2023.12.14
[GRAND SLAM PREMIUM229]Recaptures the Asian title!! The Japanese national team wins its 20th championship for the first time in two tournaments – Report on the 30th BFA Asian Baseball Championship
The Japanese Amateur National Team, which participated in the 30th BFA Asian Baseball Championship, comfortably defeated Pakistan, Thailand, and the Philippines in the preliminary round. They advanced to the Super Round as 1st place in Group B, and first faced Chinese Taipei, 1st place in Group A. Soichiro Kayo (Toyota Motors), who took the starting mound in perfect condition, and Ren-He Zeng (Taiwan, Rakuten), who has experience in the major leagues, showed their strengths to the full and lined the scoreboard with zeros. With two out and two on second base in the top of the 5th inning, Chinese Taipei brought in the rapidly improving left-handed pitcher Lin Chien, and the scoreless pitching battle continued.
In the 7th inning, Chinese Taipei brought in 18-year-old Sun Yilei, who had just signed with Hokkaido Nippon-Ham, and with one out, Takuki Nakagawa (Honda Suzuka) hit it back to the right field line, but he greedily hit third base and was touched out. As expected, the score remained 0-0 after the 9th inning, and the tie-break went into overtime with no outs and bases attacking from first and second base. In the top of the 10th inning, Japan was attacked by leadoff Koya Yano (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries East), and Yano and Motoyama Mukaiyama (NTT East) were batted out, but Takeshi Maruyama (ENEOS) hit the ball back to the left front and the long-awaited home run came out. The first point. Behind the scenes, Yoshiteru Fuchigami (Toyota Motors), who relieved Kayo from the 9th inning, took control and moved one step closer to advancing to the finals.
Motoyama Mukaiyama (NTT East), who served as the offensive second batter, contributed to the championship with his performance with the most RBIs and was also named MVP and Best Nine.[Photo = Atsuko Miyano]
The second match of the Super Round will be in South Korea. Against South Korea, who will be playing with a mixed team of young professionals and university students, Japan will show off its high level of team power. Starting pitcher Sho Akiyama (Mitsubishi Motors Okazaki) kept getting outs at a good tempo, and in the bottom of the 3rd inning, Nakagawa and Yano hit consecutive hits to get two outs and 2nd and 3rd base, and then he easily took the lead with a wild pitch. Furthermore, Takamasa Inohara (Miki House) carried it to the center for a two point lead. In the top of the 4th inning, Ren Onishi (JR East Tohoku) hit a double, with one out and 1st and 3rd base, and Yano and Mukaiyama added 2 points with consecutive RBI hits. Although Akiyama gave up one run in the 5th inning, he allowed only 5 hits and 1 run until the 6th inning, and combined with Rakusei Katayama (NTT East) and Tetsuyuki Fujimura (Toshiba) to win 5-2 and take 1st place in the Super Round. He advanced to the finals.
In the final, which was a rematch against Chinese Taipei, Mitsunori Kato (ENEOS) started. He suddenly allowed a double at the top of the first inning, and even though he had runners on his back like he always did, he did not allow a decisive hit, making it a game with five hits and no runs until the sixth inning. Then, in the bottom of the 3rd inning, with two outs and 2nd base, Mukaiyama hit a hit in front of the center, giving them a one-point lead. Although they were unable to score additional points after that, they pitched in succession with Fuchigami in the 7th inning and Kayo in the 9th inning to shut out Chinese Taipei’s strong batting lineup. They then defeated Chinese Taipei 1-0 in two consecutive games, regaining the Asian title for the first time in two tournaments.
In the match against Chinese Taipei, Yoshiteru Fuchigami (Toyota Motors) played as a reliever in both games and pitched well. The pitchers had their best performance in this tournament as well.
[Photo = Atsuko Miyano]
At the end of the Asian Games, he said, “Aside from the results, I expanded my potential by taking on challenges in a variety of ways.” I hope that I will continue to be selected to represent Japan so that I can take revenge at the Asian Games in three years. “I want to be the best,” said Mukaiyama, who is aiming for longer hits by improving his physicality, but in critical situations, he hits timely hits without going against the course, scoring the most RBIs, and was selected as MVP and Best Nine. Ta. In addition, Yano, who scored the most points, was in the top nine as a second baseman, and Kayo was also in the top nine as a starting pitcher.
The Japanese Amateur National Team has achieved great results and will participate in the 5th U-23 World Cup (September 6-15, Shaoxing, China) in 2024 as the defending champions. Aiming to win consecutive tournaments as a young, energetic team.
[Text by Koichi Yokoo]
Grand Slam 62 is now on sale!!
Thank you for purchasing both the paper version (left) and electronic version (right).
2023-12-14 03:04:14
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