March 23, 2023
On Tuesday, March 21, the Keio Senior High School baseball team faced Sendai Ikuei Gakuen High School from Miyagi Prefecture in the first round of the 95th National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament. In its 10th appearance at the tournament and first in five years, the team was narrowly defeated 1-2 after extra innings.
Starting pitcher Masaki Oyake pitched well, holding the opponent scoreless through the fourth inning and not allowing any runners into scoring position. Although Sendai Ikuei scored one run in the bottom of the fifth, Keio allowed no further runs. In the top of the ninth, Ranta Nobusue got on base with a single to right field, Ikoi Watanabe followed with a sacrifice bunt, and pinch hitter Hideki Adachi hit a game-tying RBI single to left field. The game went into the tournament's first extra-inning tiebreaker. In the bottom of the tenth, with one out and the bases loaded, Naomutsu Fukui made a great play on a ball that dropped in front of the left fielder, throwing it accurately to home plate. Catcher Ikoi Watanabe scooped it up brilliantly for a force out. However, the next batter hit a walk-off single, resulting in a first-round elimination for the team.
More than 3,000 people, including current students, alumni, faculty, staff, and parents from the affiliated schools up to Keio University, packed the cheering section, filling the Alps Stands with red and blue megaphones. With vocal cheering allowed at Koshien Stadium for the first time in three years, the stadium was filled with continuous loud cheers despite the rain, and when Keio scored, a great chorus of "Wakaki-chi" echoed throughout. After the game, the players, who embodied the spirit of "Enjoy Baseball" and never gave up against last summer's tournament champions, received a huge round of applause.
Photos by: Akitake Takematsu, et al.