Day 13 Wrap Up
It's Finals time! Going hiking today, so doing this post early. I don't think we need too much in the way of a preview, especially since the keys to the game for both teams are pretty much the same - how does the ace perform?
The chance for an all-Tokyo final got washed away and I'm pretty happy with the matchup we have. Obviously I would have preferred Sendai Ikuei v Kanto Dai-ichi but this should be a great game.
The storyline for both games is similar: we've seen both Tokyo teams have issues with pitching this tournament while never facing good pitching on the other side. This time, they did face good pitching and their own pitching woes came back to bite them.
Game 1 Sendai Ikuei 7 - 0 Waseda Jitsugyo. Great pitching beats great hitting, and Sendai Ikuei got great pitching from ace Sato Sena, who threw the CG shutout and was hitting his max velocity in the 9th. The ump's strike zone was all over the place this game. I said in my preview if Sato got the Kiyomiya/Kato duo out, Sendai Ikuei would win - and they went a combined 1 for 8 with a walk. Sendai Ikuei's offense hit on all cylinders and they look really, really good heading into finals. Can Sato join the list of aces who pitched beautiful back to back games to win Koshien?
Game 2 Tokai Daigaku Fuzoku Sagami 10 - 3 Kanto Daiichi. My preview went somewhat awry here - I said Tokaidai Sagami would have to keep Kanto Daiichi off the board, which they did, but boy was I wrong when I said they couldn't hang if the game was high scoring. It turned out to be high-scoring - but only for Tokaidai Sagami! As noted above, the fact that they aren't using Ogasawara is worrying, as is the fact that he gave up 2 runs when he finally came in. Still, maybe he's trying to manage stamina for the finals and we could be in for a show.
Day 14 Preview
Game 1 13:00 仙台育英 Sendai Ikuei - 東海大相模 Tokai Daigaku Fuzoku Sagami. Game starts at midnight Eastern. See you there!