|
|
CORRECTED: Waseda Jitsugyo wins 1st national high school title
|
NISHINOMIYA, Japan, Aug. 21 Kyodo
|
|
|
Yuki Saito worked tirelessly on the mound yet again to lead
Tokyo's Waseda Jitsugyo to its first national high school baseball
championship title after a 4-3 victory over Komadai Tomakomai from
Hokkaido on Monday.
In a replay of Sunday's game that ended in a 1-1, 15-inning tie,
Saito struck out 13 in his fourth complete game in as many days as
Waseda Jitsugyo dashed Komadai Tomakomai's hopes of becoming only the
second team to win a third straight national title in front of a
crowd of 50,000.
Waseda Jitsugyo, which had played in the inaugural national
championship in 1915 and reached the final for the first time in 26
years, claimed the title in its 27th appearance in the annual summer
meet held at Koshien Stadium.
In the national invitational tournament held every spring, the
other major high school baseball meet on a nationwide scale, Waseda
Jitsugyo triumphed in 1957 when Japanese baseball legend Sadaharu Oh
was instrumental both on the mound and at the plate.
''We waited 88 times and now I feel the weight of the team's
history behind this achievement,'' Waseda Jitsugyo manager Minoru
Izumi said, referring to the number of competitions played thus far
in championship history.
''I thought Komadai would never allow us to sit on the
(three-run) lead.'' he added. ''They were truly strong and I don't
think a team like that can be built every year.''
On Monday, Waseda Jitsugyo took control of the game from the
outset, going ahead on an RBI single by Yu Funabashi in the first and
a run-scoring double from Keisuke Kawanishi in the second.
Komadai Tomakomai leadoff man Tadao Mitani homered to cut the
lead to a run in the sixth before Waseda Jitsugyo pounded
right-hander Masahiro Tanaka to make it 4-1 on RBI hits by Hidemasa
Shirakawa in the sixth and Takashi Goto in the seventh.
Komadai Tomakomai gave Saito and his school a scare in the top
of the ninth, pulling within a run with a no-out two-run homer by
Ryuya Nakazawa. But the right-hander kept his composure and stamina
to retire the next three batters with an effective mix of sliders and
fastballs that clocked up to 147 kilometers per hour in the process.
Saito, whose performances in the tournament were closely
monitored by professional scouts, allowed six hits and did not walk a
batter in a 118-pitch outing a day after throwing 178 pitches in a
duel with Komadai Tomakomai ace Tanaka.
Tanaka replaced starter Shota Kikuchi in early innings for the
second straight day and pitched 7-2/3 innings yielding three runs on
four hits and three walks. He threw 165 pitches in 12-2/3 innings of
work on Sunday.
''We lost and there is nothing else to say about the result,''
Komadai Tomakomai manager Yoshifumi Koda said.
''The boys never gave up and put up a fight until the end and
their tenacity has helped this team get this far. This is definitely
one of the best teams I've ever been with,'' he said.
A victory would have made the Komazawa University affiliate only
the second team and first in 73 years to capture a third consecutive
title. Aichi's Chukyo Shogyo accomplished the feat in 1931-1933.
On Sunday, the championship game was called to end in a tie
after 15 innings under the tournament rules, forcing a replay.
The only other time when the final was replayed was in 1969.
Ehime's Matsuyama Shogyo and Misawa of Aomori were locked in a
scoreless tie in 18 innings before Matsuyama Shogyo won 4-2 the
following day.
|
|
|