The finals of the summer national high school baseball tournament held at Koshien Stadium will be held from 2:00 pm on the 22nd, with Miyagi's Sendai Ikuei High School and Yamaguchi's Shimonoseki International High School competing for their first victory.
We will keep you updated as the game progresses.
The tournament was held as planned without any schedule changes due to bad weather or school withdrawals due to the influence of the new coronavirus, and Sendai Ikuei and Shimonoseki International, who are aiming for their first victory, have won the final.
Of these, Sendai Ikuei has advanced to the finals for the third time, and has lost both times so far and finished second.
If they win this time, it will be the first victory for the Tohoku group.
They have five pitchers who can throw straight balls over 140km, and their strengths are their flawless offense that incorporates tricks and mobility.
Shimonoseki International will challenge the final for the first time in their third appearance.
If they win, they will be the first Yamaguchi team to win in 64 years.
The battle that thoroughly followed the tactics decided by the team shined, and in the quarterfinals and semifinals, they defeated the two teams that advanced to the finals in the spring senbatsu.
The final is scheduled to start at 2:00 pm on the 22nd, and will be broadcast on NHK on TV and radio.
Sendai Ikuei “Tohoku group aiming for first victory throughout spring and summer”
Sendai Ikuei, aiming for the first victory in the spring and summer as a Tohoku group, will be in the semifinals on the 20th in addition to the rock-solid pitchers who all pitched in this tournament centered on ace pitcher Tsubasa Furukawa. The batting line was also strong, with 19 hits and 18 points, and the team's batting average exceeded 40%.
The defense is also solid with 3 errors in 4 games, supporting a thick pitching staff.
Sendai Ikuei has advanced to the finals twice so far in summer national high school baseball, but has not reached the championship.
In 1989, when they played in the final for the first time, they lost to Teikyo High School in East Tokyo after extra time.
Furthermore, in 2015, with Taiga Hirasawa, who plays for the professional baseball team Lotte, the team has succumbed to the strong batting lineup of Tokai University Sagami High School in Kanagawa.
Also, as a Tohoku group, they have participated in the final nine times so far, but they have not won the championship.
[Results of this tournament: 4 games]
▽ 2nd round 10-0 Tottori Sho (Tottori)
▽ 3rd round 5-4 Akihide Hitachi (Ibaraki)
▽ Quarterfinals 6-2 Aiko Daimeiden (Aichi)
▽ Semifinals 18-4 Seiko Gakuin (Fukushima )
Click here for details of the semi-final match against Seiko Gakuin
▼Battering average .403
▼HR 0
▼Stolen bases 8
▼Sacrifice hits 9
▼Scored 39 (average per game: 9.75)
▼Team ERA 2.25
▼Errors 3
▼Runs allowed 10 (average per game: 2.5)
Shimonoseki International “Yamaguchi Prefecture Aims for First Win in 64 Years”
Shimonoseki International is gaining momentum after defeating Osaka Toin High School, who are aiming for their third straight spring/summer title, in the quarterfinals, and Omi High School, Shiga's spring Senbatsu runner-up, in the semifinals.
Ace pitcher Kosei Koga, who has started in all four games so far, and pitcher Shin Nakai, who pitched as a relief pitcher in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, have shown a sense of stability in their pitching relay, and they are leading the pitching with tight pitching.
The batting line also has a tenacious fighting style, such as the whole team thoroughly aiming to capture the opponent players.
In the semi-finals, he recorded 5 sacrifice hits, including 2 squeezes, and skillfully used small tricks to accumulate points.
In 2005, when Hidehisa Sakahara was appointed as the manager of Shimonoseki International, the club had only 11 members and was unknown even within Yamaguchi Prefecture. 2nd Best Eight, and this year has decided to advance to the final for the first time, and has steadily gained strength.
If Shimonoseki International wins, it will be the first time for a school, and the first time in 64 years for Yamaguchi Prefecture since Yanai High School in 1958.
[Results of this tournament: 4 games]
▽ 2nd round 5-0 Tomishima (Miyazaki)
▽ 3rd round 9-3 Hamada (Shimane)
▽ Quarterfinals 5-4 Osaka Toin (Osaka)
▽ Semifinals 8-2 Omi (Shiga)
Click here for details of the semi-final match against Omi
▼Battering average .343
▼HR 0
▼Stolen bases 7
▼Sacrifice hits 14
▼Scores 27 (average per game: 6.75)
▼Team ERA 2.00
▼Mistakes 7
▼Points conceded 9 (average per game: 2.25)
Challenge to the Tohoku group Koshien championship
In summer national high school baseball, the Tohoku group has faced the final nine times so far, but has not reached the championship.
In the first tournament in 1915, Akita Junior High School, now Akita High School, won second place in the Tohoku group, but after that, they were unable to advance to the finals, and in 1969, after more than half a century ( 1969), Aomori's Misawa High School advanced to the finals for the first time in 54 years as a Tohoku group with the success of pitcher Koji Ota.
The match against Ehime's Matsuyama Shogyo was extended 18 times, and it was the first time in history that the match was a draw in the final, and the next day's rematch was defeated.
Two years later, in 1971, Fukushima's Iwaki High School advanced to the finals for the third time as a Tohoku group with the success of Takahisa Tamura, an ace pitcher with a height of 1.65 cm, who was called "a small big pitcher." but didn't win.
In 1989, Sendai Ikuei High School in Miyagi advanced to the final, and in 2003, Tohoku High School, whose ace was pitcher Yu Darvish, who is currently active in the major leagues, advanced to the finals.
Furthermore, from 2011, when the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred, Aomori's Kosei Gakuin, now Hachinohe Gakuin Kosei High School, advanced to the finals for two consecutive years with their strong batting line, and in 2015 (Heisei 27). Sendai Ikuei made it to the finals for the second time, but neither of them reached the championship.
Most recently, in 2018 (Heisei 30), which was the 100th tournament of the milestone, Akita's Kinashi Agriculture is currently the first Akita prefecture force with professional baseball Nippon-Ham pitcher Kisei Yoshida. They advanced to the finals for the first time in 103 years since the 2010 tournament, but they were unable to bring back the deep red flag to Tohoku even in their 9th challenge.
Also, in Senbatsu, Ikuei Sendai advanced to the final for the first time in 2001, and then in 2009, Yusei Kikuchi, who is currently playing in the major leagues, pulled as the ace pitcher Hanamaki of Iwate. Higashi High School, in 2012 (Heisei 24), Kosei Gakuin and the Tohoku group advanced to the finals three times in total, but all were runners-up.
Attention will be paid to whether Sendai Ikuei, who will challenge the final for the third time in total, will achieve the long-cherished wish of the Tohoku group.
Yamaguchi finals are the first in 37 years since Ubesho, and the first win in 64 years
It will be the first time in 37 years that Yamaguchi Prefecture will face the finals of a national high school baseball game in the summer, and they will be aiming for the first victory in 64 years since Yanai High School in 1958 (Showa 33).
In the 25th tournament held in 1939 (Showa 14), Shimonoseki Commercial advanced to the final for the first time in the Yamaguchi Prefecture group, and in the final, they lost to Wakayama's seaweed junior high school and finished second.
In 1958 (Showa 33), Yanai High School won the final and won the championship for the first time after graduating, beating Tokushima Shogyo, which has pitcher Eiji Bando, who was active in professional baseball and Chunichi.
After that, Shimonoseki Commercial in 1963 (Showa 38) and Hayatomo High School, which participated for the first time in 1964 (Showa 39).
Yanai High School, aiming for the second championship in 1972, Hofu Commercial, which made its first appearance in 1974, the current Hofu Commercial, and Ube Commercial, which reached the final in 1985. I came.
However, they were defeated and became runners-up.
Of these, in 1985, Ube Shogaku lost a goodbye to PL Gakuen in Osaka, which boasted overwhelming strength with the "KK" combination of pitchers Masumi Kuwata and Kazuhiro Kiyohara.
Since then, the Yamaguchi group has been unable to advance to the finals, and this time, it will be the first final in 37 years, aiming for the second victory in 64 years.