高校野球 (Kokoyakyu)

Our first matinee game feature another 21st century team squaring off against the starwart of Fukushima prefecture.

Seikou Gakuin has been rather successful in Fukushima, representing the prefecture at Natsu Koushien more times than not.  Their MO at Koushien is pretty much the same as their run in the fall - strong against the teams they should beat, but struggle as the competition reaches Koushien-level teams.

Ishii Naru is the ace of the staff, and will be relied upon to carry the team.  He doesn't throw particularly hard, and manages to strike out a shade above 7 per 9.  However, he did struggle against Moriokadai Fuzoku and Sendai Ikuei.

Offensively, the team manages to score runs in each game, but the offense overall isn't that strong just managing a meager 0.258 BA.  LF Yaoita Hyuuma occupies the #3 position and is the main driver for the team.

Masuda Shouyou is their opening opponent, a 21st century entry.  The school had done well in prefecture, but was eliminated in the opening round of the super-regional, shutout by Iwakuni 3-0.

The team doesn't use their bench, outside of reliever Terado Masahiko who is used equally with ace Yanai Yuuto.  But man, neither pitcher really instills confidence in their team.  Yanai had peripherals of 4.55 K/9, 1.48 WHIP and Terado doesn't fare much better at 2.08 K/9 (!) and 1.29 WHIP.

Offensively, the team only relies on the 3-4-5 batters to drive in their runs, because the rest of the lineup is very ineffective.  The batters do make contact, but are retired more often than not.

With a punchless lineup and a shallow, if not non-existent bench, it is hard to see Masuda Shouyou emerging with a win.

Masuda Shouyou (Shimane) - 21st Century Team
RF Suenaga Shou
2B Miyano Hiroki
SS Ishida Youhei
3B Nakamoto Kouta
C Horita Yuuma
CF Saitou Arashi
1B Morishita Seiya (#15)
P Terado Masahiko (#10)
LF Mineo Tsuyoshi

Seikou Gakuin (Fukushima) - Tohoku Runner-up
SS Ishigaki Mitsuhiro
2B Ishino Yuuta
CF Yaoita Hyuuma (#7)
1B Sonobe Satoshi
RF Satou Shouhei
LF Sakatani Ryou (#8)
3B Nishimura Daiki
C Hirota Yuuta (#12)
P Ishii Naru

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13:15 - First pitch!

Top 1st
First pitch is a slider for a strike.  Ishii works fast and before you know it Suenaga swings and misses on an outside slider for strike 3.

Ishii had a slider, curve, and change, and the Masuda batters are flailing away.  Miyano swings and misses on a changeup away.  And Ishida hits a lazy fly to center and the side is retired.

Bottom 1st
Right off the bat Terado throws a slider and slow curve for two strikes, and Ishigaki can't check his swing for strike 3!

Ishino gets around on a fastball inside, but is under it and flies out to right.

And Yaoita is fooled on a changeup and pops out to Ishida to retire the side.

Top 2nd
2nd year Ishii tops out at around the low 130s.  So he's pretty much speed-wise like most pitchers.

His control though is pretty good.  He's spotting his locations most of the time, and not missing in the wrong places.

As a result, this half-inning he induces 3 groundouts to retire the side in order.  But there is some willingness to work the count by the Masuda batters,

Bottom 2nd
Sonobe reaches down on a slide away and pulls it into left for a base hit.  Mineo boots the ball in front of him allowing Sonobe to reach 2nd.  Satou successfully bunts the runner along despite Terado getting to the ball quickly.

Sakatani gets the job done as he hits a slow grounder to short.  Ishida's only play is to 1st and Seikou Gakuin leads 1-0.

Nishimura can't check his swing and goes down to end the inning, but a base hit with the help of an error leads to the opening run.

Top 3rd
Morishita makes a bid for a base hit up the middle, but it's slow enought that Nishimura can run it down, twirl and make a throw to beat a diving Morishita (*insert rant*).

Terado takes a half-swing on a ball down in the zone and flies out to left.

Mineo makes contact, but it's off the end of the bat and a routine grounder to Ishino for the 3rd out.

Bottom 3rd
Hirota with a ball to the right side.  Miyano is there, but double clutches!  That allows Hirota to reach safely!

Ishii tries to lay down the bunt, but cannot, even on 2 strikes and thus strikes out.

Back to the top of the order and Ishigaki, and he can't advance the runner!  He hits a towering fly that Ishida fields in shallow center.

Ishino with a blooper to center falls in!  Runners at the corners with 2 down.

Yaoita though reaches down and swings on the first pitch.  Mineo is there for the out.

Top 4th
I think what I've been seeing from the home plate umpires is the tendency to call the low strike.  As a result, the Masuda batters are swinging on low pitches.  Suenaga goes down on such a pitch despite the claim he fouled it off.

Miyano with a ball back up the middle past a diving Ishino for Masuda's first base hit!

Aw.. but he's promptly picked off 1st.

Ishida gives the ball a ride to left, but not far enough.  Sakatani camps a couple of steps in front of the fence to make the catch.

Bottom 4th
Sonobe gets on top of a high slider and singles back up the middle.  Satou once again lays down the sac bunt.

Sakatani though can't move the runner along as he's jammed into a popup back to Terado.

Terado has a routine grounder from Nishimura, but Ishida misses it! It glances off his glove into left!  Sonobe stops at 3rd, but Masuda Shouyou is in trouble!

Hirota smases a letter high pitch from Terado!  Mineo runs back, but it's over his head!  Both runners score on the 2-RBI double!  It's 3-0 Seikou!

Terado finally gets out of the inning on a comebacker from Ishii, but the error proves costly.  And while Seikou Gakuin isn't top-tier, you cannot afford mistakes to them.

Top 5th
While Saitou tries to make it interesting by running the count full, Masuda Shouyou goes down in order.  It doesn't appear that their offense is capable of getting on base, much less mounting a 3-run rally.  In fact, Ishii has faced the minimum so far despite giving up a base hit.

Bottom 5th
Ishigaki up for the 3rd time already and he collects his first hit - a comebacker through to center.  Saitou-tries the hit-and-run, but Ishino has to swing on a pitch down and in and pops out to Hirota.

Yaoita hits a grounder to 1st and Morishita is there quickly.  But the SS tells him to go to first.  By that time though it's too late and Yaoita is in safely!  From the replay, I think the 3rd base umpire was actually in the line of sight to 2nd and thus forced Morishita to go to 1st.

Terado gets Sonobe to pop one up!  Nakamoto in foul territory camps under it, but then quickly shuffles back towards fair territory and misses the ball!  It still falls foul, but they can't secure the out!

And that allows Sonbe to make a productive out, grounding out to 3rd and advancing the runners.

It doesn't matter!  Satou, finally free to swing away, gets a hold of a hanging curve and blasts it to center!  Saitou runs back, but that one bounds in front of the fence for a 2-RBI triple!  The rout is on at 5-0.

Sakatani pops out to end the inning, but as we head to the break it has taken a while, but Seikou Gakuin is exerting their dominance in the game.

Top 6th
Defensive change for Seikou as Yaoita and Sakatani return to their numbered positions.

One down for Masuda and Terado collects their 2nd hit, a liner to shallow left.

Mineo tries to bunt the runner over, but three bunts on a pitch way outside and fouls out, much to the displeasure of Hayato-kantoku.

Suenaga pops out to Ishida and the side is retired

Bottom 6th
One down for Seikou and Terado isn't getting the low strike and thus walks Hirota.  Ishii bunts him along for the top of the order.

Ishigaki flies out to center though, and finally Terado gets to post a 0.

Top 7th
After two pop outs, cleanup batter Nakamoto lines a ball to left for a solid base hit.  But he's left stranded when Horita flies out to right.

Bottom 7th
One down and Yaoita gets a base hit thanks to an irregular hop that goes off of Miyano's glove.

Ahead of Sonobe 1-2, Terado goes back-to-back curveballs with Sonobe lining the 2nd back into right-center.

With runners at the corners Saitou-kantoku does the ol' steal 2nd, stall and steal home trick.  And it works to make it 6-0.

Satou then takes a Terado offering over Saitou's head and to the wall for a triple.  7-0.

That's the end of Terado's day.  Ace Yanai comes in, while #17 Itou comes in to hit for Sakatani.  He hits a grounder to short, but Ishida bobbles it and another run scores to make it 8-0.

Hirota flies out to end the inning, but Seikou tacks on a couple more runs.

Top 8th
#18 Isagi comes on for PH Itou and takes over in CF.

It's another uneventful inning for Masuda as the batters go quickly in order.

Bottom 8th
Yanai almost gets a quick 1-2-3 inning, but Ishino breaks it up with a single to center.

But Yaoita flies out to right, and it's just three more outs before Seikou Gakuin advances to the next round.

Top 9th
Last chance for Masuda Shouyou.  #3 Terado Takuto comes in to hit for Mineo... and promptly goes down swinging.

Suenaga and Miyano follow suit and Seikou Gakuin advances by the final score of 8-0.

Unfortunately for Masuda Shouyou, errors and poor hitting ultimately led to their loss today.  They should still be happy to have reached Koushien, and while they were outmatched, it was to be expected.

Meanwhile Seikou Gakuin pretty much did what they needed to do in the game today.  They'll get a couple of days off before regrouping to face Naruto.


Notable Players

Ishii Naru (Seikou Gakuin) - CG, W, 0 R, 3 H, 8 K, 0 BB
Sonobe Satoshi (Seikou Gakuin) - 3-4, 3 R
Satou Shouhei (Seikou Gakuin) - 2-3, 2 3B, R, 3 RBI
Hirota Yuuta (Seikou Gakuin) - 2-3, 2B, 2 R, BB
Yanai Yuuto (Masuda Shouyou) - 1.2 IP, 0 R, H, K
Nakamoto Kouta (Masuda Shouyou) - 1-3

Well, it turns out there were two teams that weren't in my actual predictions:

Tohoku Memorial Bid - Yamagata Chuo (2nd appearance, 1st in 3 years) - C
Yamagata Chuo is still a curious choice to me.  The exclusion of Sakata Minami made some sense, but I really did believe that Aomori Yamada would be invited.

But, with Yamagata Chuo receiving the Tohoku Memorial Bid, it's possible that the committee had different criteria for making this particular selection.

I have little on Yamagata Chuo, though actually a bit more than I first thought.  They did have a in-prefecture quality win against Yonezawa Chuo in the semi-finals before losing to Sakata Minami 3-2 in the final.

Their ace is righty Ishikawa Naoya (石川直也), while their main reliever is southpaw Takahashi Kazuki (高橋和希) - yes, I managed to find videos.  Their captain is Matsuzawa Shouta (松沢昇太), and their kantoku, Shouji Hideyuki (庄司秀幸) is a young 36 years old.

But that's about all I could find.  They've had rather bad 1st round draws (Nichidai-san and Kyushu Gakuin back in 2010), and a more favorable one this year might lead to their first win at Koushien.  Still, they probably won't get very far.


21st Century Bid - Masuda Shouyou (1st appearance) - C-
Masuda Shouyou was another surprising choice in my opinion, though in retrospect it was not as shocking of a selection as I first thought.

Their resume is unfortunately not very stellar.  After some low scoring games in the prefectural tournament, they had to rally from behind in the semifinals to defeat Masuda Higashi 6-5, then staved off elimination twice (once in extra innings) to defeat Hamada by the same 6-5 score in 13 innings to win the Shimane title.  Still, they were shutout 3-0 by Iwakuni in the first round.

Here I do not have much more information.  Their manager is a very young (28) Hayato Katsuya (早戸克也), their captain is 3B Nakamoto Kouta (中本康太) and their ace is Terado Masashi(?) (寺戸雅).

But that's about all I can find.


So that covers the entire field.  Now comes the wait until the draw!