高校野球 (Kokoyakyu)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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