Day 12 - Game 2 - Okinawa Shogaku vs. Tenri Koukou (Nara)

The final team to the Best 4 would be determined here. Tenri had cruised so far with a hot offense and the submarining Iguchi. Okinawa Shogaku has advanced behind the strong defense and pitching of Higashihama. Their offense hasn’t been great, but it’s been enough to advance.

Okinawa Shogaku
CF Iko
RF Ishimine
SS Nishimei
2B Nakasone
1B Hateruma
C Minei
LF Futenma
P Uehara
3B Takaho

Tenri
C Suzuki
LF Kitayama
3B Geshi
CF Okuda
1B Furuta
SS Yamashita
2B Maeda
RF Tachibana
P Iguchi

Okinawa has made more roster changes this time around. Futenma replaces Shingami in LF possibly because of his poor performance at the plate. He also elects to sit Higashihama for the start of his game as well, hoping to rest him for the stretch run.

From the beginning, it looks like Uehara is having control issues. He walks Suzuki on 4 straight. After a sac bunt, Geshi also walks on 4 straight. To make matters worse, he throws a wild pitch to Okuda allowing the runners to advance. But he gets Okuda to pop out on a 3-1 pitch instead of possibly looking for a walk. And then Furuta flies to left to end the inning.

In the 2nd, Uehara continues to struggle. He gives up a single to left to Yamashita. Then, he hits Maeda. Tachibana bunts the runners along looking for a base hit to possibly score 2. Iguchi can’t do it as he strikes out looking. However, Suzuki does deliver with a single to center scoring Yamashita. But the inning ends abruptly as Suzuki is caught stealing 2nd.

Tenri’s taken the lead, but not for long. Top 3, 2 down for Okinawa Shougyou and the lineup turns over back to Iko. Iguchi makes his first mistake of the night, leaving a ball up in the zone that Iko takes to deep left center for a triple. Then Ishimine lines one to Furuta, and it’s off his glove and trickles into RF and Iko scores. And on the first pitch to Nishime, Ishimine steals 2nd! And on the next pitch, Nishime singles to center scoring Ishimine and giving Okisho the lead.

But that lead doesn’t last long either. Bottom 4 for Tenri and Furuta is up to bat. Uehara falls behind 2-0 and Furuta punishes him for falling behind with a screaming liner down the left field line that keeps going and going and leaves the park to tie the game!

Okisho’s manager lets Uehara finish the inning, then pinch hits for him in the top of the 5th. Uehara hasn’t been bad, but Tenri’s making this closer than he’d like. Kinjyou, who was pulled from the starting lineup for Hateruma, gets to pinch hit for Uehara. He makes the most of it by singling to left. Takaho moves him along to 2nd, turning the lineup over for Iko again. And today he seems to have Iguchi’s number. He hits one to the left field wall scoring Kinjyou and reclaiming the lead for Okisho.

And with Higashihama in the game, he starts shutting down the Tenri offense. With the lead, this doesn’t bode well for Tenri either. In fact, they would only get 4 baserunners in the final 5 innings en route to a 4-2 loss. Iguchi pitched solidly for the game, but Higashihama in relief of Uehara shuts the door. Okisho continues to march on with their ace Higashihama. One has to wonder if he can be stopped because when he’s in the game, it’s almost lights out for the opposition.


Player Lines
Iko (Okinawa Shogaku) - 2-3, 2B, 3B, R
Ishimine (Okinawa Shogaku) - 1-2, 2RBI
Higashihama (Okinawa Shogaku) - W, 5 IP, 0ER, 3K, 0BB
Suzuki (Tenri) - 2-3, RBI, BB
Furuta (Tenri) - 2-4, 2B, HR, R, RBI
Yamashita (Tenri) - 2-4, K
Iguchi (Tenri) - L, CG, 4ER, 3K, 2BB