88th Summer Koshien Game 3

The biggest marquee matchup of the first couple of days was this one in the "Group of Death" - so called as 4 legitimate contenders for the Koshien title, Waseda Jitsugyo, Seiho High School, and these two schools drew into the same bracket.

Yokohama Koukou would draw first blood, taking advantage of a leadoff hit batter. They would continue to have opportunities in the early innings, but could not bring the runners home, with a runner getting picked off 2nd by the catcher in the 2nd inning, and grounding into a 5-4-3 double play in the 4th. Osaka Touin would finally get going in the bottom of that same inning, getting bases loaded after a infielders fielders choice and a hard hit single, with SS Maruyama taking the ball to the wall in right scoring 2 and taking the lead. Yokohama would tie the game right back up manufacturing a run after a leadoff single and a subsequent error by the catcher on the next batter. This would have had all the makings of a classic, but in the 7th inning Osaka Touin would blow the game wide open with 5 hits (3 of them doubles) and plating 4 runs. To put the exclamation mark on the game, they would tack on another 5 in the 8th, highlighted by back-to-back homeruns to deep center, first a 3-run homer by 2B Shashiki-kun, then by superstar Tanaka Shou (a second year star who hit 40+ homeruns in the 2006 season). For Yokohama, this was a crushing defeat to a team who had just won the Spring Koshien.

Game Summary

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Yokohama Koukou (Kanagawa)	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	3	6	10	3
Osaka Touin (Osaka)	0	0	0	2	0	0	4	5	X	11	15	2