高校野球 (Kokoyakyu)

I love the school bands that attend the games. There's a lot of familiar songs - "Touch", "Sakuranbo", etc. But there are some that do a real good job, or have something distinct.

By the way, there's a montage of all 32 teams in the tourney here. I just love the joy the teams have in those pictures. Saijyou's pic is pretty fitting too.

Narashino Koukou (here too)
Their unique rally music is really catchy.

Keiou Koukou
They take after their university band. Good thing too because I love their medley.

Waseda Jitsugyou
Um. Konpeki no sora. Yeah. Scary amazing. (My video)

Komadai Tomakomai
I loved their medley. Very catchy and one I could rally around. (This was the 9th inning of the replay after the 15 inning duel which was just amazing. I almost lost it watching Komadai come back. So did my new friend sitting next to me who had flown down all the way from Tomakomai and stayed the extra day.)

Chiben Wakayama (applies to Chiben Gakuen too)
That big C is as intimidating as Chiben Wakayama is. Their rally music is just as good. The continual chant calling on the batter could lift any team to victory.

Special mention goes to ace Akagawa Katsuki of Miyzaki Shougyou. His music when he was at bat was "Zankoku na tenshi no teeze" or for those more familiar "Cruel Angel's Thesis" from Neon Genesis Evangelion. I had seen it as a track on a Braban Koushien CD, but never heard it in practice until Akagawa. That's an automatic win in my book. He's not a bad pitcher either.

I happened to stumble upon YouTube vids of pitchers that will be participating in the Spring Kōshien.

Please don't rip me in my analysis. I have little idea what to look for, so I just make my best estimation.

Imamura (Seihou Koukou - Nagasaki - RHP)
Seems to have a high 80's fastball along with a 70's slider. Control isn't that great, so it appears he'll have to depend on his defense to keep them in games.

Imamiya (Meihou Koukou - Oita - RHP)
Definitely not an overpowering pitcher. Low 80's fastball, high 70's slider and a 60's slow curve tries to keep the batters off their timing. However, while his control on the off-speed is good, his fastballs are not so. If he doesn't have control on his off-speed pitches, it could be a long day for Meihou.

Shimooki (Kousei Gakuin - Aomori - RHP)
A 3/4 delivery seems to give Shimooki a mid 80's fastball that tails back towards a right-hander (not so good). He does have a slider and something like a 1-7 curve that are in the low 70's. His control is pretty good, but the tailing fastball could pose issues.

Shiramura (Keiou Koukou - Kanagawa - RHP)
Apparently, he's the 2nd half pitcher in their system although he wears the ace number. There's good reason though. He has a tendency to either release early of open his body (not sure which) that can make the ball fly either high or up and in to a right-hander. The delivery also appears to give a fastball that can be as fast as the high 80's, but as slow as high 70's. He has an off-speed pitch in the 60's. Not sure what to make of him.

Akiyama (Saijyou Koukou - Ehime - RHP)
Wow. I'm impressed by Akiyama. First of all he stands at a not so small 6'-1". Nice smooth delivery consistently hits around 135 kph (low 80's). With a good 12-6 curve in the 60's, and I think one other pitch I can't discern, he can make short work of batters. Really depended a lot on his off-speed late in the game, and wasn't as accurate with his fastball - so if they have a servicable backup Saijyou could go far. He's not that bad with the stick either. Good low ball hitter, can get around to hit the inside pitches, very patient.

Nishifuji (Mukawa Koukou - Hokkaido - RHP)
Another big pitcher (5'-11"), however he doesn't have the same control as Akiyama. In fact, he's all over the map. He can hit 90 with his fastball, but it doesn't do him any good if he can't locate it.

Nakano (PL Gakuen - Osaka - LHP)
A bit smaller in size to our last 2 pitchers, Nakano brings us back down to the other side of the spectrum. A fastball that just touches 80 with off-speed pitches around 70 means he certainly won't overpower the batters. He does have some control issues to boot, so PL will need offense and some good defense behind Nakano if they want to advance far.

Onoda (Waseda Jitsugyou - Tokyo - RHP)
A 1st year, he's the 1st half of the Waseda staff along with Suzuki. A fastball in the 135 kph range with an off-speed at 116 kph (low 70's) with above-average control bodes well. Tact that he's slotted as their cleanup hitter and can drive the ball doesn't hurt either.

That's all I can find for now. If I can find more, I'll post it here and bump it up.

Iwamoto (Nanyou Kougyou - Yamaguchi - RHP)
Hm. Not much here on Iwamoto. Plus he's wearing the backup pitcher #10 (unless they're giving the ace #1 to a senior). Mostly fastballs are displayed here.

After finding out that the Spring participants are derived from the fall tournament, it makes the high school baseball schedule that much more interesting.

• August-September - Fall Tournament Prefectural Qualifiers
• September-October - Fall Tournament Regional Qualifiers (This determines teams to the Spring 甲子園)
• November - National Fall Tournament
• March - Spring 甲子園
• June-August - Qualifiers for the Summer 甲子園
  
• August - Summer 甲子園

There is a LOT going on there. In fact many teams after finishing the Summer Koshien immediately go into qualifiers for the Spring Koshien.

Now given, the teams that qualify in the fall tournament are not the same ones you see at Koshien. These teams are now without their 3rd year players and are pretty much playing new players.

Interestingly enough, that means that there is a lot of pressure on the teams that make it to the Summer Koshien. If you think about the turnaround time, and the time taken off to attend the tournament, it could really affect teams that need to prepare for the fall tournament. There hasn't probably been a study, but let's just take the 2008 Summer Koshien participants and see where they ended up in the fall tournament:

• North Hokkaido - Komadai Iwamizawa - Lost in Hokkaido Regional Semi-finals to Mukawa 14-6.
• South Hokkaido - Hokkai - Lost in 2nd round (had 1st round bye) of the Hokkaido Regional to Mukawa 7-0.
• Aomori - Aomori Yamada - Lost in quarterfinals of the Tohoku Regionals to Ichinoseki Gakuin 7-5.
• Iwate - Morioka Daifuzoku - Lost in quarterfinals of Prefectural Qualifiers to Fukuoka 3-2.
• Akita - Honjyou - Lost in the 2nd round of the Central Sub-Regionals to Akita Shougyou 6-5.
• Yamagata - Sakata Minami - Lost in quarterfinals of the Tohoku Regionals to Rifu 3-2.
• Miyagi - Sendai Ikuei - Lost in 2nd round of the Tohoku Regionals (had 1st round bye) to Seikou Gakuin 4-3.
• Fukushima - Seikou Gakuin - Lost in quarterfinals of the Tohoku Regionals to Kousei Gakuin 3-1.
• Ibaraki - Jyousou Gakuin - Lost in semifinals of the Prefectural Qualifiers to Shimotsuma-ni 5-4.
• Tochigi - Hakuoudai Ashikaga - Lost in quarterfinals of the Prefectural Qualifiers to Kokugakuin Tochigi 5-4.
• Gunma - Kiryuu Dai-ichi - Lost in quarterfinals of Prefectural Qualifiers to Takasaki Kenkou Fukushidai 11-7.
• North Saitama - Honjyou Dai-ichi - Lost in 3rd round of Prefectural Qualifiers to Tokyo Nodai-san 4-2.
• South Saitama - Urawa Gakuin - Lost in 2nd round (had 1st round bye) of Prefectural Qualifiers to Namegawa Sougou 3-0.
• East Chiba - Kisaradzu Sougou - Lost in quarterfinals of the Kanto Regionals to Keio 7-3.
• West Chiba - Chiba Keizaidai Fuzoku - Lost in 1st round of Prefectural Qualifiers to Ryuutsuu Keizaidai Fuzoku Kashiwa 15-8.
• East Tokyo - Kantou Dai-ichi - Lost in Block 13 finals to Meijidai Nakano 1-0 on a sayonara run.
• West Tokyo - Nichidai Tsurugaoka - Lost in 2nd round of Tokyo Regionals to Teikyou 6-5. Nichidai had a 5-0 lead going into the bottom of the 9th. You can figure out the rest.
• North Kanagawa - Keio - Won the National Fall Tournament
• South Kanagawa - Yokohama - Lost in 3rd round of Prefectural Qualifiers to Nichidai Fujisawa 3-2.
• Niigata - Niigata Kenou Kougyou - Lost in 1st round of Prefectural Qualifiers to Teikyou Gakkan Niigata 4-1.
• Nagano - Matsushou Gakuen - Lost in quarterfinals of Prefectural Qualifiers to Tokai Dai-san 10-0.
• Yamanashi - Nihon Koukuu - Lost in 1st round of the Kantou Regionals to Maebashi Shougyou 5-1.
• Shizuoka - Tokoha Kikugawa - Lost in 2nd round of the Prefectural Qualifiers to Shizuoka Shougyou 5-4.
• East Aichi - Oobu - Lost in the quaterfinals of the Prefectural Qualifiers to Kyoei 6-5.
• West Aichi - Touhou - Lost in quarterfinals (1st game) of the Tokai Regionals to Seisei Kougyou 4-3.
• Gifu - Gifu Kenritsu Shougyou - Lost in 2nd round of Prefectural Qualifiers to Gifu Kenritsu Sougou 2-1.
• Mie - Komono - Lost in 2nd round (had 1st round bye) of Prefectural Qualifiers to Nabari Kikyougaoka 2-1.
• Toyama - Takaoka Shougyou - Lost in quarterfinals of Prefectural Qualifiers to Mizuhashi 11-4.
• Ishikawa - Kanazawa - Lost in quarterfinals of Prefectural Qualifiers to Seiryou 5-2.
• Fukui - Fukui Shougyou - Lost in quarterfinals of Prefectural Qualifiers to Fujishima 3-1.
• Shiga - Oumi - Lost in 1st round of Kinki Regionals to Minoshima 5-1.
• Kyoto - Fukuchiyama Seibi - Lost in semifinals of Kinki Regionals to PL Gakuen 2-1.
• North Osaka - Osaka Touin - Lost in quarterfinals of Kinki Regionals to Konkou Osaka 3-2.
• South Osaka - Kinki Daifuzoku - Lost in 5th round of Prefectural Qualifiers to Konkou Osaka 2-0.
• East Hyogo - Houtoku Gakuen - Lost in quarterfinals of Kinki Regionals to PL Gakuen 7-0.
• West Hyogo - Kakogawa Kita - Lost in 2nd round of Prefectural Qualifiers to Miki Kita 8-7.
• Nara - Chiben Gakuen - Lost in 3rd round of Prefectural Qualifiers to Nara Daifuzoku 1-0.
• Wakayama - Chiben Wakayama - Lost in 1st round of Kinki Regionals to Konkou Osaka 7-5.
• Okayama - Kurashiki Shougyou - Lost in 1st round of Prefectural Qualifiers to Kanzei 6-5.
• Hiroshima - Kouryou - Lost in quarterfinals of Prefectural Regionals to Shinjyou 5-3.
• Tottori - Tottori Shougyou - Lost in 1st round of Chuugoku Regionals to Shinjyou 1-0.
• Shimane - Kaisei - Lost in semifinals of Chuugoku Regionals to Nanyou Kougyou 4-1.
• Yamaguchi - Shimonoseki Kougyou - Lost in quarterfinals of Prefectural Qualifiers to Nanyou Kougyou 7-0.
• Kagawa - Kagawa Nishi - Lost in quarterfinals of Prefectural Qualifiers to Takamatsu Shougyou 6-1.
• Tokushima - Naruto Kougyou - Lost in quarterfinals of Shikoku Regionals to Jinsei Gakuen 10-3.
• Ehime - Saibi - Lost in 1st round of Shikoku Regionals to Meitoku Gijuku 3-1.
• Kochi - Kochi - Lost in quarterfinals (bad 1st round bye) of Shikoku Regionals to Imabari Nishi 7-3.
• Fukuoka - Iidzuka - Lost in quarterfinals of Prefectural Qualifiers to Touchiku 10-7.
• Saga - Saga Shougyou - Lost in 2nd round (had 1st round bye) of Prefectural Qualifiers to Kashima Jitsugyou 10-3.
• Nagasaki - Seihou - Lost 2nd round (had 1st round bye) of the National Fall Tournament to Saijyou 12-8.
• Kumamoto - Jyouhoku - Lost in 4th round of Prefectural Qualifiers to Touryou 6-2.
• Oita - Hita-rin Kougyou - Lost in 2nd round (had 1st round bye) of Prefectural Qualifiers to Mie Sougou 5-4.
• Miyazaki - Miyazaki Shougyou - Lost in 1st round of Prefectural Qualifiers to Miyakonojyou Izumigaoka 5-1.
  
• Kagoshima - Kagoshima Jitsugyou - Lost in semifinals of Prefectural Qualifiers to Kawauchi 5-1.
  
• Okinawa - Urasoe Shougyou - Lost in quarterfinals of Prefectural Qualifiers to Miyako 4-1.

So, out of the 55 teams that competed, we have the following stats:

• 2 made the National Fall Tournament - Keio and Seihou. Keio won it all.
• 18 made the Regional Tournaments
• 3 made it to the Prefectural Best 4, but that was as far as it went.
  
• 13 made it to the Prefectural Best 8, but could not go further.
  
• 19 did not make it to the Prefectural Best 8.

So over one-third of all teams from the Summer Koshien didn't even make it to the quarterfinals of their prefectural qualfiers. At the same time, about just as many made it into the regional tournaments. Delving deeper, we see that a lot of the teams that made it to the regional tournaments are teams that are known as perennial contenders. Makes sense since these teams would have a fair amount of depth.

And it seems that the short turnaround doesn't affect these teams for the most part either, which at least for me I find interesting.