Day 5 - Game 3 - Seiryou Koukou vs. Nagasaki Nichidai

I wasn't sure what to expect from this matchup as I had not seen either of these ball clubs before. But I figured this would be a game where the teams would be scuffling.

Seiryo would open the game with a scoring opportunity. 1B Shimauchi-kun begins with a single through the right side. 2B Kitakaze-kun would move him along to 2nd. Maruyama follows by trying to sneak one up the middle, but P Uraguchi-kun snags it, turns and finds Shimauchi caught in-between second and third, and tag him out 1-5-6. It's too bad as ace Takagi would hit a liner past the leaping 3B Shibata-kun.

Nagasaki Nichidai would have their own opportunity in the bottom of the frame. SS Nagata-kun starts by being beaned. 1B Deguchi-kun sends him along to second. But ace Takagi would get C Kamito-kun to fly to left and ace Uraguchi to strike out on a 1-2 slider.

Seiryo would get another chance in the 3rd inning. Shimauchi would once again reach base with a walk. Kitakaze once again moves him to second. Maruyama again hits it to the P, but Shimauchi stays put this time around. And Takagi delivers another hit, this time through the right side and plating Shimauchi for the early 1-0 lead!

The teams would continue to scuffle, with Nagasaki getting another opportunity in the bottom of the 5th. LF Sunohara-kun starts with a liner to right field, but the team is denied after 2B Setoguchi-kun's bunt goes right to P Takagi who starts the 1-6-4 double play.

(Note: I knew this earlier because I had wiki-ied it before, but I just plain forgot. During the 5th inning stretch, the announcer on the Seiryo Koukou's oen-dan side was interviewing one of the baseball club's members. It turns out that he was a relative of Matsui Hideki who also attended the school! I did not catch, however, how he was related to him.)

Nagasaki would get another chance in the 6th. Deguchi hits a short liner to center. Arai-kun runs in and tries to make a sliding catch. But he loses track of the ball and it falls behind him. Kamito follows that up with a liner to right field putting runners at the corners with no out. Disaster seems inevitable and P Uraguchi singles to left-center gap, plating Deguchi. As Arai goes to field the ball, he can't get a hold of it and the runners advance into scoring position! After RF Magaribuchi-kun strikes out, CF Itadani-kun gives Nagasaki the lead with a sacrifice fly to right.

Seiryo would try to answer right back. With one out, Shimauchi would hit a slow roller down the first base line. But instead of rolling foul, the Koshien infield keeps it in play! On an 0-1 count to Kitakaze, Shimauchi steals second on a bang-bang play! Kitakaze can't help out as he grounds to the pitcher, bringing Maruyama, who so far is 0 for 3 and hasn't hit the ball out of the infield. And on a 1-2 count Shimauchi takes things into his own hands. He runs for third and appears to get there before the ball - but he over-slides third and he is helpless as 3B Shibata reapplies the tag and he's called out to end the inning.

That would be the last chance for Seiryo as Nagasaki Nichidai would tack on another run in the 7th and win 3-1.