Baseball U18 World Cup loses to Taiwan, but bright signs for pitchers September 3: 2:06
World Cup for baseball players under 18 in Korea. In the 4th round of the primary league where the advance to the secondary league is decided if it wins, Japan lost 5 cold games to Taiwan, which lost the Asian championship last year. Among them, the pitchers showed positive signs for the future battle.
After the match, Director Yuji Nagata said, “Now, it has become a cold game because of rain. It ’s a shame, but we have to work hard again.”
Although it was a painful defeat, the pitchers showed positive signs for the future.
The fastest pitch of 163 km, Ofukito High School pitcher Sasaki Aoki and Seiryo High School baseball player Nobu Okugawa, who won second place in summer high school baseball, increased the pace of adjustments.
Among them, pitcher Sasaki continued to adjust with a menu different from the whole due to the influence of the bloody blood on the middle finger of the right hand in a send-off match with the Japanese national team on August 26, It has entered.
When Sasaki entered the bullpen, many professional baseball players and major league scouts moved to the bullpen to see the pitch at a glance. While attracting attention, I sat down a catcher and threw 26 balls straight.
Pitcher Sasaki said, “I threw while checking the throwing form with a strong force,” and stressed that it is coming smoothly, “It is getting better day by day. The current state is about 70%.” did.
The pitcher Sasaki, who was asked by the news media about "Isn't it impatient", replied, "I think it will be thrown during the tournament. I think it would be worse if I was impatient. It was.
On the other hand, pitcher Okukawa, who was refraining from pitching practice in consideration of fatigue at summer Koshien, practiced pitching with “about 60% power” for the first time after entering Korea. Also entered the bullpen.
Pitcher Okugawa, who practiced pitching with the catcher standing, said, “I was able to throw with higher strength than yesterday. The finish is coming from 60% to 70%. I want to adjust it so that I can take it to 10.” It was. He also said, “The feelings I want to throw are getting stronger day by day. The other pitchers are working very hard, so I want to do my best to make it a little more positive.”
If this tournament and the coordination of the two players who have not yet had a chance to go up go smoothly, there will be more opportunities for Japan to win in the secondary league and beyond.