高校野球 (Kokoyakyu)

So here we are at the final, with one team perhaps becoming the new "Chiben" and the other looking to do what 3 other teams in history have done.

First of all, Takamatsu Shougyou. Should they win today, they would be just the 4th team in history to win the Meiji Jingu Tournament and then the following spring's Haru Koushien tournament:

• 1983-84 - Iwakura (Tokyo)
• 1997-98 - Yokohama (Kanagawa)
• 2001-02 - Houtoku Gakuen (Hyogo)

Takamatsu Shougyou has gotten an easier time of things, what with Tsuruga Kehi and Osaka Touin both eliminated before they had to face them. They were given a bit of a shock right off the bat when facing Inabe Sougou Gakuen, but did not appear to be tested until their semifinal game yesterday again Shuugakukan.

Ura's main effectiveness is in his offspeed pitches. His repertoire has a slider, curve and fork, but in reality it seems that his curve isn't really a curve, but a slurve. From the game footage it seems like his looping curveball actually tails away from a right handed batter, causing many a Shuugakugan batter to swing and miss.

In reality though he isn't a strikeout pitcher, but instead uses these to induce poor contact. Of course, all one team has to do is develop a strategy of going after them or to just ignore them and work the count, but so far he's been effective enough and stamina shouldn't be an issue given their fall results.

What should be of more concern is their hitting, which struggled against Horie and needed help from the other side to eventually win the game. Ura might be able to keep them in it, but the offense needs to come though one last time.

With Takashima-kantoku's retirement and the steady decline his program has faced over the past decade, the parent Chiben Gakuen has now supplanted its younger Chiben Wakayama as the more dominant red "C" in the ouen-dan.

This run has seen them go through their 4 games giving up 1 run or less thanks to their ace Murakami. The weird bit is that unlike most pitchers who work laterally in the bottom of the zone, Murakami seems to work vertically, predominantly working the upper parts of the zone. Now, if you have a team that can hit the high ball, he might be in trouble, but so far it seems to be working. It's much harder to drive something from higher in the zone, and most batters are probably well-practiced in hitting the lower pitches. He even throws his offspeed stuff (slider, curve, change fork) up as well. It might explain why batters have a hard time driving the ball.

Offensively, the team can score runs, but their last game against Shuugakukan really saw them scuffle to put any scoring opportunity together until magically in the bottom of the 9th when everything just fell together. I don't know if they will be able to hold off on Ura's slurve, but if not this could prove an equally troublesome game.

As for predicting a winner, I don't think this will be a blowout either way. Unless either ace just fatigues out I expect this to be a low-scoring affair that won't be decided until the end. Takamatsu Shougyou is either (a) under pressure because they could go Aki-Haru, or (b) under no pressure because they've in some ways gone through it in the fall facing powerhouses bigger than Chiben.

It should be a lot of fun. I just hope I get to see it all (thanks MBS).

Takamatsu Shougyou (Kagawa)
CF Anzai Tsubasa
RF Arauchi Shunsuke
SS Yonebaku Keizou
C Ueda Kyousuke
2B Mino Kousei
1B Ueda Rikuto
LF Takeuchi Hiroto
P Ura Daiki
3B Yamashita Tatsuki

Chiben Gakuen (Nara)
2B Osame Daichi
C Okasawa Tomoki
SS Oota Hidetake
RF Fukumoto Yuuma
1B Takahashi Naoki
P Murakami Shouki
3B Oohashi Shunpei
LF Nakamura Akita (#13)
CF Aoki Yuudai

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12:33 - First Pitch!

Well, Anzai quick to start affairs! He lines a ball down the right field line for a double!

Arauchi lays the bunt down, Murakami spins and turns to 3rd... SAFE!!!

The throw was in plenty of time, but somehow Anzai gets under the tag! All safe! Takashou threatening immediately!!

But Yonebaku grounds right to 3rd! Oohashi has it, Anzai skirmishes back to 3rd, and that allows Oohashi to get the 5-4-3 double play! 2 out and you have to wonder if Anzai should've taken the bullet to prevent that.

Up to Kyousuke to get the timely hit. He hits a liner, but Oohashi is there again to make the quick catch! 3 out and Murakami gets his disappearing act!

Ura meanwhile is on it to start. Osame is keen to wait on the balls, but when push comes to shove, Ura's forkball catches the outside edge and he's down.

2 down, and Ura tries to sneak a fastball in, but Oota turns on it and sends it past a diving Yonebaku for a base hit.

That brings up the dangerous Fukumoto, but Ura goes high on him and he pops out to retire the side. Looks like the no rest hasn't hurt him to start.

Mino learning about swinging high, can't quite square up the ball and flies out to left center. Takeuchi draws a 2-out walk for Takashou, bringing up ace Ura who is actually not bad with the bat.

Murakami trying to blow him away, but Ura continues to foul off pitches.

He gets a hold of one! Aoki backpedaling.... makes a slight jump to make the catch! If Murakami things he can just blow fastballs by him, I think he might be underestimating him if prior games are an indicator.

After a quick out by Takahashi, Murakami is able to hold off the slurve and draw a walk. Oohashi also doesn't bite and he gets one he can line to center for a base hit. Runners at the corners for Nakamura! He hits a chopper to the right side, but Mino has to go for 2! Throw to 2nd, a bit high, relay to 1st won't be in time! Murakami scores and Chiben has the 1-0 lead!

And now Aoki slices one down the LF line... fair! Nakamura goes to 3rd on the play and Chiben threatens to take a larger lead!

Osame though flies out to left to end the inning, but Murakami's walk comes around to score!

Takashou still struggling a bit with looking vertically as well as some of them just can't level one of those pitches. Arauchi gets a 2 out double down the right field line, but not much else.

On the other hand, the 2-3-4 batters for Chiben in their 3rd all make solid contact, sending balls deep to left and center. You have to wonder if they're already sizing up Ura's pitches.

It really looks like Ura is avoiding the fastball as his velo may be down from yesterday. As a result, while he can strike out Murakami on a forkball on the outside edge, he either gives up a basehit if he turns to the straight (like in Oohashi's AB) or they start sizing it up, like the 3rd inning and Nakamura's flyball to center.

Tough luck for Oota to start the 6th, ball takes a bit of a high hop and he can't field it cleanly. E6 and Ura bunts him over for last batter Yamashita.

Once again though, Murakami plays the higher part of the strike zone and Yamashita and Anzai can't make anything out of it. 3 outs and more frustration on the bench of the Meiji Jingu champs.

Ura manages to hold serve to the break, but his offense needs to unlock the mystery of Murakami and quick.

Kyousuke gets a 2 out double to deep right center. Murakami then walks Mino to bring up Rikuto, whom he gets this time with a slider down. Murakami is allowing baserunners, but when it might hurt him less.

The innings continue to tick away, but Takashou just can't get their bat to make solid contact and they're quickly running out of time.

Anzai with a grounder to the right side. Takahashi with it, but Anzai beats him to the bag! Leadoff single and where we are in the order, this might be their best chance. Arauchi bunts him over.

And Yonebaku lines a ball to center! Anzai given the green light!! Aoki's throw home... not in time!! The captain gives his team life as we're all tied at 1-1! And with Yonebaku at 2nd, it's a great chance!

And then I see both Kyousuke and Mino go after the high pitches again, and both are unable to make anything out of it... Still, what matters is the game is tied!

But will it stay that way? One out, Osame hits a ground ball right at Rikuto and it deflects off him and towards center! Mino is out of position, and Osame bolts for 2nd! Anzai holding back, charges and throws to 2nd.. OUT!!!

Osame tries to take 2, but Anzai perhaps baiting him gets him out and the early chance is lost! That's a shame because Okasawa bloops a ball over Yonebaku for a single!

Oota with a ball to 3rd, and the hop eats up Yamashita! The ball goes to left and with Takeuchi's throw to 3rd, allows Oota to take 2nd!! Will that cost them?

Fukumoto chopper to 3rd. Yamashita has this one! He throws to first, but the throw is wide! Rikuto goes for the tag....

OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Somehow, he just gets Fukumoto on the leg as he's diving past him and they get the 3rd out! Oh man....

Rikuto looks to give Takashou the lead in the 9th as he singles to center! He's bunted over, but can the bottom of the lineup deliver the final blow?

(Follow the twitter feed, this is going too fast.)

Here's how it all went.

After Rikuto's base hit, they bunted him over hoping that they could get a base hit. But Murakami plays an audible, pitching away and inducing bad contact. Ura on the other hand, completely goes into boss mode in the 9th, sending it into extras.

In the 10th, both teams would get a chance to win the game. Anzai gets a single through the right side, and with his speed you had to bet he could steal. And as I thought that he did. Arauchi though couldn't bunt him over, and instead of three-bunting, he swings away and flies out. After that Yonebaku and Kyousuke both try to get base hits, but Murakami goes back up again in the zone and both fly out to end the threat.

For Chiben, it was Nakamura who singled to center. Aoki couldn't bunt him along, actually tried the three-bunt, but failed. Kosaka-kantoku goes for the bunt again looking for the one-timer, but Okazawa meekly grounds out to 2nd to move the game to the 11th.

Rikuto gets a one out single to center, but Nagao-kantoku elects not to bunt the runner over for his own one-timer. Once again, both batters fail to deliver.

To the bottom of the 11th, and after 2 quick outs, Takahashi singles back up the middle past Yonebaku. At that moment I was trying to swipe into my phone to make sure to play no-doubles defense.

And again, as I thought that, Murakami blasts a ball to center. Anzai has speed, but not enough this time as it goes over his leaping glove. That all but seals their fate as Takahashi slides in to give Chiben Gakuen the 2-1 sayonara victory, their first ever Koushien title.

It seemed like something preventable, but perhaps it was lost in the strategy, much like the 1st inning and maybe the 10th inning. For Takamatsu Shougyou, this was a grand opportunity to claim the title for their own, but alas it was not to be. Ura certainly is a great pitcher, but as is always the case with one-and-done scenarios anything can happen.

So it's instead the parent Chiben Gakuen who rises above its younger school to take up the mantle. While they certainly are the big dogs in Nara now, I'm sure people will pay attention to Murakami's pitching style and we will have to see come the summer if they have the same success again.

I will try to go back and watch the games that are available to see if there's any more information to gather for the summer. Until then I may have other things in store, time depending.

The other semifinal is a shock as well. While Osaka Touin clearly wasn't their usual dominating selves, it seemed that they would at least make a deeper run. Instead they fell at the hands of Kisaradzu Sougou (no less) who had good pitching for sure, but managed to put together one good inning to defeat them.

Tsuruga Kehi was also slated to be here, but in perhaps the biggest upset, the lesser known Kaisei from Nagasaki somehow shutdown the Hokushinetsu champs. I thought the pitching would let them down first, but instead it was the offense.

In both cases, those teams that pulled off the upsets did the rest of the field a solid, but it sadly didn't help their own cases. Kisaradzu Sougou never went to reliever Takeda and perhaps paid for it dearly when Hayakawa couldn't close out the games against Shuugakukan. Kaisei went toe-to-toe with the Meiji Jingu champs, but just ran out of steam in the end.

In the end, this game may be self-explanatory. Shuugakukan has managed their pitching staff very effectively so far, allowing their players to get rest, and therefore be effective. This is opposite of Takamatsu Shougyou, who has a very shallow staff who may already be cracking if last game was any indication. There is a possibility of a Aki-Haru renzoku yuushou (Yes, I know that's isn't a thing, but I just made it one.), but I'm not sure it's possible.

CF Anzai Tsubasa

Well, I'm back, and the scene at Koushien is not what I quite expected. On this half of the bracket, if you had put a gun to my head, I would have picked 2 teams from the Kinki region, but just not these two. Instead I would have picked Shiga Gakuen and Akashi Shougyou.

The Chiben Gakuen appearance here really surprises me. They weren't any big shake in their first game, but certainly could have held their own against Kajitsu. But Shiga Gakuen seemed to be having the better of things going into their quarterfinal matchup. Instead, Murakami throws a 2-hitter against the runner-ups and they're here now!

Weirdly, while both semifinalists here played someone from the Kinki region in the quarterfinals, it wasn't any type of revenge match from the super-regionals. And even more odd, neither is this one. Heian's road is a bit more believable as they had Kousei in the 2nd round (who hadn't graded out all that well) and Akashi Shougyou (who rightfully provided an equal challenge).

I can't really speculate on games I haven't seen, but these teams initially graded out about the same. The pitchers have been equally effective at limiting runs, but it seems that at this point (a) Chiben Gakuen has been able to put runs on the board more consistently, and (b) Heian despite the day off has to recover from a 12 inning game. On both sides the advantage should favor Chiben Gakuen to reach their first ever final.

Ryuukokudai Heian (Kyoto)
CF Ogawa Koutarou
2B Kubota Yuu
SS Nishikawa Ranse
1B Hashimoto Kazuki
P Ichioka Souma
3B Tomita Shintarou
LF Okada Yuuki
RF Takeuchi Yoshinori
C Takeba Akahito

Chiben Gakuen (Nara)
2B Osame Daichi
C Okasawa Tomoki
SS Oota Hidetake
RF Fukumoto Yuuma
1B Takahashi Naoki
P Murakami Shouki
3B Oohashi Shunpei
LF Nakamura Akita (#13)
CF Aoki Yuudai

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11:04 - First Pitch!

Huh, Ogawa on the first pitch with a routine chopper to Oota, but he hustles out of the box and reaches safely! Kubota tries to pitch a ball that puts him on his kiester, and that never turns out well. Pops out to Okazawa.

Murakami though seems to be hitting the ground running. He's already working the sides of the zone. While Nishizawa and Hashimoto do try to go the other way, they can do no better than flying out.

Meanwhile, Ichioka isn't as on his game for Heian. Despite getting the first out, Okazawa lines a bender back up the middle for a single.

Both managers seem to want to keep the running game going as Kosaka-kantoku also gives the green light to his runners. He doesn't need to though as Oota draws a walk, creating an early pinch.

Ichioka seems to work exclusively away to Fukumoto to take away his power and I can't tell if he jus doesn't adjust, but he falls for a changeup wide for the 2nd out.

And Kosaka goes for a double steal for I don't know why and Okazawa is out by a country mile. 3 out and Ichioka walks away unscathed.

I thought Murakami was going to get an easy 2nd inning, as his first two pitches were flown out to right. However he then goes to issue a 4 pitch walk to Okada. The struggles continue as Takeuchi doesn't bite on the outside pitches, instead taking one at 3-1 back up the middle for a base hit.

Takeba though wipes it all out with one pitch, swinging at a ball up at his eyes, and not surprisingly popping out to Oota behind 2nd to end the inning. Still a 0, but perhaps a little more work than he really needed.

Ichioka continues to work exclusively outside to the batters. Takahashi falls victim the same way Fukumoto did, but when Murakami doesn't bite he gets a better pitch to hit and pulls a single through the left side.

But when Oohashi goes down swinging the same way the last 2 went, I notice that Ichioka's release on his Ks looks like he's trying to put reverse side spin to make it go away from the righties.

Nakamura does make contact, but grounds out to 2nd leaving the game scoreless.

It doesn't last for long though. After a single by Kubota, Hashimoto delivers a 2 out single to left. But bench starter Nakamura has the ball bounce off the heel of the glove and it gets by him. Kubota scores and Heian takes the 1-0 lead.

Ichioka tries to add on with a single to center, but Aoki shows how it's done with a seed to home throwing out Hashimoto by a wide margin.

Chiben Gakuen though is getting baserunners, but seems to be running themselves out of innings. Last batter Aoki gifts his team with a leadoff hit. But there's a failed bunt by Osame, and then he's picked off 1st to boot, effectively killing the inning.

Okada is really becoming a pain in the side of Murakami as he draws his 2nd walk. Not only that, but he picks the right time to take off for 2nd as Murakami's pitch is in the dirt and Okazaki can't cleanly pick and make a throw. However, they can't bring him home this time either as Takeuchi and Takeba both ground out.

Chiben Gakuen isn't even getting breaks when things seem to go right. After Fukumoto gets a one-out single, Takahashi scorches a ball up the 3rd base line. Tomita though, makes the diving stop right over the bag, fires to 2nd and just gets Fukumoto for the out. That stops that rally too and Heian still leads.

Murakami continues to put himself in bad situations. He walks Ogawa to lead off the 5th, then Ogawa takes off on the next pitch and just gets under the tag. A bunt over and Heian looks to double their lead.

Murakami blows one chance when he gets Nishikawa to fly out out center, and Hashimoto can only wince when he's called out on a change that just grabs the outer edge.

He's held serve, but his offense can't get anything going. Aoki gets on with 2 outs, but Osame's struggles at the plate continues, popping out in foul ground to send us to the break.

As much as I'd though Chiben Gakuen would have the advantage, it's actually been the reverse. Murakami looks like the more tired pitcher while Ichioka is giving the batters fits.

Post-break, the game seems to be giving the breaks to Heian. Bottom 6, Oota at 1st with 2 out and Takahashi hits another ball up the 3rd base line, and once again Tomita makes the stop and throw to 1st for the 3rd out.

And now in the lucky 7, Takeuchi's grounder to 1st takes a high bound at the last minute and goes over Takahashi for what turns out to be a double. After an apparent hit-and-run that is fouled off the non-protected part of Okasawa, Murakami goes top shelf to strike out Ogawa.

Kubota makes things interesting with a slow chopper to the middle, but Osame cuts it down, and makes the running throw across his body to 1st to get the 3rd out.

Kosaka-kantoku is running out of time and is resorting to pushing the envelope. Oohashi draws a one-out walk and gets bunted to 2nd for the one-timer. However, that forces him to send him home when Aoki gets a single to left. Okada comes up with a great throw home, and the side is retired with just 6 outs to go for the Chiben squad.

It's about this time that the MBS stream breaks repeatedly. But I'm able to get parts of the game where Osame singles to left and after a bunt Oota singles through the left side. Kosaka-kantoku doesn't send him this time with just one down.

But Chiben Gakuen cannot solve the problem of the outside pitch. Fukumoto chases that mysterious change away, and then Takahashi chases the high fastball away for the 3rd out.

The stream continues to break as Chiben makes one last rally in the 9th. But I catch Oohashi with a single through the left side, then the short clip when Nakamura singles to center, and then of Aoki with a single to right! Amazingly it's manrui!

But it breaks one more time. Am I really going to miss a sayonara hit?

Well no. But Osame singles back up the middle, 1 run will definitely score, but when Ogawa misplays the ball, the game is over and out of nowhere Chiben Gakuen comes back with 4 hits to win 2-1!

No, I don't understand what happened. Chiben Gakuen didn't get a break, couldn't get a hit, couldn't figure out Ichioka's changeup. And 4 hits later, they have a win.

*throws book out window*

Go figure.

I don't know if the better team won. Maybe they did because the other team couldn't finish. But maybe it was Heian who paid for all those breaks earlier that they couldn't cash in on. Either way Chiben Gakuen is in the finals.

Unfortunately, because of conflicting obligations I will be unable to provide coverage of the tournament as currently done. I may be able to make comments via twitter if I am able to watch the game, but that's probably the best I can do. You can always watch the games live here and they will always start at 1700 PDT/2000 EDT until the 27th (US time) where it will start 30 minutes earlier and there will be 4 games on that day.

Our penultimate matchup may have one of the better pitchers in the tournament, but as may be the case around the country, be paired with an offense who can provide no help.

Nagata came in as a 21st century squad who reached the prefectural quarterfinals, but whose ace Sonoda seemed to dominate in all matchups giving up 1 run or less in 4 of his 6 games (the other two he gave up 3). He struck out over 11 per 9 (albeit against weaker competition, but that's all we have to go on).

As mentioned though, his biggest problem is that his offense is rather punchless. 4 players batting under 0.230 is never a good sign - even if you're facing the powerhouse teams.

I mean they get a chance at least against Kaisei (Nagasaki) because their pitching isn't stellar, but on the flip side their offense appears to be the opposite of Nagata. While they only scored 2 runs against Shuugakukan, they still pounded out 11 hits. And since you can't win a game scoring 0 runs, unless Sonoda can throw bagels, it's hard to envisage a win.

In the matinee game, we finally get to see the Meiji Jingu Champions and what all the deal is with them.

Looking at them in terms of resume competition, you can't get much better than:

• Eimei
• Ikeda
• Imabari Nishi
• Saibi
• Meitoku Gijyuku
• Sapporo Dai-ichi
• Osaka Touin
• Tsuruga Kehi

We're headed to the homestretch in the first round, and 2 more regional champions take the field today.

Soushi Gakuen were the champions of a seemingly down Chuugoku region. We've seen Kaisei already, and the 5-0 win they have over them based upon what we've seen doesn't count for much. So the only game we can take anything from is their loss to Tsuruga Kehi, which is problematic precisely because it is a loss.

On the positive side, ace Takada was able to keep his K rates up against Tsuruga Kehi, so his numbers may be believable. Or at least more believable than most. Flipping the coin, on face value it's of concern that against Tsuruga Kehi their supposedly strong offense got choked off.

Toukaidai Koufu on the other hand was pushing all their competition aside up until the super-regional semifinals when Kisaradzu's Takeda (that's right, not ace Hayakawa, but their reliever Takeda) pitched a shutout. This after the team scored more than 5 runs in every game before that. That could be a problem.

The team uses a tandem of pitchers, with both Kikuchi and Matsuba are control pitchers, and while they split time for the most part Kikuchi went the distance in their final 2 games. In the end, their numbers didn't regress, but Kisaradzu's offense may not be the best indicator for their abilities.

There are questions all around, but as mentioned in the previews I think based upon normal projections Soushi Gakuen has the advantage.

Last pairing could be a tough one for a region champion as they are facing a region in form. Shuugakukan has posted good numbers, and despite a weaker super-regional schedule, their 4-2 loss to Touhou looks all that better. But while that may be the case, their offense certainly isn't as strong as their 0.374/0.411/0.637 line would indicate, and their pitching trio of Arimura/Horie/Nakai can somewhat hold their own.

Hanasaki Tokuharu has an ace in Takahashi that struck out more than 10 per 9. But in their game against Kisaradzu Sougou, that value was cut in half. I have no doubt that he can strike out batters, but probably not at the clip his fall stats indicate. In addition, in their two losses to Urawa Gakuin and the aforementioned Kisaradzu Sougou the offense, which had batted 0.309/0.408/0.520 were basically shut down. This may be due to the fact that a third of their lineup batted 0.260 or worse, so potential scoring opportunities could die on the vine depending where in the lineup they are.

Despite Kanto having success compared to Kyushu, Shuugakukan stands a chance against the floating bid from Kanto IF Arimura can manage the game.

Our matinee matchup could be another low scoring affair given what we've seen so far. Originally I had given Shiritsu Wakayama an edge just because of the competition faced and the fact that while Nanyou Kougyou scored a lot of runs, the slash lines were weak given the competition.

But Akashi Shougyou was a rather anemic winner, and they wound up mercy-ruled by them in the quarterfinals. Maybe if they were in the semis it could be forgiven (as they would almost certainly get a bid), but this was in the quarterfinals where nothing is guaranteed.

Now, this doesn't make Nanyou Kougyou the favorite by any stretch. The numbers for them don't impose confidence in the team (4 batters hitting under 0.250 and a pitching staff that barely Ks out 5 per 9 and BBs about 3 per 9). What it does mean is that their chances are greatly improved. Not 50-50 though, but still a fighting chance.

I'd like to be able to say that the tournament has been great so far, but to be honest I'm not really one to blow smoke up one's hind quarters so I won't. Most of the games have not been competitive, and the two that were, one was a bit of a snoozer (sorry Shoudoshima/Kamaishi, but while I know why teams employ the severe bunting strategy it doesn't make it any more interesting), and the other didn't really feel like there was much tension in the air (sorry Akashi Shougyou, it really didn't feel like it was anything of your doing that gave you the win outside of executing the squeeze bunts, and even to that extent blame had to be on Nichinan Gakuen's ace for continuing to pitch out of the windup).

Sadly, the opening game of Day 4 won't be any better...

That's because Osaka Touin takes the field, and the unfortunate victim is the Meiji Jingu bid in Tosa. Their key win was against Shoudoshima, who didn't show anything against Kamaishi, and then their 2 losses were to Meitoku Gijuku who also failed to do much against Ryuukokudai Heian. That alone should wave one of the biggest red flags now in the tournament. It makes their 0.260/0.319/0.337 line even more damning, and their ace Osaki, who sports a 5.4 K/9 and 3.4 W/9 rate that much more questionable.

Compare that with Osaka Touin, who while they all didn't impress, all the participants they faced in the fall that qualified for Senbatsu have moved on so far - Chiben Gakuen (ok), Akashi Shougyou (meh), Shiga Gakuen (interesting), and Kisaradzu Sougou (meh) - with only Takamatsu Shougyou yet to play.

Now Osaka Touin does have a weakness this year, and that is their ace Takayama. There has been some fanfare regarding him, but as concerning is the fact that he has walked 31 in his 63.2 innings of work. It would be more of a concern if teams were more welcome to just take a darned walk when it's handed to them, and maybe, maybe, Tosa might be able to as they averaged 4 per game. But unless Takayama just walks in runs left and right, I don't see them troubling the team I call the Yankees (or Kyojin if you like) of the 高校野球 world.

Our last matchup of Day 3 features 2 super-regional champs, but this feels like a one-way affair.

Sapporo Dai-ichi has quality wins in prefecture - Hokushou and Komadai Tomakomai. But the minute they went to Meiji Jingu, the pitching staff suddenly started hitting road bumps as they just couldn't stop the flow of hits and walks. As a whole they actually allowed exactly 2 runners an inning - every inning... That alone is a huge red flag. What's worse, in a prefecture that generally has weaker competition, 0.321/0.411/0.518 is not spectacular, and worse 4 of their batters carry a BA less than 0.250. Now, some of them have spectacular OBP's, but against this team those walks will be few and far between.

Compare that to Kanto ex Tokyo champs Kisaradzu Sougou who beat Senshuudai Matsudo, Toukou Gakuen, Hanasaki Tokuharu, Toukaidai Koufu and Jyousou Gakuin. In fact those last 4 was their super-regional resume - absolutely no breaks whatsoever. Now ace Hayakawa struggled against Osaka Touin, but then again who doesn't in some capacity?

Offensively, to be able to carry a 0.307/0.373/0.473 line including those games lends some credence to the numbers and won't require revision.

Our next game may highlight a pitcher who may be major league material. Touhou's Fujishima Kento put in yeoman's work, pitching in 14 of their 17 games. Through that he managed to maintain a K rate close to 1/inning. While one could argue that it was against weaker opposition, his rates didn't really dip that much as they progressed nor did he issue free passes.

He gets to face a Kanto Dai-ichi team that seemed to avoid all the potential mines in the Tokyo field having only to face Teikyou (who has really faded to the 3rd tier of above average teams as of late), and their true rival Nishogakushadai Fuzoku. The offense was steady throughout, but the lighter than normal Tokyo schedule plus the loss to Sapporo Dai-ichi basically on home turf is a query.

Kanto Dai-ichi's pitching staff isn't all that great either. As a whole, the team gives up way too many baserunners for their own good, both via hits and the free pass. Touhou's offensive numbers are almost solid 1-9, and 17 games despite weaker competition should mean something if only that they can take care of the teams they should.

When there's a pairing where it seems equal strengths when matched up, I would go with the better pitching staff, which favors Touhou.

So far, the games haven't been all that competitive in the end. Hopefully this changes today with our opening matchup.

Akashi Shougyou has the better resume on paper having wins over Fukuchiyama Seibi and Houtoku Gakuen, though both have faded away as of late so using them as benchmark wins do not count as much as it once did - especially since Houtoku Gakuen was passed over for an invite.

Yoshitaka's numbers don't look bad on face value, but in his last couple of outings, specifically in the Kinki Super-Regionals, he gave up a lot more hits and issued more walks - which eventually led to their downfall against Osaka Touin - though how Yoshitaka gave up only 5 runs giving up 12 hits and 6 walks is beyond me.

Offensively, they were never totally embarrassed in any of the games - everyone got their share of hits and runs, which is at least a positive.

Nichinan Gakuen's resume is rather light. The semifinal win against Shounan is their keystone win, but then was shutdown in the final by Shuugakukan. The pitching staff appears loth to issue a walk, which is good and Moriyama's K rates didn't decline with the step up in competition, so there's that.

Offensively the team seems to go for the "go big or go home" strategy. For the competition they faced, their 0.295 BA isn't all that impressive. But 3 batters in their lineup have an ISO equal or greater than their BA -  - Hamamoto (0.450 BA, 0.450 ISO), Nagahara (0.286/0.428) and Ishijima (0.250/0.542). And Masuda's isn't bad either (0.357/0.286).

So the question is whether that power we see translates at all. If it does, then Yoshitaka will need to tread carefully. But if not, then they might struggle to move on to the next round.

Our final game of the day also highlights 2 more regular schools, again who are perhaps not at their peak.

Kousei is back once again, but weren't their dominating selves. They did defeat Seiai and Hachinohe Koudai Dai-ichi, but split against Aomori Yamada who may be resurging, but hasn't proved anything yet. The offensive numbers look good but I think they have to be toned down a notch or two.

Kaisei comes in with a very ordinary record. There are some recognizable names on their defeated list (Risshoudai Shounan, Hiroshima Shinjyou), but nothing that really stands out. Couple that with a team slash line of 0.255/0.299/0.423, and it's all underwhelming. Kousei should have the upper hand in this matchup, which will allow the team to build some confidence into the next round.