Hanamaki Higashi secured a dramatic 5–3 extra-inning victory over Yokohama in the high school baseball硬式 tournament semifinals at Hirosaki City Athletic Park Baseball Stadium, advancing to the championship game of the National Sports Festival.
Extra-Inning Tiebreak Settles Semifinal Clash
The match stretched into an eighth-inning tiebreak knotted at 2–2 before Hanamaki Higashi broke through with a three-run frame. Yokohama threatened in the bottom of the eighth by pushing across a run with nobody out, but the rally fell short as Hanamaki Higashi closed out the 5–3 win. The tournament continues the seven-inning regulation format implemented last year.
Early Pitching Duel Gives Way to Late Offense
Both pitching staffs dominated the early innings at the Hirosaki venue. Yokohama broke the scoreless deadlock in the third inning when captain Shunyu Ono launched a solo home run to right field, followed by an RBI sacrifice fly off the bat of Yoshifumi Esaka to build an early 2–0 advantage.
Hanamaki Higashi responded in the fourth inning when Kenshin Manya delivered an RBI double, cutting the deficit to 2–1. In the fifth frame, Hanamaki Higashi manufactured the tying run after drawing a walk, executing two stolen bases, and moving the runner to third on a groundout before Ruri Granlai lifted a sacrifice fly to make it 2–2.
Eighth-Inning Decisive Rallies in the Tiebreak
With regulations ending deadlocked at two runs apiece after seven innings, the contest moved to the tournament’s tiebreak protocol starting with runners on first and second with nobody out in the eighth.
Yokohama mounted a final response in the bottom half of the eighth, managing a run to narrow the gap to 5–3 with runners on base, but failed to complete the comeback. The victory moves Hanamaki Higashi into the tournament final.
Worth a look
