Prince Takamado Cup 42nd All Japan School Children’s Rubber Baseball McDonald’s Tournament Competition Day 4
Sponsored by All Japan Rubber Baseball Federation, Tokyo Shimbun, etc. Sponsored by Tokyo Chunichi Sports
Pen = Yoji Takeshita, Hideki Suzuki ▽ Camera = Ryo Ito
Four quarter-final games were held at Tokyo Metropolitan Komazawa Stadium. Last year’s champions, the Nagasone Strongs and the Shinya Stars, the two Osaka teams, all won the match, and the day before, Nakajo Blue Impulse (Ishikawa) beat the Red Suns (Tokyo 1) by a walk-off. Echizen New Heroes (Fukui), who had won so far despite being two 6th graders, abstained due to a member of the team suffering from poor health, and Kumagaya Green Town (Saitama) won by default. The semi-finals will be held at the same stadium on the 13th.
◆ Shinya is the top 4 come-from-behind
Shinya Stars overjoyed to advance to the semi-finals
The Shinya Stars, who participated for the second time, defeated the Fukagawa Giants (Tokyo 2) and made it into the best four.
“Even if you look at yesterday’s game (where Fukagawa won big with slugging offense, including four home runs), the size of their bodies is slightly different, and you can’t compete with them on your own. We were talking to them.” Looking at the jubilant players, the new head coach Chiyomatsu Tsuyoshi broke down.
Kodai Yamada, the first hitter with a punch, hit a home run as the first batter, and scored two runs in the first inning. I forgave. Still, in the 4th inning, Shusuke Nishikawa, Kohtaro Yamamoto, and Yamada made a comeback with three consecutive walks. With his spirited defense, he overcame Fukagawa’s fierce pursuit, and finally reached a moment of joy.
“I’m very happy,” said Captain Shin Shiotani. “I wanted to win anyway, and everyone thought, ‘I’m going to stop all the balls that came,’ and I grabbed the ground balls and fly balls.” In addition to the first batter’s shot, Yamada, who also hit the winning two-runner, said, “I was thinking about hitting a strong ball to the center.” Nishikawa, who hit a tie in the 4th inning, said with a smile, “I was just thinking about passing it to the next batter.”
Also in Osaka, there is the Nagasone Strongs, who are the champions of the previous year and are aiming for their eighth victory. Coach Chiyomatsu said, “We have an absolute champion (Nagasone), so even though it’s difficult to even participate in the tournament, we fought well and won.” Then he took a breather and said, “But if you’ve made it this far, you’ve come this far…” and smiled again.
◆Nakajo wins with a close battle goodbye
Nakajo Blue Impulse rejoices after winning goodbye
Nakajo Blue Impulse won the tiebreaker and advanced to the semi-finals.
Captain Naru Hattori, who achieved a perfect match against the Kyokuryo Baseball Boy Scouts (Hokkaido Kita) the day before, is the starting pitcher on this day as well. In the first inning, he allowed a hit to Takuma Oshio, the 3rd hitter of the Red Suns, and the no-hitter record from the previous day ended. Behind that, following Yue Watanuki’s double and Captain Hattori’s declaration of avoidance, the second batter, Keishiro Mukai, said, “I thought I would decide that (Captain Hattori’s) avoidance,” with a double over the left to tie the score. . In the bottom of the 5th inning, Captain Hattori hit a home run over the right field fence with no dead runners.
The score was tied by the tenacious Red Suns, and they went into a tie-break with no outs on first and second base, but Captain Hattori, who had dropped out in the fifth inning, returned to the mound in the seventh inning of the tie-break. When he took two outs on six pitches, Mukai, who replaced him, struck out and closed the scoreless run. Behind it, Tachi Sakakura’s send-off bunt and Watanuki’s goodbye infield hit put an end to the fierce battle.
Captain Hattori, who is active in pitching and hitting, said with a smile, “The opponents I face at the national tournament are strong, but I’m trying not to allow consecutive slugging, so I’m able to pitch well.” Coach Yukio Kurachi said, “We had a lot of things to reflect on in the match, such as a bunt failure, but I’m glad we won. We’ll just play with the intention of borrowing the strength of the strong team next time.” A desireless challenger aims to become the first prefectural team in 14 years since the Seinan Sunboys, who won the 29th tournament.
◆ Toyokami Juniors High Wall of Champions
Toyokami Juniors broke down in tears after being defeated by the Nagasone Strongs (photographed by Yoji Takeshita)
I can’t stop eating. When I left the stadium, the frustration I had been holding back burst out all at once. Toyokami Juniors Nine (Chiba) burst into tears all at once.
The batting line exploded with 24 points in the third round the previous day. He scored 50 points in three games. Moreover, they conceded only 2 points, and faced the Nagasone Strongs, the champions of the previous year, with overwhelming strength.
Manager Hanya Takano was enthusiastic that “it will be a 7-point game,” but when he scored 3 points in the top of the first inning, his proud batting line fell silent. In the end, two hits. It was finally possible to return one point in the final round.
1-5 complete defeat. Manager Takano said, “I felt the difference in strength more than the result. The pitcher’s handling of the mound, the subtle timing, and the control of throwing to the target. It’s not easy. I play baseball while thinking about each ball. I’m well trained. What should I do to reach that level? Just imagining it makes me shudder.” .
One more step feels endlessly far away. Top 4 in the last two tournaments. And this tournament is the best 8. Starting captain Yukiyasu Tsuneda said, “We all vowed that we would definitely win. We conceded three goals in the first inning, which turned out to be the winning goal… It’s frustrating that our dream of winning the national title didn’t come true…” I sobbed in a hoarse voice while shedding tears. This frustration can only be used as food for the future.
▽ Quarterfinals
◆ Toei Komazawa Stadium ◆
Nagasone Strongs (previous year winner)
３００００２｜５
０００００１｜１
Toyokami Juniors (Chiba)
(Leaders) Kanta Yamaguchi, Koshiro Okada, Yamaguchi-Takashi Okada, Yamaguchi, Takashi Okada
(Yutaka) Yukihiro Tsuneda, Kodai Kaneda-Masaya Yabuuchi
Kumagaya Green Town 6-0 Echizen New Heroes
(Saitama) Bye (Fukui)
◆Onoji Park Ballpark◆
Red Sands (Tokyo 1)
００２００１０｜３
００２０１０１｜４
Nakajo Blue Impulse (Ishikawa)
(Tie break 7 times)
(l) Shota Fujiyama, Issei Fujimori – Shota Komagata
(Middle) Hattori Cheng, Xiang Keishirou, Hattori, Xiang-xiang, Hattori, Xiang, Hattori
Home run Hattori (middle)
Fukagawa Giants (Tokyo 2)
００４０００｜４
２００４０ｘ｜６
Shinya Stars (Osaka)
(Deep) Minoru Tsuchida, Leo Takabayashi, Kodai Kaneko-Shintaro Sakamoto
(New) Ren Ueno, Dan Shioya, Ueno-Kotaro Yamamoto
Home run Kodai Yamada (new) Ryusei Kawamoto (deep)
