The 106th National High School Baseball Championship will open on the 7th at Hanshin Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture. This summer, there are many highly accomplished pitchers who have previously played on the Koshien mound, so we can expect high-level pitching.
The right-handed pitcher from Hotoku Gakuen (Hyogo), Yuki Kesamaru (3rd year), has both the ability and experience to match. Standing at 188cm tall, he throws a fastball with a good angle of up to 151kph and a forkball with a large drop, making for an excellent combination. In the Spring Senbatsu tournament, where he finished as runner-up, he started in three games and pitched two complete games. In the final of the Summer Hyogo tournament, he shut out Akashi Commercial High School and has the stamina to pitch an entire game.
Pitcher Kyoko Takao (3rd year) from Koryo High School (Hiroshima) is also very stable. He is a right-handed pitcher who has been the ace pitcher since his first year in spring, and has plenty of experience, having participated in Koshien for the fourth time. He throws a high-quality fastball with a good spin rate, with a top speed of 148 km/h. He also has excellent control, and his sharp curveballs have been polished.
Osaka Toin has a strong team
Osaka Toin has the deepest pitching staff. Nakano Daito and Mori Haruki, both second-year pitchers, were the core of the pitching staff in the Osaka Tournament. Nakano, who is characterized by his two-step motion, has a fastball with good extension as his weapon. He was given the starting role in the semi-final against Riseisha, which they won by a shutout in the fifth inning, and pitched a complete game, allowing only three hits and two runs. Mori, who uses a combination of fastballs and curveballs to get strikeouts, pitched a complete game in the final against Tokai University Osaka Ohsho, striking out 15 batters. Meanwhile, Hirashima Kaichi (3rd year), the ace right-handed pitcher who boasts a top speed of 154 km/h, only pitched in two games in the Osaka Tournament. His only start in the fifth round was in which he pitched until the middle of the fifth inning, giving up three runs, which left some people wondering how well he can recover.
Genki Ishigaki (2nd year), pitcher of Kendai Takasaki (Gunma), who won the Spring Senbatsu, is a right-handed pitcher who strikes out batters with a fastball of over 150 km/h and a variety of curveballs. He will wear the number “1” in this tournament because ace left-handed pitcher Ryugetsu Sato (2nd year) was removed from the team due to an elbow injury.
Tokai University Sagami (Kanagawa) left-handed pitcher Ryusei Fujita (3rd year) has a fastball with an angle from his 198 cm height. His fastball has a good rotation and stretch, making it difficult for opposing batters to hit.
Aomori Yamada’s right-handed pitcher Koichi Seki (3rd year) has a fastball that reaches a maximum speed of 152 km/h and has the advantage of subtly changing direction at the batter’s hand. The team also has right-handed pitcher Saku Sakurada (3rd year), who pitched a no-hitter and no-run game in the Tohoku Tournament last fall, and it will be exciting to see how he is used.
Yoshida Daiki, a second-year right-handed pitcher at Kanaashi Nono (Akita), is the younger brother of Yoshida Kosei (Orix), who led the team to second place as the ace pitcher in the 100th tournament in 2018. His powerful fastball is similar to that of his brother. Can he create another “Kanaashi Nono whirlwind”?[Yoshikawa Yuhi]