JAPAN – Tokoha Gakuen Kikugawa of Shizuoka Prefecture took advantage of defensive miscues by Kyoto’s Fukuchiyama Seibi in the eighth inning for a 2-1 win in the second round of the national high school baseball championship on Saturday.

Toshiki Togari scored the tying run from third for last year’s invitational tournament champion with one out in the eighth when Fukuchiyama Seibi catcher Takumi Fukumoto made an errant throw in an attempt to catch pinch-runner Takuya Matsumoto stealing second base.

Fukumoto’s throw sailed into center field and Matsumoto went on to score as the Kyoto school’s shortstop failed to pay attention to the runner after cutting off a relay throw.

In other second-round action at Koshien Stadium, Tomoyuki Kondo and pitcher Yoshiaki Kimoto drove in one run apiece as Okayama’s Kurashiki Shogyo held off Saga Shogyo 2-0. Kimoto threw a seven-hit shutout.

Shuki Sato broke a scoreless tie with a fifth-inning solo homer and Hokkaido’s Komadai Iwamizawa went on to an 8-3 victory over Moriokadai Fuzoku.

Naoki Katsuya broke a 2-2 tie with an RBI single in a three-run fifth inning as Chiben Wakayama downed Chiba’s Kisarazu Sogo 5-2. Toshiya Okada pitched a complete-game shutout.

Courtesy: JapanBall.com

Tags: Japan