With the exception of Tokyo, all Super-Regionals will be completed this weekend:
Kanto ex Tokyo
Well, there goes Narashino again... Starter Fukada gives up 2 runs early and the offense can't get going as they lose to Hakuoudai Ashikaga 3-1. Kendai Takasaki seemed to have Yamanashi Gakuindai Fuzoku carrying a 3-1 lead into the final 2 innings, but a 3-spot in the 8th was their downfall.
On the other side, Yokohama starter Itou gives up 5 runs in the first inning, and while they wind up outhitting Sano Nichidai 11-9, they cannot make up the early deficit and lose 5-3. And finally, Kasumigaura gave a great fight against Kiryuu Dai-ichi and had stifled their offense. But with the score tied 1-1 in the bottom of the 9th, Kiryuu got runners on 1st and 2nd and #7 batter Onoda delivered the sayonara hit to center.
In the semifinals, Hakuoudai's Higa scattered 7 hits over 9 innings, giving up just 1 run in the 9th inning for a 3-1 win over Yamanashi Gakuindai Fuzoku. In the second game, Sano Nichidai had the tables turned on them. Kiryuu Dai-ichi scored 4 in the first inning, knocking starter Inaba out of the game and would go on to win 5-0.
So it'll be Hakuoudai Ashikaga and Kiryuu Dai-ichi will battle for the title while Yamanashi Gakuindai Fuzoku and Sano Nichidai will need to wait for the phone call.
Kyushu
The semifinals did not go as I expected. After the strong performance by Chinzei so far, they went out and got 1-hit by Okinawa Shougaku, losing 4-1. Admittedly, it is not a good showing.
Misato Kougyou's ace Inami struggled to keep Kamimura Gakuen's batters from reaching base as he surrendered 10 hits, but he constantly wiggled his way out of trouble as Misato would never trail, winning 5-1 to advance to the finals!
And so, just over 3 weeks to the day, Misato Kougyou and Okinawa Shougaku will do battle once again at Okinawa Cellular Stadium Naha! In the prefectural final, the teams were scoreless until the 9th when Misato scored 3 to win the title.
Showing posts with label Kanto. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kanto. Show all posts
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Aki Taikai Recap-to-date - Kanto ex Tokyo Super-Regional
The draw for the Kanto (ex Tokyo) Super-Regional is out, but we need to clean up some loose ends in the prefecturals first.
Ibaraki
Jyousou Gakuin, who represented Ibaraki in the summer, continued their success here in the fall, but it was slow going in the prefecturals. First, they let a 4-0 lead against Kagaku Gijyutsu Hitachi slip away, winning it 5-4 in the bottom of the 9th. Then, against Shimodate Dai-ichi they actually trailed 4-2 before scoring 2 in the bottom of the 9th again and one more in the 10th to advance again 5-4. And in the semis, they could only muster 1 run against Mito Kougyou, but it was enough to reach the finals.
Opposing them would be Kasumigaura - a C level team who has been on the verge of breaking that barrier. They had a bit of an easier time, but still edged out Katsuta Kougyou in the 2nd round 5-4 and Tsuchiura Kohoku 3-1 in the semifinals.
And so we had a rematch of the summer final for the fall final. And in almost a repeat of the final, Kasumigaura could not hold a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the 9th and allowed Jyousou to level the score. But unlike the final, Kasumigaura held on as each inning passed, eventually playing to an exhaustive 15-inning draw with the score still level at 3.
And so the teams came back one day later, and much like enchousen neither team could score. Jyousou Gakuin broke the deadlock in the 6th with a run, but this time it was Kasumigaura who rallied with 2 in the lucky 7 and this time held on for the 2-1 win!
With Ibaraki hosting, the 3rd place game matters as they get an extra bid. Mito Kougyou would tally the only run in the top of the 9th to advance past Tsuchiura Kohoku into the Super-Regionals.
Tochigi
Sakushin Gakuin, perhaps the favorite wound up having their bid ground to a halt as they couldn't rally late down 3-0, falling 3-2 to Hakuoudai Ashikaga 3-2! It wouldn't be the only upset as their opponent wouldn't be Bunseigeidai Fuzoku, but instead Kokugakuin Tochigi! They led wire-to-wire 7-3 to reach the semifinals! On the other side, Sano Nichidai kept on rolling, shutting out fellow seed Utsunomiya Minami 5-0, setting up a matchup with Seiran Taito who scored 8 runs in the final 3 innings to upset Mooka 8-3.
It would be heartbreak from the non-powerhouses - especially Kokugakuin Tochigi. Leading Hakuoudai Ashikaga 3-0 with just 3 outs to go, they gave up the lead - and then the game 1 inning later...
As for Seiran Taito, after responding to Sano's 2 runs in the 4th with 3 of their own in the top of the 5th, Sano Nichidai would score in the next 4 innings putting Seiran's dreams on ice.
Sano Nichidai would limit their runs given up in the fall taikai to just those 3 runs in the semifinals as they blanked Hakuoudai Ashikaga 5-0 to claim the 2nd straight title and 5th overall. Surprisingly, this is just Hakuoudai's 2nd trip to the Super-Regionals.
Gunma
Once again, it's a case of the lower-level schools unable to close out games against the powerhouse schools.
Takasaki Shoudai Fuzoku could not get the final 3 outs, giving up 3 runs to fall 3-2 to Kiryuu Dai-ichi in the first semifinal. In the second semi, Kitoku couldn't make a 4-2 lead stick in the 9th as Kendai Takasaki tied the game and sent it to enchousen. But due to Kendai's style, Kitoku was allowed several chances to try and get back the lead. Eventually though, Kendai would push in the sayonara run in the 13th inning to advance to the finals.
In the final, Kendai Takasaki would hold off Kiryuu Dai-ichi in the top of the 9th, winning 3-2 to claim the prefectural title.
Saitama
AUGH!! Kasukabe Kyouei falls short yet again!! After a struggling 3-2 win over Matsuyama, they fell in the semifinals to Shiritsu Kawagoe 1-0...
Hanasaki Tokuharu had no problems with Saitama Sakae and then Honjyou Dai-ichi (who earlier upset Urawa Gakuin) to reach the finals. And then in the final, they pitched their 2nd straight shutout, blanking Shiritsu Kawagoe 4-0 to claim their 2nd straight title and 4th overall.
Chiba
Well, after Narashino's apparent slow start they got 2 pass-through games over Kashiwa Minami and Kemigawa to reach the semifinals. Their opponent probably should have been Senshuudai Matsudo, but after outlasting Narita 4-3 they had nothing left for Shiritsu Funabashi getting shutout 2-0. Shiritsu Funabashi would give Narashino a good fight in the semifinal but too would fall 3-1 guaranteeing Narashino a spot in the Super-Regional.
On the other half, Kashiwa Nittai did move on to the quarterfinals with a mercy-rule win over Shiritsu Kashiwa, but then couldn't keep up with Chiba Reimei losing 4-3.
Chiba Keizaidai Fuzoku after the tough start, had two easy games much like Narashino to reach the semifinals. Chiba Reimei gave them all they could handle but much like Shiritsu Funabashi they too lost 3-1.
In the final, Narashino jumped out to a 5-0 lead early over Chiba Keizaidai Fuzoku only to see it evaporate in the 5th as 10 batters would come up to the plate. The game would head to enchousen where Narashino would score a run in the 11th to claim their 2nd straight title and 8th overall.
Kanagawa
Well, there goes Toukou Gakuen. What I thought would be an easy matchup against Nichidai turned out to be anything but. Nichidai puts up 5 runs in the 3rd and holds off Toukou Gakuen 7-5.
In the other semifinal, Yokohama blanked Toukaidai Sagami 4-0 to reach the finals to secure their spot in the Super-Regionals.
Nichidai would not be able to pull off another upset as a late game rally couldn't erase a 4-0 deficit as Yokohama claimed the title with a 4-2 win.
Yamanashi
Well, it would be the usual suspects in the semifinals. Yamanashi Gakuindai Fuzoku would face Hikawa in the first semi while Toukaidai Koufu and Nihon Koukuu would meet in the other semi.
Remember when I said that I was expecting Hikawa and Nihon Koukuu to clash? Well, I wasn't expecting it to be in the consolation game... Hikawa actually got mercy-ruled by Yamanashi Gakuin 9-2 in 8 innings, and then Nihon Koukouu was never in it losing to Toukaidai Koufu 7-1 eliminating both teams from the super-regionals. That game doesn't matter, but Nihon Koukuu won it 5-4 in the bottom of the 9th 5-4.
As for the finals, it belonged to Yamanashi Gakuindai Fuzoku as Toukaidai Koufu was never in it, losing 8-2. For Yamanashi Gakuindai it is their 5th title and first in 6 years.
Super-Regionals
The super-regionals will commence on the 26th and the opening game is a doozy. Narashino and Jyousou Gakuin will clash in one heck of a battle. The brackets are as follows:
Left Side
Ibaraki
Jyousou Gakuin, who represented Ibaraki in the summer, continued their success here in the fall, but it was slow going in the prefecturals. First, they let a 4-0 lead against Kagaku Gijyutsu Hitachi slip away, winning it 5-4 in the bottom of the 9th. Then, against Shimodate Dai-ichi they actually trailed 4-2 before scoring 2 in the bottom of the 9th again and one more in the 10th to advance again 5-4. And in the semis, they could only muster 1 run against Mito Kougyou, but it was enough to reach the finals.
Opposing them would be Kasumigaura - a C level team who has been on the verge of breaking that barrier. They had a bit of an easier time, but still edged out Katsuta Kougyou in the 2nd round 5-4 and Tsuchiura Kohoku 3-1 in the semifinals.
And so we had a rematch of the summer final for the fall final. And in almost a repeat of the final, Kasumigaura could not hold a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the 9th and allowed Jyousou to level the score. But unlike the final, Kasumigaura held on as each inning passed, eventually playing to an exhaustive 15-inning draw with the score still level at 3.
And so the teams came back one day later, and much like enchousen neither team could score. Jyousou Gakuin broke the deadlock in the 6th with a run, but this time it was Kasumigaura who rallied with 2 in the lucky 7 and this time held on for the 2-1 win!
With Ibaraki hosting, the 3rd place game matters as they get an extra bid. Mito Kougyou would tally the only run in the top of the 9th to advance past Tsuchiura Kohoku into the Super-Regionals.
Tochigi
Sakushin Gakuin, perhaps the favorite wound up having their bid ground to a halt as they couldn't rally late down 3-0, falling 3-2 to Hakuoudai Ashikaga 3-2! It wouldn't be the only upset as their opponent wouldn't be Bunseigeidai Fuzoku, but instead Kokugakuin Tochigi! They led wire-to-wire 7-3 to reach the semifinals! On the other side, Sano Nichidai kept on rolling, shutting out fellow seed Utsunomiya Minami 5-0, setting up a matchup with Seiran Taito who scored 8 runs in the final 3 innings to upset Mooka 8-3.
It would be heartbreak from the non-powerhouses - especially Kokugakuin Tochigi. Leading Hakuoudai Ashikaga 3-0 with just 3 outs to go, they gave up the lead - and then the game 1 inning later...
As for Seiran Taito, after responding to Sano's 2 runs in the 4th with 3 of their own in the top of the 5th, Sano Nichidai would score in the next 4 innings putting Seiran's dreams on ice.
Sano Nichidai would limit their runs given up in the fall taikai to just those 3 runs in the semifinals as they blanked Hakuoudai Ashikaga 5-0 to claim the 2nd straight title and 5th overall. Surprisingly, this is just Hakuoudai's 2nd trip to the Super-Regionals.
Gunma
Once again, it's a case of the lower-level schools unable to close out games against the powerhouse schools.
Takasaki Shoudai Fuzoku could not get the final 3 outs, giving up 3 runs to fall 3-2 to Kiryuu Dai-ichi in the first semifinal. In the second semi, Kitoku couldn't make a 4-2 lead stick in the 9th as Kendai Takasaki tied the game and sent it to enchousen. But due to Kendai's style, Kitoku was allowed several chances to try and get back the lead. Eventually though, Kendai would push in the sayonara run in the 13th inning to advance to the finals.
In the final, Kendai Takasaki would hold off Kiryuu Dai-ichi in the top of the 9th, winning 3-2 to claim the prefectural title.
Saitama
AUGH!! Kasukabe Kyouei falls short yet again!! After a struggling 3-2 win over Matsuyama, they fell in the semifinals to Shiritsu Kawagoe 1-0...
Hanasaki Tokuharu had no problems with Saitama Sakae and then Honjyou Dai-ichi (who earlier upset Urawa Gakuin) to reach the finals. And then in the final, they pitched their 2nd straight shutout, blanking Shiritsu Kawagoe 4-0 to claim their 2nd straight title and 4th overall.
Chiba
Well, after Narashino's apparent slow start they got 2 pass-through games over Kashiwa Minami and Kemigawa to reach the semifinals. Their opponent probably should have been Senshuudai Matsudo, but after outlasting Narita 4-3 they had nothing left for Shiritsu Funabashi getting shutout 2-0. Shiritsu Funabashi would give Narashino a good fight in the semifinal but too would fall 3-1 guaranteeing Narashino a spot in the Super-Regional.
On the other half, Kashiwa Nittai did move on to the quarterfinals with a mercy-rule win over Shiritsu Kashiwa, but then couldn't keep up with Chiba Reimei losing 4-3.
Chiba Keizaidai Fuzoku after the tough start, had two easy games much like Narashino to reach the semifinals. Chiba Reimei gave them all they could handle but much like Shiritsu Funabashi they too lost 3-1.
In the final, Narashino jumped out to a 5-0 lead early over Chiba Keizaidai Fuzoku only to see it evaporate in the 5th as 10 batters would come up to the plate. The game would head to enchousen where Narashino would score a run in the 11th to claim their 2nd straight title and 8th overall.
Kanagawa
Well, there goes Toukou Gakuen. What I thought would be an easy matchup against Nichidai turned out to be anything but. Nichidai puts up 5 runs in the 3rd and holds off Toukou Gakuen 7-5.
In the other semifinal, Yokohama blanked Toukaidai Sagami 4-0 to reach the finals to secure their spot in the Super-Regionals.
Nichidai would not be able to pull off another upset as a late game rally couldn't erase a 4-0 deficit as Yokohama claimed the title with a 4-2 win.
Yamanashi
Well, it would be the usual suspects in the semifinals. Yamanashi Gakuindai Fuzoku would face Hikawa in the first semi while Toukaidai Koufu and Nihon Koukuu would meet in the other semi.
Remember when I said that I was expecting Hikawa and Nihon Koukuu to clash? Well, I wasn't expecting it to be in the consolation game... Hikawa actually got mercy-ruled by Yamanashi Gakuin 9-2 in 8 innings, and then Nihon Koukouu was never in it losing to Toukaidai Koufu 7-1 eliminating both teams from the super-regionals. That game doesn't matter, but Nihon Koukuu won it 5-4 in the bottom of the 9th 5-4.
As for the finals, it belonged to Yamanashi Gakuindai Fuzoku as Toukaidai Koufu was never in it, losing 8-2. For Yamanashi Gakuindai it is their 5th title and first in 6 years.
Super-Regionals
The super-regionals will commence on the 26th and the opening game is a doozy. Narashino and Jyousou Gakuin will clash in one heck of a battle. The brackets are as follows:
Left Side
- Narashino (Chiba 1) vs. Jyousou Gakuin (Ibaraki 2)
- Hanasaki Tokuharu (Saitama 1) vs. Hakuoudai Ashikaga (Tochigi 2)
- Kendai Takasaki (Gunma 1) vs. Mito Kougyou (Ibaraki 3)
- Yamanashi Gakuindai Fuzoku (Yamanashi 1) vs. Nichidai (Kanagawa 2)
- Sano Nichidai (Tochigi 1) vs. Toukaidai Koufu (Yamanashi 2)
- Yokohama (Kanagawa 1) vs. Shiritsu Kawagoe (Saitama 2)
- Kiryuu Dai-ichi (Gunma 2) vs. Chiba Keizaidai Fuzoku (Chiba 2)
- Kasumigaura (Ibaraki 1) - Bye
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Aki Taikai Recap-to-date - Kanto ex Tokyo
Things get a bit more wacky as we start heading south and west...
Ibaraki
Regional play has been completed, and 29 teams moved on to prefectural play. Jyousou Gakuin got a free pass and is probably expected to go deep into the tournament. Kasumigaura, who was just 6 outs away from winning their first title, is also present - but the question will be has their time passed them by? If they do get their revenge matchup it will be in the finals, but in the haru format does not guarantee them a spot in Koushien.
However, the other seeded teams are Meishuu Hitachi, Suijyou and Fujishiro - the latter 2 being familiar names.
Tochigi
Tochigi has no such regionals, all 61 teams are just thrown into a bracket and they beat each other up. So far, Sakushin Gakuin looks to be the front-runner with mercy-rule wins in their first two games and advancing into the quarterfinals.
Joining them are 5 other "seeded teams" including Sano Nichidai, Hakuoudai Ashikaga and Bunsei Geidai Fuzoku. Only the former has had mercy-rule wins throughout.
Gunma
Sadly, when it comes to the one-time winners, it kind of follows that they are unable to follow it up.
Such was the case with Maebashi Ikuei, who couldn't get past their first game losing to Oota Kougyou 4-3...
As a result, the mainstays have been able to reassert themselves within the prefecture at least - sort of.
Kendai Takasaki has made the semifinals, in Kendai fashion, with not one, not two, but three 1-run ballgames. They will face Kitoku, who is definitely a solid C team, for an automatic bid into the Super-Regional.
On the other side, Kiryuu Dai-ichi is back once again and will face unknown Takasaki Shoudai Fuzoku.
Saitama
The struggles for Urawa Gakuin continue... Ojima cannot get them past their 2nd game of the prefecturals, falling to Honjyou Dai-ichi 3-2. They will face Yashio Minami for a spot in the semifiinals.
Elsewhere, familiar names Saitama Sakae and Hanasaki Tokuharu after eking out 4-3 sayonara wins will face each other... there's an all-Kawagoe matchup as Kawagoe Higashi and Shiritsu Kawagoe meetup...
...and can Kasukabe Kyouei finally get to Koushien please? Two shutout wins pit them now against Matsuyama for a spot in the semis.
Chiba
Kisaradzu Sougou had the unfortunate draw to face Toukaidai Bouyou right off the bat in the prefecturals... and lost 2-1. Oddly enough they then lost to unknown Abiko in the very next game 3-1!
There were even more early strong matchups as Chiba Keizaidai Fuzoku defeated Toukaidai Urayasu 3-1. Senshuudai Matsudo has been given no favors having to face Chiba Keiai and now Narita.
Narashino is still alive, but two close games so far do not instill confidence in the team's strength early despite having an easy road so far.
And don't forget about Kashiwa Nittai, they're always in the mix and may not have a challenge until a possible matchup with Chiba Reimei in the quarterfinals.
Kanagawa
Toukou Gakuen look to make it back to the Super-Regionals having defeated Nichidai Fujisawa and Yokohama Sougakukan. They should have no trouble against a Nichidai squad despite them giving up their first runs of the taikai in the last round in a 5-4 win over Busou.
The bigger matchup is Toukaidai Sagami (who has just beat the heads in on all opponents - including Touin Gakuen) all without giving up a run, versus a Yokohama squad who once again does not look all that impressive though they did have to face Yokohama Hayato and Keio Gijyuku.
Yamanashi
We could be in line for a rematch of the natsu final as both Hikawa and Nihon Koukuu are on opposite sides of the bracket and are on a collision course. In their way immediately right now are Koufu Kougyou and Koufu Shougyou respectively. After that, it could be fellow powerhouses Yamanashi Gakuindai Fuzoku and Toukaidai Koufu. So while the rematch may happen, there's still some obstacles left to go.
Ibaraki
Regional play has been completed, and 29 teams moved on to prefectural play. Jyousou Gakuin got a free pass and is probably expected to go deep into the tournament. Kasumigaura, who was just 6 outs away from winning their first title, is also present - but the question will be has their time passed them by? If they do get their revenge matchup it will be in the finals, but in the haru format does not guarantee them a spot in Koushien.
However, the other seeded teams are Meishuu Hitachi, Suijyou and Fujishiro - the latter 2 being familiar names.
Tochigi
Tochigi has no such regionals, all 61 teams are just thrown into a bracket and they beat each other up. So far, Sakushin Gakuin looks to be the front-runner with mercy-rule wins in their first two games and advancing into the quarterfinals.
Joining them are 5 other "seeded teams" including Sano Nichidai, Hakuoudai Ashikaga and Bunsei Geidai Fuzoku. Only the former has had mercy-rule wins throughout.
Gunma
Sadly, when it comes to the one-time winners, it kind of follows that they are unable to follow it up.
Such was the case with Maebashi Ikuei, who couldn't get past their first game losing to Oota Kougyou 4-3...
As a result, the mainstays have been able to reassert themselves within the prefecture at least - sort of.
Kendai Takasaki has made the semifinals, in Kendai fashion, with not one, not two, but three 1-run ballgames. They will face Kitoku, who is definitely a solid C team, for an automatic bid into the Super-Regional.
On the other side, Kiryuu Dai-ichi is back once again and will face unknown Takasaki Shoudai Fuzoku.
Saitama
The struggles for Urawa Gakuin continue... Ojima cannot get them past their 2nd game of the prefecturals, falling to Honjyou Dai-ichi 3-2. They will face Yashio Minami for a spot in the semifiinals.
Elsewhere, familiar names Saitama Sakae and Hanasaki Tokuharu after eking out 4-3 sayonara wins will face each other... there's an all-Kawagoe matchup as Kawagoe Higashi and Shiritsu Kawagoe meetup...
...and can Kasukabe Kyouei finally get to Koushien please? Two shutout wins pit them now against Matsuyama for a spot in the semis.
Chiba
Kisaradzu Sougou had the unfortunate draw to face Toukaidai Bouyou right off the bat in the prefecturals... and lost 2-1. Oddly enough they then lost to unknown Abiko in the very next game 3-1!
There were even more early strong matchups as Chiba Keizaidai Fuzoku defeated Toukaidai Urayasu 3-1. Senshuudai Matsudo has been given no favors having to face Chiba Keiai and now Narita.
Narashino is still alive, but two close games so far do not instill confidence in the team's strength early despite having an easy road so far.
And don't forget about Kashiwa Nittai, they're always in the mix and may not have a challenge until a possible matchup with Chiba Reimei in the quarterfinals.
Kanagawa
Toukou Gakuen look to make it back to the Super-Regionals having defeated Nichidai Fujisawa and Yokohama Sougakukan. They should have no trouble against a Nichidai squad despite them giving up their first runs of the taikai in the last round in a 5-4 win over Busou.
The bigger matchup is Toukaidai Sagami (who has just beat the heads in on all opponents - including Touin Gakuen) all without giving up a run, versus a Yokohama squad who once again does not look all that impressive though they did have to face Yokohama Hayato and Keio Gijyuku.
Yamanashi
We could be in line for a rematch of the natsu final as both Hikawa and Nihon Koukuu are on opposite sides of the bracket and are on a collision course. In their way immediately right now are Koufu Kougyou and Koufu Shougyou respectively. After that, it could be fellow powerhouses Yamanashi Gakuindai Fuzoku and Toukaidai Koufu. So while the rematch may happen, there's still some obstacles left to go.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Haru Taikai Recap - Hokkaido to Tokai
So, here's what's going on in the Haru Taikai's.
Hokkaido Super-Regional
In Hokkaido, it's much of the same process, each region qualifies a team - Sapporo has 4 blocks, Hakodate 2. Hokushou and Engaru automatically advance having played at Haru Koushien.
They still won their regionals, but since they got automatic bids, the losers of the finals were guaranteed to advance - Otaru Ouyou out of the Otaru region, and Kitami Hokuto out of Kitami.
Many familiar names reached the 2nd stage. Both Komadai Tomakomai and Komadai Iwamizawa advanced, along with Hokkai and Sapporo Nichidai. Lesser known teams such as Towa no mori san-ai and Hakodate LaSalle both advanced as well.
Missing from the list of teams is Asahikawa Jitsugyou, who lost 4-1 to Asahikawa Ryuukoku as well as Shirakaba Gakuen who fell 8-7 to Obihiro Kita after they rallied for 5 in the 7th before hanging on by the slimmest of margins.
The super-regionals started the other day and we already have a few casualties. Hokkai fell 7-5 to Hakodate LaSalle while Engaru couldn't get past the first round falling to Sapporo Nichidai 4-3. In other games, Komadai Tomakomai had no problems with Wakkanai Ootani, while Otaru Ouyou's reprieve lasted just one game, losing to Kushiro Koryou. Kitami Hokuto and Komadai Iwamizawa has also advanced.
Tohoku Super-Regional
Prefectures have finished up their qualifiers, and there are not many surprises.
In Aomori, Aomori Yamada cleans up on Hachinohe Koudai Dai-ichi with Hachinohe Kougyou taking the 3rd spot.
No Hanamaki Higashi in Iwate, instead Moriokadai Fuzoku outlasts Senshuudai Kitami 7-3 to take the title while Ichinoseki Gakuin loses out yet again, this time a 5-1 loss to Morioka Dai-yon.
Newly formed Noshiro Shouyou (merger between Noshiro Shougyou and Noshiro Kita) takes Akita in sayonara fashion in the 10th over tough-luck Honjyou with Akita Chuo winning the 3rd place match.
We haven't really heard from Haguro recently out of Yamagata recently, but they defeat Kunori Gakuen 5-2 to take the spring title. Sakata Minami was relegated to 3rd after an 11-4 win over Yonezawa Chuo.
Miyagi is still missing Tohoku. Meiji Jingu champ Sendai Ikuei and Rifu have filled the gap in the meantime - though a 16-9 score doesn't exactly instill confidence in the prefecture in the summer. Sendai Dai-san blanked Sendai Shougyou 4-0 to take the last spot.
And in Fukushima, status quo is maintained. Seikou Gakuin wins once again, this time a 25-2 whitewashing over Fukushima Higashi. Odaka Kougyou finishes in 3rd.
Kanto Super-Regional
Kanto for the spring includes Tokyo, so they're grouped in with everyone else in the region. Play has been completed, and it perhaps sheds some light for the summer.
With Tochigi hosting, they receive 4 bids while all others get 1. No real surprise from those 4 teams - Sano Nichidai, Ootawara, Sakushin Gakuin and Hakuoudai Ashikaga.
Urawa Gakuin got a free pass but still won Saitama in an 8-0 win over Hanasaki Tokuharu. That meant that the 3rd place team advanced from Saitama and that team was Washinomiya in a 5-3 win over Saitama Sakae. Going over the results, my Kasukabe Kyouei squad had to face Urawa Gakuin and gave them the best fight in-prefecture, losing 2-1 in 12 inning. I was going to hope those two teams were going to be split up this year (Saitama will be split up this time around along with other major prefectures), but with Kasukabe Kyouei an ~20 min drive to Urawa Gakuin... my guess is no. Darn.
Elsewhere...
Uragaku had an immediate test in the Super-Regionals facing ever-present Sanko. However, they were able to shut them down in a surprising 2-0 score. In fact, Ojima was used just twice. Once in part against Sanko, and then again in the semifinals against Toukaidai Bouyou as Urawa Gakuin took the Kanto Super-Regionals over the aforementioned Maebashi Ikuei.
Hokushinetsu Super-Regional
Ishikawa is the host this year for the Hokushinetsu Super-Regional, so they qualify 4 teams while all others send 2.
And Godzilla's alma mater is trying their darnest to get to Koshien this year. Well, if the spring taikais are any indication. Seiryou had to survive two 8-7 ballgames against Kanazawa and Yuugakukan to take the spring title. On a slightly unrelated note, they also defeated my friend's JET assignment Komatsu Meihou. Joining the trio is Kanazawa Gakuin Higashi.
In Fukui, the secret is out. Tsuruga Kehi is good. So while I suppose you can hide some things, there probably isn't a whole lot to hide anymore. With that said, they won the rematch against Harue Kougyou 6-3 in the final.
I really wish Ueda Nishi would get to Koushien one day. I don't know why Ueda Nishi other than that Ueda was used for bits of the Onegai Twins! series. I guess for now a spring prefectural victory will have to do. They defeated both Matsushou Gakuen and Chikyuu Kankyou before defeating Tokyo Shidai Shiojiri 2-1.
Over in Toyama, Toyama Dai-ichi will look to challenge this summer after defeating both Tonami Kougyou and runner-up Toyama Shougyou. A 3-0 11 inning win though in the final means they'll probably have their hands full.
And finally in Niigata, there are two names I am not totally familiar with. Murakami Sakuragaoka almost fritters away a 6-0 lead, but holds on to defeat Shibata Chuo 6-5. I haven't really been able to find anything about either team, so I will be curious to see the summer taikai as both Nihon Bunri and Niigata Kenou Kougyou both reached the semifinals.
Tokai Super-Regional
Tokai has already completed play and I can't say I'm completely surprised by the teams that made it.
Since it's a non-Koshien taikai, each prefecture sends just 2 teams to the super-regional.
Shizuoka is always a focus for me because of Tokoha Kikugawa and Tohoha Tachibana. Sadly, both were in the same half, and wound up facing each other in the semifinals. Tachibana held the slim 2-1 lead before Kikugawa scores a run in the 8th, then walks off in the 9th to reach the super-regionals. Joining them will be Shizuoka, who never really competed with Kikugawa in the final.
Gifu brings back one of the possible contenders at Haru Koushien - if not for injuries. So how did Kenritsu Gifu Shougyou bounce back?
Well, they did win Gifu, but it looks like they didn't use Fujita. It showed as they went through several close games against many seemingly non-contenders... and still won the prefecture. Oogaki Nichidai joins them, but don't look to be serious contenders at this moment.
In Mie, Inabe Sougou Gakuen takes out a possible contender in Komono in the quarterfinals, then almost coughs up the victory against recent newcomer Tsu Shougyou before winning 6-5 in 11 innings. Not sure that Tsu Shougyou has in their arsenal that has made them contenders in Mie at least, but I don't think we've seen the last of them.
(I did try to look up players from Tsu Shougyou, and all I can find is the battery of Moriyama Takuma 森山 拓魔, and Shimizu Tomoki 清水 智貴 - who happen to be the 3-4 batters for the team)
Aichi happens to be the only surprise out of the 4. Both Chuukyoudai Chuukyou and Aikoudai Meiden both lost in the quarterfinals, opening the field up for the title - which would be taken in spectacular walkoff fashion by Haruhigaoka 3-2 over Eitoku.
Onto the super-regionals and it looks like Fujita isn't 100% yet. He started versus Shizuoka, but did not last long as they got to him early and often in an 8-3 loss. Oogaki Nichidai proved my premise right about Gifu as they lost to Inabe Sougou Gakuen, while Tsu Shougyou only yielded a 9th inning run against Haruhigaoka.
Much to perhaps all the other prefectures' dismay, it was an all-Shizuoka final as Tokoha Kikugawa and Shizuoka squared off yet again. After trading 3-spots in the 1st, another 3-run inning by Kikugawa in the 5th proved to be just enough as they take the spring Tokai tournament 6-5.
The biggest concern has to be for Kengifushou and Fujita. If he's not 100%, they're just another team. They need him to be fully ready for the run this summer... or it really was a pyhrric victory over Osaka Touin.
Hokkaido Super-Regional
In Hokkaido, it's much of the same process, each region qualifies a team - Sapporo has 4 blocks, Hakodate 2. Hokushou and Engaru automatically advance having played at Haru Koushien.
They still won their regionals, but since they got automatic bids, the losers of the finals were guaranteed to advance - Otaru Ouyou out of the Otaru region, and Kitami Hokuto out of Kitami.
Many familiar names reached the 2nd stage. Both Komadai Tomakomai and Komadai Iwamizawa advanced, along with Hokkai and Sapporo Nichidai. Lesser known teams such as Towa no mori san-ai and Hakodate LaSalle both advanced as well.
Missing from the list of teams is Asahikawa Jitsugyou, who lost 4-1 to Asahikawa Ryuukoku as well as Shirakaba Gakuen who fell 8-7 to Obihiro Kita after they rallied for 5 in the 7th before hanging on by the slimmest of margins.
The super-regionals started the other day and we already have a few casualties. Hokkai fell 7-5 to Hakodate LaSalle while Engaru couldn't get past the first round falling to Sapporo Nichidai 4-3. In other games, Komadai Tomakomai had no problems with Wakkanai Ootani, while Otaru Ouyou's reprieve lasted just one game, losing to Kushiro Koryou. Kitami Hokuto and Komadai Iwamizawa has also advanced.
Tohoku Super-Regional
Prefectures have finished up their qualifiers, and there are not many surprises.
In Aomori, Aomori Yamada cleans up on Hachinohe Koudai Dai-ichi with Hachinohe Kougyou taking the 3rd spot.
No Hanamaki Higashi in Iwate, instead Moriokadai Fuzoku outlasts Senshuudai Kitami 7-3 to take the title while Ichinoseki Gakuin loses out yet again, this time a 5-1 loss to Morioka Dai-yon.
Newly formed Noshiro Shouyou (merger between Noshiro Shougyou and Noshiro Kita) takes Akita in sayonara fashion in the 10th over tough-luck Honjyou with Akita Chuo winning the 3rd place match.
We haven't really heard from Haguro recently out of Yamagata recently, but they defeat Kunori Gakuen 5-2 to take the spring title. Sakata Minami was relegated to 3rd after an 11-4 win over Yonezawa Chuo.
Miyagi is still missing Tohoku. Meiji Jingu champ Sendai Ikuei and Rifu have filled the gap in the meantime - though a 16-9 score doesn't exactly instill confidence in the prefecture in the summer. Sendai Dai-san blanked Sendai Shougyou 4-0 to take the last spot.
And in Fukushima, status quo is maintained. Seikou Gakuin wins once again, this time a 25-2 whitewashing over Fukushima Higashi. Odaka Kougyou finishes in 3rd.
Kanto Super-Regional
Kanto for the spring includes Tokyo, so they're grouped in with everyone else in the region. Play has been completed, and it perhaps sheds some light for the summer.
With Tochigi hosting, they receive 4 bids while all others get 1. No real surprise from those 4 teams - Sano Nichidai, Ootawara, Sakushin Gakuin and Hakuoudai Ashikaga.
Urawa Gakuin got a free pass but still won Saitama in an 8-0 win over Hanasaki Tokuharu. That meant that the 3rd place team advanced from Saitama and that team was Washinomiya in a 5-3 win over Saitama Sakae. Going over the results, my Kasukabe Kyouei squad had to face Urawa Gakuin and gave them the best fight in-prefecture, losing 2-1 in 12 inning. I was going to hope those two teams were going to be split up this year (Saitama will be split up this time around along with other major prefectures), but with Kasukabe Kyouei an ~20 min drive to Urawa Gakuin... my guess is no. Darn.
Elsewhere...
- In Ibaraki Kasumigaura held on for dear life to defeat Jyousou Gakuin 3-2.
- Shifting to Gunma, Takasaki Kenkou Fukushidai re-emerges but cannot hold a lead late and falls just short against Maebashi Ikuei losing 5-4 in 12.
- To the southwest in Chiba, Toukaidai Bouyou finally wins the prefecturals, overcoming a 3-0 deficit to Senshuudai Matsudo winning 5-4.
- Tokyo qualified 2 familiar faces with Teikyou defeating Nichidai-san. Teikyou survived back-to-back enchousen games against the aforementioned Sanko and Nichidai Tsurugaoka. Their schedule was littered with Koushien-brand teams - before Nichidai Tsurugaoka was Kanto Dai-ichi, Yasuda Gakuen, and Kokushikan.
- Ace Matsui out of Toukou Gakuen struggles to get more support as they cannot win it all as they fall to Touin Gakuen in the Kanagawa final. This after defeating Yokohama, Yokohama Hayato and Nichidai Fujisawa.
- And finally in Yamanashi, Fuji-kawaguchiko - a team that has done fairly well in the prefecture, reached the final, but couldn't overcome Yamanashi Gakuindai Fuzoku.
Uragaku had an immediate test in the Super-Regionals facing ever-present Sanko. However, they were able to shut them down in a surprising 2-0 score. In fact, Ojima was used just twice. Once in part against Sanko, and then again in the semifinals against Toukaidai Bouyou as Urawa Gakuin took the Kanto Super-Regionals over the aforementioned Maebashi Ikuei.
Hokushinetsu Super-Regional
Ishikawa is the host this year for the Hokushinetsu Super-Regional, so they qualify 4 teams while all others send 2.
And Godzilla's alma mater is trying their darnest to get to Koshien this year. Well, if the spring taikais are any indication. Seiryou had to survive two 8-7 ballgames against Kanazawa and Yuugakukan to take the spring title. On a slightly unrelated note, they also defeated my friend's JET assignment Komatsu Meihou. Joining the trio is Kanazawa Gakuin Higashi.
In Fukui, the secret is out. Tsuruga Kehi is good. So while I suppose you can hide some things, there probably isn't a whole lot to hide anymore. With that said, they won the rematch against Harue Kougyou 6-3 in the final.
I really wish Ueda Nishi would get to Koushien one day. I don't know why Ueda Nishi other than that Ueda was used for bits of the Onegai Twins! series. I guess for now a spring prefectural victory will have to do. They defeated both Matsushou Gakuen and Chikyuu Kankyou before defeating Tokyo Shidai Shiojiri 2-1.
Over in Toyama, Toyama Dai-ichi will look to challenge this summer after defeating both Tonami Kougyou and runner-up Toyama Shougyou. A 3-0 11 inning win though in the final means they'll probably have their hands full.
And finally in Niigata, there are two names I am not totally familiar with. Murakami Sakuragaoka almost fritters away a 6-0 lead, but holds on to defeat Shibata Chuo 6-5. I haven't really been able to find anything about either team, so I will be curious to see the summer taikai as both Nihon Bunri and Niigata Kenou Kougyou both reached the semifinals.
Tokai Super-Regional
Tokai has already completed play and I can't say I'm completely surprised by the teams that made it.
Since it's a non-Koshien taikai, each prefecture sends just 2 teams to the super-regional.
Shizuoka is always a focus for me because of Tokoha Kikugawa and Tohoha Tachibana. Sadly, both were in the same half, and wound up facing each other in the semifinals. Tachibana held the slim 2-1 lead before Kikugawa scores a run in the 8th, then walks off in the 9th to reach the super-regionals. Joining them will be Shizuoka, who never really competed with Kikugawa in the final.
Gifu brings back one of the possible contenders at Haru Koushien - if not for injuries. So how did Kenritsu Gifu Shougyou bounce back?
Well, they did win Gifu, but it looks like they didn't use Fujita. It showed as they went through several close games against many seemingly non-contenders... and still won the prefecture. Oogaki Nichidai joins them, but don't look to be serious contenders at this moment.
In Mie, Inabe Sougou Gakuen takes out a possible contender in Komono in the quarterfinals, then almost coughs up the victory against recent newcomer Tsu Shougyou before winning 6-5 in 11 innings. Not sure that Tsu Shougyou has in their arsenal that has made them contenders in Mie at least, but I don't think we've seen the last of them.
(I did try to look up players from Tsu Shougyou, and all I can find is the battery of Moriyama Takuma 森山 拓魔, and Shimizu Tomoki 清水 智貴 - who happen to be the 3-4 batters for the team)
Aichi happens to be the only surprise out of the 4. Both Chuukyoudai Chuukyou and Aikoudai Meiden both lost in the quarterfinals, opening the field up for the title - which would be taken in spectacular walkoff fashion by Haruhigaoka 3-2 over Eitoku.
Onto the super-regionals and it looks like Fujita isn't 100% yet. He started versus Shizuoka, but did not last long as they got to him early and often in an 8-3 loss. Oogaki Nichidai proved my premise right about Gifu as they lost to Inabe Sougou Gakuen, while Tsu Shougyou only yielded a 9th inning run against Haruhigaoka.
Much to perhaps all the other prefectures' dismay, it was an all-Shizuoka final as Tokoha Kikugawa and Shizuoka squared off yet again. After trading 3-spots in the 1st, another 3-run inning by Kikugawa in the 5th proved to be just enough as they take the spring Tokai tournament 6-5.
The biggest concern has to be for Kengifushou and Fujita. If he's not 100%, they're just another team. They need him to be fully ready for the run this summer... or it really was a pyhrric victory over Osaka Touin.
Friday, November 9, 2012
Fall Taikai Update - Super-Regional Completion
All Super-Regionals are now complete, and there are a couple of surprises mixed in with some of the usual suspects:
Tokyo (1 bid + 1 floating with Kanto)
Nittai Ebara fired the opening salvo in the bottom of the 1st as Tomosato hit a 2-run HR to left. Back-to-back RBI hits by the battery of Kasahara and Minami no less made it a 4-1 game. And then ace Kasahara in his next AB would hit a home run of his own making it 5-1!
But after back-to-back walks by Kasahara, Motohashi-kantoku would replace him with Furukawa. Much to his dismay, Furukawa would hit cleanup batter Takami Shunsuke (深見 俊介) and then give an oshidashi walk to Koyama Shinjirou (小山 新次郎). He'd get out of the inning, but not after yielding another run to make it 5-3.
Things only got worse for Nittai Ebara as the pitching fell apart the very next inning as Yasuda would put a 5-spot on the board taking an 8-6 lead.
Nittai Ebara would mount a rally in the bottom of the 9th. PH Seki would walk, and Tanaka would hit a double to put the tying run in scoring position with just one down. Minami (now pitching) would hit a sac fly to make it a 1-run game.
That brought up Tomosato, who was 4-4 on the day. But Oogane Shintarou (大金真太郎) would finally retire him with a grounder to 2nd to end the game and give his team a chance at Senbatsu!
In the other semifinal Souka ace Uchino collapsed in the 5th inning, giving up 6 runs to Soujitsu. Those 6 runs would wind up being the final margin as they won 11-5.
So Soujitsu would be a likely candidate for the floating bid should they lose (as long as they had a good showing), while Yasuda Gakuen would in all likelihood need to win to get in.
In the 2nd inning of the final, Yasuda gets the benefit of good luck. Takami would reach 2nd on an error by Soujitsu's LF Suzuki. After a bunt and walk, Motomiya Keita (本宮 佳汰) would lay down a successful safety squeeze to give them the first run. They'd continue to press the initiative as Koyama Takuya (小山 拓哉) would try to steal 3rd. But the throw from Toshimitsu Kensaku (利光健作) would actually hit Takuya on the helmet and deflect into left, allowing him to score making it 2-0.
Toshimitsu would get a run back with a HR in the 5th, but that would be all the scoring they could muster as Oogane would shut Soujitsu down to earn Yasuda Gakuen's first ever title!
Kanto ex Tokyo (4 bids + 1 floating with Tokyo)
So when the draw came out, the 4 brackets were as follows (A & B, C & D)
The biggest upset was in block C where Kasumigaura (while not a slouch by any means) never trailed and defeated Toukaidai Sagami 5-3!
The quarterfinals went more scratch. Narashino, who barely got by Kiryuu Dai-ichi, suffered the same problems Yokohama Hayato faced, but were unable to rally at all, getting mercy ruled 12-0 in 6 innings! (awww....)
Sano Nichidai, down 5-0 to Jyousou Gakuin gets all of the runs back in the lucky 7 to send the game into enchousen. However, outside of that one inning outburst, they couldn't muster any other offense and lost 6-5 in 12. Kasumigaura tried to continue their cinderella run as it were, but after taking the 4-2 lead in the bottom of the 6th, relinquished it right back in the lucky 7 to Utusunomiya Shougyou, losing 5-4.
The games (final score-wise) were much closer, but were not competitive. Both Saitama schools advanced wire-to-wire, setting up a rematch of the prefectural final. In that final, a 4-run first gave Hanasaki Tokuharu all the cushion it needed.
This time around they did not get such a cushion, but did lead 2-0 going into the latter innings. But without the cushion, Urawa Gakuin's rally allowed them to tie the game in the 8th and send it into enchousen. One inning later, Urawa's SS Kigure Naito (木暮騎士) would hit a 2-out double to put runners at 2nd and 3rd. After an intentional walk, C Nishikawa Genki (西川元気) would deliver the sayonara hit to give Urawa Gakuin their 3rd straight Kanto Fall title!!
With 4 bids, it seems apparent that the Best 4 participants will get the bids. Kasumigaura, the strongest team of the quarterfinalists will probably not get in because (a) the team they would replace would probably be Utsunomiya Shougyou who defeated them and (b) even if they wanted to make Kasumigaura the 4th team that would put 2 teams from Saitama and from Ibaraki into Senbatsu, which is highly doubtful.
And with Soujitsu losing in the finals to Yasuda Gakuen, the committee will certainly pick them as the floating bid. Had they won, the floating bid may have come back to Kanto.
As it stands, for Kasumigaura to get to Koushien, Yasuda Gakuen or Urawa Gakuin have to win the Meiji Jingu Fall Tournament (If Yasuda Gakuen wins, Soujitsu earns the Meiji Jingu bid and the floating bid shifts back to Kanto. If Urawa Gakuin wins, Kasumigaura earns the Meiji Jingu bid outright). But as you will see later, that will be difficult.
Tokai (3 bids)
And in fact, there was a possibility that neither team would make it as Tokoha Kikugawa had tied the game at 1 in the 8th. Kenritsu Gifu Shougyou though would guarantee that at least one team would make it, making a Tokoha-style finish in the bottom of the 9th to win 2-1.
Komono had done well to make it to the finals, but were boat-raced by Kengifushou falling quickly behind 6-0 and losing 9-3.
This normally would put Komono in a bad situation. As the runner-up, they are first in line to receive the 2nd bid. However, the poor showing would have given the selection committee pause. But with 3 teams advancing, they should be safe.
Kinki (6 bids)
In other games, Yamato Kouryou played Ryuukokudai Heian close, but couldn't get a run on the board losing 2-0. Osaka Shoudai Sakai lasted only 5 innings against Houtoku Gakuen losing 13-0. And finally, Riseisha was fighting for their lives against surging Kyoto Shouei down 1-0 late before tying the game in the 8th. The game would go into enchousen when reliever Sakamoto would finally fail, giving Kyoto Shouei the 3-1 win in 12!
That setup an all-Kyoto final on one side, and a powerhouse matchup on the other.
Kyoto Shouei and Ryuukokudai Heian were up first. Kyoto Shouei didn't have to face Heian in the prefecturals as Heian was paired with Fukuchiyama Seibi. Early on, the teams traded runs with Kyoto Shouei emerging with a 3-2 lead. It stayed that way until the 7th where Heian would get to Enomoto (who came in in relief) for a pair of runs to lead 4-3. However, their reliever Minami fell apart in the next half-inning. He hit back-to-back batters sending in a run, and then ace Enomoto would redeem himself, blasting a manrui home run to blow the game wide open.
Kyoto Shouei seemed to be in full control up 9-4, but Enomoto seemed to be out of sorts coming in relief. He struggled with his control as Heian came back to within 1 with a 4-run 8th! He'd somehow get in together just in time, closing the game out in the 9th to win 9-8!
In the other semi, it was a shocker in that Osaka Touin was not competitive at all against Houtoku Gakuen. In fact they were blanked 8-0 in 7 innings!
So Houtoku Gakuen and ace Inui Youhei (乾 陽平) were the final obstacle in Kyoto Shouei and Enomoto Kazuki (榎本 和輝) bid for their first ever fall title.
There were opportunities for both teams throughout the game as Inui yielded base hits almost every inning, while Enomoto's control issues persisted as he issued free passes. Yet the score was at 1-1 after regulation. Eventually it would become a matter of who would make the first mistake.
And that finally was made by Inui as he yielded 2 runs in the 13th. They still had the bottom half of the inning, and Enomoto was approaching his limit too. He would give up one run, but again found a way to shut the door, win 3-2, and claim Kyoto Shouei's first title!!
Looking at the field for the selection of the half-dozen bids, it almost winds up being as listed above by default. Kyoto Shouei is definitely in, as well as Houtoku Gakuen. While Heian is in the same prefecture as Kyoto Shouei, they didn't play each other in the prefecturals and held their own in the semifinals - so they're in. Those are the definites.
Osaka Touin was uncharacteristically blown out by Houtoku Gakuen. And their wins prior against Kousen and Tenri do not inspire confidence.
But then you look down at the quarterfinalists. Tenri was blown out by Osaka Touin. Daishoudai Sakai too was annihilated. That leaves Riseisha who played Kyoto Shouei close as well and should get in, and Yamato Kouryou who had a nondescript win over Shiga Gakuen before being shutout 2-0 to Heian.
So Osaka Touin now appears safe, as does Riseisha. The question becomes the last bid.
And that boils down to Yamato Kouryou and Tenri.
Tenri in name had the harder opponent in Osaka Touin, but Heian can easily be considered a quality opponent for Yamato Kouryou.
If the committee wants to go by name, then Tenri will go. But I think if they go by play, it may fall to Yamato Kouryou.
Chuugoku (3 bids)
It turns out that not just one, but two prefectures would be eliminated!
So, all else being equal, who has the advantage?
Well, the home team. And that happens to be Yamaguchi-ken.
In fact, all 4 entrants advanced into the second round. Iwakuni Shougyou, Iwakuni and Ube Koujyou all won via the shutout. Hayatomo was able to advance, but only after striking back for a pair of runs right after they gave up the lead in the 7th.
With that alone, Shimane was wiped off the board. Who would be the other prefecture?
In B quadrant, Tottori Jyouhoku started off well against Soutoku, but fell apart in the 2nd half of the game, losing 8-4. Yonago Kita went just 7 innings before they waved the white flag, losing 9-1.
That left 2nd place Yonago Shouin as the last representative. But against Kurashiki Shougyou, that was a tough task. They kept it close, even in fact tying the game at 1-1 in the top of the 5th. Kurashou struck back with 2 in their part of the frame and held on to the 3-1 win.
A valiant effort, but both Japan Sea prefectures were eliminated.
And what appeared to be a blockbuster matchup in the first round wound up being anything but. Jyousuikan would give up after 7 innings, losing to Kanzei 10-0!
This created a bizarre quarterfinal setup:
In the Yamaguchi matchups, Iwakuni Shougyou proved that they were the cream of the crop, as they defeated the only Best 4 team they haven't played - Ube Kougyou, in a shutout 5-0. Iwakuni showed that their 3rd place finish was a product of just being in the wrong half of the bracket. The struggling Hayatomo was unceremoniously upended in a 10-0 defeat in 5 innings.
Soutoku probably wasn't happy to see Kouryou in their crosshairs. They managed to avoid them in the prefecturals, but now when it really matters... it was all Kouryou in a 7-1 win.
That leaves the rematch of Kanzei and Kurashiki Shougyou. Kanzei wouldn't leave anything to chance, scoring 6 runs in the 3rd en route to an 8-4 win.
Another byproduct of the 1st round was that Yamaguchi pretty much guaranteed themselves a team at Senbatsu, especially since due to the 85th tournament, Chuugoku gets an extra bid.
And that would prove key this year as Iwakuni was routed 11-1 by Kanzei, and while Iwakuni Shougyou held with Kouryou, they still lost 2-0.
So we're left with Kouryou and Kanzei in the finals, two teams used to the big game. The game was a low-scoring affair early, then blown open in the span of 2 half-innings where Kouryou scored 3 in the 6th to lead 4-2, only to give up 5 in the lucky 7 to trail 7-4. They'd win 8-5 to take the title.
And on the basis of the semifinal matchups, expect Iwakuni Shougyou to receive the 3rd bid.
Shikoku (3 bids)
In the other games, Imabari Kougyou had a chance to survive as they were deadlocked 1-1 for a long time. Marugame though would bid sayonara to the Ehime representative 2-1. Kochi Shougyou was having a heck of a time in their game, but at 3-3 in the 7th Matsuyama Seiryou scored 6 to pull away. Kochishou would score 3 in the 9th, but it wasn't enough. And Ikeda finally made progress, winning 3-1.
With so many 3 seeds advancing, it would be expected that most if not all of the 1 seeds would advance. And in fact, all did... except for the one team that faced the only #2 seed left.
Nartuo and Kochi had no problems. Ikeda almost got to the semifinals and rallied late, but lost to Saibi 4-3. Tokushou was in another close game. They and Eimei were tied at 2 when Eimei scored a run in the 7th to take the lead. But in the bottom of the 9th they get to ace Akagawa scoring 2 runs for the gyakuten sayonara victory.
Tokushou would try to extend their run against Kochi, and early on the semifinals they held a 2-run lead, even after swapping 3-run innings. But Kochi would put up 2 runs in the 6th, 7th and 8th innings to win 11-7. In the other semifinal, Saibi was in full control, getting 2 insurance runs in the final 2 innings to lead 4-1. Saibi ace Anraku though didn't get the memo that he and his team needed to close out the game. Naruto would rally for 4 runs and win 5-4.
To the final where Kochi would try to preempt the deficit by getting ahead early. Naruto would have none of it and came back to level the score at 6 in the 6th. Kochi though would score 2 in the 8th giving Naruto no time to stage a rally.
The extra bid will probably go to Saibi, who had Naruto dead to rights, right until the bottom of the 9th.
Kyushu (4 bids)
Now all 8 top seeds would be in play, but by the end of the first round over half would go home. But not the half you may have thought.
Nagasaki Nichidai should have been dead to rights. Enchousen, tied at 1 in the 10th, Moji Gakuen scores 4 runs and should have the game wrapped up. Except they don't close it out! Nagasaki Nichidai scores 4 and extends the game further! I'd like to see what happened in that 10th inning. It wouldn't be until the 13th inning where Nagasaki Nichidai would score the sayonara run to win 6-5!
The only non-contested game was surprisingly Kurume Shougyou vs. Meihou. Kurushou scored 4 in the 1st inning and cruised to a 5-2 win.
The reprieve for the top seeds though wouldn't last. All 3 remaining would lose in the quarterfinals. Kurume Shougyou only went 7 against Souseikan losing 9-0. Kumamoto Kougyou had to face Okinawa Shougaku, and narrowly lost 3-2 in 10 innings. And Shoushikan used a 4-run 4th to defeat Nagasaki Nichidai 6-2. The fourth team to advance would indeed be Seiseikou as they shutout the last Nichidai team as Miyazaki would fall 3-0.
That put Souseikan in the crosshairs of Okinawa Shougaku, while Shoushikan and Seiseikou would square off in the other semi.
And neither game was close.
In fact, both would last just 7 innings and both due to a big inning. For Okishou, it was a 4-run 1st in an 8-1 win. For Seiseikou, it was a 5-run 6th in an 8-0 win.
So it'd be Okinawa Shougaku and Seiseikou in the finals, and both pretty much guaranteed a spot in Senbatsu. It would be just a matter now of who would represent Kyushu at the Meiji Jingu Tournament.
And boy was it a pitchers' duel. Seiseikou's Ootake Koutarou (大竹 耕太郎) versus the tandem of Ura Jyun (宇良 淳) and Higa Kenichirou (比嘉 健一朗). Okishou certainly had more opportunities throughout the game, but the game remained scoreless through 8. But in the top of the 9th, it all unraveled for Seiseikou. Okinawa Shougaku would put up 5 runs in the 9th and claim just their 2nd ever fall title!
Rounding out the projected 4 bids are in all probability the two semifinalists - Souseikan and Shoushikan. Yes, they still lost badly in the semifinals, but they had shutout their competition beforehand (though the quality of the opposition can be argued). Shoushikan defeated both Saga Kita and Nagasaki Nichidai and despite their blowout loss, should get in.
The only other team who could make a case would be Kumamoto Kougyou, who was the only team to actually play Okinawa Shougaku close. And bad news for Souseikan, they would probably be the team on the bubble if there were other considerations.
Tokyo (1 bid + 1 floating with Kanto)
- Champion - Yasuda Gakuen - Sumida-ku (First title!)
- Floating Bid - Waseda Jitsugyou
Nittai Ebara fired the opening salvo in the bottom of the 1st as Tomosato hit a 2-run HR to left. Back-to-back RBI hits by the battery of Kasahara and Minami no less made it a 4-1 game. And then ace Kasahara in his next AB would hit a home run of his own making it 5-1!
But after back-to-back walks by Kasahara, Motohashi-kantoku would replace him with Furukawa. Much to his dismay, Furukawa would hit cleanup batter Takami Shunsuke (深見 俊介) and then give an oshidashi walk to Koyama Shinjirou (小山 新次郎). He'd get out of the inning, but not after yielding another run to make it 5-3.
Things only got worse for Nittai Ebara as the pitching fell apart the very next inning as Yasuda would put a 5-spot on the board taking an 8-6 lead.
Nittai Ebara would mount a rally in the bottom of the 9th. PH Seki would walk, and Tanaka would hit a double to put the tying run in scoring position with just one down. Minami (now pitching) would hit a sac fly to make it a 1-run game.
That brought up Tomosato, who was 4-4 on the day. But Oogane Shintarou (大金真太郎) would finally retire him with a grounder to 2nd to end the game and give his team a chance at Senbatsu!
In the other semifinal Souka ace Uchino collapsed in the 5th inning, giving up 6 runs to Soujitsu. Those 6 runs would wind up being the final margin as they won 11-5.
So Soujitsu would be a likely candidate for the floating bid should they lose (as long as they had a good showing), while Yasuda Gakuen would in all likelihood need to win to get in.
In the 2nd inning of the final, Yasuda gets the benefit of good luck. Takami would reach 2nd on an error by Soujitsu's LF Suzuki. After a bunt and walk, Motomiya Keita (本宮 佳汰) would lay down a successful safety squeeze to give them the first run. They'd continue to press the initiative as Koyama Takuya (小山 拓哉) would try to steal 3rd. But the throw from Toshimitsu Kensaku (利光健作) would actually hit Takuya on the helmet and deflect into left, allowing him to score making it 2-0.
Toshimitsu would get a run back with a HR in the 5th, but that would be all the scoring they could muster as Oogane would shut Soujitsu down to earn Yasuda Gakuen's first ever title!
Kanto ex Tokyo (4 bids + 1 floating with Tokyo)
- Champion - Urawa Gakuin - Saitama-shi, Saitama (3rd consecutive title!, 4th overall)
- Runner-Up - Hanasaki Tokuharu - Kazo-shi, Saitama
- Semifinalist - Jyousou Gakuin - Tsuchiura-shi, Ibaraki
- Semifinalist - Utsunomiya Shougyou - Utsunomiya-shi, Tochigi
So when the draw came out, the 4 brackets were as follows (A & B, C & D)
- A - Jyousou Gakuin (Ibaraki 1) vs. Takasaki Kenkoudai Fukushi (Gunma 2)
- A - Sano Nichidai (Tochigi 1) vs. Toukaidai Koufu (Kofu 1)
- B - Narashino (Chiba 1) vs. Kiryuu Dai-ichi (Gunma 3)
- B - Hanasaki Tokuharu (Saitama 1) vs. Yokohama Hayato (Kanagawa 2)
- C - Toukaidai Sagami (Kanagawa 1) vs. Kasumigaura (Ibaraki 2)
- C - Hikawa (Yamanashi 1) vs. Utsunomiya Shougyou (Tochigi 2)
- D - Urawa Gakuin (Saitama 2) vs. Choushi Shougyou (Chiba 2)
- D - Maebashi Ikuei (Gunma 1) - Bye
The biggest upset was in block C where Kasumigaura (while not a slouch by any means) never trailed and defeated Toukaidai Sagami 5-3!
The quarterfinals went more scratch. Narashino, who barely got by Kiryuu Dai-ichi, suffered the same problems Yokohama Hayato faced, but were unable to rally at all, getting mercy ruled 12-0 in 6 innings! (awww....)
Sano Nichidai, down 5-0 to Jyousou Gakuin gets all of the runs back in the lucky 7 to send the game into enchousen. However, outside of that one inning outburst, they couldn't muster any other offense and lost 6-5 in 12. Kasumigaura tried to continue their cinderella run as it were, but after taking the 4-2 lead in the bottom of the 6th, relinquished it right back in the lucky 7 to Utusunomiya Shougyou, losing 5-4.
The games (final score-wise) were much closer, but were not competitive. Both Saitama schools advanced wire-to-wire, setting up a rematch of the prefectural final. In that final, a 4-run first gave Hanasaki Tokuharu all the cushion it needed.
This time around they did not get such a cushion, but did lead 2-0 going into the latter innings. But without the cushion, Urawa Gakuin's rally allowed them to tie the game in the 8th and send it into enchousen. One inning later, Urawa's SS Kigure Naito (木暮騎士) would hit a 2-out double to put runners at 2nd and 3rd. After an intentional walk, C Nishikawa Genki (西川元気) would deliver the sayonara hit to give Urawa Gakuin their 3rd straight Kanto Fall title!!
With 4 bids, it seems apparent that the Best 4 participants will get the bids. Kasumigaura, the strongest team of the quarterfinalists will probably not get in because (a) the team they would replace would probably be Utsunomiya Shougyou who defeated them and (b) even if they wanted to make Kasumigaura the 4th team that would put 2 teams from Saitama and from Ibaraki into Senbatsu, which is highly doubtful.
And with Soujitsu losing in the finals to Yasuda Gakuen, the committee will certainly pick them as the floating bid. Had they won, the floating bid may have come back to Kanto.
As it stands, for Kasumigaura to get to Koushien, Yasuda Gakuen or Urawa Gakuin have to win the Meiji Jingu Fall Tournament (If Yasuda Gakuen wins, Soujitsu earns the Meiji Jingu bid and the floating bid shifts back to Kanto. If Urawa Gakuin wins, Kasumigaura earns the Meiji Jingu bid outright). But as you will see later, that will be difficult.
Tokai (3 bids)
- Champion - Kenritsu Gifu Shougyou - Gifu-shi, Gifu (4th title, 1st in 51 years)
- Runner-up - Komono - Komono-machi, Mie
- 3rd Bid - Tokoha Kikugawa - Kikugawa-shi, Shizuoka
And in fact, there was a possibility that neither team would make it as Tokoha Kikugawa had tied the game at 1 in the 8th. Kenritsu Gifu Shougyou though would guarantee that at least one team would make it, making a Tokoha-style finish in the bottom of the 9th to win 2-1.
Komono had done well to make it to the finals, but were boat-raced by Kengifushou falling quickly behind 6-0 and losing 9-3.
This normally would put Komono in a bad situation. As the runner-up, they are first in line to receive the 2nd bid. However, the poor showing would have given the selection committee pause. But with 3 teams advancing, they should be safe.
Kinki (6 bids)
- Champion - Kyoto Shouei - Uji-shi, Kyoto (First title!)
- Runner-up - Houtoku Gakuen - Nishinomiya-shi, Hyogo
- Semi-finalist -Ryuukokudai Heian - Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto
- Semi-finalist - Osaka Touin - Daitou-shi, Osaka
- 5/6 selection - Riseisha - Toyonaka-shi, Osaka
- 5/6 selection - Yamato Kouryou - Kouryou-machi, Kita-katsuragi-gun, Nara
- Other considerations - Tenri - Tenri-shi, Nara
In other games, Yamato Kouryou played Ryuukokudai Heian close, but couldn't get a run on the board losing 2-0. Osaka Shoudai Sakai lasted only 5 innings against Houtoku Gakuen losing 13-0. And finally, Riseisha was fighting for their lives against surging Kyoto Shouei down 1-0 late before tying the game in the 8th. The game would go into enchousen when reliever Sakamoto would finally fail, giving Kyoto Shouei the 3-1 win in 12!
That setup an all-Kyoto final on one side, and a powerhouse matchup on the other.
Kyoto Shouei and Ryuukokudai Heian were up first. Kyoto Shouei didn't have to face Heian in the prefecturals as Heian was paired with Fukuchiyama Seibi. Early on, the teams traded runs with Kyoto Shouei emerging with a 3-2 lead. It stayed that way until the 7th where Heian would get to Enomoto (who came in in relief) for a pair of runs to lead 4-3. However, their reliever Minami fell apart in the next half-inning. He hit back-to-back batters sending in a run, and then ace Enomoto would redeem himself, blasting a manrui home run to blow the game wide open.
Kyoto Shouei seemed to be in full control up 9-4, but Enomoto seemed to be out of sorts coming in relief. He struggled with his control as Heian came back to within 1 with a 4-run 8th! He'd somehow get in together just in time, closing the game out in the 9th to win 9-8!
In the other semi, it was a shocker in that Osaka Touin was not competitive at all against Houtoku Gakuen. In fact they were blanked 8-0 in 7 innings!
So Houtoku Gakuen and ace Inui Youhei (乾 陽平) were the final obstacle in Kyoto Shouei and Enomoto Kazuki (榎本 和輝) bid for their first ever fall title.
There were opportunities for both teams throughout the game as Inui yielded base hits almost every inning, while Enomoto's control issues persisted as he issued free passes. Yet the score was at 1-1 after regulation. Eventually it would become a matter of who would make the first mistake.
And that finally was made by Inui as he yielded 2 runs in the 13th. They still had the bottom half of the inning, and Enomoto was approaching his limit too. He would give up one run, but again found a way to shut the door, win 3-2, and claim Kyoto Shouei's first title!!
Looking at the field for the selection of the half-dozen bids, it almost winds up being as listed above by default. Kyoto Shouei is definitely in, as well as Houtoku Gakuen. While Heian is in the same prefecture as Kyoto Shouei, they didn't play each other in the prefecturals and held their own in the semifinals - so they're in. Those are the definites.
Osaka Touin was uncharacteristically blown out by Houtoku Gakuen. And their wins prior against Kousen and Tenri do not inspire confidence.
But then you look down at the quarterfinalists. Tenri was blown out by Osaka Touin. Daishoudai Sakai too was annihilated. That leaves Riseisha who played Kyoto Shouei close as well and should get in, and Yamato Kouryou who had a nondescript win over Shiga Gakuen before being shutout 2-0 to Heian.
So Osaka Touin now appears safe, as does Riseisha. The question becomes the last bid.
And that boils down to Yamato Kouryou and Tenri.
Tenri in name had the harder opponent in Osaka Touin, but Heian can easily be considered a quality opponent for Yamato Kouryou.
If the committee wants to go by name, then Tenri will go. But I think if they go by play, it may fall to Yamato Kouryou.
Chuugoku (3 bids)
- Champion - Kanzei - Okayama-shi, Okayama (6th title, 1st in 2 years)
- Runner-up - Kouryou - Hiroshima-shi, Hiroshima
- 3rd Bid - Iwakuni Shougyou - Iwakuni-shi, Yamaguchi
- A - Hamada (Shimane 2) vs. Ube Kougyou (Yamaguchi 4)
- A - Iwakuni Shougyou (Yamaguchi 1) vs. Tamashima Shougyou (Okayama 2)
- B - Soutoku (Hiroshima 1) vs. Tottori Jyouhoku (Tottori 3)
- B - Yonago Kita (Tottori 1) vs. Kouryou (Hiroshima 3)
- C - Kanzei (Okayama 1) vs. Jyosuikan (Hiroshima 2)
- C - Yonago Shouin (Tottori 2) vs. Kurashiki Shougyou (Okayama 3)
- D - Hayatomo (Yamaguchi 2) vs. Shimane Chuo (Shimane 3)
- D - Masuda Shouyou (Shimane 1) vs. Iwakuni (Yamaguchi 3)
It turns out that not just one, but two prefectures would be eliminated!
So, all else being equal, who has the advantage?
Well, the home team. And that happens to be Yamaguchi-ken.
In fact, all 4 entrants advanced into the second round. Iwakuni Shougyou, Iwakuni and Ube Koujyou all won via the shutout. Hayatomo was able to advance, but only after striking back for a pair of runs right after they gave up the lead in the 7th.
With that alone, Shimane was wiped off the board. Who would be the other prefecture?
In B quadrant, Tottori Jyouhoku started off well against Soutoku, but fell apart in the 2nd half of the game, losing 8-4. Yonago Kita went just 7 innings before they waved the white flag, losing 9-1.
That left 2nd place Yonago Shouin as the last representative. But against Kurashiki Shougyou, that was a tough task. They kept it close, even in fact tying the game at 1-1 in the top of the 5th. Kurashou struck back with 2 in their part of the frame and held on to the 3-1 win.
A valiant effort, but both Japan Sea prefectures were eliminated.
And what appeared to be a blockbuster matchup in the first round wound up being anything but. Jyousuikan would give up after 7 innings, losing to Kanzei 10-0!
This created a bizarre quarterfinal setup:
- A - Ube Kougyou (Yamaguchi 4) vs. Iwakuni Shougyou (Yamaguchi 1)
- B - Soutoku (Hiroshima 1) vs. Kouryou (Hiroshima 3)
- C - Kanzei (Okayama 1) Kurashiki Shougyou (Okayama 3)
- D - Hayatomo (Yamaguchi 2) vs. Iwakuni (Yamaguchi 3)
In the Yamaguchi matchups, Iwakuni Shougyou proved that they were the cream of the crop, as they defeated the only Best 4 team they haven't played - Ube Kougyou, in a shutout 5-0. Iwakuni showed that their 3rd place finish was a product of just being in the wrong half of the bracket. The struggling Hayatomo was unceremoniously upended in a 10-0 defeat in 5 innings.
Soutoku probably wasn't happy to see Kouryou in their crosshairs. They managed to avoid them in the prefecturals, but now when it really matters... it was all Kouryou in a 7-1 win.
That leaves the rematch of Kanzei and Kurashiki Shougyou. Kanzei wouldn't leave anything to chance, scoring 6 runs in the 3rd en route to an 8-4 win.
Another byproduct of the 1st round was that Yamaguchi pretty much guaranteed themselves a team at Senbatsu, especially since due to the 85th tournament, Chuugoku gets an extra bid.
And that would prove key this year as Iwakuni was routed 11-1 by Kanzei, and while Iwakuni Shougyou held with Kouryou, they still lost 2-0.
So we're left with Kouryou and Kanzei in the finals, two teams used to the big game. The game was a low-scoring affair early, then blown open in the span of 2 half-innings where Kouryou scored 3 in the 6th to lead 4-2, only to give up 5 in the lucky 7 to trail 7-4. They'd win 8-5 to take the title.
And on the basis of the semifinal matchups, expect Iwakuni Shougyou to receive the 3rd bid.
Shikoku (3 bids)
- Champion - Kochi - Kochi-shi, Kochi (6th title, 1st in 6 years)
- Runner-up - Naruto - Naruto-shi, Tokushima
- 3rd Bid - Saibi - Matsuyama-shi, Ehime
- Kochi (Kochi 1) vs. Imabari Kougyou (Ehime 2)-Marugame (Kagawa 3) winner
- Eimei (Kagawa 1) vs. Tokushima Shougyou (Tokushima 2)-Tosa (Kochi 3) winner
- Naruto (Tokushima 1) vs. Kochi Shougyou (Kochi 2)-Matsuyama Seiryou (Ehime 3) winner
- Saibi (Ehime 1) vs. Takamatsu Shougyou (Kagawa 2)-Ikeda (Tokushima 3) winner
In the other games, Imabari Kougyou had a chance to survive as they were deadlocked 1-1 for a long time. Marugame though would bid sayonara to the Ehime representative 2-1. Kochi Shougyou was having a heck of a time in their game, but at 3-3 in the 7th Matsuyama Seiryou scored 6 to pull away. Kochishou would score 3 in the 9th, but it wasn't enough. And Ikeda finally made progress, winning 3-1.
With so many 3 seeds advancing, it would be expected that most if not all of the 1 seeds would advance. And in fact, all did... except for the one team that faced the only #2 seed left.
Nartuo and Kochi had no problems. Ikeda almost got to the semifinals and rallied late, but lost to Saibi 4-3. Tokushou was in another close game. They and Eimei were tied at 2 when Eimei scored a run in the 7th to take the lead. But in the bottom of the 9th they get to ace Akagawa scoring 2 runs for the gyakuten sayonara victory.
Tokushou would try to extend their run against Kochi, and early on the semifinals they held a 2-run lead, even after swapping 3-run innings. But Kochi would put up 2 runs in the 6th, 7th and 8th innings to win 11-7. In the other semifinal, Saibi was in full control, getting 2 insurance runs in the final 2 innings to lead 4-1. Saibi ace Anraku though didn't get the memo that he and his team needed to close out the game. Naruto would rally for 4 runs and win 5-4.
To the final where Kochi would try to preempt the deficit by getting ahead early. Naruto would have none of it and came back to level the score at 6 in the 6th. Kochi though would score 2 in the 8th giving Naruto no time to stage a rally.
The extra bid will probably go to Saibi, who had Naruto dead to rights, right until the bottom of the 9th.
Kyushu (4 bids)
- Champion - Okinawa Shougaku - Naha-shi, Okinawa (2nd title, 1st in 15 years)
- Runner-up - Seiseikou - Chuo-ku, Kumamoto-shi, Kumamoto
- 3rd Bid - Shoushikan - Shibushi-shi, Kagoshima
- 4th Bid - Souseikan - Isahaya-shi, Nagasaki
- Other Consideration - Kumamoto Kougyou, Kumamoto-shi, Kumamoto
Now all 8 top seeds would be in play, but by the end of the first round over half would go home. But not the half you may have thought.
- Kagoshima Jyouhou probably lacked experience and became Souseikan's 2nd shutout, losing by the slim margin of 1-0. (who by the way is looking to get an invitation this year after being snubbed).
- Miyazaki's Nisshou Gakuen can't be faulted for losing their game, they had to play Okinawa Shougaku. Down 4-0, they rallied late but still lost 4-2.
- Saga Kita reached the Super-Regionals again, but Shoushikan picked up the flag for Kagoshima and used a 5-run 5th to advance 7-3.
- Seiseikou wanted to prove that their appearance last year wasn't just a fluke. To that end they struck early and pulled ahead late, defeating Oita's Youshikan 6-2.
- And Miyazaki Nichidai would pull the upset on Okinawa's Ginoza, shutting them out 5-0!
Nagasaki Nichidai should have been dead to rights. Enchousen, tied at 1 in the 10th, Moji Gakuen scores 4 runs and should have the game wrapped up. Except they don't close it out! Nagasaki Nichidai scores 4 and extends the game further! I'd like to see what happened in that 10th inning. It wouldn't be until the 13th inning where Nagasaki Nichidai would score the sayonara run to win 6-5!
The only non-contested game was surprisingly Kurume Shougyou vs. Meihou. Kurushou scored 4 in the 1st inning and cruised to a 5-2 win.
The reprieve for the top seeds though wouldn't last. All 3 remaining would lose in the quarterfinals. Kurume Shougyou only went 7 against Souseikan losing 9-0. Kumamoto Kougyou had to face Okinawa Shougaku, and narrowly lost 3-2 in 10 innings. And Shoushikan used a 4-run 4th to defeat Nagasaki Nichidai 6-2. The fourth team to advance would indeed be Seiseikou as they shutout the last Nichidai team as Miyazaki would fall 3-0.
That put Souseikan in the crosshairs of Okinawa Shougaku, while Shoushikan and Seiseikou would square off in the other semi.
And neither game was close.
In fact, both would last just 7 innings and both due to a big inning. For Okishou, it was a 4-run 1st in an 8-1 win. For Seiseikou, it was a 5-run 6th in an 8-0 win.
So it'd be Okinawa Shougaku and Seiseikou in the finals, and both pretty much guaranteed a spot in Senbatsu. It would be just a matter now of who would represent Kyushu at the Meiji Jingu Tournament.
And boy was it a pitchers' duel. Seiseikou's Ootake Koutarou (大竹 耕太郎) versus the tandem of Ura Jyun (宇良 淳) and Higa Kenichirou (比嘉 健一朗). Okishou certainly had more opportunities throughout the game, but the game remained scoreless through 8. But in the top of the 9th, it all unraveled for Seiseikou. Okinawa Shougaku would put up 5 runs in the 9th and claim just their 2nd ever fall title!
Rounding out the projected 4 bids are in all probability the two semifinalists - Souseikan and Shoushikan. Yes, they still lost badly in the semifinals, but they had shutout their competition beforehand (though the quality of the opposition can be argued). Shoushikan defeated both Saga Kita and Nagasaki Nichidai and despite their blowout loss, should get in.
The only other team who could make a case would be Kumamoto Kougyou, who was the only team to actually play Okinawa Shougaku close. And bad news for Souseikan, they would probably be the team on the bubble if there were other considerations.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Fall tournament recap and possible invitees (Kanto & Tokyo)
Moving on south, we hit the Kanto region where 4 bids are at stake, and Tokyo where they get a single bid.
First off, Tokyo.
Tokyo Super-Regional (1 bid + 1 floating bid w/Kanto)
Tokyo once again broke up into their 24 blocks, which probably reflects in some ways the 23 wards.
Except I looked up the schools in the first bracket of the first block... and that certainly wasn't the case.
Our qualifiers from block play were as follows:
Block 1
The draws for the super-regionals saw the following:
Their opponent in the semis would indeed be Kanto Dai-ichi. But they too were almost sent home. Their quarterfinal matchup was indeed Nichidai Buzan, who then took a 3-0 lead, and then a 4-2 lead. However, their pitching staff couldn't hold the lead and gave up 5 runs in the last 3 innings.
Teikyou, for all the good teams in the bracket, actually had trouble against Houyuu Gakuin in the 2nd round - scratching together just 3 runs in an uncharacteristic 3-1 victory. Otherwise, they defeated Kokugakuin, Nisshou Gakushadai Fuzoku and Nichidai Tsurugaoka with little trouble.
Finally, the two incumbents in the final quadrant both fell in the round of 16. Toritsu Fuchuu Higashi outlasted Kokugakuin Kugayama scoring 4 runs in the last 2 innings to win 4-2, while Shuutoku was blitzed by Sundai Gakuen 9-0 in 7 innings. And in the matchup for a spot in the semis, Sundai was able to recover after relinquishing a 2-0 lead with a run in the bottom of the 8th. Ace Kitagawa was able to shut the door in the 9th for the win.
The semis though went scratch. Toua Gakuen still cannot break the ceiling into the realm of the contenders as Kanto Dai-ichi put them out of their misery winning 13-0 in 7. Meanwhile, Teikyou put Sundai Gakuen behind the 8-ball early with 4 runs on their way to a 6-1 win.
That put two familiar faces in the finals with Kanto Dai-ichi and Teikyou. Yet in the championship game, Teikyou experienced a power outage unseen for such a team. Ace Kitagawa held the offensive-minded team to just 1 hit in a CG shutout! That means that the Tokyo representative is:
Automatic Bid - Kanto Dai-ichi (2nd title, 1st in 3 years) - 4th appearance, 1st in 4 years
Kanto Super-Regional (4 bids + 1 floating bid with Tokyo)
Kanto's Super-Regional this year is being held in Yamanashi. As such, they will receive one extra bid to the Super-Regional this time around.
So, let's go backwards from Yamanashi and head northeast!
Yamanashi
My favorite team here is no secret, it's Nihon Koukuu (i.e. Japan Aviation Academy). I mean how often is it you have an aviation school actually decent in baseball? Ok, that's an obvious question, but you get my point.
Sadly, those days seem to be behind them. They fell 4-1 to Fuji Kawaguchiko in the quarterfinals.
The vacuum in the prefecture has been fought over in recent years. Yamanashi Gakuindai Fuzoku laid claim to it for a while, but also lost in the quarters to Kofu Kougyou. The same fate (and same score) befell Fuji Gakuen as well to Kofu Nishi.
The team to carry the flag (for now anyways), is Toukaidai Kofu. They blanked Kofu Nishi 7-0 to claim their 7th title and 1st in 6 years.
Joining Toukaidai Kofu and Kofu Nishi would be Kofu Kougyou. They edged out Fuji Kawaguchiko 4-3 in the 3rd place game.
Kanagawa
Kanagawa has small round-robin play that sends players to the prefecturals. 89 teams plus the Natsu Koushien representative Yokohama would advance.
A lot of the usual subjects advanced into prefectural play, so let's head straight there.
The draw saw Yokohama occupied the upper left hand corner of the bracket. The only notable name in their bracket is Toukou Gakuen. Their only other competition in the other quadrant to Yokohama could be Yokohama Shoudai and Touin Gakuen. That meant a lot of the well known names drew themselves on the other half. And in the upper right quadrant, there were quite a few of them. Toukaidai Sagami, Nichidai Fujisawa and Yokohama Hayato. Finally, Keiou occupies the lower right part of the bracket.
As expected, Toukou Gakuen gave Yokohama a good run for their money, but Yokohama prevailed 4-3. They then breezed through to the semis. Also as expected Yokohama Shoudai advanced without issue, as Touin Gakuen fell 9-0 to Tachibana Gakuen (立花学園).
Toukaidai Sagami only had to face Nichidai Fujisawa and defeated them 6-2. Shounan Gakuen was the last line of defense before the semis, but they were shutout 4-0. Their opponent though would not be Keiou, They were breezing through the quadrant until they faced Busou. Someone actually put the game up here. Busou managed to pull off the upset 4-2 and advance to the semis!
However, their run would end there. Toukaidai Sagami would jump out to an early lead and not relinquish it. Busou fought back to make the score respectable, but they lost 8-6.
Their fellow finalist would be no surprise as Yokohama won 5-1 over Yokohama Shoudai. In that final, Yokohama would once again build an early lead, and almost like their game against Chiben Gakuen, almost gave it up. Sagami scored 2 runs before reliever Souma would record the final out to preserve Yokohama's back-to-back fall titles (15th overall).
Chiba
Summer representative Narashino would get a free pass to the prefectural brackets. Everyone else would have to qualify in pool play (Chiba has 1 round of pool play, and then a repechage between all pool non-winners).
Notable teams to advance in the 1st stage were Chiba Meitoku, Kei-ai Gakuen, Shiritsu Funabashi, Senshuudai Matsudo, Chiba Eiwa, Narita, and Kisaradzu Sougou.
Teams that advanced out of the 2nd stage included Shigakukan, Chiba Keizaidai Fuzoku, Toukaidai Urayasu, Seibudai Chiba, Toukaidai Bouyou, and Chiba Kei-ai.
The draw for the prefecturals left some pretty barren areas. The only name in the upper left quadrant was Kisaradzu Sougou. Joining them in the lower left quadrant was Chiba Keizaidai Fuzoku, Kei-ai Gakuen, Toukaidai Urayasu, Chiba Eiwa and Seibudai Chiba.
On the other side, Narashino would have to take the long road to the title, one that would have to include a 2nd round match with Narita. But if they were able to survive that, the road would get much easier.
Furthermore, only Toukaidai Bouyou and Senshuudai Matsudo remained in the final quadrant.
Despite having the quadrant all to themselves, Kisaradzu Sougou was unable to advance to the quarterfinals after losing to Matsudo Kokusai 12-7. That opened the door in the quadrant and Kashiwa Nittai flew right through leveling the aforementioned Matsudo Kokusai 10-0 to advance to the semis. Their opponent would be Chiba Eiwa who just got by Chiba Keizaidai Fuzoku 3-2.
Unfortunately for Kashiwa Nittai, Chiba Eiwa's been looking for this moment to get to the finals for a while now and Nittai would never lead in the game, falling 6-1.
Meanwhile, Narashino indeed was in a dogfight with Narita but prevailed 5-4. However in the quarterfinals they struggled against Shiritsu Kashiwa. While apparently there is video of this game, I haven't watched it, but Narashino would wind up falling 4-3! Toukaidai Bouyou and Senshuudai Matsudo did meet in the quarterfinals and while Senshuudai appeared score-wise to be better, Toukaidai Bouyou won the game 4-2.
And in the semis, Toukaidai Bouyou continued their run with a slim 1-0 win over the upstart Kashiwa squad.
So the finals were between 2 teams that had been close before, but had been unable to break through in recent years. The game was scoreless for the first couple of innings, but Bouyou finally opened the scoring in the 5th and added an insurance run in the 6th. Satou was holding Chiba Eiwa scoreless, but when he gave up a 1-out double to Kimura, the ball would be handed to Noma who had helped in the 1-0 shutout.
That's when it went horribly wrong.
His first batter, Sekimoto, would single to left scoring Kimura to make it 2-1. Nemoto then singled back to Noma and Ogino would reach on an error to load the bases. Noma would only get out of the mess by getting the next 2 batters to ground out.
The 9th wouldn't give Noma any respite either. After retiring the first batter, he would give up a walk and 2 consecutive hits to load the bases. Sekimoto would once again be Noma's worst enemy, delivering yet another single scoring 2 and giving Chiba Eiwa the lead.
Noma would be eventually charged with 5 runs and Chiba Eiwa would win their 2nd fall title, and 1st in 18 years.
Saitama
Saitama still amazes me in that they seem to be a metropolitian prefecture, and yet they cannot for some reason produce a Koushien championship-type team. They give average teams, but not the calibur that we might think. Hanasaki Tokuharu, Urawa Gakuin, and Seibou Gakuen dominate the scene, only Seibou's championship run in the 2008 Haru Koushien stands out (which when I look back at it, they defeated Riseisha, Ryuukokudai Heian and Chiba Keizaidai Fuzoku before losing to Higashihama's Okinawa Shoukagu.
So it's no surprise that all three made it out of pool play (Natsu Koushien representative Hanasaki Tokuharu has to qualify like everyone else). Joining them would be Kasukabe Kyouei, home of Lucky Star and a good baseball team that just can't get past the Big 3.
It's also no surprise that all 4 made it to the quarterfinals (being seeded and all). Only Urawa Gakuin though had no trouble in their games leading up to the Final 4 - Seibou Gakuin beat Oomiya Higashi 1-0 in their first game, Kasukabe Kyouei defeated Shouhei 1-0 in the quarterfinals, and Hanasaki Tokuharu beat Oomiya Nishi 3-2 also in the 1st round.
In the semis, Seibou Gakuen rallied in the 7th and 8th innings to take a 1-run lead over Urawa Gakuin. It looked like perhaps Urawa Gakuin's hard game may prove fatal.
But in the bottom of the 9th Urawa would come from behind and rally for a 5-4 sayonara win.
In the other semi, Kasukabe Kyouei's struggles continue. They spot 6 runs right off the bat to Hanasaki Tokuharu, and while they rally to within 1 in the 5th inning, it's wiped away in one fell swoop when Tokuharu scores 5 in the 6th. They'll have to wait for the summer once again falling 12-10.
The finals started out to be a closely contested match as Urawa would go up 3-0 only to see Tokuharu tie it up shortly thereafter. However, the pitching would fail them late as Urawa Gakuin claims their 3rd consecutive fall title and 12th overall with an 11-3 win.
Gunma
As much as I lament about Saitama, I think the same thing about Gunma as well. Taking it further I can only remember Kiryuu Dai-ichi and this past summer's representative Takasaki Kenkoudai Fukushi. Only after going back I am reminded that Tokyo Noudai-ni was from Gunma too (when an agricultural school makes it I tend to root for them as again, when do you see a school for agriculture developing a good baseball team?).
But outside of those 3, I couldn't name any other team without looking (Maebashi Ikuei for instance).
So when Kiryuu Dai-ichi lost to Maebashi Ikuei 9-0, who in turn lost to Takasaki 4-3 in the quarterfinals, it seemeed all but secured for Takasaki Kenkoudai Fukushi.
And in fact, with a 7-2 win over the aforementioned Takasaki, Takasaki Kenkoudai Fukushi secured their first ever fall title!
Tochigi
It's funny to think that I remember more teams from Tochigi than Gunma and Saitama, and yet I don't recall outside of Sakushin Gakuin this past summer any team really making any significant run once they reach Koushien. In fact when I looked it up, it was Kokugakuin Tochigi that made the last type of run in 2000 making it to the semifinals losing to Chiben Wakayama.
As of late, the teams competing for the prefecture include the aforementioned Sakushin Gakuin, Bunsei Geidai Fuzoku and Hakuoudai Ashikaga.
Now both Sakushin and Hakuoudai both breezed through the early stages setting up a semifinal match between the two. Meanwhile Bunsei Geidai had 3 tough games against Yaita Chuo, Oyama Minami and Utsunomiya Kita - not especially strong teams. They'd draw Utsunomiya Kougyou, a team that's been to Koushien before - just not in a while.
In that semifinal, Utsunomiya Kougyou was able to stifle Bunsei's offense early, but as they headed into the late innings, Bunsei Geidai was finally able to pull away in the 6th for a 6-1 win guaranteeing a spot in the Super-Regionals.
Meanwhile, Sakushin was getting all they could handle from Hakuoudai Ashikaga. After trailing 3-0 in the first, they quickly rally to take a 5-3 lead... only to see that evaporate just as quickly. And when they tried to pull away with a run in the 4th and 5th, Hakuoudai pulled within one again in the 6th. Finally Sakushin would close the door with a pair of runs late to reach the finals.
Now, despite the struggles for Bunsei Geidai Fuzoku, they proved to be a formidable opponent in the final. The teams continued to throw donuts onto the scoreboard inning after inning. It soon looked like we'd be headed into extras.
But in the top of the 9th, Takayama for Sakushin finally had enough. He blasts a 2-run homerun giving them the lead and most probably the win. Ootani would throw one more shutout inning his team's 15th victory and 1st since 2002.
Ibaraki
Despite having just 98 teams, Ibaraki elects to put their teams through pool play.
And until recently, the prefecture was dominated by Jyousou Gakuin. Fun fact, going through the history of Ibaraki's representatives, they actually had won a spring and summer title early in the 'aughties. I randomly picked the 2003 title and wouldn't you know, they defeated Darvish and Tohoku for the title!
What's happened since then to the prefecture? Jyousou has relinquished their place at the top to teams such as Shimotsuma Dai-ni and Suijyou (who showed so much promise, but now appears to have been a one-hit wonder despite continuing to be at the top of the prefecture).
Now all 3 teams made it out of pool play and were seeded along with Mito Shougyou. Other notable teams to have advanced included Kasumigaura (home to the Hiiragi shrine from Lucky Star, though their baseball team has gotten better in recent years - how come Nishinomiya Kita hasn't??), Tsuchiura Nichidai and Mito Sakuranomaki (that's Ken's team due to their uniforms). The latter two drew each other in the first round.
Not surprisingly, all 4 seeded teams advanced to the semifinals. Kasumigaura gave Jyousou Gakuin a scare in the quarterfinals, but ultimately fell 3-2 in 10 innings.
The semifinals though, were not as contested as I expected. Suijyou, despite not giving up a run to this point was instead shutout 5-0 to Jyousou Gakuin. On the other side, Mito Shougyou was outclassed by Shimotsuma Dai-ni 4-2. Despite the score, they were never in it.
So 2 chalk teams advance to the Super-Regionals. Questioin was, who would claim the title. Though Shimotsuma would make the first strike, it was Jyousou Gakuin who had the final laugh, winning 3-1. Interestingly enough, despite dominating the Natsu qualifying, it has been 11 years since they have won the fall title (5th overall).
Super-Regionals
So we had our teams, now came the draw. And again, the randomness comes into play. Upper left quadrant has teams the likes of Takasaki Kenkoudai Fukushi (Gunma 1), Bunsei Geidai Fuzoku (Tochigi 2), Chiba Eiwa (Chiba 1) and Kofu Nishi (Yamanashi 2). Not exactly a list of champions.
Meanwhile in the lower left, Urawa Gakuin (Saitama 1), Toukaidai Sagami (Kanagawa 2), Jyousou Gakuin (Ibaraki 1) and Kofu Kougyou (Yamanashi 3) filled in the half. Much harder.
It got worse. Occupying the upper right was Sakushin Gakuin (Tochigi 1), Hanasaki Tokuharu (Saitama 2), Yokohama (Kanagawa 1) and Shimotsuma Dai-ni (Ibaraki 2).
Finally, rounding out the field was Toukaidai Bouyou (Chiba 2), Takasaki (Gunma 2), and Toukaidai Koufu (Yamanashi 1). Certainly a weak quadrant that was already short of teams.
Unsurprisingly, quadrant 1 saw three shutouts. The winner was the team who was a summer representative, Takasaki Kenkoudai Fukushi as ace Miki threw back-to-back complete games.
Ibaraki's futility continues as Jyousou Gakuin was not competitive against the weakest team in the bracket, Kofu Kougyou losing 5-3. Toukaidai Sagami's offensive appears to have left them as Urawa Gakuin beats them in the middle innings 3-1.
Sakushin Gakuin successfully proved that their run in the summer was not a fluke as they not only defeated Hanasaki Tokuharu handily, but also defeated Yokohama 6-2! 6-2! Yokohama's troubles at the end of games continues as they gave up a pair of runs in the 8th and 9th innings in the loss.
Finally, Takasaki manages to defeat both Toukai schools, both by a score of 4-2, and both in the latter half of the game! Though they're not of the caliber as Sagami, it's still a good feat.
Semifinal action saw Takasaki Kenkoudai Fukushi unable to keep up with Urawa Gakuin, despite scoring 2 quick runs in the 1st. Urawa would score 7 unanswered runs and cruise from there winning 11-7. Takasaki too was outmatched by Best 4 Sakushin Gakuin. They lost 6-3.
This almost all but guaranteed that Urawa Gakuin and Sakushin Gakuin would earn Haru Koushien invites. But to guarantee themselves one, they had to win one more game.
The winner would be Urawa Gakuin. Though Sakushin's 4 different pitchers limited damage to 3 innings, they were not able to record a run against Urawa's triumvirate of pitchers. Urawa Gakuin would win their 2nd consecutive title (3rd overall) and another bid to Koushien!
Automatic Bid - Urawa Gakuin (Saitama) - 8th appearance, 2nd consecutive
Projected Bid - Sakushin Gakuin (Tochigi) - 9th appearance, 1st in 8 years
Projected Bid - Takasaki Kenkoudai Fukushi (Gunma) - 9th appearance, 1st in 8 years
Projected Bid - Takasaki (Gunma) - 2nd appearance, 1st in 31 years
First off, Tokyo.
Tokyo Super-Regional (1 bid + 1 floating bid w/Kanto)
Tokyo once again broke up into their 24 blocks, which probably reflects in some ways the 23 wards.
Except I looked up the schools in the first bracket of the first block... and that certainly wasn't the case.
Our qualifiers from block play were as follows:
Block 1
- Sundai Gakuen - An above-average team in recent years, Sundai had no trouble in their 3 games.
- Toua Gakuen - A solid team as of late, but stumbled a bit against Toritsu Kunitachi winning 6-4.
- Meisei - Much like Toua Gauen, they cruised early, but had to win a 9-7 shootout against Toritsu Matsubara to advance.
- Rikkyo Ikebukuro - Easily cleared their two matchups to advance.
- Toritsu Higashi-Yamato - Survived their first game against Senshuudai Fuzoku 9-6, but then was clear sailing afterwards.
- Toritsu Hachiouji Kita - No problems in their 2 games to advance.
- Ikubunkan - They perhaps had the upset of their school's history. Squaring off against Natsu Koushien champs Nichidai-san, their ace Tobayashi gave up 1 earned run and 5 hits, striking out 0(!) and walking 1 in a 4-2 upset of Sanko at their home field!! You can read a recap on their website here.
- Kokugakuin Kugayama - It seems that Block 4 was supposed to be the powerhouse block, but it looks like Kokugakuin Kugayama will be the only one advancing. They won their 2 games by a total of 34-1.
- Adachi Gakuen - Offensive showing on their part against Toritsu Sakuragaoka and Toritsu Mastugaya to advance to super-regional play.
- Toritsu Nerima - Nerima had a close call against Toritsu Machida Kougyou 3-2 before smoking Toritsu Musashi Murayama 12-4.
- Toritsu Adachi Nishi - Adachi Nishi was helped by a forfeit against Nihon Wellness, but then had to face Kokushikan. They were able to move on with a 2-1 win!
- Komazawa Daigaku - Komazawa University's high school shutout their 2 opponents in advancing out of block play.
- Teikyou - Teikyou as expected had no trouble in their 2 games, winning by the mercy rule each time.
- Kokugakuin - The parent school is able to join their sister school (Kugayama), though not without some difficulty. They just beat Toritsu Jyousui 2-1 in their first game, then edged out Waseda 4-3 to advance.
- Houyuu Gakuin - No issues with them, lowest margin of victory was 5 in their 3 games.
- Nittai Ebara - The home field in this block certainly helped Nittai Ebara in their 2 victories.
- Iwakura - They needed their home field advantage as they barely beat Toritsu Shouyou 5-4, then Setagaya Gakuin 4-3 to advance to super-regional play.
- Toritsu Kassai Kougyou - They needed a hard-fought win over Shiba (2-0) to advance out of their part of the block.
- Hachiouji - Combined score of 32-4 meant they breezed on through.
- Yasuda Gakuen - This part of the block all games were mercy ruled with the lowest margin of victory being 9 runs. Chuodai Suginami was the last team to fall at 10-0.
- Horikoshi - A solid team as of late, they edged out Aoyama Gakuin 4-2 in the block final.
- Toritsu Bunkyou - Bunkyou scored a minor upset when they defeated Toritsu Hino in the block final 4-3 to advance. Hino has been a perennial contender in the last couple of years, so this is a bit surprising.
- Meijidai Nakano-Hachiouji - Another solid school in Tokyo, Nakano-Hachiouji beat out Toritsu Higashi-Yamato Minami 3-1.
- Toritsu Momijigawa - Momijigawa was not threatened in any of their 3 games, defeated Tokyo Noudai Dai-ichi 6-3 in the finals.
- Oberlin - It continues to amaze me that a school more known for arts than baseball has a strong team. After starting slow against Toritsu Nagayama, they cleared their last 2 games with ease.
- Toritsu Kodaira - It was not so easy for Kodaira as they went to the limit against Ueno Gakuen in the block finals, eventually winning 7-6.
- Toukaidai Sugao - We finally see our first Toukaidai school here in block 14. A 4-2 win over Kinjyou Gakuen started their bid, then won their next 2 games 16-0 and 6-0.
- Toritsu Fuchuu Higashi - Fuchuu Higashi struggled in a 6-4 win against Shouwa Dai-ichi Gakuen before shutting out Kyouei Gakuen 4-0 in the final.
- Nichidai Buzan - No problems in their 3 games flying through block play.
- Toritsu Sougou Kouka - They had even less trouble at their home field winning all games via the mercy rule.
- Toritsu Adachi Niita - Hounan gave them a run in their first game falling 6-5, but it was much easier thereafter for Adachi Niita.
- Kousei Gakuen - Not to be confused with Kousei Gakuin, Kousei Gakuen had made a name for themselves with ace Mizoguchi. He's since moved on, and now Isozaki takes over. He wasn't worked hard in block play as his team won via mercy rule in all games.
- Nisshou Gakushidai Fuzoku - In another powerhouse block, Nishhou Gakushadai won 12-1 and 9-0 to advance.
- Kanto Dai-ichi - Joining them would be Kanto Dai-ichi who perhaps wasn't offensively dominant, but still limited opponents to 2 runs in 2 games.
- Toukaidai Takanawadai - Another Toukaidai school advances here in block 18 with a 17-0 combined score.
- Nichidai Sakuragaoka - They defeated home team Toritsu Fuchuu Kougyou on their way to super-regional play.
- Toritsu Yukigaya - Yukigaya has been one of the stronger teams in Tokyo (though never able to get over the top), and had no trouble in block 19.
- Shuutoku - Shuutoku falls in that category as well. But they almost lost to Toritsu Jyoutou 3-2.
- Seiritsu Gakuen - We see more solid teams advancing as both Seiritsu Gakuen...
- Souka - and Souka advance out of Block 20. Souka did get a scare against Nichidai-ichi but won 1-0.
- Nichidai Tsurugaoka - How did Nichidai Tsurugaoka, Meijidai Meiji and Waseda Gakuin all end up in one part of one block?? Tsurugaoka survived defeated Meiji 2-1, and then Waseda 3-2 in the final to advance.
- Toritsu Koyamadai - Koyamadai moves on with a good win over Toritsu Fujimori 5-1.
- Seisoku Gakuen - Seisoku almost didn't make it out of the first round, defeating Toritsu Arakawa Kougyou 4-3 before blitzing Seijyou 8-1.
- Toritsu Katakura - No problems for the host team here. 2 and on for them.
- Waseda Jitsugyou - Back to form in block play anyways, Soujitsu advances with ease..
- Toritsu Igusa - Igusa joins the ranks with victories similar to Soujitsu.
- Nichidai-ni - Well, Nichidai-ni once again advances into super-regional play, but still lives in the shadows of their brethren Sanko.
- Taisei - Rounding out the field is Taisei who without a field of their own, beat Tokyo and Jyuunten to move on.
The draws for the super-regionals saw the following:
- Toua Gakuen gets a quadrant mostly to themselves, but Waseda Jitsugyou and upset-minded Ikubunkan lurk in the bracket.
- Kanto Dai-ichi occupy the other quadrant on the same side. Nichidai Buzan and possibly Oberlin await, but it feels like smooth sailing to the semifinals.
- Teikyou seems to possibly have the hardest road with possible opponents along the way including Kousei Gakuen, Toukaidai Sugao, Nichidai Tsurugaoka, and Kokugakuin. To a lesser extent Toritsu Yukigaya and Nichidai-ni are present as well.
- Finally, Shuutoku and Kokugakuin Kugayama round out the last quadrant, though Nichidai Sakuragaoka and Sundai Gakuen could provide some added competition.
Their opponent in the semis would indeed be Kanto Dai-ichi. But they too were almost sent home. Their quarterfinal matchup was indeed Nichidai Buzan, who then took a 3-0 lead, and then a 4-2 lead. However, their pitching staff couldn't hold the lead and gave up 5 runs in the last 3 innings.
Teikyou, for all the good teams in the bracket, actually had trouble against Houyuu Gakuin in the 2nd round - scratching together just 3 runs in an uncharacteristic 3-1 victory. Otherwise, they defeated Kokugakuin, Nisshou Gakushadai Fuzoku and Nichidai Tsurugaoka with little trouble.
Finally, the two incumbents in the final quadrant both fell in the round of 16. Toritsu Fuchuu Higashi outlasted Kokugakuin Kugayama scoring 4 runs in the last 2 innings to win 4-2, while Shuutoku was blitzed by Sundai Gakuen 9-0 in 7 innings. And in the matchup for a spot in the semis, Sundai was able to recover after relinquishing a 2-0 lead with a run in the bottom of the 8th. Ace Kitagawa was able to shut the door in the 9th for the win.
The semis though went scratch. Toua Gakuen still cannot break the ceiling into the realm of the contenders as Kanto Dai-ichi put them out of their misery winning 13-0 in 7. Meanwhile, Teikyou put Sundai Gakuen behind the 8-ball early with 4 runs on their way to a 6-1 win.
That put two familiar faces in the finals with Kanto Dai-ichi and Teikyou. Yet in the championship game, Teikyou experienced a power outage unseen for such a team. Ace Kitagawa held the offensive-minded team to just 1 hit in a CG shutout! That means that the Tokyo representative is:
Automatic Bid - Kanto Dai-ichi (2nd title, 1st in 3 years) - 4th appearance, 1st in 4 years
Kanto Super-Regional (4 bids + 1 floating bid with Tokyo)
Kanto's Super-Regional this year is being held in Yamanashi. As such, they will receive one extra bid to the Super-Regional this time around.
So, let's go backwards from Yamanashi and head northeast!
Yamanashi
My favorite team here is no secret, it's Nihon Koukuu (i.e. Japan Aviation Academy). I mean how often is it you have an aviation school actually decent in baseball? Ok, that's an obvious question, but you get my point.
Sadly, those days seem to be behind them. They fell 4-1 to Fuji Kawaguchiko in the quarterfinals.
The vacuum in the prefecture has been fought over in recent years. Yamanashi Gakuindai Fuzoku laid claim to it for a while, but also lost in the quarters to Kofu Kougyou. The same fate (and same score) befell Fuji Gakuen as well to Kofu Nishi.
The team to carry the flag (for now anyways), is Toukaidai Kofu. They blanked Kofu Nishi 7-0 to claim their 7th title and 1st in 6 years.
Joining Toukaidai Kofu and Kofu Nishi would be Kofu Kougyou. They edged out Fuji Kawaguchiko 4-3 in the 3rd place game.
Kanagawa
Kanagawa has small round-robin play that sends players to the prefecturals. 89 teams plus the Natsu Koushien representative Yokohama would advance.
A lot of the usual subjects advanced into prefectural play, so let's head straight there.
The draw saw Yokohama occupied the upper left hand corner of the bracket. The only notable name in their bracket is Toukou Gakuen. Their only other competition in the other quadrant to Yokohama could be Yokohama Shoudai and Touin Gakuen. That meant a lot of the well known names drew themselves on the other half. And in the upper right quadrant, there were quite a few of them. Toukaidai Sagami, Nichidai Fujisawa and Yokohama Hayato. Finally, Keiou occupies the lower right part of the bracket.
As expected, Toukou Gakuen gave Yokohama a good run for their money, but Yokohama prevailed 4-3. They then breezed through to the semis. Also as expected Yokohama Shoudai advanced without issue, as Touin Gakuen fell 9-0 to Tachibana Gakuen (立花学園).
Toukaidai Sagami only had to face Nichidai Fujisawa and defeated them 6-2. Shounan Gakuen was the last line of defense before the semis, but they were shutout 4-0. Their opponent though would not be Keiou, They were breezing through the quadrant until they faced Busou. Someone actually put the game up here. Busou managed to pull off the upset 4-2 and advance to the semis!
However, their run would end there. Toukaidai Sagami would jump out to an early lead and not relinquish it. Busou fought back to make the score respectable, but they lost 8-6.
Their fellow finalist would be no surprise as Yokohama won 5-1 over Yokohama Shoudai. In that final, Yokohama would once again build an early lead, and almost like their game against Chiben Gakuen, almost gave it up. Sagami scored 2 runs before reliever Souma would record the final out to preserve Yokohama's back-to-back fall titles (15th overall).
Chiba
Summer representative Narashino would get a free pass to the prefectural brackets. Everyone else would have to qualify in pool play (Chiba has 1 round of pool play, and then a repechage between all pool non-winners).
Notable teams to advance in the 1st stage were Chiba Meitoku, Kei-ai Gakuen, Shiritsu Funabashi, Senshuudai Matsudo, Chiba Eiwa, Narita, and Kisaradzu Sougou.
Teams that advanced out of the 2nd stage included Shigakukan, Chiba Keizaidai Fuzoku, Toukaidai Urayasu, Seibudai Chiba, Toukaidai Bouyou, and Chiba Kei-ai.
The draw for the prefecturals left some pretty barren areas. The only name in the upper left quadrant was Kisaradzu Sougou. Joining them in the lower left quadrant was Chiba Keizaidai Fuzoku, Kei-ai Gakuen, Toukaidai Urayasu, Chiba Eiwa and Seibudai Chiba.
On the other side, Narashino would have to take the long road to the title, one that would have to include a 2nd round match with Narita. But if they were able to survive that, the road would get much easier.
Furthermore, only Toukaidai Bouyou and Senshuudai Matsudo remained in the final quadrant.
Despite having the quadrant all to themselves, Kisaradzu Sougou was unable to advance to the quarterfinals after losing to Matsudo Kokusai 12-7. That opened the door in the quadrant and Kashiwa Nittai flew right through leveling the aforementioned Matsudo Kokusai 10-0 to advance to the semis. Their opponent would be Chiba Eiwa who just got by Chiba Keizaidai Fuzoku 3-2.
Unfortunately for Kashiwa Nittai, Chiba Eiwa's been looking for this moment to get to the finals for a while now and Nittai would never lead in the game, falling 6-1.
Meanwhile, Narashino indeed was in a dogfight with Narita but prevailed 5-4. However in the quarterfinals they struggled against Shiritsu Kashiwa. While apparently there is video of this game, I haven't watched it, but Narashino would wind up falling 4-3! Toukaidai Bouyou and Senshuudai Matsudo did meet in the quarterfinals and while Senshuudai appeared score-wise to be better, Toukaidai Bouyou won the game 4-2.
And in the semis, Toukaidai Bouyou continued their run with a slim 1-0 win over the upstart Kashiwa squad.
So the finals were between 2 teams that had been close before, but had been unable to break through in recent years. The game was scoreless for the first couple of innings, but Bouyou finally opened the scoring in the 5th and added an insurance run in the 6th. Satou was holding Chiba Eiwa scoreless, but when he gave up a 1-out double to Kimura, the ball would be handed to Noma who had helped in the 1-0 shutout.
That's when it went horribly wrong.
His first batter, Sekimoto, would single to left scoring Kimura to make it 2-1. Nemoto then singled back to Noma and Ogino would reach on an error to load the bases. Noma would only get out of the mess by getting the next 2 batters to ground out.
The 9th wouldn't give Noma any respite either. After retiring the first batter, he would give up a walk and 2 consecutive hits to load the bases. Sekimoto would once again be Noma's worst enemy, delivering yet another single scoring 2 and giving Chiba Eiwa the lead.
Noma would be eventually charged with 5 runs and Chiba Eiwa would win their 2nd fall title, and 1st in 18 years.
Saitama
Saitama still amazes me in that they seem to be a metropolitian prefecture, and yet they cannot for some reason produce a Koushien championship-type team. They give average teams, but not the calibur that we might think. Hanasaki Tokuharu, Urawa Gakuin, and Seibou Gakuen dominate the scene, only Seibou's championship run in the 2008 Haru Koushien stands out (which when I look back at it, they defeated Riseisha, Ryuukokudai Heian and Chiba Keizaidai Fuzoku before losing to Higashihama's Okinawa Shoukagu.
So it's no surprise that all three made it out of pool play (Natsu Koushien representative Hanasaki Tokuharu has to qualify like everyone else). Joining them would be Kasukabe Kyouei, home of Lucky Star and a good baseball team that just can't get past the Big 3.
It's also no surprise that all 4 made it to the quarterfinals (being seeded and all). Only Urawa Gakuin though had no trouble in their games leading up to the Final 4 - Seibou Gakuin beat Oomiya Higashi 1-0 in their first game, Kasukabe Kyouei defeated Shouhei 1-0 in the quarterfinals, and Hanasaki Tokuharu beat Oomiya Nishi 3-2 also in the 1st round.
In the semis, Seibou Gakuen rallied in the 7th and 8th innings to take a 1-run lead over Urawa Gakuin. It looked like perhaps Urawa Gakuin's hard game may prove fatal.
But in the bottom of the 9th Urawa would come from behind and rally for a 5-4 sayonara win.
In the other semi, Kasukabe Kyouei's struggles continue. They spot 6 runs right off the bat to Hanasaki Tokuharu, and while they rally to within 1 in the 5th inning, it's wiped away in one fell swoop when Tokuharu scores 5 in the 6th. They'll have to wait for the summer once again falling 12-10.
The finals started out to be a closely contested match as Urawa would go up 3-0 only to see Tokuharu tie it up shortly thereafter. However, the pitching would fail them late as Urawa Gakuin claims their 3rd consecutive fall title and 12th overall with an 11-3 win.
Gunma
As much as I lament about Saitama, I think the same thing about Gunma as well. Taking it further I can only remember Kiryuu Dai-ichi and this past summer's representative Takasaki Kenkoudai Fukushi. Only after going back I am reminded that Tokyo Noudai-ni was from Gunma too (when an agricultural school makes it I tend to root for them as again, when do you see a school for agriculture developing a good baseball team?).
But outside of those 3, I couldn't name any other team without looking (Maebashi Ikuei for instance).
So when Kiryuu Dai-ichi lost to Maebashi Ikuei 9-0, who in turn lost to Takasaki 4-3 in the quarterfinals, it seemeed all but secured for Takasaki Kenkoudai Fukushi.
And in fact, with a 7-2 win over the aforementioned Takasaki, Takasaki Kenkoudai Fukushi secured their first ever fall title!
Tochigi
It's funny to think that I remember more teams from Tochigi than Gunma and Saitama, and yet I don't recall outside of Sakushin Gakuin this past summer any team really making any significant run once they reach Koushien. In fact when I looked it up, it was Kokugakuin Tochigi that made the last type of run in 2000 making it to the semifinals losing to Chiben Wakayama.
As of late, the teams competing for the prefecture include the aforementioned Sakushin Gakuin, Bunsei Geidai Fuzoku and Hakuoudai Ashikaga.
Now both Sakushin and Hakuoudai both breezed through the early stages setting up a semifinal match between the two. Meanwhile Bunsei Geidai had 3 tough games against Yaita Chuo, Oyama Minami and Utsunomiya Kita - not especially strong teams. They'd draw Utsunomiya Kougyou, a team that's been to Koushien before - just not in a while.
In that semifinal, Utsunomiya Kougyou was able to stifle Bunsei's offense early, but as they headed into the late innings, Bunsei Geidai was finally able to pull away in the 6th for a 6-1 win guaranteeing a spot in the Super-Regionals.
Meanwhile, Sakushin was getting all they could handle from Hakuoudai Ashikaga. After trailing 3-0 in the first, they quickly rally to take a 5-3 lead... only to see that evaporate just as quickly. And when they tried to pull away with a run in the 4th and 5th, Hakuoudai pulled within one again in the 6th. Finally Sakushin would close the door with a pair of runs late to reach the finals.
Now, despite the struggles for Bunsei Geidai Fuzoku, they proved to be a formidable opponent in the final. The teams continued to throw donuts onto the scoreboard inning after inning. It soon looked like we'd be headed into extras.
But in the top of the 9th, Takayama for Sakushin finally had enough. He blasts a 2-run homerun giving them the lead and most probably the win. Ootani would throw one more shutout inning his team's 15th victory and 1st since 2002.
Ibaraki
Despite having just 98 teams, Ibaraki elects to put their teams through pool play.
And until recently, the prefecture was dominated by Jyousou Gakuin. Fun fact, going through the history of Ibaraki's representatives, they actually had won a spring and summer title early in the 'aughties. I randomly picked the 2003 title and wouldn't you know, they defeated Darvish and Tohoku for the title!
What's happened since then to the prefecture? Jyousou has relinquished their place at the top to teams such as Shimotsuma Dai-ni and Suijyou (who showed so much promise, but now appears to have been a one-hit wonder despite continuing to be at the top of the prefecture).
Now all 3 teams made it out of pool play and were seeded along with Mito Shougyou. Other notable teams to have advanced included Kasumigaura (home to the Hiiragi shrine from Lucky Star, though their baseball team has gotten better in recent years - how come Nishinomiya Kita hasn't??), Tsuchiura Nichidai and Mito Sakuranomaki (that's Ken's team due to their uniforms). The latter two drew each other in the first round.
Not surprisingly, all 4 seeded teams advanced to the semifinals. Kasumigaura gave Jyousou Gakuin a scare in the quarterfinals, but ultimately fell 3-2 in 10 innings.
The semifinals though, were not as contested as I expected. Suijyou, despite not giving up a run to this point was instead shutout 5-0 to Jyousou Gakuin. On the other side, Mito Shougyou was outclassed by Shimotsuma Dai-ni 4-2. Despite the score, they were never in it.
So 2 chalk teams advance to the Super-Regionals. Questioin was, who would claim the title. Though Shimotsuma would make the first strike, it was Jyousou Gakuin who had the final laugh, winning 3-1. Interestingly enough, despite dominating the Natsu qualifying, it has been 11 years since they have won the fall title (5th overall).
Super-Regionals
So we had our teams, now came the draw. And again, the randomness comes into play. Upper left quadrant has teams the likes of Takasaki Kenkoudai Fukushi (Gunma 1), Bunsei Geidai Fuzoku (Tochigi 2), Chiba Eiwa (Chiba 1) and Kofu Nishi (Yamanashi 2). Not exactly a list of champions.
Meanwhile in the lower left, Urawa Gakuin (Saitama 1), Toukaidai Sagami (Kanagawa 2), Jyousou Gakuin (Ibaraki 1) and Kofu Kougyou (Yamanashi 3) filled in the half. Much harder.
It got worse. Occupying the upper right was Sakushin Gakuin (Tochigi 1), Hanasaki Tokuharu (Saitama 2), Yokohama (Kanagawa 1) and Shimotsuma Dai-ni (Ibaraki 2).
Finally, rounding out the field was Toukaidai Bouyou (Chiba 2), Takasaki (Gunma 2), and Toukaidai Koufu (Yamanashi 1). Certainly a weak quadrant that was already short of teams.
Unsurprisingly, quadrant 1 saw three shutouts. The winner was the team who was a summer representative, Takasaki Kenkoudai Fukushi as ace Miki threw back-to-back complete games.
Ibaraki's futility continues as Jyousou Gakuin was not competitive against the weakest team in the bracket, Kofu Kougyou losing 5-3. Toukaidai Sagami's offensive appears to have left them as Urawa Gakuin beats them in the middle innings 3-1.
Sakushin Gakuin successfully proved that their run in the summer was not a fluke as they not only defeated Hanasaki Tokuharu handily, but also defeated Yokohama 6-2! 6-2! Yokohama's troubles at the end of games continues as they gave up a pair of runs in the 8th and 9th innings in the loss.
Finally, Takasaki manages to defeat both Toukai schools, both by a score of 4-2, and both in the latter half of the game! Though they're not of the caliber as Sagami, it's still a good feat.
Semifinal action saw Takasaki Kenkoudai Fukushi unable to keep up with Urawa Gakuin, despite scoring 2 quick runs in the 1st. Urawa would score 7 unanswered runs and cruise from there winning 11-7. Takasaki too was outmatched by Best 4 Sakushin Gakuin. They lost 6-3.
This almost all but guaranteed that Urawa Gakuin and Sakushin Gakuin would earn Haru Koushien invites. But to guarantee themselves one, they had to win one more game.
The winner would be Urawa Gakuin. Though Sakushin's 4 different pitchers limited damage to 3 innings, they were not able to record a run against Urawa's triumvirate of pitchers. Urawa Gakuin would win their 2nd consecutive title (3rd overall) and another bid to Koushien!
Automatic Bid - Urawa Gakuin (Saitama) - 8th appearance, 2nd consecutive
Projected Bid - Sakushin Gakuin (Tochigi) - 9th appearance, 1st in 8 years
Projected Bid - Takasaki Kenkoudai Fukushi (Gunma) - 9th appearance, 1st in 8 years
Projected Bid - Takasaki (Gunma) - 2nd appearance, 1st in 31 years
Friday, May 27, 2011
2011 Haru Taikai - Kanto Taikai
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.
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
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!
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.
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
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!
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