原 英之), a first year who actually was part of the starting nine (although wearing #14) and who hit a HR at Koushien (5:30 mark). And he's a 1st year!!
Then there's speedy switch-hitting outfielder Yamashita Tsubasa (山下 翼) who hit a neat .353/.476./.412 with 6(!) stolen bases!
Finally, Mizowaki Hayato (溝脇 隼人) has been promoted to the starting SS position, and while he had early success at Koushien, he did struggle as the tournament progressed.
Hasami (Nagasaki) - 3rd/4th place - 1st appearance
Hasami has almost appeared out of nowhere and is back at Koushien. They first came on in the 1996 Natsu Koushien, and then stormed their way to the Best 8. They made a brief appearance in 2001, and now are here again in 2011.
And as with most unknown teams, it's the ace pitcher that is the player of note. Enter super rookie Matsuda Shouma (松田 遼馬). He 3-hit Nagasaki Nichidai and gave up a whopping 5 hits in the final 3 games of the prefecturals (Nagasaki Nichidai included). He then advanced the team into the semifinals where he finally just gave out, giving up 8 hits and 9 walks, and yet only 4 runs. Not sure how that happened.
Anyways, he already has hit 144 on the gun, and outside of the standard slider, curve and change, he supposedly has a cutter and a two-seam. And he's apparently the cleanup hitter as well.
21st Century Teams (3)
Oodate Houmei (Akita) - Akita champions - 1st appearance
Oodate Houmei earns a 21st century bid, but it may not have happened at all. Akita is one of a few prefectures that has a double elimination format. After losing to Noshiro Shougyou in the Kita regionals, they won out in the losers bracket to make the prefecturals. From there they defeated Honjyou en route to defeating Yokote Jyounan to win the #1 seed. They lost to Aomori Yamada 4-3 in the first round, but the committee liked their consistent results in Akita as well as their efforts to balance academics and extracurriculars enough to award them a bid.
As for the team, the man wearing the ace number now is Saitou Kouhei (斉藤 浩平). Don't have much else right now. He takes over on the mound after their original ace Abe Shuntarou (阿部 春太郎) injured his arm.
Sado (Niigata) - Niigata runner-up - 1st appearance
I've had a small place for Sado when I follow teams. It's mostly because it's a school on Sado Island, a fairly large island in a remote area of Niigata. Seeing them continue to do well in Niigata but fall short disappointed me, but the committee this time around rewarded them with a bid in part due to that remoteness.
Sado made it to the prefectural finals only to lose to Nihon Bunri 6-1, and then was shutout by Saku Chousei 6-0.
I have no other information other than the pitcher/catcher combination consisting of Kamata and Watanabe (鎌田 - 渡部), as well as a video of Kamata.
Jyounan (Tokushima) - Tokushima champions - 1st appearance
Jyounan is rewarded by the selection committee after winning the Tokushima prefecturals for the first time in school history.
And outside of a close call against Komatsushima in the semifinals, they actually breezed through the prefecturals! They even defeated Tokushima Shougyou 13-2!
In the super-regionals, they held strong against Kagawa Nishi, and actually had the lead against them. But they faltered late and fell 7-6.
The ace who helped lead the team to their first prefectural title is Takeuchi Yuuta (竹内 勇太), a righty who throws in the high 130s with a two-seamer in addition to the traditional slider, change and curve.
While the field will be announced later this week (the 28th, I think), we can cover most of the participants. This post will be continuously added until I cover all regions.
Edit: Well, after being busy all week, teams have been announced, so it's not probable anymore... heh... Seriously though the teams invited are chalk for the most part with one or two surprises.
Hokkaido Super-Regional (1)
Hokkai - Champions - 12th appearance, 1st in 16 years
Hokkai earns the bid for the Hokkaido region, and while they're a mainstay in the prefecture, it has not been smooth sailing when they head south.
The team is headed by freshman ace Tamakuma Shouichi (玉熊 将一). A righty with a 3/4 delivery, he was the staff ace in middle school as well.
He features a mid 130's fastball, with a mid 120's slider and mid 110's curve that has good break to it. He depends on his control, which will be needed against the tougher competition. This can be seen in their opening round loss in the Meiji Jingu Tournament to Nichidai-san. They'll be the longshot from up north to win it all.
Tohoku Super- Regional (2)
Tohoku (Miyagi) - Champions - 19th appearance, 1st in 3 years
Tohoku has been trying to return to prominence after the Darvish years, but have never really been able to capture that flash.
This time around, the ace number goes to 2nd year utility player Kamimura Kento (上村 健人), a good-sized righty who also is their slugger. He also throws in the mid-130's for his fastball, but has a 120's shuuto and change in addition to his slider. For someone his size, his delivery time from the stretch is a bit above average (1.1-1.2 seconds).
In their appearance at Meiji Jingu, he pitched a complete game shutout against Kanazawa, but surprisingly did not take the mound against Urawa Gakuin where they fell 7-2.
Videos of him are here (Super-regional) and here (Meiji Jingu)。
While he is the ace, he was relieved in early rounds of the prefectural and super-regionals by Natsui Yasukichi (夏井 康吉), a lefty. Interestingly, his oldest brother Natsui Daikichi (夏井 大吉) was a captain at Hanamaki Higashi, and his 2nd oldest Natsui Kenkichi (夏井 健吉) was captain at Meiou! There isn't much information on him, but there is a video of him here.
Kousei Gakuin (Aomori) - Runner-up, - 5th appearance, 1st in 2 years
Kousei Gakuin receives the 2nd bid out of Tohoku. And why not given their performance in the fall tournament?
Kousei is led by 2nd year ace Akita Kyoura (秋田 教良), who can hit 140 on the radar, and features a slider, cut fastball and curve.
But perhaps the two players to watch will be in the infield for Kousei. 2nd year Kanayama Hirotaka (金山 洸昴) and 1st year Tamura Tatsuhiro (田村 龍弘) lie in the heart of the order for Kousei and could provide some much-needed pop for their squad.
It may be a stretch to expect either team from Tohoku to win, but it's possible they could make a decent run as well.
Kanto Super-Regional (4 + at-large bid)
Urawa Gakuin (Saitama) - Champion - 7th appearance, 1st in 6 years
Urawa Gakuin earned every bit of their title, defeating Kanagawa powerhouses Yokohama AND Toukaidai Sagami in back-to-back games to win the fall super-regional!
But I can't find much information on any of their players!
I do know their ace is Satou Takuya (佐藤 拓也). He only reaches the low 130's and has a big curveball. Certainly though, that can't be just it as it wouldn't make sense that someone like him could singlehandedly defeat those Kanagawa schools.
- Video from the fall tournament.
- Video from the Meiji Jingu Tournament. This one has more highlights of Satou.
Toukaidai Sagami (Kanagawa) - Runner-up - 9th appearance, 2nd consecutive
So, what is Toukaidai Sagami to do now in the post-Hifumi Shinta era?
Well, looking to fill that void on the mound is Kondou Masataka (近藤 正崇), and he's not that bad himself. He hits the upper 130's and can hit 140, and features a slider, curve and forkball. Relieving him in the key games is Kasama Akira(?) (笠間 圭).
Offensively, the team will be relying on returning players such as 2B Tanaka Shunta (田中 俊太), where baseball runs in the family (brother Kousuke plays for Toukai University), and outfielder Usuda Tetsuya (臼田 哲也) who are returners from last year.
Suijyou (Ibaraki) - 3rd/4th place - 1st appearance
I wanted to cover Suijyou first, mainly because, well... I just like them.
I liked them in their battle against Toukaidai Sagami in last year's Natsu Koushien, and thought the team had promise, even though they didn't have stars to speak of. Nonetheless, without big name players, and losing the majority of their starting squad, they worked their way back to Koushien. Leading them is Satou Kenta (佐藤 賢太), who sports the ace number after wearing #11 last summer.
Outside of him, again there's no real information on the team, so perhaps they may fly under the radar once again...
Yokohama (Kanagawa) - 3rd/4th place - 13th appearance, 1st in 3 years
And now onto Yokohama, who really hasn't been able to find that groove. They're good enough to reach Koushien, but lately not much else.
This time around, their leader on the mound is #10, super 1st-year southpaw Yamauchi Tatsuya (山内 達也) perhaps taking the most of an opportunity after ace Saitou Kenta (齋藤 健汰) injured his non-throwing wrist in an accident on the field. He can throw in the upper 130's with a slider and curve.
Then there's ace number Saitou Kenta (齋藤 健汰) who as mentioned before was the starter before being sidelined with that wrist injury. He's a righty whose fastball matches that of Yamauchi and has a slider, curve and change.
Offensively, there's C Kondou Kensuke (近藤 健介), who hit a scorching 0.481/0.741/0.622 in the prefectural tournament, and RF Otosaka Tomo (乙坂 智) who is supposedly Yokohama's version of Ichiro.
Maebashi Ikuei (Gunma) earns the Kanto/Tokyo at-large bid, probably in response to their strong showing in the quarterfinals against Toukaidai Sagami. Looking back at that game they actually held the lead twice before faltering late. Kasumigaura probably had a chance for the bid as they rallied against Yokohama late, but perhaps Toukaidai Sagami's recent performance gave them the edge.
Leading the team is ace Ikeda Yuuki (池田 悠紀) with Takahashi Hiromi(?) (高橋 拓已) spelling him at times starting games. I don't have much more on them other than that.
Looking at these teams, sadly Maebashi Ikuei and Suijyou probably have the hardest hill to climb (depending on the draw of course). I can't exactly figure out what to make of Urawa Gakuin... Toukaidai Sagami may have pitchers with better control but can the offense keep up? And Yokohama seems to have a solid team, but can they prove it at Koushien?
Tokyo Super-Regional (1 + Meiji Jingu bid)
Nichidai-san - Champion - 18th appearance, 2nd consecutive
So Nichidai-san once again makes a Koushien appearance. And they were oh so close against Haru-Natsu champions Kounan. The question will be can they make another run at it?
Taking the helm is new ace Yoshinaga Kentarou (吉永 健太朗). He was used sparingly last year, and when he was used, was rather ineffective. Somewhere along the line though after he was promoted to the ace number, a switch must have gone on in his head. While not utilized as much in the super-regional, he really shined in the Meiji Jingu tournament, pitching 3 complete games while giving up just 1 earned run in each of them, showing great control walking just 5 batters.
Yoshinaga can hit as high as 147 on the radar, throwing a sinker and curve in addition to a slider with all three being at least 20 kph slower. Here and here are videos of him during the summer in the semifinal against Nichidai Tsurugaoka, while this is him at the Meiji Jingu Tournament. Nichidai-san has always been a solid team, but in recent memory, I can't recall them having a dominating pitcher. That might change this year.
Assisting him are returning starters 3B Yokoo Toshitake (横尾 俊健), CF Azegami Shou (畔上 翔), and RF Takayama Shun (高山 俊).
Yokoo is a power hitting 3rd baseman who neatly hit .458/.480/.708 in last year's senbatsu, then hit the go-ahead homerun against Kagoshima Jitsugyou in the Meiji Jingu final. Azegami is a converted pitcher who has experience in timely spots (he hit the RBI triple there), while Takayama is Nichidai's leadoff hitter. He's not your prototypical leadoff man as he doesn't take walks, but can hit a homerun.
Nichidan-san has been a solid team year in and year out. And they have some good pieces returning. The question is whether the rest of the cast will help lead them to victory this time around.
Kokugakuin Kugayama - Runner-up - 3rd appearance, 1st in 26 years
Kokugakuin Kugayama has Nichidai-san to thank for reaching just their 3rd senbatsu in school history. Now, while the rosters have turned over from last year, they did beat teams such as Obirin, Shuutoku and Waseda Gakuin before falling 4-0 to Nichidai-san in the finals.
And they have ace Kawaguchi Takato (川口 貴都) to thank for that. A first-year ace, he can already hit the low 140's with a good slider. The only question is his stamina. Having pitched 4 complete games, two of which were called after 7, he faltered against Hachiouji giving up 7 runs in a 10 inning affair. Now, while they won, they had to go to backup Sekihashi Jyun(?) (関橋 淳), who did well giving up 2 runs in 6 innings. But as mentioned earlier, the offense could only manage 5 hits against Yoshinaga.
So the 2 questions for Kokugakuin are (1) how long can Kawaguchi last? And (2) can the offense deliver?
Hokushinetsu Super-Regional (2)
Kanazawa (Ishikawa) - Champion - 9th appearance, 1st in 7 years
Kanazawa takes the lead out of the Hokushinetsu region. Leading the charge is ace Kamata Yoshinao (釜田 佳直), who was given the reins as a freshman. All he did was lead them back into the best 4 of the prefectural fall tournament and then held tough against eventual fall champions Takaoka Shougyou, and hitting 145 on the gun.
So how would he follow that up? Well, in the summer he would hit 151 in an escape game against Kanazawa Shiritsu Kougyou before faltering late in the semifinals against fellow seed Oyamadai in the last 2 innings. Then in the fall prefecturals... well, after a 2-1 complete game win against Yuugakukan in the semis, they had a mess of a game against Kanazawa Sakuragaoka of which I have no idea what the team was doing. Still, they managed to win the prefecturals. Then perhaps with the team in order, he had no trouble giving the team the super-regional title and a spot in the 83rd Spring Koushien. And even in the Meiji Jingu tournament loss to Tohoku, he gave up 11 hits and 3 runs in a CG loss, while striking out 7.
Kamata in addition to his blazing fastball, has a variety of other pitches including a two-seamer, slider, change and curveball. So they have the pitcher. But what about the rest?
Nihon Bunri (Niigata) - Runner-up - 4th appearance, 1st in 2 years
Nihon Bunri is yet again at Koushien, and having been able to reach the finals once, hope to do it again. They were always considered the longshot being out of a prefecture not known for baseball, but after the thriller against Chuukyoudai Chuukyou 2 years ago, there's hope.
Leading the charge is Tamura Yuuma (田村 勇磨), a righty who can throw in the low140's with a good slider. Apparently accompanying him are Hatano Yousuke (波多野 陽介), another righty who can almost reach 150, and Yoshino Kazuya (吉野 和也) yet another righty who has a max of 141.
Outside of that, I don't know much more other than that there is still Yumoto Shouta remaining from the runner-up team of 2009 that is on the starting 9 who can provide some experience to the team.
Toukai Super-Regional (2)
Oogaki Nichidai (Gifu) - Champion - 3rd appearance, 2nd consecutive
Oogaki Nichidai returns to senbatsu probably thankful that Kounan (and more importantly Shimabukuro) is gone. Surely the 10-0 loss in the semifinals was a bitter pill to swallow.
Ace Kassai Yukiya (葛西 侑也) must especially be looking forward to this second chance. Since the loss to Kounan, he has buckled down culminating in a CG win against Tenri in the Meiji Jingu tournament. And while they lost to Kagoshima Jitsugyou, he yielded just 3 runs.
He's still not a hard thrower, but his control has improved - especially on his offspeed pitches (slider, change and a curve). In addition, his pitches have good variability in speed which helps keep batters off base (fastball - 136, change - 120's, slider - 110's, curve - 100's).
However, because he's not a hard thrower, he could face issues against high-powered offenses especially later in the tournament as the turnaround between games gets shorter and shorter.
Seisei (Shizuoka) - Runner-up - First appearance
Seisei makes just its 2nd overall Koushien apperance, and first senbatsu appearance. Looking at their road though, and their only probable quality wins were a 4-2 quarterfinal win over Tokoha Kikugawa in the prefecturals, then two extra inning wins against Komono (Mie) and Mie.
But while there may be some skepticism regarding how far they'll go, they did do what was necessary to get here, so they certainly have earned it.
On the mound for Seisei is Nomura Ryousuke (野村 亮介). He took over the ace number in his first year, and has a slider, changeup and an excellent forkball in addition to a fastball in the upper 130s. But with the poor performance against Oogaki Nichidai there is certainly room for improvement.
Kinki Super-Regional (6)
Tenri (Nara) - Champion - 21st appearance, 4th consecutive
Tenri is back yet again at Koushien, but I wonder if the team is frustrated at all that they have not had success in the last couple of years. Or perhaps the team has just began to settle for reaching Koushien. Whatever it is, if you've been reading my blog, you know I root for Tenri, albeit mostly in frustration. I do have to yield the fact that while Tenri has been to Koushien many, many times - when you have just 2 schools that go from Nara (3 if you include Kooriyama), one does have to wonder about the depth of talent.
Although Chiben Wakayama suffers from the same issue and yet they seem to have more success in recent years... *sighs*
Anyways, back on the mound for Tenri is newly promoted ace Nishiguchi Tasuku (西口 輔). In my analysis of Tenri last year, I said that in order for Tenri to advance they had to avoid the bullpen which, yep - you guessed it, included Nishiguchi. And when he did enter the game he was wildly erratic and pretty much sealed the team's fate.
So what changed?
Well for one, it seems like he has cut down on his wildness. While I don't have information on his prefecutral/super-regional play, in the Meiji Jingu game against Oogaki Nichidai, he threw 7 innings and gave up just one run on 4 hits, walked 2, and only struck out 3.
This despite being able to hit 148 on the radar gun, and now sporting a slider, change and curve. He seems to be throwing more downhill now, but he seems to struggle the later he goes into the game. His game against Oogaki Nichidai can be seen here.
So Tenri runs a tandem with 1st year pitcher Nakatani Keita (中谷 佳太), who shows excellent control for a freshman. While he only throws in the low-mid 130's, he not only locates his fastball, but his offspeed pitches which include a slider, curve and forkball. It would appear that this time, Tenri has a bullpen that they CAN use.
But with the entire roster turning over from last year, how will the newcomers fare?
Riseisha (Osaka) - Runner-up - 3rd appearance, 1st in 3 years
Riseisha, on the back of a mostly returning starting 9 from the summer was one game away from winning the Kinki Super-Regional only to lose a close revenge match against Tenri.
Iidzuka Takashi (飯塚 孝史) has been promoted to the ace number. I don't know if he's picked up any speed since we last saw him (he was throwing in the 120's). But he has a game plan for batters. Against righties he uses his slider and curve. On lefties, he utilizes his two-seam fastball.
As mentioned before, Riseisha returns most of its summer team. Some notable names within it are C Sakamoto Seishirou (坂本 誠志郎), 3B Ishii Gen (石井 元), and CF Kaifu Hiroto (海部 大斗).
Houtoku Gakuen (Hyogo) - 3rd/4th place - 18th appearance, 1st in 2 years
Houtoku Gakuen has apparently reloaded after their Best 4 appearance last summer despite having only one person returning from their starting 9.
But they're in good hands. Last year's super 1st year Tamura Ichirou (田村 伊知郎) showed poise beyond his years in the quarterfinal game last summer, pitching 7.2 strong innings against Niigata Meikun, striking out 9 and giving up just 1 run.
Tamura sports a fastball that can hit 140, along with a slider, curve and V-slider. Here he was at Natsu Koushien, and here he is during the fall tournament.
The supporting cast for Tamura is unknown as the roster has almost completely turned over, but they seem to be a strong bunch considering they made it to the super-regional semifinal.
Chiben Wakayama (Wakayama) - 3rd/4th place - 10th appearance, 2nd consecutive
Chiben Wakayama makes yet another appearance at Koushien. But while in past years, the stars were on offense, it seems like the key members of the team are all on the mound.
All 4 of them.
3 of them were on last summer's team. With ace number Yoshimoto graduating, the ace designation fell to Uenoyama Shouma (上野山 奨真). A side-arm pitcher, he can still get it up the high 130's with a slider, curve and shuuto. He hung in there against Narita last summer, but did give up 2 runs in 4.1 innings of work.
Then there's Miyagawa Yuuki (宮川 祐輝) who retains the #10 jersey. He can hit 142 on the gun, but his historical numbers suggest he might be better at the plate than on the mound.
Aoki Yuuto (青木 勇人) gets promoted to the #11 jersey, and may very well be the stronger of the 3. He put in 3.2 innings of scoreless ball against Narita in the summer, then in the fall pitched a CG win over Kyoto Gaidai Nishi before giving up 2 runs in 2.2 against PL Gakuen (he did strike out 6 though). He throws a slider, changeup and curveball.
Who's the 4th? He's a 1st-year by the name of Oojino Masaki (蔭地野 正起). He already has a spot on the main team wearing #12. He, like Miyagawa, can hit 142, but has a curve, slider and forkball to compliment his fastball. In 3 games during the summer qualifying against Kasada, Minoshima and Kouyou, he threw 9.2 innings of shutout ball giving up 6 hits while striking out 6.
4 pitchers on the roster for Chiben, but can the offense get itself going unlike last time?
In a slight shocker, Kyoto Seishou (Kyoto) and Kakogawa Kita (Hyogo) get the final two bids from the Kinki super-region ahead of PL Gakuen. However, Kyoto Seishou defeated Chiben Gakuen in the first round of the super-regional tournament, while Kakogawa Kita defeated Osaka Touin. That combined with their performances in the quarterfinals perhaps gave them the bids.
All I can find on Kyoto Seishou is their ace's name with is Nishino Kentarou (西野 健太郎), and a recap of their game against Nara 2 seed Chiben Gakuen. There's no information on their players, and their qualifying route is rather non-descript. The only notable games are in fact their semifinal loss to Kyoto Gaidai Nishi, and both of their super-regional games - a 3-2 win over Chiben Gakuen, and a 5-4 loss to Houtoku Gakuen blowing a 4-0 lead in the last 2 innings.
For Kakogawa Kita, I can find only information on their ace as well - Inoue-kun (the first name I can't figure out 井上 真伊人). He throws in the mid-upper 130's with a curve - although in this video it seems like the first curve he throws is a slow curve.
Chuugoku Super-Regional (2 + at-large bid)
Kanzei (Okayama) - Champion - 11th appearance, 2nd consecutive
Kanzei once again blew through the fall tournament, yielding just 4 runs in 12 games and shutting out all opponents in the super-regional! Although again it appears that their competition was rather light again.
Kanzei returns both pitchers from last spring - Katada Yuuta (堅田 裕太) and Mizuhara Hiroto (水原 浩登). Katada has added a couple of kph to his fastball, as well as a variety of pitches (a slider and curve for lefties, and a change and screwball for righties). Here was his appearance at last year's senbatsu. Mizuhara has been given the #6 jersey, suggesting that Kanzei may very well be keeping both pitchers on the field much like Sendai Ikuei last year or even Meihou with Imamiya. And in all intents and purposes, he's the right-handed version of Katada - featuring pretty much the same pitches and having a similar max on his fastball. I don't know if that's a plus or not, but it can't hurt.
Offensively, there's 3B Watanabe Yuuki (渡辺 雄貴), who was 3-4 with a double against last year's darling Shimabukuro Yousuke. Watanabe actually has moved from 3rd to LF (if the #7 uniform is any indication), but is apparently your super-utility player.
Soushi Gakuen (Okayama) - Runner-up - 1st appearance
Soushi Gakuen did not have as easy of a road as Kanzei. In fact, outside of the two games against Kanzei in the prefectural and super-regional finals, their games were almost always decided by 2 runs or less.
They depend primarily on 2 pitchers. Ace Yamamoto Ryou (山本 凌), and reliever (#11) Tomita Kazushige (富田 一成). But I don't have any more information on these players.
Hiroshima Sougou Gijyutsu (Hiroshima) - 3rd/4th place - 1st appearance
Perhaps as a result of the selection committee going with 2 teams from Okayama in the Chuugoku super-region, I think they almost had no choice but to give the Chuugoku/Shikoku at-large bid to this region - with Hiroshima Sougou Gijyutsu being the benefactor.
They avenged a 16-6 loss to Onomichi in the prefectural semifinal, then lost a 1-0 game against Kanzei in the super-regional semifinal.
Leading the way is 1st year ace Ida Yuki (伊田 有希), who actually wears #11. He was actually on the mound both times against Onomichi and Kanzei in the super-regional. The only thing I know is that he throws a slider. But then, who doesn't?
Shikoku Super-Regional (2)
Meitoku Gijyuku (Kochi) - Champion - 14th appearance, 1st in 3 years
Meitoku Gijyuku has successfully turned over its roster in the fall, won the Shikoku super-regional and thus an automatic bid.
Last year's #15, Omatsu Yoshio (尾松 義生) has become the new ace. Your average southpaw, he throws a slider, cut fastball, curve and change.
Omatsu has done all of the hard work for Meitoku, but there is note of a 1st year by the game of Fukunaga Tomoyuki(?) (福永 智之). He throws a slider and sinker, but I don't know much else.
Offensively, they have Kitagawa Rintarou (北川 倫太郎), who actually went 2-3 against Shimabukuro and both hits were to center. He's probably manning the cleanup spot again, but he'll definitely need help from the supporting cast.
Kagawa Nishi (Kagawa) - Runner-up - 1st appearance
It's been a while since we've seen Kagawa Nishi. An unknown team, they appeared first in the 2003 Natsu Koushien, and has actually had 3 summer appearances, but this is their 1st senbatsu.
But, the road they took is not all too convincing. The only game in the prefecturals that may garner attention is their 5-4 loss to Sangawa in the finals. Perhaps you can make a case for their semi matchup against Kannonji Chuo, but it's hard to say.
In the super-regional, the 3-1 win against Kochi would be a big plus...
...if not for the 15-1 loss to Meitoku Gijyuku the next day in the finals...
Sure it was raining that game, but unless the conditions were really sloppy, there's not much excuse.
Only player I have real info on is their ace Utsunomiya Kenta (宇都宮 健太). He throws in the upper 130s, with a slider, fork and change.
The loser out in the selection process was probably Kochi as they would have in all certainty earned a bid had Okayama not qualified 2 teams. Alas, they'll have to regroup and make a push for Natsu Koushien.
Kyushu Super-Regional (4)
Kagoshima Jitsugyou (Kagoshima) - Champion - 8th appearance, 1st in 15 years
Kagoshima Jitsugyou has had stretches of appearances followed by rebuilding. They seem to be in an upcycle now having been to Natsu Koushien last year, and returning as the Kyushu super-regional champion to start this year.
Noda Shougo (野田 昇吾) has been promoted to the ace number. Although technically the de facto ace given that all the pitchers from last year's Natsu Koushien team graduated, he's not bad himself. He sports a fastball that can hit the low 140's and compliments that with a slider, curve and change.
After a messy start against Kumamoto Kokufu, he handled Touin, and then performed brilliantly against Kyushu Gakuin and then Kyushu Kokusaidai Fuzoku, yielding a run each.
In the Meiji Jingu tournament he once again had trouble in the first game against Meitoku Gijyuku but managed to yield just 1 run even while giving up 9 walks. He settled down once again versus Oogaki Nichidai, and while he couldn't finish against Nichidai-san, it's not as if his numbers were terrible.
Two possible offensive players to look at are returning 1B Agemura Kyouhei (揚村 恭平), and RF Toyozumi Kouta (豊住 康太). They had good success at Koushien last summer, especially given that both did well against Kyushu Gakuin.
Kyushu Kokusaidai Fuzoku (Fukuoka) - Runner-up - 2nd appearance, 1st in 29 years
Kyukoku as they are called re-emerged on the scene in 2009 thanks to the efforts of Wakao Masahiro, former manager of Tohoku and Yu Darvish.
And they're back again here in the 83rd senbatsu.
And to my surprise, the ace on the mound for Kyukoku was on the 2009 Koushien team, #15 Miyoshi Takumi (三好 匠). He apparently has gone from #15 to #5 to #1. I think. And while they finished 2nd in the Kyushu Super-regionals, the only footage I can find of him pitching is when he was a 1st year. Which doesn't help much, but it certainly is an interesting path to the ace number. Even with that he can hit 143 with the traditional slider, curve and change.
However, the roughness shows. Against Senshuudai Tamana and Hasami he did well giving up 2 runs in 2 CGs. But against Okinawa Shogaku and Kagoshima Jitsugyou he gave up 11 runs and 24 hits again in 2 CGs.
Which means much like their Eastern Japan counterpart Teikyou (several years ago), it may have to be the offense that carries them.
His battery mate, Takajyou Shuuto (高城 俊人), was the backup catcher back in 2009. And he has become quite the player. He's hit 21 homeruns, and as the 3-4 batters respectively in the lineup, provide the heart of the offense.
To boot, he has a good arm and can get a ball to 2nd in 1.86 sec. I don't know if that's really fast, but he's been noted for his arm.
The final player of note is Katou Ryou (加藤 凌), a 2nd year who while hitting in the 7 spot, hit 7 homeruns in the fall tournament.
Kyushu Gakuin (Kumamoto) - 3rd/4th place - 4th appearance, 1st in 9 years
Kyushu Gakuin had fallen out of view over the better part of the last decade. This after experiencing a surge at the end of the last millennia.
Now, they had continued success as one of the better teams in Kyushu... just not good enough to get back to Koushien.
That changed last summer when they won the Kumamoto prefectural tournament and went to Natsu Koushien, and after blowing through the first 2 rounds, faced the aforementioned Kagoshima Jitsugyou, and beat them before losing to Toukaidai Sagami.
But with a young bench, they quickly turned around, finished 2nd to Shuugakukan in the prefecturals, defated last year's haru-natsu champions Kounan before losing a close game to Kagoshima Jitsugyou.
1st year Ootsuka Takahito (大塚 尚仁) has become the new ace for Kyushu Gakuin. I don't have any other information on him.
Where I do have information is on the supporting cast. First and foremost is 3B Hagiwara Hideyuki (萩原 英之), a first year who actually was part of the starting nine (although wearing #14) and who hit a HR at Koushien (5:30 mark). And he's a 1st year!!
Then there's speedy switch-hitting outfielder Yamashita Tsubasa (山下 翼) who hit a neat .353/.476./.412 with 6(!) stolen bases!
Finally, Mizowaki Hayato (溝脇 隼人) has been promoted to the starting SS position, and while he had early success at Koushien, he did struggle as the tournament progressed.
Hasami (Nagasaki) - 3rd/4th place - 1st appearance
Hasami has almost appeared out of nowhere and is back at Koushien. They first came on in the 1996 Natsu Koushien, and then stormed their way to the Best 8. They made a brief appearance in 2001, and now are here again in 2011.
And as with most unknown teams, it's the ace pitcher that is the player of note. Enter super rookie Matsuda Shouma (松田 遼馬). He 3-hit Nagasaki Nichidai and gave up a whopping 5 hits in the final 3 games of the prefecturals (Nagasaki Nichidai included). He then advanced the team into the semifinals where he finally just gave out, giving up 8 hits and 9 walks, and yet only 4 runs. Not sure how that happened.
Anyways, he already has hit 144 on the gun, and outside of the standard slider, curve and change, he supposedly has a cutter and a two-seam. And he's apparently the cleanup hitter as well.
21st Century Teams (3)
Oodate Houmei (Akita) - Akita champions - 1st appearance
Oodate Houmei earns a 21st century bid, but it may not have happened at all. Akita is one of a few prefectures that has a double elimination format. After losing to Noshiro Shougyou in the Kita regionals, they won out in the losers bracket to make the prefecturals. From there they defeated Honjyou en route to defeating Yokote Jyounan to win the #1 seed. They lost to Aomori Yamada 4-3 in the first round, but the committee liked their consistent results in Akita as well as their efforts to balance academics and extracurriculars enough to award them a bid.
As for the team, the man wearing the ace number now is Saitou Kouhei (斉藤 浩平). Don't have much else right now. He takes over on the mound after their original ace Abe Shuntarou (阿部 春太郎) injured his arm.
Sado (Niigata) - Niigata runner-up - 1st appearance
I've had a small place for Sado when I follow teams. It's mostly because it's a school on Sado Island, a fairly large island in a remote area of Niigata. Seeing them continue to do well in Niigata but fall short disappointed me, but the committee this time around rewarded them with a bid in part due to that remoteness.
Sado made it to the prefectural finals only to lose to Nihon Bunri 6-1, and then was shutout by Saku Chousei 6-0.
I have no other information other than the pitcher/catcher combination consisting of Kamata and Watanabe (鎌田 - 渡部), as well as a video of Kamata.
Jyounan (Tokushima) - Tokushima champions - 1st appearance
Jyounan is rewarded by the selection committee after winning the Tokushima prefecturals for the first time in school history.
And outside of a close call against Komatsushima in the semifinals, they actually breezed through the prefecturals! They even defeated Tokushima Shougyou 13-2!
In the super-regionals, they held strong against Kagawa Nishi, and actually had the lead against them. But they faltered late and fell 7-6.
The ace who helped lead the team to their first prefectural title is Takeuchi Yuuta (竹内 勇太), a righty who throws in the high 130s with a two-seamer in addition to the traditional slider, change and curve.
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