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Koshien 2015 | Japan National High School Baseball Tournament

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Beckx

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Re pitch counts see this about Yuki Saito:

That summer, he faced Nihon University Third High yet again in the finals of the West Tokyo Tournament, defeating them in extra innings to earn a spot in the 88th National High School Baseball Championship in 2006. Saito started and held the opposing team to under three runs in every game in the national tournament, even contributing with his bat by hitting a home run in the third-round match against Fukui Commercial High School and leading the school to their first appearance in the national championship finals in 26 years.

The finals against Komazawa University Tomakomai High School (the South Hokkaido champions) became a classic pitchers' duel between Saito and Tomakomai High's ace pitcher Masahiro Tanaka (who currently plays for the New York Yankees). The game remained tied 1-1 after fifteen innings, resulting in the first rematch in the tournament finals since Matsuyama Commercial High School and Misawa High School met in 1969.[3] Saito insisted on starting in the rematch that took place the next day, holding Tomakomai High to three runs and striking out Tanaka, the final batter, to bring Waseda Jitsugyo High the school's first-ever national championship.[4]

The 69 innings and 948 total pitches that Saito threw were the most in tournament history (he pitched 42 innings in the last four days alone). The 78 strikeouts he recorded were second only to then-Tokushima Commercial High School ace Eiji Bando's 83 in 1958.

Saito has never been the same. My Fighters drafted him and he's been horrible, mostly playing at the farm team and giving up oodles of runs whenever he comes up. Today was a good start for him - only 2 runs in 5.2 innings. Unfortunately he lost. Meanwhile Tanaka threw a CG for the Yankees today. I hope he can recover and find some margin of the success that Tanaka has.

Akita's pitcher is going pitch again tomorrow?

Yep. Quarterfinals. All 8 remaining teams play.
 

Monumma

Member
Akita's pitcher is going pitch again tomorrow?

Yes, every winning school today will play tomorrow. (all 4 of the quarterfinals are tomorrow). After that there is a rest day and then semis and final on consecutive days. Schools like Akita Shougyou, without a reliable backup pitcher, will have their ace pitch a complete game again.

edit: speaking of insane pitch counts, do you know how's Anraku doing, Beckx? Has he recovered from his foot injury yet?
 

scotcheggz

Member
Thank god the team with that ugly ass logo is out. It was pretty close to offensively bad!!

Being neutral is great fun, pick a team based on a trivial reason and enjoy the games! Why can't my usual sports watching be like this??
 

Beckx

Member
Oh, I forgot about Kanto Daiichi - they've got half-Nigerian Okoye Rui leading off and dude is ridiculously fast. The first part of their lineup was fun to watch though their pitching was a mess.
 

SDBurton

World's #1 Cosmonaut Enthusiast
Oh, I forgot about Kanto Daiichi - they've got half-Nigerian Okoye Rui leading off and dude is ridiculously fast. The first part of their lineup was fun to watch though their pitching was a mess.

I was wondering who that guy was, so awesome to see diversity like that. :)
 

Monumma

Member
This game will have to be something special to keep my focus to where it was the game before.

bases loaded, 2 out. Okoye Rui runs far to get the third out and avoids at least 3 run.
 

Monumma

Member
BTW I FINALLY WAS ABLE TO GET THE AQUARIUS AD TO POPUP WHITELISTING THE SITE IN GHOSTERY. YAY CONSUMERISM.

I really should not look at Kanto Daiichi's stats after a 12 run game, lol.
 

SDBurton

World's #1 Cosmonaut Enthusiast
On replay it looked like the ball phased through the bat Rui was swinging. What kind of sorcery is this?! :lol

EDIT: THAT CATCH! HOLY SHIT!
 

Monumma

Member
SAYONARA SINGLE HR. WOW. NAGASHIMA RYOUMA! STILL 2 TOKYO TEAM IN THE KOSHIEN.

I'm going to sleep. I'll see at least the next game when I wake up and keep the 4 game marathon for tomorrow.
 

Beckx

Member
Ueno is crushed. I think there's a bright future for that kid though.

In retrospect, this game comes down to Okoe Rui's amazing catch in the top of the first.
 

scotcheggz

Member
That pitchers face though when he saw it fly out over the fence. What a brutal way to lose. Next game is lined up as something tasty isn't it? I might stay up for one more.
 

SDBurton

World's #1 Cosmonaut Enthusiast
That pitchers face though when he saw it fly out over the fence. What a brutal way to lose. Next game is lined up as something tasty isn't it? I might stay up for one more.

Don't leave us now! Based on what Beckx said next one coming up is the biggie. :D
 

Beckx

Member
Day 11 Wrap Up and Quarterfinal Preview

Holeeee shiiiiiit. 4 one run games. Crazy. I don't know how the quarterfinal day can top this but you never know.

Day 11 Wrap

Game 1 Takasaki Kenko Fukushi Daigaku Takasaki 3 - 4 Akita Shogyo. Kendai Takisaki got the "easy" draw in third round with Akita Shogyo and sent out their second pitcher to save the ace as much as possible. As it would turn out, this was a costly decision. Meanwhile AkitaSho ace Narita threw 149 pitches on Day 5 with 16 strikeouts. AkitaSho played a gutty game, giving up hits but never breaking - and more importantly staking out a 3-1 lead into the late innings. Kendai Takisaki put their ace in during the 5th and AkitaSho could not hit him. At all. Then Kendai Takisaki tied it up on a terrible defensive inning for AkitaSho and I really thought it was over - no way they could last in extra innings. But yes! AkitaSho got the go ahead run in the 10th and Narita closed it out! The underdogs from Akita go to the quarterfinals. Trying to save your ace at this point makes sense but if you don't make it, it was a waste.

Game 2 Kanto Daiichi 1-0 Chukyo Daigaku Fuzoku Chukyo. This game comes down to this play:

CMiYTmFUkAAVged.png


Bases loaded in the first. Deep hit to left center. Kanto Daiichi center fielder Okoe Rui makes a spectacular catch to get the third out and keep it scoreless - if that had gotten by him, 3 runs score easy and as we later saw, that would have been ballgame. This was an amazing pitching game. Kanto Daiichi had big questions at pitcher yet managed, though good situational pitching and amazing defense, to shut down Chukyodai Chukyo. Meanwhile Chukyodai ace Ueno pitched his heart out - a no hitter through 5 and kept it scoreless through 9. But in the 9th Nagashima walked it off with a sayonara home run and Kanto Daiichi advances!

Game 3 Sendai Ikuei 4-3 Hanamaki Higashi. This game had top billing and after an iffy start, lived up to it. Both teams elected to rest their aces, and both had to pull the ace in early. Sendai Ikuei took a 3-1 lead before Hanamaki Higashi sent their ace in; and it took a HR followed by tying runners on before Sendai Ikuei followed suit, sending Sato Sena in the fifth. Sato would pitch the next 4 and a half innings with only 44 pitches, and only gave up a run due to a bad throwing error. Hanamaki Higashi's running game - which has been exciting all tournament - let them down in this game. A failed double steal cost them an opportunity early, and they ran themselves out of a chance to win in the 9th with the tying runner caught stealing with one out. Sendai Ikuei moves on and Sato should be in good shape for today's game.

Game 4 Konan 4-3 Toba. Props to Toba. Forget keeping it close, they had a 3-1 lead after 5! But Konan clawed back with late runs in the 7th and 8th to advance to quarterfinals (I didn't watch this one and haven't seen Konan play yet in the tournament).

Quarterfinal Preview

So here we are at quarterfinals. 8 teams left. 4 teams from Kanto region (both Tokyo champs included), 2 from Tohoku - who sadly play each other, 1 from Kyuushu, and 1 from Okinawa. After today there's an off day, with semifinals starting on the day after tomorrow.

Game 1 8:00 早実 Waseda Jitsugyo - 九州国際大付 Kyushu Kokusai Daigaku Fuzuoku. Do I need to say much about this game? It all comes down to how Waseda Jitsugyo manages pitchers and whether Kyushu Kokusai Daigaku Fuzuoku can keep the Kiyomiya/Kato duo in check.

Game 2 10:30 花咲徳栄 Hanasaki Tokuharu - 東海大相模 Tokai Daigaku Fuzoku Sagami. Tokaidai Sagami is the favorite here; will be interesting to see how they manage pitchers. Ogasawara threw 114 two days ago and has an off day next, so I won't be surprised to see him start, but if they get a good lead, switch him out to left.

Game 3 13:00 秋田商 Akita Shogyo - 仙台育英 Sendai Ikuei. AkitaSho up against it again. Unless they are hiding something, they have no choice but to go with Narita on no rest after throwing over 150 pitches. I can't see how this will work out for them, but boy am I rooting for them.

Game 4 15:30 興南 Konan - 関東第一 Kanto Daiichi. I am a fan of Okoe Rui and the Kanto Daiichi team now. Keys to the game for them are the same as they were yesterday.
 
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