Mitsubishi Motors Okazaki to participate for 16th time in a row for 4 years in Intercity Baseball Tokai District Qualifier

97th Intercity Baseball Tournament Tokai Region 2nd Preliminary Round/4th Representative Tournament (14th, Aichi/Okazaki Red Diamond)

○Mitsubishi Motors Okazaki 3-2 Seino Transportation●

(Mitsubishi Motors Okazaki is the 16th time for 4 consecutive years)

After a very close battle, Mitsubishi Motors Okazaki won the right to represent the team. Battery, the leading player, shared his joy by quietly touching each other.

Against the tenacious Seino Transport batting line-up, they attacked calmly yet boldly. What brought out the good pitching was catcher Naoki Nishikawa's good lead.

In the 6th inning, Keito Tanaka, a third-year reliever who was second, was hit with a double by Daichi Nozaki, the leadoff player for Seino Unyu. Nishikawa calmed down the young pitchers, then clogged up the No. 5 and No. 6 pitchers and struck at a good tempo. No. 7, Jinya Oyama, missed a low fastball from the outside corner and struck out. He persevered patiently and led to seven wins.

In the 1st and 2nd national team deciding games, the relief team was attacked and they lost consecutively. The regular catcher, who joined the team from Aoyama Gakuin University and has been in his seventh year, felt responsible, saying, ``I could have done more. I rushed to win.''

On this day, even when he wasn't leading, he ran to the mound meticulously, and when he had a runner in the ninth inning, he quickly took the time. Manager Yoshihiko Kajiyama said with narrowed eyes, ``Pitchers get a lot of attention, but catcher is still an important position.The pitching staff is also improving.''

Last season's runner-up finish was a glorious result, but it left the team feeling disappointed. Nishikawa said, ``You can't lose in baseball unless you score points on defense.Even if you can't hit at bat, you can still give 100% on defense.'' This summer, he will be heading to Tokyo Dome again to retrieve something he forgot. [Hiroyuki Takahashi]