Day 9 - Game “0” - Kagoshima Kougyou (Kagoshima) vs. Heian Koukou (Kyoto)

I’ve called this the “0” game since this game was added into the schedule for today. Just two days ago, these two teams battled to a 3-3 tie, capped of with an amazing play at the plate to preserve the tie. Their reward? To do it all over again. Today, the clouds have appeared in the skies and a light rain is falling. Will we see another thriller on the grounds at Koushien?

Kagoshima Kougyou
CF Ootou
RF Fukusako
SS Noumaru
1B Nakasone
LF Uchimaru
C Hashimoto
2B Tashiro
3B Ishigami
P Ishidou

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

Kagoshima makes only one change in their lineup. Uchimura moves off the mound to left field, and Ishidou takes over in Ooshige’s spot. Heian makes quite a few changes. Most notably is that Uwaki is benched by Heian’s manager after his poor defensive play in the prior game. Aoki takes his place. Also, Kodama and Fukuda & Kouno and Aratake switch places. But Kawaguchi will take the mound once again.

But I wonder if when they talked about this game being a replay that they meant that this game would look just like the last one. Because neither team really gets anything started. Ootou does start off the game with a base hit, but nothing comes of it. Ishidou gets a one out base hit in the 3rd, but that too leads to nothing.

A better opportunity comes in the 4th for Kagoshima. Noumaru starts with a leadoff walk. Nakasone bunts him along. Uchimura works the count full, but strikes out. On the strikeout though, Noumaru takes 3rd! But the clutch hit is nowhere to be found as Hashimoto strikes out to end the inning.

Heian up until now has only had 2 2-out singles so far. Then in the 4th, again with 2 down, Kodama takes the first pitch to deep RF. Fukusako instead of running back backpedals instead. It looks like he’s got it under control, he reaches out and no! It comes out of his glove and Kodama hustles around for a triple! But they still need that clutch hit to get him home. And Kouno delivers with a single up the middle!! Kodama scores and Heian has the 1-0 lead! With the way the teams are playing and given that they played 2 days ago, would this be enough?

Top 5, Ishigami gets a one out infield single and he’s bunted over. But he’s stranded. Then in the 6th, Fukusako singles up the middle. Noumaru grounds into a fielders choice. With 2 down, Uchimura singles through the left side putting runners at 1st and 2nd. But Hashimoto strands them again.

That would be the day for Kagoshima Kougyou. They’d get one more chance in the 8th with a 2 out single, but that would be it. If Fukusako had played that fly ball by Kodama better, the game could’ve possibly gone into extras yet again as neither team had any offense to speak of. In fact, there were only 10 hits between the 2 teams. While Heian won the game, it’s going to be tough for them to advance in the next round.


Player Lines
Ishidou (Kagoshima) - L, CG, 1ER, 4H, 4K, 0BB
Kodama (Heian) - 1-3, 3B, R, K
Kouno (Heian) - 1-3, RBI, K
Kawaguchi (Heian) - W, CG, 0ER, 6H, 6K, 0BB