高校野球 (Kokoyakyu)

So finally we head to Hokkaido. The largest prefecture by land area, the area with the mildest summers and the longest winters. Baseball here is played year round, but not necessarily in the best of conditions. Their win % rankings place them near the bottom of both the senbatsu and Natsu Koushiens despite having the 5th most Best 8 appearances (12). There are teams here that certainly have shown themselves to be above and beyond the field in Hokkaido. Yet when they head over the Tsugaru Strait, it changes.

Hokkai, with their fall win, gets a free pass to the prefecturals though they still had to play in the regionals.

Perennial team Sapporo Dai-ichi ran into Ritsumeikan Keishou who has been a good team as of late, and fell 4-3. With that out of the way, Ritsumeikan Keishou advanced out of block play.

Elsewhere in the Sapporo regionals, Hokkai's sister school Hokkai Gakuen Sapporo bested Sapporo Nichidai to advance. Sapporo Minami barely gets in with a win over Sapporo Ootani. And while Toukai Dai-yon lost to Hokkai in their regional final, because of the free pass, they advanced as well.

Komadai Tomakomai continues to struggle getting back to prominence, though they did give Hokkaido Sakae a good run in their part of the Sorachi regionals. Hokkaido Sakae advanced.

My underdog team, Hakodatedai Yuuto, advanced out of Hakodate, while Hokushou naturally advanced out of Otaru, and the same went for Komadai Iwamizawa in Sorachi and Asahikawa Minami out of Asahikawa (though they had a close game against Asahikawa Tousen).

Rounding out the field was Wakkanai Ootani (Nayoro) , Memanbetsu (Kitami), Shirakaba Gakuen (Tokachi) and Bushuukan (Kushine).

Then the draw came out and went as follows (winners of the first round are in red):

Bushuukan (Kushine) vs. Hakodatedai Yuuto (Hakodate)-Hokushou (Otaru) winner
Wakkanai Ootani (Nayoro) vs. Hokkaido Sakae (Muroran)
Sapporo Minami (Sapporo) vs. Hokkai Gakuen Sapporo (Sapporo) - how did this draw happen?

and on the other side...

Memanbetsu (Kitami) vs. Asahikawa Minami (Asahikawa)
Toukai Dai-yon (Sapporo) vs. Ritsumeikan Keishou (Sapporo) - again, how did this draw happen?
Mukawa (Muroran) vs. Shirakaba Gakuen (Tokachi)
Komadai Iwamizawa (Sorachi) vs. Hokkai (Fall Champion, Sapporo)

Only 3 of those first round games were close. Hokkai Gakuen Sapporo was shutout 3-0, Asahikawa Minami had to rally from down 4-2 to send it into extras winning it finally in the 13th (ace Saitou pitched the entire game), and Toukai Dai-yon survived a 5-run from Ritsumeikan Keishou 8th to win 8-7.

The quarterfinals had some great games. All the scoring for the Hokkaido Sakae and Sapporo Minami game happened in the 4th inning. The edge? It went to Hokkaido Sakae 2-1. Asahikawa Minami held a 4-0 lead against Toukai Dai-yon only to see it completely evaporate in the top of the 5th. Asahikawa Minami then went on to score 5 unanswered runs to win 9-5. And finally Shirakaba Gakuen held Hokkai to just 2 runs to win 4-2.

The only non-competitive game was Hakodatedai Yuuto's as they mercy ruled Bushuukan 8-1.

The semis saw Hakodatedai Yuuto continue their run as ace Tsutsumiguchi shutout Hokkaido Sakae 3-0. And in a bit of a shocker, Asahikawa Minami couldn't put up any resistance to Shirakaba Gakuen as they were mercy-ruled 10-1 in 8 innings.

So the final was Hakodatedai Yuuto and Shirakaba Gakuen. It was all Yuuto early as they scored 2 in the 1st and 3 in the 5th to take a commanding 5-0 lead. Shirakaba's offense would finally come around in the latter third of the game, but by then it was too late. Tsutsumiguchi would re-take the hill to shut the rally down as his team wins 6-3 to take their first title in 23 years! Perhaps we'll see my team in the summer?

And finally, before we head up north to Hokkaido, let's wrap things up on the mainland with the Hokushinetsu region.

Home cooking is always good. And for Niigata it was no different. 2 of the 3 lower seeds from Niigata advanced to the quarterfinals as Nagaoka Oote shocked Kanazawa and Nagano's champion Saku Chousei couldn't find an answer against Chuuetsu.

Only #2 seed Hokuetsu was unable to advance, but you could easily forgive them as they faced Tsuruga Kehi and lost 1-0.

These teams would now have to face the remaining prefecutral champions. And for the most part, none of them were able to stay with them. Yuugakukan, Nihon Bunri and Fukui Koudai Fukui all advanced via the mercy rule. Again there was one exception and that was Toyama Kokusaidai Fuzoku. Tsuruga Kehi got yet another team shutting them out 4-0.

Now it's off to the semifinals where Nihon Bunri and Fukui Koudai Fukui squared off. After trading a pair of runs in the 1st, Koudai Fukui dug a 6-2 hole that they could never quite recover from. They would get within 2, but Nihon Bunri prevailed 7-5.

In the other semifinal, it was Yuugakukan and Tsuruga Kehi. Yuugakugan had the better of the scoring early going up 2-1, but in the last third, Tsuruga Kehi flipped it right around and the teams found themselves tied at 3 heading into extras. And yet again, the teams found themselves in a deadlock as each inning passed. Finally Yuugakukan broke though the impasse with a run in the 14th inning. Tsuruga Kehi couldn't reply and Yuugakukan advances to the finals!

Two familiar faces in the final, and it didn't disappoint. Nihon Bunri seemed to hold all the cards, taking the lead 1-0 in the 4th and adding an insurance run in the 8th. Up 2 with just 3 outs to go, and the now famous team seemed to be on their way.

Yuugakukan thought otherwise. They mounted a rally with 2 down in the 9th inning capped off with a bases loaded triple by Taniguchi which made the score 4-2 and completely turned the tables! Now it was Nihon Bunri who was down 2 with just 3 outs to go!

Nihon Bunri could only get back one of those runs, giving Yuugakukan their 3rd ever title and first in 6 years!

Remember when I said the Daishoudai Sakai-Minoshima game wouldn't be competitive?

Yeah, me neither.

Although the game did start like I thought it might. After just 3 innings, Osaka Shoudai Sakai held a 9-1 lead.

Two innings later though, the score was 10-9!

Say again?

Minoshima was able to claw to within just 1 run! And every time Daishoudai tried to pull away. Minoshima would get those runs right back!

Problem was, they could never get that one extra run...

And so Daishoudai Sakai does advance thanks to a late drop goal, 13-12. Just kidding. About the drop goal that is.

In the other game of that side of the bracket, after some early scoring that left Ritsumeikan Uji up 2-1 the score remained that way until the 9th where Ritsumeikan scored 4 to seemingly put the game away only to see Osaka Touin roar right back. However, they only managed 3 runs, and thus fell 6-4!

Moving along to the opposite side, Tenri's offense was held at bay by Oumi and ace Ishida limiting them to just 3 runs. However, opposing ace Nishiguchi was one better. Well, 2 actually as Tenri advances to the semis with a 3-1 win.

And in the last matchup between relative unknowns Han-ai and Akashi Shougyou, the Kyoto champions shut down the triumvirate staff of Han-ai 7-2.

Onto the semis and Tenri decided to sit ace Nishiguchi and instead send out Nakatani and Oonishi. No matter though, as Tenri goes to another final with a 4-1 win.

Perhaps the biggest surprise though was the other semifinal. Daishoudai Sakai facing Ritsumeikan Uji opened the game with 6 unanswered runs. Ritsumeikan immediately went into scramble mode to find a way to get back into the game. Slowly but surely they started to get those runs back, yet by the end of the 8th inning they still trailed 6-4.

Daishoudai Sakai would not let this go on any further and responded by putting up a 6-spot in the 9th to put the game out of reach. A 12-4 win later, and the #3 seed from Osaka was in the final!

In the final, Daishoudai looked to continue the theme putting up a run in the top of the 1st. Tenri found the tying run in the 4th, and then the teams traded runs in the 5th. After that though, the bats fell silent as the game got deeper and deeper into regulation. Eventually, the game would go into extras.

But not for long though. The game goes just one more inning as Tenri scores the sayonara run to take their 6th spring title and first in 16 years!

In the first round of the Chuugoku Taikai, it was a massacre for almost any team not from Okayama. Well, the teams didn't lose by a wide margin, but they lost nonetheless.

The only Okayama team to not advance was actually Soushi Gakuen. They lost to the Yamaguchi representative Ube Koujyou 1-0. Remember, if you're a low scoring offense highly dependent on your defense, you're bound to have games like this (see Seattle Mariners).

And because Okayama Gakugeikan won the consolation game against Kurashiki Shougyou, there were no rematches in the semis.

So it was that 1st place Sakuyou had to face 4th place Kurashiki Shougyou. While Sakuyou had won the prefecturals, it was Kurashou that had the experience. And boy did it ever show. Kurashou took the reins early and never let go, mercy ruling the boys from Tsuyama 9-0.

Okayama Gakugeikan looked to make it a rematch in the final, but first had to get past the rogue team in the semifinals. But Ube Koujyou was persistent. While Gakugeikan had the 1-0 lead, they continued to fight and eventually broke through, scoring 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th to steal the lead away and send the Okayaman boys home.

In the finals, it would be Ube Koujyou that would strike first with a pair of runs in the 4th. However, they couldn't make that lead stick. Kurashou would score a run in bottom of the inning, then explode for 4 in the next. That would be all they needed as they win just their 2nd title with their first being 2 years ago.

As everyone is well aware, the Great East Japan Earthquake devastated the Tohoku region, destroying many seaside cities and killing thousands and displacing many more.

As a result, it was decided that the Tohoku Taikai would not be held. Furthermore, for Miyagi-ken and Fukushima-ken, their spring tournaments would be cancelled. However, the Natsu Koushien qualifying will go on not too long from now.

All the other prefectures though managed to get their tournaments done, so we'll take a tour of those areas.

Aomori
Aomori has regional brackets where a certain number of teams qualify for the prefecturals. Those teams plus the fall winner, Kousei Gakuin, make up the full field. The elephant in the room, Aomori Yamada qualified, as well as pet favorite Hachinohe Koudai Dai-ichi.

Unfortunately for Hachinohe Koudai Dai-ichi, they would have to play Kousei Gakuin in the 2nd round, and was shutout 8-0. But then, facing Hachinohe in the next round, they found a team who wanted to take revenge on the team that eliminated an area school. Well, not really, but nevertheless Hachinohe pulls off the upset 5-2.

With the only major competition to Aomori Yamada gone, the path was clear to the title. But while facing what seemed like no-name competition, showed some cracks defeating Touou Gijyuku 5-0, then Towada Kougyou 2-0 to reach the finals.

Their opponent in the finals would not be Hachinohe though. They faced Misawa in the semifinals and fell behind immediately and could never recover, losing 9-4.

So it would be the David's Misawa versus the Goliath's Aomori Yamada. And early on, Misawa's ace Kikuchi held his own, yielding just one run through the first 6 innings. However, the offense could never get started and the stress of holding that one run lead was too much. Aomori Yamada put up two 3-spots in the next 2 innings to win 7-0 taking their 8th title and first in 3 years.

Hachinohe would salvage a 3rd place finish with a 9-8 win over Towada Kougyou.

Iwate
Much like Aomori, Iwate had regional bracket play to determine the prefectural participants.

Here, we find teams from cities and towns that suffered severe damage from the tsunami. Teams from Kamaishi, Kuji and Miyako participated in the tournament, even though for some schools like Miyako Kougyou and Miyako Shougyou, their schools were flooded themselves and students displaced to other schools in the meantime. Now those two schools didn't advance, but in a way it's helping them move on after the disaster.

The winner from the fall, Morioka Chuo, couldn't advance out of regional play, losing first to Morioka Kougyou, then Morioka Dai-san in the loser's bracket. Meanwhile, the other Best 4 participants, Hanamaki Higashi, Moriokadai Fuzoku and Ichinoseki Gakuin all managed to advance.

Unfortunately for one of these schools, their exit would be early as Hanamaki Higashi and Moriokadai Fuzoku drew each other in the first round. Hanamaki Higashi prevailed 3-1 and had a clear road to the finals, though they almost stubbed their foot against Iwaizumi eking out an 8-7 win.

On the other side Ichinoseki Gakuin was also making their way to the finals, but then they faced Mizusawa and the woes for the school continue as they fall 2-1.

In the finals, Hanamaki Higashi held a hold on the game right from the get-go trailing 1-0 only because Mizusawa was at-bat first. A 10-4 win gives Hanamaki Higashi their 5th title and first in 2 years.

Akita
Akita's regionals saw a lot of the regulars make it. Akita Shougyou of course, as well as my hard-luck team from this prefecture Honjyou, not to mention the other hard-luck team Meiou. Haru Koushien participant Oodate Houmei also advanced.

The bad luck continued Meiou as they were paired up with Honjyou in the 2nd round. Honjyou advanced with a 3-0 win. They continued on a collision course with Oodate Houmei unto which they fared the collision much better with an 8-1 win to the finals.

On the other side Akita Shougyou looked to be on the easy road to the finals. In the semis though they face Oomagari Kougyou and found themselves in a battle. They fired the opening salvo with a run in the 2nd, only to see Oomagari fire one right back in the 3rd. The teams then were locked in a stalemate, neither team able to break through. Meanwhile the game continued on, through the 7th, through the 8th, past the 9th and into extras. And it continued yet still through the 11th, 12th innings. At this point it becomes the team who has something left that wins. In the 14th inning, that would be Oomagari Kougyou where Takahashi would get the sayonara hit to finally end the game 2-1.

So Oomagari Kougyou would face Honjyou. And after a 14 inning affair, would they have anything left? Well, they sent out RP Katou to start the game, which meant that while they didn't have their ace, they at least had depth at the position. In fact, Oomagari Kougyou opened the scoring in the 3rd with a run. 2 innings later though, Honjyou tied it up.

1-1 again, heading towards extras. For Oomagari Kougyou this couldn't look any worse - outside of outright losing of course. 2 extra inning games in as many days?

Well, they came together and decided that they had had enough. Bottom 9, Oomagari Kougyou rejects the notion of extra innings and scores the sayonara run to give them just their 2nd title (their first being 5 years ago).

Yamagata
In looking at the recent history of Yamagata, the team that has primarily dominated the prefecture has been Sakata Minami. This despite the fact that Nihon Yamagata appeared for a 2-year stint and went all the way to the Best 8 in 2006. That and my irrational hope for Haguro to come back to prominence despite realizing that they've only been to Koushien twice and I happened to see the one appearance where they came from nowhere to reach the semifinals of the 77th Haru Koushien.

So of those teams whom all advanced to prefectural play, Haguro was the first to fall losing to Nihon Yamagata 4-0. Perhaps it's about time I let them go off into the sunset.

After that game, Nihon Yamagata marched right on to the finals with dominating wins over rival university school Toukaidai Yamagata and Yamagata Kougyou.

Sakata Minami and last year's summer participant Yamagata Chuo meanwhile were on their own march towards a semifinal matchup. In that semifinal, Yamagata Chuo made a statement that their summer title wasn't just a fluke, building a 6-0 lead.

And then something happened. I don't know if the Yamagata Chuo players realized they were 3 innings away from defeating the most dominating team in the prefecture, or if ace Yokoyama was just worn out, but in the 7th Sakata Minami scored 5. With the lead just 1 run and 2 innings left to go, the momentum immediately shifted towards the favorites. Eventually they would score a total of 8 unanswered runs and stun Yamagata Chuo 8-6.

So it was that the two stalwarts in the prefecture would square off yet again, this time for the spring title. Once again, Sakata Minami would fall behind as Nihon Yamagata put up a pair in the 2nd inning. They wasted no time though this time around, coming back with 3 runs to take a 3-2 lead. Nihon Yamagata could never find that equalizer, instead merely pulling back within 1 after Sakata Minami added an insurance run. Yet this was just Sakata Minami's 4th spring title and 1st in 3 years.

Well, the short Toukai Taikais are done, and the winner wasn't who I expected.

As expected, Oogaki Nichidai defeated Shizuoka Shougyou but only by the margin of 2-0. Aichi Meisei wound up being no match for Komono losing 11-1 in 6 innings.

And in the semifinals - Komono threw 4 pitchers at Oogaki Nichidai, but to no avail losing 7-0 in 8 innings.

Chuukyoudai Chuukyou was surprised by Oogaki Shougyou. They attempted a 9th inning rally, but lost 2-1. Meanwhile, the hit and miss offense of Tokoha Kikugawa continues as Inabe Sougou Gakuen sends them home in 7 with an 8-1 win.

In the semifinal, the two teams stayed scoreless until the final 3 innings in which ISG took a 4-0 lead.

But it all went wrong for ace Okabe and the boys from Mie. Daishou somehow finds a way to not only find 4 runs, but the winning 5th run, all in the top of the 9th! Daishou comes from behind in spectacular fashion to set up an all Gifu final!

Of course, this is also a rematch of the prefectural final in where Daishou was routed 11-3.

But this rematch went differently. Oogaki Nichidai struggled to get their offense going, but managed to plate a run in the 3rd. Daishou was not facing ace Kassai to start, and finally took advantage in the 5th scoring 2 runs and taking the lead. By the time Kassai entered the game, it was too late. Daishou added an insurance run in the 7th, winning 3-1 as ace Morikawa goes the distance giving Oogaki Shougyou their 1st ever spring title!

The Kanto Taikai is over, and the results are surprising (and to me, very happy).

So lets go through the recap!

Ibaraki
So I'm beginning to get the hint that seeds in general are given to the Best 4 from the last tournament. Makes sense considering there's no leagues during the year and the only real competitions are the seasonal tournaments.

So Suijyou, Kasumigaura, Fujishiro and Shimotsuma Dai-ni were awarded seeds and an automatic bid in the prefecturals. Everyone else had to qualify out of small regional play.

Interestingly, it wasn't the top 2 seeds that advanced to the quarterfinals. Fujishiro reached thanks to close wins against Mito Sakuranomaki (which I'm sure Ken is bummed about) and Akeno. Shimotsuma Dai-ni had an early challenge against Tsuchiura Nichidai winning 1-0. That opened a straight road to the quarterfinals which they easily drove through.

Suijyou, certainly not the team from last year, did win their first 2 games via shutout. But when they faced Jyousou Gakuin, who had previously been a Koushien reprentative, they faltered. Jyousou Gakuin won the slugfest 9-8 earning a spot in the quarterfinals. Kasumigaura only made it through one game before stubbing their toe against Mito Kiryou 4-3. They continued to squeak by, winning 2-1 against Tsuchiura Kohoku.

The surprises continued in the semis. Jyousou Gakuin plastered Shimotsuma Dai-ni 13-0, certainly not helping their image (remember they were passed up for senbatsu a couple of years ago despite finishing 2nd in the Kanto super-regionals), and Mito Kiryou's ace Nagashima blanked Fujishiro 1-0.

Mito Kiryou's run was certainly nice, but in facing Jyousou Gakuin they had their hands full. And after giving up a 4-spot in the top of the 1st, it was probably too much. Jyousou Gakuin would win 6-1 for their 10th title and first in 2 years.

Tochigi
Tochigi too has a "regional" where all teams are paired up (3 in some cases) and winner goes to the prefecturals. Best 4 are not exempt.

A lot of the regulars naturally made it out of the winner-to-prefecturals round. Sano Nichidai, Sakushin Gakuin, Bunsei Geidai Fuzoku and Hakuoudai Ashikaga all advanced.

But to show the relative evenness in the field here in Tochigi, many of them were eliminated early.

• Yaita Chuo upset Sano Nichidai 4-1 in the first round,
  
• Sakushin Gakuin after winning their first game, lost to seeded Kokugakuin Tochigi 3-1.
• Hakuoudai Ashikaga had the same fate, losing 5-2 to Utsunomiya Minami.

Only Bunsei Geidai Fuzoku had success breezing their way though the brackets, winning its 4 games to the finals by a score of 31-5.

Seeded Ootawara would be their opponent in the finals, and they proved to be a formidable opponent (that day at least). Bunsei Geidai couldn't come back from a 3-run 3rd inning as Ootawara would win just their 2nd spring title - their 1st being 52 years ago!

Gunma
Gunma extended its seeds to the Best 8 for its spring taikai. So how would the Best 8 fair?

Fall winner Maebashi Ikuei after a strong start, started to falter barely defeating Ooizumi and Isezaki Shougyou before losing to 5-8 seed Kiryuu-shi Shougyou.

Runner-up Takasaki Shougyou seemed to be cruising along until running into Takasaki in the quarterfinals losing 6-4.

3-4 place teams Takasaki Kengoudai Takasaki and Kiryuu Dai-ichi didn't fare much better. Kengoudai after winning their first two games by a combined score of 25-0, lost to Tokyo Noudai-ni (remember them?) 5-2 while Maebashi Shougyou got the best of Kiryuu Dai-ichi 4-3 in the quarterfinals.

In the semifinals, Maebashi Shougyou continued their run defeating Kiryuu-shi Shougyou 2-0 while 5-8 seed Jyuutoku defeated Takasaki 9-3.

Maebashi Shougyou would win their 3rd consecutive spring title (yet only their 5th overall) thanks to 6 runs en route to a 10-5 win.

Saitama
Saitama is one of the larger prefectures - in terms of population (5th overall as of 2008), and it's a bit surprising that in some ways some of the larger prefectures aren't given 2 bids much like Tokyo and Hokkaido. Back in the 90th Natsu Koushien, there were 55 teams with 2 bids given to Chiba (E/W), Hyogo (E/W), Osaka (N/S), Saitama (N/S), Aichi (E/W), Kanagawa (N/S).

Now, the big problem with this is that the extra days for games easily makes rain postponements more costly not to mention the Hanshin Tigers have to be on the road longer (it IS their stadium after all). Probably biggest of all is that it's already difficult enough for most of the smaller prefectures to compete. Throw in more powerhouses and the dream of winning it all is made that much harder.

Anyways, off to the Saitama prefecturals. The 154 teams are mostly broken into groups of 4 which whittle the field to 40 for the main tournament.

The Best 4 from the fall all made it out of group play but as a whole did not fare as well in the prefecturals. Fall winner Urawa Gakuin lost 9-7 to Shiritsu Kawaguchi in the 3rd round. Washinomiya lost to Okegawa 1-0 in the same round. Kasukabe Kyouei went one round further but lost 8-5 to Hanasaki Tokuharu. Only Urawa Jitsugyou made it to the semifinals.

Ageo, who had been a seeded team in the fall and subsequently was upset in the first round, fared much better this time reaching the semis before defeating the last vestiges of the seeded teams in Urawa Jitsugyou 5-0. They'd square up against Hanasaki Tokuharu who had no trouble with Okegawa winning 10-1 in 7 innings.

In the finals, Hanasaki Tokuharu would win their 2nd consecutive spring title (3rd overall) shutting out Ageo 2-0.

Chiba
So I'm biased. When it comes to Chiba, I root for one team and one team only. Well, almost (there was Narita and Nakagawa Ryou).

That team is Narashino.

Yes, a good chunk of it is their band. Their award winning band. And their cheers.

But after their poor performance in the fall (losing to seeded Senshuudai Matsudo 1-0 in the 3rd round), they weren't going to get any favors. They'd have to advance out of pool play instead of getting a free pass to the prefecturals. They did so with two mercy rule games against Kamagaya Nishi and the new Funabashi Keimei*.

*8 schools merged into 4, and one was moved

• Funabashi Asahi and Funabashi Nishi merged into Funabashi Keimei
• Fusa and Kohoku merged into Abiko Higashi
• Nisshodai Shounan became Nisshodai Kashiwa
• Ichikawa Kita and Ichikawa Nishi merged into Ichikawa Subaru
• and Matsudo Akiyama and Matsudo Yakiri merged into Matsudo Kouyou
  

Sadly, none of those new teams were able to advance out of pool play.

But a lot of the good schools did and received seeded placement - Chiba Keizaidai Fuzoku, Kisaradzu Sougou, Senshuudai Matsudo and Toukaidai Urayasu.

Chiba Keizaidai and Senshuudai Matsudo were in the same quadrant and clashed in the quarterfinals, with the latter gaining the win 5-1.

Toukaidai Urayasu struggled in their first two games, but handled Shigakukan to reach the semis.

Neither seeded Seibudai Chiba or Narita Kokusai advanced out of their quadrant as Ryuutsuudai Kashiwa played 4 close games to join the Best 4.

The last team to qualify? Why, Narashino of course. After almost getting upset 3-2 in their first game against Narutou, they cleaned house to get to the semis (which included a 6-1 win over Kisaradzu Sougou).

With the super-regionals held in Chiba this year, all 4 teams qualified. But who would take top honors?

Narashino continued its run with a 7-0 mercy win over Toukaidai Urayasu. Ryuukeidai Kashiwa (as they're nicknamed) built a shocking 5-0 lead over Senmatsu before they struck back with 10 unanswered runs. Kashiwa would get 3 in the 9th, but the math shows that wasn't enough.

Senmatsu and Narashino in the final...

Senmatsu showed their strength early putting numbers up in 3 of the first 4 innings for a 3-0 lead. Narashino erased all of it in the 4th. The game remained a tenuous draw until the bottom of the 8th where ace Kitazawa couldn't hold on anymore. Narashino exploded for 5 runs from which Senmatsu couldn't recover. Narashino would win their 8th spring title and 2nd consecutive.

In the consolation game, Ryuukeidai Kashiwa outlasted Toukaidai Urayasu 10-7 to take 3rd.

Tokyo
Tokyo is where we see the first effects of the Greater Tohoku Earthquake. Because of the rolling blackouts required there apparently wasn't a way to get all the qualifying in as usual. So instead of holding block play, the teams that made it to the main prefecturals in the fall were called back for the spring. Only one school - Toritsu Chitosegaoka was unable to play because of suspensions handed down earlier in the year.

And almost immediately, many of the major teams fell by the wayside. Teikyou, Kanto Gakuin, and Waseda Gakuin both lost right off the bat. Souka and Nichidai-ni were next to go.

Shuutoku, who was mimicked as Shuuhoku in the series Moshidora, was shocked by Hachiouji 4-0 in the quarterfinals. Senbatsu participant Kokugakuin Kugayama got railroaded by Kousei Gakuen (not to be mistaken with Kousei Gakuin) 12-4.

So who does that leave?

Well, that's obvious. Nichidai-san. They reached the finals in a combined score of 44-4. They faced the aforementioned Kousei Gakuen who made a spectacular run to the finals. Kousei would rally from down 2 early to actually take the lead in the 7th. But Nichidai would obviously not let that stand and level the score in the 8th. The game went into extras briefly when Suzuki sends everyone home in spectacular fashion in the 10th with a manrui home run to left!

Nichidai-san wins their 12th title and 1st in 2 years.

But with Nichidai-san and Toukaidai Sagami receiving recommendation bids Tokyo would get one extra bid since Nichidai-san won the title. That would go to Hachiouji who defeated Nisho Gakushadai Fuzoku 6-3.

Kanagawa
Yokohama being so big went into group play way back in March which meant that eventual winner Toukaidai Sagami would get a free pass to the prefecturals. Winning senbatsu would get even more perks to be stated later.

The Best 4 - Toukaidai Sagami, Yokohama, Tourei Fujisawa and Yokohama Shoudai all made it to the prefecturals. Quickly though, the teams would fall.

Yokohama Shoudai lost in the 3rd round to Kamakura Gakuen 8-6. One round later, Tourei Fujisawa would be upended by unseeded Keiou 9-2. Joining them would be... Toukaidai Sagami! They were upset by Totsuka 3-2! But because of their senbatsu title, they'd receive an invitational bid. How fortunate!

That left only Yokohama as the remaining last Best 4 team. But the road to the finals would have to go through Keiou. And I don't know what's happened to Yokohama in recent years, but they've just struggled. Keiou shuts out Yokohama 4-0 to go to the finals!

With Toukaidai Sagami out of the way in the other bracket, it was wide open. Atsugi Kita and Koujyou jumped on the opportunity (with a couple of close calls along the way) and faced off in the quarterfinals. But it was a one-sided affair as Koujyou routed Atsugi Kita 10-0 for a spot in the finals.

Now Koujyou against Keiou would seem like a one-sided matchup, but Koujyou instead surprised Keiou by taking a 4-0 lead after 1½ innings!

Sadly though, the surprise was short lived. 7 in the 2nd and 4 more in the 3rd meant that Keiou was up 11-4. The final score would be 13-5 as Keiou takes just their 4th title (!) and first in 4 years.

Yamanashi
Even with just 38 teams, Yamanashi awards the Best 8 from the fall a seed in the spring taikai.

Only two of the 8 teams failed to make the quarterfinals (which requires winning 2 games really). Interestingly, both teams were in the same quadrant. Best 4 seed Teikyou Dai-san lost to Minobu 8-1, and Best 8 seed Koufu Shougyou lost to Koufu Jyousai 4-1. By the way, it would be Koufu Jyousai who would advance to the Best 4 with a 5-2 win over Minobu.

Things further went to script when the Best 4 teams got the best of the Best 8 teams. That setup Koufu Kougyou-Koufu Jyousai semi on one side, and Nihon Koukuu-Toukaidai Koufu in the other.

Koufu Jyousai couldn't break the status quo yet again, as they gave up the lead in the late innings losing 5-3. And nuts to Nihon Koukuu, the pitching coughs it up in the middle innings, losing 6-2.

So the rise of the Toukai schools seems to be happening (although it'll take a while to rival the Nichidai schools). And it was completed as ace Honda shuts out Koufu Kougyou 4-0 to give the team their 11th spring title and first in 3 years!

Super-Regionals
So it was off to the Kanto Taikai. And the draw was brutal for some teams. I mean, how in the world does Keiou and Narashino face off... in their opening game??!! Meanwhile, Hanasaki Tokuharu had the unfortunate draw to be with Nichidai-san in a quadrant, while Toukaidai Sagami got their own quadrant, while the last was up for grabs (although perhaps Jyousou Gakuin had the inside track).

Narashino would get the better of the match against Keiou, winning 3-2. But they needed 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th to pull off that victory. With that tough test out of the way, they easily reached the semis with an 8-4 win over Toukaidai Koufu. Nichidai-san would join them, having no trouble in their part of the bracket. Now, I don't know what the heck happened to Narashino in the fall, because they were on a mission it seemed. They scored 7 runs in the first 2 innings en route to a 9-1 mercy win!

On the other side, all hell broke loose when Toukaidai Sagami was upset yet again, this time by Koufu Kougyou 8-6 in their 1st game! Koufu ralled from an early 5-0 deficit to win that game too!

Well, that just opened things right up. But it was Koufu Kougyou who barged through the door to the semis. Joining them would be Jyousou Gakuin after all, but they had to survive a 13-inning affair against Tokyo's Kousei Gakuen. And their ace Mizoguchi wasn't even pitching! Kousei Gakuen actually rallied from down 3-0 to force extras, only to see it slip away 2 innings from a draw.

In the semifinal, Jyousou Gakuin would be unable to get the better of Koufu Kougyou, continuously finding the douten run only to see Koukou pull away again. The backbreaker was a pair of runs in the 7th which gave Koukou a 5-3 lead. They would win 8-4 to get to the finals.

The finals though would be over before it started. Narashino put up a 4-spot in the bottom of the 1st and never looked back as ace Oono pitched a shutout winning 7-0 giving Narashino their first ever spring title!

Onto the Hokushinetsu Region, another rural region, but perhaps one that I wish did better. I loved being in Nagano, wished Nihon Bunri really did finish that comeback, and secretly wish that Ishikawa, Fukui and Toyama went just a little further.

The draws for the super-regionals are out, but first the prefecturals:

Niigata
With games being held in Niigata this year, they earn 4 bids.

They have one big qualification, like the rest of the year. The final 4 from the fall (Nihon Bunri, Hokuetsu, Tookamachi and Sado) earned top seeds.

As usual, Nihon Bunri quickly ran through the field to the semifinals with their closest game being a 10-3 win over Sekine Gakuen in the quarterfinals.

Hokuetsu too was able to get through their quadrant, though not as easily with a notable win against Teikyou Nagaoka 7-5.

Meanwhile Nagaoka Oote, who had actually given Hokuetsu a run in the fall, finally got the better of a good team, defeating Tookamachi 8-1!

Chuuetsu, who had the unfortunate early draw with Hokuetsu, finally got a draw to themselves, and faced off with Sado in the quarterfinals. They broke through with a 2-0 win to earn a bid.

So at this point all 4 teams that will advance have been determined, but now it was a matter of who would receive the first round bye.

Nagaoka Oote couldn't stop the Nihon Bunri express, losing 7-0 in 7 innings. Chuuetsu lost to their neighbors to the north 9-0.

So it would be a rematch of the fall semifinal. And once again, Nihon Bunri showed their dominance throwing their 4th shutout of the tournament winning 7-0 for the 2nd consecutive title and 15th overall.

And in the consolation game, Nagaoka Oote defeated Chuuetsu 3-2.

Toyama
Again, like Niigata, the top 4 from the fall - Shin-Minato, Sakurai, Toyama Dai-ichi, and Fukuoka all earned seeds in the spring taikai.

However. the teams here were not as able to defend their ranking. Sakurai immediately got into a 2-2 draw against Takaoka Minami, and won the replay 3-1. But that result immediately did not bode well as they lost to Kosugi 4-2 in the next round.

Fukuoka started off well with a 14-2 win over Toyama Kousenmon Hongou, but then was routed 7-0 by Namerikawa.

Shin-Minato got the quarterfinal stage, but then was upset by Toyama Kokusaidai Fuzoku 3-1.

Only Toyama Dai-ichi made it to the semifinals, and that was despite a 12-11 win over Toyama Shougyou. Even then though, they were eliminated by the aforementioned Toyama Kokusaidai Fuzoku 12-0 in 6 thanks to 2 6-run innings.

On the other side, the teams who upset the seeded teams were not able advance any further. Kosugi lost 6-1 to Toyama Higashi, while Namerikawa lost to Takaoka Shougyou 5-3. Those two teams faced off in the semis where Takaoka Shougyou won 6-1.

That setup an interesting final which wound up being a pitchers duel. The teams were scoreless through 7 with Toyama Kokusaidai breaking through in the top of the 8th. With little time left, Takashou managed a 9th inning rally to tie it and send into extras. When Kokusaidai scored in the 11th, ace Gotou couldn't slam the door again as Takashou was able to find an equalizer. But when Kokusaidai scored yet another run in the 12, Gotou wouldn't let them extend the game any further. Toyama Kokusaidai Fuzoku wins 3-2 in 12 innings for their 1st ever spring title!

Ishikawa
There are no seeds in the Ishikawa spring taikai, however the Best 4 in the fall did find themselves in separate quadrants.

More notably though, the 2 powerhouse schools in Ishikawa (although they don't have a death grip) in Kanazawa and Yuugakukan were placed in opposite sides of the bracket.

So in all likelihood it would be those two in the finals, although last year's spring winner Seiryou wanted to have a say in it. They squared off against Yuugakukan and used a trio of pitchers - Oono, Moriyama and Nishikawa. Combined, they held Yuugakukan to just 2 runs.

Unfortunately, they only managed to score 1. So in fact it was Kanazawa and Yuugakukan in the finals.

In the championship game, Yuugakukan got to ace Kamata early taking a 2-0 lead. However Kanazawa would take the lead in the middle innings thanks in part to a HR by Kamata himself. Leading 3-2 in the bottom of the 9th, Kanazawa looked to close it out...

... except leadoff batter Kobayashi had other plans. He hits a ball off the right field pole to tie the game at 3 sending it into extras. But neither team could score a run thereafter meaning that the teams would have to replay the game.

Yuugakukan's ace Kurohagi would take the hill again, while Kamata who had thrown over 180 pitches in the draw would not come out. With both staffs short or fatigued, there was bound to be more scoring.

In fact there was, with the lead changing several times. After Yuugakukan took a 1-0 lead in the top of the 2nd, Kanazawa sniped right back with 2 in the bottom half. When Yuugakukan scored 2 in the 4th to retake it, 2 from Kanazawa in the 5th took it right back... and then 2 more from Yuugakukan in the 6th gave them the lead once again at 5-4. Got that?

Kanazawa would again score, this time finding an equalizer in the bottom of the 6th. And right back, Yuugakukan scored one in the 7th to re-take that slim 1-run margin.

And that's how it would end. Kurohagi would pitch a complete game to give Yuugakukan their 8th title and first in 3 years.

Fukui
Fukui too is primarily dominated by 3 schools - Fukui Shougyou, Tsuruga Kehi, and Fukui Koudai Fukui. Joining them for this go-around is Nyuu.

All 4 were given seeds for the spring taikai, and all 4 made it to the semifinals with ease - except for Nyuu who won 1-0, 2-0 and 2-1.

Sadly Nyuu's pretender status was confirmed as they lost 9-0 in 7 innings to Tsuruga Kehi. Fukui Koudai Fukui used a flurry of runs in the middle innings for a 6-2 win over Fukushou.

So it was Tsuruga Kehi and Fukui Koudai Fukui in the finals. After scoring 4 runs in the 3rd, Koudai Fukui would rally to with 1. But after an insurance run in the 6th, things looked a bit bleak.

Instead, the pitching for Tsuruga Kehi would collapse in a big way. Koudai Fukui would put up a 6 spot in the bottom of the 8th to take a 10-6 lead. That deficit that late would be too much for Tsuruga Kehi as Fukui Koudai Fukui would win their 11th title and 1st in 2 years.

Nagano
Nagano is the only prefecture in the region that uses regional play to determine their final participants.

Notably missing from the final 16 was Matsushou Gakuen, who actually lost in their 1st game inthe Chuushin regionals 4-1 to Matsumoto Arigasaki!

All the other regulars however did make it - Matsumoto Dai-ichi, Saku Chousei and Nagano Nichidai.

A local team that I root for, Ueda Chikuma, also made it but wound up paired against Matsumoto Dai-ichi and lost 10-4. :(

Nagano Nichidai was the first of the three teams to fall, losing to Tokyo-to Shidai Shiojiri 6-2. They would get involved in a shootout against Ina Yayoigaoka for a spot in the finals rallying with 6 runs late for a 10-8 win.

Their opponent would either be Matsumoto Dai-ichi or Saku Chousei. While Matsumoto Dai-ichi scored 3 runs to take a lead, Saku Chousei's bookended pairs of runs proved to be enough for a 4-3 win and more importantly a spot in the Hokushinetsu super-regionals.

Tokyo-to Shidai Shiojiri tried its best to stay with the Nagano powerhouse, but to no avail. They fell behind 2-0 in the first and was eventually shutout 4-0 giving Saku Chousei their 11th title and 1st in 4 years.

Super-Regionals
So onto the draw. With 5 prefectures, one representative would get the short end of the stick and have to play an extra game. That would go to Saku Chousei.

Yuugakukan (Ishikawa 1) vs. Chuuetsu (Niigata 4)-Saku Chousei (Nagano 1) winner
Yuugakukan will have their hands full with Saku Chousei. As much as I like Nagano, Yuugakukan may advance.

Toyama Kokusaidai Fuzoku (Toyama 1) vs. Hokuetsu (Niigata 2)-Tsuruga Kehi (Fukui 2) winner
Toyama Kokusaidai Fuzoku is probably not the favorite here. Rather it may be Tsuruga Kehi.

Nihon Bunri (Niigata 1) vs. Tokyo-to Shidai Shiojiri (Nagano 2)-Takaoka Shougyou (Toyama 2) winner
Nihon Bunri shouldn't have too much trouble, though I'd like see how the transplanted Tokyo school does.

Fukui Koudai Fukui (Fukui 1) vs. Nagaoka Oote (Niigata 4)-Kanazawa (Ishikawa 2) winner
Fukui Koudai Fukui, while a powerhouse in its own prefecture, will not be the favorite. Instead it will be Kamata and Kanazawa that will be expected to advance.

All prefectures have completed play and the draw has been determined for the super-regionals. But before that, let's go see what happened:

Kyoto
In the semis, Tounan actually got off to a quick start against Fukuchiyama Seibi, getting 2 runs in the top of the 1st. However, in the next 3 innings, Seibi went 1-3-1 to take a 5-2 lead and won 6-3. Their opponent in the finals would end up being Ritsumeikan Uji as Kyoto Gaidai Nishi collapsed in the 2nd inning, giving up 6 runs en route to a 9-2 loss.

In the final, Ritsumeikan and Seibi would be wrapped in a closely contested match. No team ever led by 1 run, and while Ritsumeikan Uji led 1-0 and 2-1, Fukuchiyama Seibi scored a pair to take a 3-2 lead late. It all collapsed in the 9th though as the bullpen couldn't hold it down. Uji scores 2 to win their 3rd title and first in 29 years.

Nara
The 4th team joining the Big 3 would be Kansai Chuo who defeated Ikoma (I remember passing by that station quite often) 3-2.

Kooriyama found themselves with their hands full against the "outsider" and could only manage 1 run. That was 1 run more than Kansai Chuo could manage though, and Kooriyama was in the final.

Now Chiben Gakuen and Tenri also had a close game... kinda...

After trading a pair of runs in the 1st, Tenri would score 7 unanswered to take a commanding 9-2 lead.

And then the pitching staff proceed to blow all of it. Facing a called game in the 7th, Chiben Gakuen scores 4 in the 7th and 8th innings to take a 1-run lead!

Tenri, suddenly finding themselves behind, manages something they haven't been able to do at Koushien.

Rally.

They score a run in the 8th, and a sayonara run in the 9th to send Chiben Gakuen home.

Even with that high-stress game just to show that Kooriyama, while a Top 3 team, is still miles behind the Top 2, Tenri scores 8 runs in the first 5 innings of the final and run away with it 8-3 for their 23rd title, and 2nd consecutive.

Osaka
Sadly for Han-ai, they were not able to keep up with Osaka Touin, although perhaps most thought that they didn't have a chance anyways. Osaka Touin wins 8-1 for just their 6th title and first in 3 years.

In the more important 3rd place game, Osaka Shoudai Sakai edges out fellow university school Osaka Gakuindai 3-2 to win the last spot.

Wakayama
Kouyou indeed did Chiben Wakayama fits in their game, hopefully indicating that there may be a chance that they're in some ways here to stay in the prefecture.

For now though, Chiben Wakayama scores 3 in the top of the 9th to break a 2-2 tie to advance to the finals. Minoshima would be their opponents as Minabe had no chance losing 11-2 (no mercy rules here).

Minoshima has also been another team that has cracked the ceiling recently, and they did so once again scoring 4 runs between the 2nd and 3rd innings to take a 4-2 lead. Chiben got a run back in the 4th, but perhaps the pitching-minded tack now has hurt Chiben Wakayama as they couldn't find that equalizer. Minoshima wins 4-3 and earns their 10th title and 1st in 19 years!

Prefecturals
So the draw for the prefecturals go as follows:

Akashi Shougyou (Hyogo) vs. Han-ai (Osaka 2)
Oumi (Shiga) vs. Tenri (Nara)

and...

Osaka Shoudai Sakai (Osaka 3) vs. Minoshima (Wakayama)
Osaka Touin (Osaka 1) vs. Ritsumeikan Uji (Hyogo)

I think all of the game should be competitive with perhaps the exception of the Minoshima game. I like Minoshima and I hope they have a resurgence (not to take anything away from Kouyou which I like too).

Tenri and Osaka Touin should have the inside track to the title, but it's not out of the realm of possibility that someone else takes it as well.

Even with just 4 prefectures in its region, the quality of baseball here is good enough that it winds up being competitive.

Shizuoka
Shizuoka has 3 regionals and throws in the fall tournament champion (Seisei) for a total of 25 teams.

In the Seibu regionals, Tokoha Kikugawa qualified by making it to the final although they lost to Hamamatsu Nishi 11-10. I remember Iwata Higashi being a decent team, and they qualified though they lost 7-3 to the same Hamamatsu Nishi squad.

To the Chuubu region, Tokoha Tachibana couldn't get past their 2nd game losing to Shizuoka Shougyou. Shizuoka wound up winning the region, defeating Toukaidai Bouyou (who also qualified).

And no one really of note advanced out of the Toubu regionals.

Seisei couldn't continue their run of the fall, losing 3-2 in the quarterfinals to Hiryuu. They faced Tokoha Kikugawa who had just edged Shizuoka 7-6 in their quarterfinals. Hiryuu made things interesting for Tokoha, taking a 2-0 lead early, then rallying after falling behind 3-2, then taking the lead 5-4 late! But Kikugawa would close the book with the equalizer in the 8th and the sayonara run in the 9th. Still, I'd be interested to see how Hiryuu does come summertime.

On the other side, Hamamatsu Nishi continued its strong run in the prefecturals, but for some reason or another, lost all momentum against Shizuoka Shougyou falling 5-1.

That setup a Tokoha Kikugawa-Shizuoka Shougyou final. After a closely contested first half, Kikugawa broke it open to a 6-1 lead. Surprisingly, Seishou did not just roll over. They struck back with 3 runs in the 8th to make it just a 2-run ballgame, and then pulled within one in the 9th! But Tokoha Kikugawa would hold to win their 3rd spring title, and 1st in 7 years.

Aichi
Aichi's tournament structure seems all weird. Each region has round-robin play from which teams are grouped into different sections. In some of those sections those playing in the top flight, such as the Nishi-Mikawa region, all teams automatically qualify for the prefecturals although they still have a regional tournament. In other regions, such as the Higashi-Mikawa region, it's a regular bracket with 2 repechages to qualify teams.

It seems rather convoluted...

Anyways, the main 3 schools in the prefecture, Chuukyoudai Chuukyou, Aikoudai Meiden, and Touhou all qualified, but wound up on the same side of the bracket.

And so began the cannibalization of the good teams. Chuukyoudai Chuukyou and Aikoudai Meiden would meet up first. Chuukyou had struggled a bit earlier against other teams, and did so again against Aikoudai Meiden, but prevailed 6-4. Aikoudai Meiden seems to have fallen upon hard times despite still doing well in the tournament.

They then faced Touhou in the semifinals. After taking a quick 3-0 lead, Touhou scored 4 in the 2nd knocking them back a bit. But only for a bit. 2 runs in the 3rd gave Chuukyou the lead, and for good winning 8-4.

To be honest, it didn't seem to matter who it would be in from the other side, Chuukyou would win their 24th title and 1st in 3 years.

It also probably didn't help that while Aichi Keisei had blown through the brackets, they wound up getting in an extra-innings affair against Aichi going the full 15 innings before Keisei plated the sayonara run against ace Nakashima.

Chuukyoudai Chuukyou though did not elect to start their ace figuring that since Keisei also had to start with their bullpen there was no need to use their ace. However, it allowed them to hang around early to the point of actually pulling ahead twice by a run before being reeled in.

The tide swiftly turned Chuukyou's way with 6 runs in the 5th and 6th innings building an 8-3 lead. Out of nowhere, Keisei scores 5 to tie it up and by this time both aces are now in the game with just a precious inning to go.

With both teams at full strength, Chuukyou looked to neutralize the momentum gained and successfully did so. And in the bottom of the 9th Chuukyou would not give Keisei a chance to reply, scoring the sayonara run in regulation to indeed give them that title.

Gifu
Gifu predominantly has been controlled by a select few schools, mainly Kenritsu Gifu Shougyou, Shiritsu Gifu Shougyou, Toki Shougyou and more recently Oogaki Nichidai. All 4 schools qualified out of regional play.

Kengishou (you can't really call them or Shigishou "Gifushou" for obvious reasons) naturally received a top tier seed, Oogaki Nichidai received a 2nd tier seed but was in the same quadrant as Kengishou, and Shigishou and Tokishou both were unseeded and on the opposite side of the bracket.

The first of the quartet to fall were both unseeded teams, with Shigishou losing a barnburner 9-8 against top-tiered Oogaki Shougyou.

Oogaki Shougyou, for being a top-tiered seed (there's not a 1-8 seed, but 4-top seeds and 4-2nd seeds), wound up playing many close games en route to the finals with their largest margin of victory a 2-0 semifinal win over Gizan.

Their opponent would more than likely be the winner of the Kengishou-Oogaki Nichidai match - as long as they kept on winning of course. They did and the matchup was set.

What was surprising was that it was a blowout and that it was Kengishou was the team blown out. 8-1 to be exact. With that result it would seem that Oogaki Nichidai would be the front-runner to win it all. But in their semis against Gifu Dai-ichi, they received a stiff challenge. Now ace Kassai wound up shutting them out, but Nichidai managed just 2 runs.

Their kantoku must have said something though because in their championship game against Oogaki Shougyou, they routed them 11-3 to win their 1st spring title (really??).

Mie
Mie has regional play with most implementing double-elimination to determine who advances. Some regions, like Muro, had only 3 teams so they wound up doing a round-robin. Others implemented a triple-elimination. This almost ensures (I say almost because freak occurrences do happen) that the established teams make it out of pool play.

That list includes teams such as Mie, Komono, Ujiyamada Shougyou, and Inabe Sougou Gakuen.

Interestingly that team that advanced out of the Muro region, Kimoto, wound up getting a seed. All the other aforementioned teams except for Mie was also awarded a seed.

Komono blew through their side of the bracket, winning their 3 games (which included Kimoto) by a total of 32-10 to reach the finals.

Mie tried to prove that leaving them unseeded was a wrong decision by defeating Yamashou 3-1. They then gave Inabe Sougou Gakuen a run for their money, however they wound up falling 7-6.

ISG then just rolled over Kogakkan 17-3 to reach the finals.

I would want to have been in that final game as I wonder how Komono was able to use 6, yes I did just say that, 6 pitchers! Using 4 in the semis was a bit odd, but to use 6 in a close game no less was rather shocking.

Yamanaka, Urashima, Nishida, Okuda, Mitani (?) and Asagawa held the 3-0 lead winning 3-2 to give Komono their 3rd title and 1st in 3 years!

The super-regional draw is out and we have the following matchups:

• Oogaki Nichidai (Gifu 1) vs. Shizuoka Shougyou (Shizuoka 2) - Oogaki Nichidai has seemed to supplant the Gifu Shougyou schools, and had more success at Koushien in recent years.
  
• Komono (Mie 1) vs. Aichi Meisei (Aichi 2) - Komono was a Koushien participant several years back, but I'd like to see what Aichi Meisei can do too...
  

and...

• Chuukyoudai Chuukyou (Aichi 1) vs. Oogaki Shougyou (Gifu 2) - If Chuukyou has been able to rebuild quickly, watch out.
  
• Tokoha Kikugawa (Shizuoka) vs. Inabe Sougou Gakuen (Mie 2) - Man! I loved the Tokoha schools, and I also always thought ISG had a decent team too (plus I like their uniforms).
  

The draws are out, and it really was just a matter of which team would face which Okayama team:

Sakuyou (Okayama 1) vs. Hiroshima Sougou Gijyutsu (Hiroshima) - Boy I really hope Hiroshima wins this one...
Kurashiki Shougyou (Okayama 4) vs. Iwamichisuikan (Shimane) - It's about time the former Gonokawa school got here. Rooting for them too.

and...

Soushi Gakuen (Okayama 2) vs. Ube Koujyou (Yamaguchi) - Go new team!
Okayama Gakugeikan (Okayama 3) vs. Tottori Nishi (Tottori) - I guess this is the only time I'm rooting for an Okayaman team.

As we head eastward, there are still prefectures with games going on, but by this time most have concluded.

Shiga
Shiga had no seeded teams, yet most of the well-known teams were split up across the board.

The last senbatsu team from Shiga, Hikone Higashi, and Hachiman Shougyou were in one quadrant, Kita-Ootsu and Oumi found themselves in their own quadrants, and Shiga Gakuen (2009 surprise natsu representative) and Hieizan (who came on in the late 90's) were in the final quadrant.

Perhaps expectedly, the first two notable teams to fall were the last two mentioned. Both Shiga Gakuen and Hieizan lost in the 3rd round by the score of 3-1 to Zeze and Ayaha respectively. All other teams continued to advance without incident in their respective brackets until they started to face each other.

That began when Hachiman Shougyou and Hikone Higashi faced off in the quarterfinals. That battle wound up being won by Hasshou 2-1 which set them up for a match against Kita-Ootsu in the semis. That unfortunately did not go as well for Hasshou as they wound up being mercy-ruled 7-0 in 7 innings.

Oumi wound up facing Ayaha in the semifinals, and while Ayaha took a 1-0 lead after 1, they ground their way to a 4-1 win.

And in the final, it was all Oumi (I love their powder blue unis by the way). They jumped out to a 7-1 lead before winning 7-4 giving them their 8th title and first in 2 years.

Kyoto
Kyoto plays their spring taikais in 2 stages, with pool play determining who advances to the main bracket. Kyoto Seishou got a free pass to the 2nd stage with their senbatsu appearance.

As is the case, the usual suspects advanced out of pool play - Kyoto Gaidai Nishi, Ritsumeikan Uji, Ryuukokudai Heian, Ritsumeikan and Fukuchiyama Seibi advanced along with some other known schools such as Otokuni and Tounan. An irrational favorite of mine - Kyoto Subaru had the unfortunate draw with Ritsumeikan and lost 2-1 in the pool final.

Tounan got their own quadrant and promptly handled Doushisha and Ootani to advance to the Best 4. Otokuni was the odd team out in a quadrant with Fukuchiyama Seibi and Ryuukokudai Heian. Those two then squared up against each other. Interestingly, Fukuchiyama Seibi took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, then had both sides put up a 3-spot before Heian came back with 2 runs to tie the game. However, after 2 runs in the bottom of the 4th by Seibi would be the final difference in a 7-5 victory. So Tounan will have their hands full (it would have been either way really) with Fukuchiyama Seibi who is probably itching to get back into things after being suspended by the JHBF.

Ritsumeikan wound up being railroaded by Nishi-Jyouyou 8-0 who in turn got into a shootout against Kyoto Gaidai Nishi. That wound up being won by KGN 10-8. Kyoto Seishou wound up facing Ritsumeikan Uji and while they held their own, it wasn't enough as they lost 6-5.

Nara
Nara is in their Best 8, but in reality it's all about 3 schools - Tenri, Chiben Gakuen and Kooriyama. I'll let you know when something surprising happens or when these teams face each other.

Wakayama
In Wakayama, it's pretty much the same. Chiben Wakayama dominates the scene, although there are secondary players now such as Kouyou, Minoshima and Minabe, all of whom have joined Chiben Wakayama in the Best 4. Kouyou gets the first crack while the winner of Minoshima-Minabe will get the second one assuming Kouyou can't get the job done.

Osaka
Osaka maintains its 4 regional sets with the 4 winners being put into semifinal play.

Region A didn't have any major players which left the field wide open. Han-ai and Daishoudai both advanced to the final with ease with Han-ai advancing with a 11-4 win.

Region B had PL Gakuen, who stumbled but survived against Kinkidai Senshuu 5-4 then faced Daishoudai's cousin Daishoudai Sakai in the final. Sakai had 1-run games against Hatsushiba Ritsumeikan and Uenomiya Taishi. And perhaps that first game that PL had was a warning of hidden problems because they resurfaced again against Daishoudai Sakai, and they actually wound up getting mercy-ruled 7-0 in 7 innings!

Region C was dominated by Osaka Touin. Their closest games were in the semis and finals where they won 6-3 against Taishi Gakuindai and Higashi-Osakadai Kashiwara.

Region D was wide open as well, leaving Osaka Gakuindai to reach the final although they did have a close game against Kansai Souka. Joining them was Yao Suishou who only had one close game against Osaka Taiikudai Nami Shougyou aka Daitaidai Namishou. The final itself was not close as Osaka Gakuindai won 10-3.

Osaka Touin should be the favorite and that was shown in their 9-1 win against Osaka Gakuindai. Han-ai defeated Daishoudai Sakai in the semifinals 7-4 and will get a crack at the vaunted squad. Han-ai has shown some promise before, and I think it's nice they have a chance to win a title.

Hyogo
Hyogo breaks up its prefecturals into 17 regionals with each winner advancing to prefectural play with Houtoku Gakuen and Kakogawa Kita, senbatsu representatives this year, joining them.

Kansei Gakuin, the darlings in 2009, advanced from the Nishi-Hanshin region. Other notable teams joining them was Shinkou Gakuen, Ikuei (who upset Kobe Kokusaidai Fuzoku 8-6!), and Touyoudai Himeji.

(By the way, Haruhi's Nishinomiya Kita lost in the first round of the Nishi-Hanshin Region to Takara Higashi 10-3. When will the draw of Haruhi make a team that will get to Koushien??! Just kidding.)

Once we reached prefectural play though, all hell broke loose...

Houtoku Gakuen was shocked by Yashiro 3-1 in their first game...

Kansei Gakuin lost in their first game as well to Ichikawa 6-3... (see a pattern?)

and Shinkou Gakuen lost to Takigawa Dai-ni 6-1 in their first game.

The only major team left was Toyoudai Himeji and while not an upset, they defeated Kakogawa Kita 4-1.

With Toyoudai Himeji left, who admittedly hasn't been the same recently, the field became wide open. Yashiro shut out an already offensively-starved Mukonosou Sougou 4-0 to reach the finals while Akashi Shougyou used a 2-run 5th to defeat Touyoudai Himeji to reach the final.

In this improbable final, Akashi Shougyou used a 3-run 4th inning to get ahead of Yashiro. They would never look back as they would take their first ever spring title with a 5-3 win!

So it looks like I'm doing reviews in reverse order of how I normally do it, probably because the Kyushu region is always the first to start.

Anyways, off to the Chuugoku region!

Chuugoku is much like Kyushu in that the location of the Haru Taikai rotates between the prefectures and the host prefecture gets 4 teams while all other prefectures get 1. This year, Okayama will be hosting at Kurashiki Muscat Stadium.

Tottori
It amazes me how few schools are in some rural prefectures. Tottori for instance has only 32 high schools, of which 25 are participating.

4 seeded teams plus 3 other unseeded teams received 1st round byes. The 4 seeds went to Tottori Ikuei, Yonago Higashi, Tottori Shougyou, and Yazu.

With only 25 teams, the tournament advanced quickly. Notable teams advancing out of the first round were Tottori Jyouhoku and Sakae.

When the 2nd round came about, all 4 seeds struggled to advance with all 4 only advancing by no more than 2 runs in low scoring affairs. Sakae was one of those casualties losing 3-1 to Yazu.

In fact, Yazu would be the only seeded team advancing out of the quarterfinals defeating Yonago Nishi 8-4. Tottori Ikuei couldn't stop the offensive train of Tottori Jyouhoku and lost 7-1. Yonago Higashi fell in a tight one 6-5 to Kurayoshi Higashi while Tottori Shougyou lost to Tottori Nishi 4-2.

Moving to the semifinals, Tottori Jyouhoku seemed to have the inside track to the finals, but it was actually Kurayoshi Higashi that displayed the offense in the middle innings building a 6-1 lead. Tottori Jyouhoku would stage a late-inning rally, but would fall short 7-5.

The other semi had Yazu and Tottori Nishi in a pitcher's duel. Tottori Nishi actually held a 1-0 lead late before Yazu leveled the score in the 8th. The game would head to enchousen, but only for 1 inning where Tottori Nishi bid sayonara to the last seeded team left in the field.

So it was Tottori Nishi and Kurayoshi Higashi battling for the prefectural title.

The game was close early, with Tottori Nishi holding a slim 1-0 lead. After Kurayoshi Higashi tied the game in the 5th, Tottori Nishi blew the game open with 5 in the 6th, eventually winning 6-2 giving them their 12th spring title and first in 4 years.

Okayama
Okayama is the only prefecture along with Hiroshima that I can recall using pool play to determine participants in the prefecturals. All other prefectures that do small pools do single-elimination. This year though since they are hosting, all the teams need to do is reach the semifinals and they're in the Chuugoku Taikai.

Seeding for the prefecturals seemed logical enough, newcomer Soushi Gakuen joined Kounan (no not that Kounan - this is why having the kanji helps although with Kounan in particular I think there are two that share the same kanji writing), Kurashiki Kougyou, Okayama Gakugeikan, Kyouei, Sakuyou, Kanzei and Mizushima Kougyou.

All seeded teams received a first round bye, and all advanced to the best 8 save for one team...

And if you know my history with teams, you should know who it was...

Yep, it was Kanzei. But to be fair, they faced an unseeded (!) Kurashiki Shougyou, the same team that has represented Okayama the last 3 Natsu Koushien tournaments.

Now while all the other teams advanced, it was not without some difficulty. Soushi Gakuen, who is a bit offensively challenged, squeaked a 1-0 win over Kasaoka Shougyou. Kounan did the same against a perennial above-average Okayama Ridai Fuzoku. Kyouei was in a barnburner against Tamano, and Mizushima Kougyou edged Okayama Higashi Shougyou.

Soushi Gakuen continued their low-scoring games shutting out Kounan 2-0 for a spot in the semis. Their opponent would be Okayama Gakugeikan who beat a good Kurashiki Kougyou squad 6-3.

On the other side, Kyouei must've spent their energy in their first game, because Sakuyou wound up beating them soundly 7-2. And Kurashiki Shougyou continued to take the snubbing personally by shutting out Mizushima Kougyou 4-0.

In the semis, Soushi Gakuen and Okayama Gakugeikan were deadlocked at 0 until the 7th when the teams got tired of being scoreless and tied, and so decided to exit in the inning tied at 1 instead. Soushi's continued attrition paid off in the top of the 9th as they pushed ahead the winning run to advance to the finals.

Surely their opponent would be Kurashiki Shougyou, as Sakuyou was just another team in the way...

Except that they fought back.

A 4-run 2nd by Kurashiki Shougyou helped put Sakuyou down 5-1 early. Yet they fought back with 3 in the 5th and 1 in the 7th to level the score. And when Kurashiki broke the tie in their half of the lucky 7th, they leveled it again the next half inning.

Then in the 9th, Sakuyou exploded for 5 runs, taking a 11-6 lead! Kurashiki Shougyou would furiously attempt a comeback in the bottom of the 9th, but to no avail. They got only 3 back to fall 11-9.

So it was a Soushi Gakuen-Sakuyou final. While Soushi Gakuen's low-scoring style has proven to be very effective, it also has the drawback of inadvertently keeping opponents in games.

Such was the case in the finals when again the teams were scoreless heading into the middle innings. Sakuyou would be the first to break the deadlock with a run in the bottom of the 5th...

... and that would eventually be the only run scored in the game!

Soushi Gakuen could never get that critical run across against ace Kataoka and the Sakuyou defense, thus giving them their 1st ever spring title!

Shimane
Shimane has 38 teams participating in the spring taikais, and they do an abbreviated regional play with groups of 2 or 3 teams to get down to the draw of 16 teams.

There are no seeded teams in the main draw, so it's possible that the better teams in the prefecture wind up in the same draw.

The most notable team (both good and bad in recent years) Kaisei, had no trouble in their first game of the prefecturals against Goutsu Kougyou, winning 10-0. They then had a bit of trouble against Izumo Nishi, but manage to slide through with a 1-0 win.

They then faced off against the Cinderella team of 2 years ago - Risshoudai Shounan, who had wins over Oota and Masuda Higashi. Risshoudai couldn't recreate that magic as Kaisei scored 3 runs in the middle innings for a 3-1 win.

And on the other side of the bracket, Iwamichisuikan (fka Gonokawa) handled Taishi 7-0 in the quarterfinals and looked to easily reach the finals as they were facing unknown Yakami.

In fact, Yakami struck first in the top of the 1st with 2 runs, then after Iwamichisuikan scored 3 in the 2nd, they came back to tie it in the 3rd. However, Iwamichisuikan would take the lead again in the bottom of the 3rd and interestingly that would be the end of the scoring! Iwamichisuikan would escape with a 4-3 win and face Kaisei.

The finals proved to be a hotly contested affair with flurries of punches being thrown on both sides. Iwamichisuikan took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, then after going down 2-1 the next half inning, scored 3 to re-take the lead at 4-2. After trading a run in the 4th, Kaisei scored 3 in the 7th to take a 1-run lead going into the late innings.

Iwamichisuikan would then find the equalizer in the 9th inning to send it into extras, and pushed ahead the winning run in the 10th, giving them their 1st title.

Hiroshima
Hiroshima is another prefecture who does pool play to determine their final draw.

The only exception is Hiroshima Sougou Gijyutsu who gets a free pass thanks to their senbatsu appearance.

As expected, the usual suspects advanced out of pool play - Kouryou, Jyousuikan Onomichi, and the lesser known Hiroshima Shougyou.

When the draw came out, the big 3 of Hiroshima Sougou, Kouryou and Jyousuikan all were on the same side, leaving Onomichi and Hiroshima Shougyou an open side of the bracket.

Onomichi's run the last couple of years may have come to an end as evidenced by their 2nd round loss 0-1 to Sanyou. By the way, if you're wondering why I write about Onomichi so much it's because I visited there in 2006 thanks to the anime series Kamichu! and would up liking the place. It's much like my liking of Tenri among other schools.

Sanyou actually came from nowhere on that side on the bracket. But when you slide through against Hiroshima Shinjyou and Hiroshima Kokusai Gakuin, you'd think their run would have to end sometime.

But after outlasting Hiroshima Shougyou 8-3 with 7 runs in the 2nd half, Sanyou found themselves in the finals!

So who would they face?

Well, Hiroshima Sougou Gijyutsu handled their business throughout their games although there was 2-run victories versus Kamo and Onomichi Shougyou.

That left Kouryou and Jyousuikan to battle it out, which they did in the quarterfinals. Kouryou prevailed this time around with a 2-0 shutout to set up a date with Sougyou Gijyutsu in the semi-finals.

And Hiroshima Sougyou Gijyutsu must have something going, because they were in a close affair with Kouryou, and instead of fading in the late innings, they turned it up and defeated Kouryou 5-3!

So it was Hiroshima Sougyou Gijyutsu and Sanyou in the finals.

Sanyou yielded runs in the 1st and 5th to fall behind 2-0 before striking back in the 6th to pull within 1. But an insurance run in the 9th inning proved to be too much despite getting that run back in the bottom of the 9th giving Hiroshima Sougou Gijyutsu their first spring title!

Yamaguchi
Yamaguchi's 59 teams are divided up into 4 regions of 2 pools each to determine the final 8.

Nanyou Kougyou had no trouble advancing out of their particular pool (防徳 - can someone translate that for me?) along with Sakuragaoka who defeated Iwakuni soundly and edged Iwakuni Kougyou.

Karyou too had no trouble in the Ganryuu region with Yanai Gakuen advancing as well.

In the 山宇萩 region, Ube Koujyou and Saikyou advanced. And finally in the Shimonoseki region, Shimonoseki Kougyou was upset in the pool final against Shimonoseki Shougyou 6-5! The other team to advance was Onoda who had 2 close games before shutting out Shimonoseki Chuo Kougyou to advance.

Interestingly, the draw put the upper-tiered teams on separate sides. And yet, all 4 games were for the most part tightly contested. Nanyou Kougyou and Sakuragaoka edged Saikyou and Onoda respectively. Meanwhile Shimonoseki Shougyou couldn't keep up their early success and fell to Yanai Gakuen 4-1.

And perhaps the surprising result of all, Karyou wound up being shutout by Ube Koujyou!

Ube Koujyou followed that up with getting in a shootout against Sakuragaoka. Flurries of scoring both at the beginning and at the end meant the lead changed hands frequently before settling down into a tie after regulation. However, enchousen lasted just one inning as Ube Koujyou continued their run with a 7-6 win. They'd face Nanyo Kougyou as they schooled Yanai Gakuen in a 2-0 shutout.

Come the final though, it was a bit of a shock as it was Ube Koujyou who jumped out to a lead! And then proceeded to extend it out! A single run in the 7th was the only scoring for Nanyo Kougyou as Ube Koujyou earned their 1st ever spring title!

We have our champion in the Shikoku super-region, and it went pretty much as expected.

Kawanoe wasn't able to do much against Meitoku Gijyuku as ace Oonishi gave up just 6 hits while striking out 9 in a complete game shutout.

Over at the other semi, scrappy Mishima dug in against Kagawa Nishi. After a scoreless first 5 innings, Mishima tried in the 6th and 7th to get ahead of Kagawa with a singleton in each frame. But each time, Kagawa fought right back to level the score. And so it was until the 9th frame tied at 2-2 when last batter Yano delivered the sayonara hit to set up a rematch of the fall final against Meitoku.

In that original matchup, Kagawa Nishi was steamrolled by Meitoku Gijyuku 15-1.

And when it comes to the 2nd time around, especially with established teams, it's never as easy. Meitoku Gijyuku also decided to send their relief pitcher Fukunaga instead of their ace Omatsu.

While he was effective for the first 4 innings, he struggled in the 5th allowing 2 runners to reach. That prompted Mabuchi-kantoku to send up their ace Omatsu to try and shut things down.

However, cleanup batter Kobayashi would have none of it, delivering a timely 2-RBI hit in a 3-run inning.

Kagawa Nishi ace Utsunomiya would not let the opportunity slip by them and while he surrendered a run in the 6th inning, that would be all that he would give up. This was Kagawa Nishi's first ever spring title!

Shikoku's tournament is short (just 7 games in total), and the first round (which is the quarterfinals) are done.

Meitoku Gijyuku (Kochi 2) - which really isn't fair if you ask me - mercy-ruled Jyounan (Tokushima 1) 8-1 in 7 innings.

They'll face off against Kawanoe (Ehime 1), who rallied to beat Sangawa (Kagawa 2). After jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st, Sangawa struck back with 5 runs in the next half inning and it seemed like all momentum was lost. But after a run in the 4th, they would retake the lead with a pair in the 5th. An insurance run in the 7th proved to be the difference as Sangawa would get a run in the 9th, but fall short 7-6.

Kagawa Nishi (Kagawa 1) used a 3-run 1st inning to advance against a late-inning charge from Jyoutou (Tokushima 2) 4-2.

And in the surprise of the tournament (which again isn't saying too much, but in this case is really surprising), Kochi (Kochi 1) was out-dueled by Mishima (Ehime 2)! They were not phased after falling behind 2-0 in the top of the 1st, immediately got one of the runs back, took the lead with a pair in the 5th, and for good measure added a run in the 8th!

Realistically, this should be a Meitoku Gijyuku-Kagawa Nishi final, but there's still the semifinals to be had.

Well, the Kyushu Taikais have completed, and while the winner won't be a big surprise, there were some surprises.

The opening game saw Kanoya Chuo (Kagoshima 4) easily handle Jiyuugaoka (Fukuoka 3). Then in their 2nd round game jumped out quickly to a 7-0 lead against surprise team Hasami (Nagasaki Senbatsu) and cruised to a 10-4 win!

That would be as far as they would get though as Iidzuka (Fukuoka 2) outlasted them 5-1 to reach the Best 4.

Joining them would be Kamimura Gakuen (Kagoshima 1). After having no problems with Chiharadai (Kumamoto), they wound up in a rematch against Kanoya (Kagoshima 3). This is notable because Kanoya actually upset Kyushu Kokusaidai Fuzoku (Fukuoka Senbatsu) 5-4! Sadly for Kanoya, they fared little better the 2nd time around, losing 5-1 instead of 7-1.

In the semis, it was a one-sided affair. After Kamimura Gakuen scored 4 in the top of the 1st, Iidzuka would score 11 unanswered runs to call the game in 7 innings.

So Iiduzka would be one of the finals participants. What about the other side?

Kagoshima Jitsugyou (Kagoshima Senbatsu) would have a bit of trouble against Itoman (Okinawa), but advance 8-5 which set them up with a quarterfinal against one of the few good teams not from Fukuoka or Kagoshima, Nobeoka Gakuen (Miyazaki). After pulling ahead 3-0 in the top of the 5th, Nobeoka would claw back to within 1 in the bottom of the inning, but that would be as close as they would get.

Meanwhile, Fukuoka Koudai Jyoutou (Fukuoka 1) had no troubles in their 1st round game and squared off against Kyushu Gakuin (Kumamoto Senbatsu). Kyushu Gakuin had struggled against Sasebo Kougyou (Nagasaki 1) falling behind in the mid-game 3-2 before tying the game in the 7th and pulling ahead in the top of the 9th to win 6-3.

Kyushu Gakuin's struggles would continue against Jyoutou falling 5-1.

And then Jyoutou would get steamrolled by Kajitsu 13-0 in 5 innings...

So it would be Iidzuka and Kajitsu for the title - and if I mentioned that the winner wasn't a surprise, you can guess who won.

Kajitsu pulled out to a 2-0 lead late, and to remove any doubt, they scored 3 runs in the last 2 innings to win 5-0. This is Kajitsu's 14th spring title, and 2nd consecutive.

The draws aren't out for the Shikoku Taikai yet, but the prefecturals are done.

In Shikoku, any teams that qualified for Senbatsu automatically advance to a challenge match against the winner of the prefecturals. That challenge match determines seeding. So that also means that if you were in a prefecture with a Senbatsu participant, you had to win the tournament to make it to the Shikoku Taikai.

Kagawa
If there ever was more of a predictable field of seeded teams, I'd like to see it. Outside of Kagawa Nishi who automatically advances to the challenge game, there was Sangawa, Takamatsu Shougyou, Kanonji Chuo, Jinsei Gakuen, Marugame Jyousai, Takamatsu Kita, and Eimei.

Sangawa and Takamatsu Shougyou made it to the quarterfinals where they faced off with Sangawa winning 4-1. Takamatsu Kougei upset Jinsei Gakuen and took their place to face Kanonji Chuo, gave them a good fight, but lost 10-8. Shido upset Takamatsu Kita to face Marugame Jyousai, but too would lose 3-1. And Eimei, supposedly with the easier bracket with no other seeded team, wound up being upset in the first round to Sakaide who reached the semifinals.

Kanonji Chuo gave Sangawa a good battle, but a 2-run HR by Yamagoe would be the difference in the game giving Sangawa a 4-2 win. Meanwhile, Sakaide actually got in front of Marugame Jyousai 1-0 in the top of the 2nd, but that was short-lived. Marugame would crush Sakaide right there with 6 runs to win 6-1.

Now the finals mattered as only the winner would advance to the Shikoku Taikai. Marugame would get ahead quickly with a run in the top of the 1st, this time only to see Sangawa score 2 in the bottom of the 1st. Marugame would strike back in the 3rd to take the lead 3-2. It would stay that way for a long time until Sangawa found the equalizer in the bottom of the 8th. The game would continue into extras where Sangawa would get to ace Kawai in the 12th to score the sayonara run.

That game however would take its toll on Sangawa though, and while starter Yoshida had been rested in the "championship" game, Kagawa Nishi would score 6 in the first to apparently remove all suspense from the game. But Sangawa would score 2 in the 3rd to try and start the offense. However, they could just muster a run in the 8th and 9th innings to lose 6-4.

Because of the challenge match, the awards are a bit fuzzy. Sangawa is the prefectural champion which is their 3rd consecutive. I'm not sure what Kagawa Nishi's top seed represents.

Tokushima
With Jyounan advancing to the challenge game, the seeds (in order) not surprisingly went to Tokushima Shougyou, Komatsushima, Tokushima Kita and Kawashima.

Kawashima was the first seeded team to fall, losing in the 2nd round 10-9 to Tomioka Nishi. That paved the way for unseeded Naruto to clear to the Best 4 with an 11-1 win over Tomioka Nishi.

Komatsushima and Tokushima Kita would be the next to go, Komatsushima getting shutout by Seikou Gakuen 4-0 while Jyoutou slipped by Tokushima Kita 5-4.

So only Tokushima Shougyou was able to advance to the semifinals. And against Naruto they scored 5 in the top of the 3rd and seemed poised to advance. Quickly Naruto struck back with a run in the 3rd and 3 in the 4th to cut the deficit to just 1. Tokushou added an insurance run in the 6th, but the 7th was indeed lucky for Naruto as they scored 4 to take an 8-6 lead and that would be the final margin.

In the other semifinal, Jyoutou, who is more known for being a strong academic school than a strong baseball school went toe-to-toe with Seikou Gakuen finally separating themselves with a 3-run 8th inning to win 6-2.

That made then for a Naruto-Jyoutou final where certainly the advantage was with Naruto. And indeed ace Kouura gave up runs early and often, putting his team in a 0-5 hole after 5 innings.

But then suddenly Jyoutou's offense came alive. A run in the 6th, and 3 more in the lucky 7th would pull them within 1. However Naruto would get a run in their half of the 7th and Jyoutou was down 2 with just 2 innings left.

Somehow Jyoutou mounted one last rally in the 9th, and scored 3 to take a 7-6 lead! Kouura would make that slim lead stick in the bottom of the 9th giving Jyoutou a spot in the Shikoku Taikai!

The last matter of business to take care of would be to find the seeding for the Shikoku Taikai. So Jyounan (城南) and Jyoutou (城東) would square off. By the way, their uniforms look very similar and would be very confusing to follow (at least in my opinion).

On a somewhat related thought, there's a Jyousei (城西) and Jyouhoku (城北) and I wonder if all the uniforms look alike.

Anyways, onto to the challenge game. Jyoutou, drawing the visiting team struck first with a run right from the outset. Jyounan would then come and take the lead right back with a 2-run bottom 1st.

Jyoutou would keep the deficit at 1 after trading runs in the 4th/5th inning and then find the equalizer one inning later. But it was right at that time that Jyounan would turn on the after burners scoring a total of 6 runs in the next 2 innings and taking a commanding 9-3 lead. Jyoutou would manage to get 2 in the 9th, but that would be far from enough.

Tokushima's awards follow Kagawa's lead, so Jyoutou is actually the official prefectural winner - which is their first ever.

Ehime
Fun fact for the day - Did you know that the best winning percentage for a prefecture in the Natsu Koushien belongs to Ehime (114-59-1 for a 0.659 percentage!).

Ehime has a 2-tiered system for the spring taikai with small blocks in regions determining the field of 16. Regional powerhouse Imabari Nishi didn't even make it out of the 1st level of play, losing 11-9 to Mishima in the block final.

Even without Imabari Nishi, there were still some good schools that advanced including Saijyou, Teikyou Dai-go and Saibi.

Saijyou though struggled out of the gate against Matsuyama Kita 1-0, and would eventually fall hard against Mishima losing 14-3. Teikyou Dai-go and Saibi would meet in the quarterfinals with Teikyou prevailing 8-6.

On the other side, it was fairly open. Yawatahama had little trouble with their first two games, while Kawanoe had the same experience defeating last year's Natsu participant Uwajima Highashi 5-1.

Teikyou Dai-go looked to finally have broken the curse of good, but not good enough as they worked their way to a 2-0 lead early. However Mishima would strike hard in the 3rd, scoring 3 to take the lead. Undaunted, Teikyou managed to score the equalizer in the 7th, and the game would go into extras where sadly they would fall yet again 4-3.

In the other semifinal, Kawanoe jumped out in front with a 1-0 lead in the first. Yawatahama would then tie then take the lead in the 5th 3-1. Kawanoe countered with 3 in the bottom of the frame retaking the lead at 4-3. An insurance run in the 8th made it a 2-run ballgame and perhaps made it out of reach.

Of course, no one told Yawatahama that as they proceeded to tie the game. This game would also go into extras, and once again the home team would bid their opponents sayonara in the 10th inning as Kawanoe pushed in the winning run.

Kawanoe started off building a 2-0 lead over Mishima. Mishima would struggle to score runs until the latter stages, but tied the game in the 7th with a pair of runs, then took the lead 3-2 the next inning. But ace Okusada for Mishima couldn't hold that lead. In fact Kawanoe scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 8th to take a commanding 7-3 lead and would win by that margin.

Surprisingly, despite the numerous times Kawanoe has been to Koushien, this is their 1st ever spring prefectural title.

Kochi
With Meitoku Gijyuku in the challenge game, it left the other two schools, Kochi and Kochi Shougyou would fight for the right to be in the challenge game.

No, really. You'd have to go back to 1994 to find a team not any of the aforementioned schools that went to Natsu Koushien. And in that same time period, only Muroto in 2007 was a different school other than those 3 to go to Senbatsu.

Funny thing was that Kochi and Kochi Shougyou would have to meet in the semis. And with Kochi winning 5-3, we pretty much had the challenge match set.

Tosa, who had performed well last year, couldn't keep up with Kochi, getting mercy ruled 10-0 in 8 innings.

On the other side, the aforementioned Muroto made it to the semis to face unknown Ootemae. The game ended up being rather exciting as the teams would stay tied throughout most of the game with the teams trading a run in the 3rd. In the end, Ootemae actually prevailed in the top of the 9th to win 2-1.

The championship game started off a shocker as Ootemae scored 2 in the 1st, and then a run in the 5th and 6th to take a 4-0 lead on Kochi! But then either they got nervous or Kochi woke up because 1 run in the 6th and 3 in the 7th quickly tied the game up! Ootemae managed to stop the bleeding and kept the score level, but having lost the lead it would only be a matter of time before Kochi would prevail. And sure enough in the 10th they did to make things all right in the world (joking) winning 5-4 for their 3rd consecutive title and 22nd overall.

As for the challenge match, it would be a predicable low scoring affair. Kochi would break the deadlock in the 7th with 2 runs. Meitoku Gijyuku would mount a last minute rally in the 9th, but fall just short losing 2-1.