The lottery for the 49th Japan Amateur Baseball Championship was held in Kita Ward, Osaka City on the 2nd, and the matchup card for the first round of the 32 participating teams was decided.

What will happen to the summer rematch?

Meiji Yasuda and Yamaha, two of this summer’s top eight city rivalries, will be in a rematch of the first round of the tournament. For Yamaha, who lost 11 runs in the summer, the performance of their pitching staff, including ace Ren Sato, will be the key. Although Toshiba missed out on the city competition, they have a strong base of strong hitters such as Yusuke Shimoyama, who contributed to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries East’s victory through reinforcements. Last year’s runner-up Honda Kumamoto will also want to fight back with strong hits from their main gun, Shota Inagaki. Will Honda be able to break the two wheels of NTT West’s professional left-hander Ryohito Ihara and veteran right-hander Hirohiro Hamasaki?

C block

JR West – Oji

NTT West – Honda

Meiji Yasuda-Yamaha

Honda Kumamoto-Toshiba