Day 6 - Game 1 - Heian Koukou (Kyoto) vs. Seishou Koukou (Aichi)

The final day before the round of 16 would be busy with the final 4 teams yet to play taking the field. Seishou had defeated Komadai Iwamizwa 3-2 with some late inning work. For Heian Koukou, this was nothing new as they were making their 36th appearance in the Spring Koushien Tournament (although it has been 5 years since their last appearance).

Heian Koukou
3B Marumoto
2B Uki
CF Yamaguchi
LF Kobayashi
1B Fukuda
C Kodama
RF Aratake
SS Kouno
P Kawaguchi

Seishou Koukou
SS Nakagawa
2B Tsuzuki
RF Nakao
1B Suzuki
P Ogawa
LF Kurauchi
C Maruyama
3B Nakamura
CF Miyashita

After a 1-2-3 1st inning on both sides, Heian would get the first scoring chance. Kobayashi lines the first pitch into LF, and Fukuda immediately bunting him along. But Kodama strikes out, leaving the job of getting Kobayashi home to Aratake. And on a 1-0 count, he bloops it to left. Kurauchi sprints in, but it goes under his glove scoring Kobayashi on a RBI double! Kouno then on a full count gets jammed by Ogawa, but he too bloops the ball - this time down the RF line scoring Aratake. The pressure continues to be put on Ogawa as on a 1-2 count, Kouno steals 2nd! Ogawa's definitely flustered and he walks Kawaguchi turning the lineup over. He manages to get the count to 1-2, but then Marumoto grounds one past the reach of Nakamura plating Kouno and giving Heian the 3-0 lead.

On the flip side, Seishou had trouble hitting the flame-throwing Kawaguchi (who hit the low 150's kph/low 90 mph on the board) early on. Their only 2 baserunners through 5 were via a walk and an error by SS Kouno.

They'd get their opportunity in the 6th. Miyashita takes the first pitch up the middle. Jyouhoku's manager elects to have Nakagawa swing away down 3 and in the 6th. He grounds to Kawaguchi, but as P's do he throws a tailing ball that pulls Kouno off the bag and everyone's safe! Once again, Tsuzuki is allowed to swing away - he grounds out on the first pitch, but more importantly to the right side moving the runners along.

Seishou has a great opportunity to cut into the deficit, and Nakao delivers lining a 156 kph ball to center. Yamaguchi bobbles the ball, and Nakagawa is allowed to score from 2nd, and suddenly it's 3-2 with Nakao on 1st and only 1 down! Cleanup batter Suzuki looks to continue the rally. He grounds one into the gap, but Kouno makes an unbelievable sliding grab and throw to get him out at first! Ogawa now has a chance to help his own cause, but flies to center. Nevertheless, Seishou is only down by 1 and they seem to have gotten to Kawaguchi!

As for Ogawa on the mound, after that 3-run second inning he settles down nicely retiring the side in the 5th-8th innings allowing only 2 runners both on errors.

In the bottom of the 8th, Seishou gets to Kawaguchi again. Miyashita, who started the 6th inning rally, hits one to center. Yamaguchi tries to make the diving catch, but can't and Miyashita goes for 2. But the ball stays close to Yamaguchi and Yamaguchi fires it to Kouno covering and he makes the tag! It's too bad because Nakagawa would walk right afterwards. Fearing the game could be in the balance, Heian's manager pulls Yamaguchi from the game and sends Matsuda (#10) to the mound. But Tsuzuki turns out to be a tough customer, fouling off pitches after falling behind 1-2. Then he finally gets a hold of one lining it to center, bringing up Nakao who earlier hit that single to center scoring 2. This time, he grounds one to Marumoto at 3rd and they turn a splendid 5-4-3 double play to get Heian out of trouble.

Now Heian is looking for an insurance run. Kobayashi lines to center to start and Fukuda bunts him to 2nd. Kodama then lines to LF and there's runners at the corners. Aratake looks to get Kobayashi in, but he pops to shallow center - too shallow to allow him to tag up. Kouno follows that up by striking out looking and now it's hang-on time.

Right off the bat, things look shaky for Matsuda. He nails Suzuki on a 1-2 pitch putting the leadoff batter on. But Jyouhoku presses the issue. Suzuki takes off for 2nd on the first pitch, but he's mowed down 2-6. Again, it's too bad as Ogawa would line a single to LF. But Ogawa would be stranded there and Seishou's run ends at the hands of the experienced Heian squad.


Player Lines
Kobayashi (Heian) - 2-4
Aratake (Heian) - 1-4, 2B, R, RBI
Kawaguchi (Heian) - W, 7+ IP, 3H, 5K, 2BB, ER
Miyashita (Seishou) - 2-3, R
Nakao (Seishou) - 1-4, RBI
Ogawa (Seishou) - L, CG, 3ER, 7H, 4K, BB