Koshien - Japanese March Madness (HS Baseball) - We byke for 2023, games start Sat Aug 5

[Windows 91]

Quarterfinal Recap - Osaka Toin Falls

• Shimonoseki turns triple play, comes back in the 9th to upset championship favorite Osaka Toin 5-4.
• Ohmi and Takamatsu throw haymakers, Ohmi narrowly survives 7-6. Takamatu's Asano goes 3-4 with a 2B, HR, 2 RBI, SB
• Sendai Ikuei knocks out Aiko Daimeiden ace Arima early, win 6-2
• Seiko Gakuin scores 5 in the 1st, goes on to win 10-5. Sayama with another CG on 132 pitches

Probably the wildest day of the tournament. Triple plays, 9th inning comebacks, the unbeatable favorite getting beat...wish I had someone to talk about it with . The Osaka Toin game might actually make US media like Jomboy's YT channel or something. The Ohmi/Takamatsu game was also one of the best of this year's tournament.

Semifinal Preview

Rest day tomorrow and then semifinals the day after. Sendai vs. Ohmi and Seiko vs. Shimonoseki. Seiko and Ohmi have been riding their ace pitchers hard, a lot of innings with high pitch counts. Will they go again in the semifinals or be saved for the final...or both?

 

[Windows 91]

Final four starts in a little over half an hour.

 

[Windows 91]

Semifinal Recap

Semifinals were pretty trash, none of the games were competitive. First game was a major blowout with Sendai Ikuei winning 18-4 over Seiko. They scored 11 runs in the 2nd inning, which basically ended the game right there. In game 2, Shimonoseki jumped on Ohmi's ace Yamada early and eventually knocked him out the game.

Seiko and Ohmi had been relying heavily on their ace pitchers throughout the tournament and I think their high pitch counts caught up with them. Seiko's Sayama had thrown 421 pitches in 30 innings (4 games) and Ohmi's Yamada had thrown 512 pitches in 31 innings (4 games) leading up to their elimination games. Add in the prefectural tournaments and they've probably thrown nearly 1000 pitches in under a month - absolutely ridiculous workload.

Finals Preview

Sendai Ikuei and Shimonoseki play tonight at 10:00PM PST. Hoping for a close game like the quarterfinal matches. Sendai is probably the better team but Shimonoseki is definitely the hottest, having knocked out the 2 Spring tournament finalists in consecutive games. Thanks for reading my blog these past 2 weeks.

 

[DoubleClutch]

Do the Japanese people make brackets and bet on this tournament?

 

[Windows 91]

Do the Japanese people make brackets and bet on this tournament?

I'm not sure about brackets. It might be hard to do because they redrew the bracket at the Best 8 quarterfinals, but I don't know for sure, that's a good question.

There is definitely betting though, I know I read an article about illegal underground betting on the games. I don't know for sure if legal betting is allowed or not.

 

[Windows 91]

A grand slam My man just won the championship with one swing. He'll probably remember that for the rest of his life.

 

[Windows 91]

Sendai Ikuei wins Koshien championship, first for Tohoku | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

• Sendai Ikuei seals 8-1 win over Shimonoseki with a 7th inning grand slam, become first ever champions from Japan's northeast Tohoku region

Great game despite the score. The kid who hit the grand slam was a bench player who didn't even play during the prefecture tournament. Winning coach was in tears after the game. Great tournament overall, lots of upsets, walkoffs, and comebacks. Hope it was interesting for anyone that watched.

 

[Windows 91]

Thread updated for 2023, games start tomorrow evening

Won't have as many recaps or thread updates this year - new job has me working in office more often so it'll be harder to stream games during work. Also, the lady is living with me now and I doubt she'll let me watch foreign baseball all evening for 2 weeks straight

 

[Windows 91]

First pitch, here we go.

Defending champs Sendai playing in the 3rd game this evening.

 

[Windows 91]

Not even through game 1 and kids leaving on stretchers due to heat cramps

 

[Windows 91]

All 4 Shikoku schools playing today, with 2 playing each other. Pretty cool.

 

[Rice N Beans]

I need to get in on this. Missed last year.

 

[TheMailMan]

I've been once for vacation a few years ago and really enjoyed it. Hit a bunch of West Japan cities (Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Fukuoka, etc). Hoping to go back and do Tokyo area one day.

Did u try the habu sake

 

[CarltonJunior]

I'd love to check this out but the time difference is insane especially since it's full baseball games

 

[Windows 91]

Did u try the habu sake

I had to look this up, didn't know what it was I consider myself pretty good adventurous but this one is wild Did you try it?