Day 13 - Game 2 - Toyodai Himeji Koukou (Hyogo) vs. Okinawa Shougaku

So Seibou is the first to climb up to the penultimate step to the Spring Koushien title. Who’s next? Both teams have gotten here on the strength of their pitching and defense. Toyodai has their ace Satou, while Okinawa has their almost unhittable ace Higashihama. Their lines so far?

Satou (Toyodai Himeji)
vs. Ichinoseki Gakuin - CG, 1R, 4H, 9K, 4BB
vs. Yazu Koukou - CG, 0R, 2H, 9K, 5BB
vs. Chiben Wakayama - CG, 0R, 6H, 9K, 3BB
Tournament to date - 27IP, 1ER, 12H, 27K, 12BB

Higashihama (Okinawa Shougaku)
vs. Seikou Gakuin - CG, 0R, 7H, 4K, 4BB
vs. Meitoku Gijuku - CG, 1R, 7H, 4K, 2BB
vs. Tenri Koukou - 5IP, 0R, 4H, 4K, 0BB
Tournament to date - 23IP, 1ER, 18H, 12K, 6BB

This shapes up to be a heck of a pitchers duel.

Toyodai Himeji
SS Fujii
RF Matsuba
1B Kamei
P Satou
CF Fukunaga
C Matono
LF Noumaru
3B Fukuda
2B Mitani

Okinawa Shougaku
CF Iko
RF Ishimine
SS Nishime
2B Nakasone
1B Hateruma
C Minei
LF Futenma
P Higashihama
3B Takaho

The scoring opens surprisingly early. With two down in the first, Kamei gets a hold of a Higashihama pitch and takes it to the right center field wall and motors around for a stand-up triple! And Satou, after working the count full and fouling up a couple single it back up past Higashihama to score Kamei.

Satou struggles out of the blocks too. He gives up a leadoff hit to Iko. Ishimine hits it back to Satou who tries to go 2nd for the force, but his throw is off and everyone’s safe. After getting Nishime to strike out on 3 straight, Nakasone hits one in front of Fukuda at 3rd. He comes up with the ball, but he drops it and the bases are loaded! With one down, Satou looks to be in trouble. But he gets Hateruma to ground to Fujii at short who goes home for the force. And then Minei pops to short and Satou escapes.

After that surprising opening to the game, the pitchers settle down. Higashihama does get into trouble in the 3rd when he gives up a leadoff double to Fujii. But when Matsuba tries to put down the bunt, he instead pops it up to a charging Higashihama and then proceeds to shut down Toyodai to end the inning.

The pitchers duel continues inning after inning with neither team making any significant headway. It looks like perhaps Toyodai’s lone run may be enough.

But Toyodai doesn’t think so. In the 7th, Noumaru repeats Kamei’s feat in the first and triples to right center. And just like the first inning, the very next batter singles to score him and extend the lead to 2. If one run seemed insurmountable, two runs must be nearly impossible. Worse yet, time is running out on Okinawa Shougaku as they are retired in order in the 7th,

6 outs to go for Toyodai. Takaho begins the inning and hits a shot to the left side. Fujii makes the stop, but has no play at first. While they need two runs, Okisho’s manager elects to bunt. Iko successfully puts it down, and has a runner in scoring position for the first time since the 1st inning. Satou doesn’t care as he gets Ishimine to ground to 2nd. Nishimei looks to extend the inning. He works the count full, fouls off a pitch and then draws a walk. Cleanup hitter Nakasone now gets a chance to close the gap. And he does with a single to right! Takaho scores and Nishime advances to 2nd! But Toyodai still has a one run lead. Kinjyou now comes in to pinch hit for Hateruma, and the pressure is starting to get to Satou. He walks Kinjyou to load the bases and it’s full panic mode for Toyodai Himeji. But there’s no time to react. Minei takes the first pitch to center scoring both Nishime and Nakasone, and in the blink of an eye Okisho has the lead and there’s still only one down with runners at the corners. Uehara’s up to bat (he was a defensive replacement for Futenma in the ? inning). He falls behind 1-2, and Satou throws it away! Uehara swings and misses, but he’s able to reach first. More importantly Kinjyou scores from 3rd and Okisho now has a 4-2 lead!

Much like the championship game of the Summer Koushien last year when Saga Kita came back in the bottom of the 8th to defeat Kouryou, Okisho has done it to Toyodai! Now they must muster a rally against Higashihama if they want to play again. Fukunaga starts it off with an 8 pitch walk. Matono flies out early in the count to left. Suddenly, Higashihama buckles down hard. He strikes out Noumaru, and the final chance lies with Fukuda. He falls behind 1-2 and... he strikes out! Okinawa Shougaku does it! They rally in the 8th for 4 runs to advance to the championship game! It looks like Satou was tiring and buckled under the pressure. But give them credit, they held them down for 7.2 innings but could not put it away. So the table is set for the championship tomorrow. Seibou Gakuen and Okinawa Shougaku will battle for the right to be the 80th Spring Koushien Champions.


Player Lines
Kamei (Toyodai Himeji) - 1-4, 3B, R
Satou (Toyodai Himeji) - 2-4, RBI
Noumaru (Toyodai Himeji) - 2-4, 3B, R, K
Fukuda (Toyodai Himeji) - 2-4, RBI, 2K
Satou (Toyodai Himeji) - L, CG, 4R, 8K, 2BB
Minei (Okinawa Shougaku) - 2-4, 2RBI, K
Higashihama (Okinawa Shogaku) - W, CG, 2R, 8K, BB