Yusuke Shimabukuro carried his Okinawa rep Konan High School to the win and became the winners of both the Spring and Summer tounaments in the same year. Here are some video highlights and stats of the game.

Tournament total stats and alanlysis of draft prospects are featured in my weekly Japan Baseball News Weely newsletter seen here: http://www.japanball.com/weekly.htm

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video highlights:

Power hitter 3B Ganeko whacks a home run over the left field wall in the 6th inning

 http://video.asahi.com/viewvideo.jspx?Movie=48464580/48464580peevee331116.flv

The last out by Shimabulkuro, and Konan wins it 13-1

 http://video.asahi.com/viewvideo.jspx?Movie=48464580/48464580peevee331165.flv

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Stats:

total batting stats for 6 games

Brandon Siefken has covered Japanese pro and amateur baseball since 1991. He currently provides services to a Major League Baseball team and has been quoted in The New York Times, ESPN, Bloomberg, The Japan Times, the Japan Pro Baseball Fan Handbook and Media Guide and other publications regarding Japanese baseball. Brandon has appeared on Will Carroll’s Baseball Prospectus radio show ( http://www.baseballprospectus.com/radio/audio/bpr_100316_1.mp3 ) and is a regular writer for Bob Bavasi’s JapanBall.com site. Brandon has also authored several articles including “The Kuroda Index” and “Yu Darvish: A Pitch-by-Pitch Scouting Report. Scouting Japanese Pitchers by Pitch Velocity and Location.”

Each year Brandon publishes the “Japan Baseball News Weekly” ( http://www.japanball.com/weekly.htm ) newsletter with updated weekly stats for every player and weekly scouting analysis from April to October. Brandon can be contacted at brandon@japanball.com.

Yosuke Shimabukuro pitched a 1 run complete game striking out 4 or 9 hits and Okinawa’s Konan High School became the first school in Japanese high school baseball history to win the Spring and Summer Koshien tounaments in the same year.

Top prospect Shinta Hifumi was rocked for 11 runs in 6 innings.

The two top high school pitchers face off in the Koshien Japanese high school baseball championship game. Here are the two pitcher’s tournament stats to this date (1, 2, etc is the games they have pitched in the tournament and T is the total stats of the tournament)

Brandon Siefken has covered Japanese pro and amateur baseball since 1991. He currently provides services to a Major League Baseball team and has been quoted in The New York Times, ESPN, Bloomberg, The Japan Times, the Japan Pro Baseball Fan Handbook and Media Guide and other publications regarding Japanese baseball. Brandon has appeared on Will Carroll’s Baseball Prospectus radio show ( http://www.baseballprospectus.com/radio/audio/bpr_100316_1.mp3 ) and is a regular writer for Bob Bavasi’s JapanBall.com site. Brandon has also authored several articles including “The Kuroda Index” and “Yu Darvish: A Pitch-by-Pitch Scouting Report. Scouting Japanese Pitchers by Pitch Velocity and Location.”

Each year Brandon publishes the “Japan Baseball News Weekly” ( http://www.japanball.com/weekly.htm ) newsletter with updated weekly stats for every player and weekly scouting analysis from April to October. Brandon can be contacted at brandon@japanball.com.

Konan high school (Okinawa) 6 - 5 Hotoku Gakuen high school (Hyogo)

video highlights:

5th inning, Konan high school starts a rally: http://video.asahi.com/viewvideo.jspx?Movie=48464580/48464580peevee330718.flv

Strikeout machine Yosuke Shimabukuro started out sloppy, allowing 5 runs to put Okinawa in a 0-5 hole. But the Spring tournament champs came back with a 6 run bang behind Shimabukuro’s 12 strikouts (to extend his Koshien tournament career strikeout record over Dice-K Matsuzaka) Okinawa booked a spot in the championship to be played Saturday. Shimabukuro allowed 10 hits, 5 walks and 5 earned runs. Konan will play the winner between upstart underdog Narita high school and Japan’s #1 pitching prospect Shinta Hifumi and Tokaidai Sagama high school tomorrow.

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Tokaidai Sagami high school (Kanagawa) 11 - 7 Narita high school (Chiba)

In a game that went back and forth and featured poor pitching from two of the best pitchers in Japan, Toklaidai Sagami finally prevailed. Star pitching prospect Shinta Hifumi went the complete game allowing 7 runs on 14 hits and 9 walks while striking out only 4 batters. Narita’s Nakagawa allowed a whopping 19 hits and 10 earned runs.

Tokaidai Sagami faces Konan in the final tomorrow, with the two top touted pitchers in the country facing off, Shimabukuro and Hifumi.

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Brandon Siefken has covered Japanese pro and amateur baseball since 1991. He currently provides services to a Major League Baseball team and has been quoted in The New York Times, ESPN, Bloomberg, The Japan Times, the Japan Pro Baseball Fan Handbook and Media Guide and other publications regarding Japanese baseball. Brandon has appeared on Will Carroll’s Baseball Prospectus radio show ( http://www.baseballprospectus.com/radio/audio/bpr_100316_1.mp3 ) and is a regular writer for Bob Bavasi’s JapanBall.com site. Brandon has also authored several articles including “The Kuroda Index” and “Yu Darvish: A Pitch-by-Pitch Scouting Report. Scouting Japanese Pitchers by Pitch Velocity and Location.”

Each year Brandon publishes the “Japan Baseball News Weekly” ( http://www.japanball.com/weekly.htm ) newsletter with updated weekly stats for every player and weekly scouting analysis from April to October. Brandon can be contacted at brandon@japanball.com.

Top high school pitcher Shinta Hifumi pitched 9 innings striking out 9 on 9 hits 4 walks and 3 earned runs. Hifumi had his 145km fastball going but was a little sloppy at times. Hifumi’s Sagami team will take on Chiba’s Narita high school tomorrow for a chance to play in the championship.

Hotoku Gakuen (Hyogo) 2 - 1 Niigata Meikun (Niigata)

video highlight: Hotoku scores in the 3rd inning: http://video.asahi.com/viewvideo.jspx?Movie=48464580/48464580peevee330409.flv

Hotoku’s Ichiro Tamura pitched 7 2/3 innings allowing 5 hits 4 walks striking out 9 and allowing 1 run. Tamura was dominant. Hotoku takes on Okinawa’s Konan high school Friday for a chance to play in the championship.

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Brandon Siefken has covered Japanese pro and amateur baseball since 1991. He currently provides services to a Major League Baseball team and has been quoted in The New York Times, ESPN, Bloomberg, The Japan Times, the Japan Pro Baseball Fan Handbook and Media Guide and other publications regarding Japanese baseball. Brandon has appeared on Will Carroll’s Baseball Prospectus radio show ( http://www.baseballprospectus.com/radio/audio/bpr_100316_1.mp3 ) and is a regular writer for Bob Bavasi’s JapanBall.com site. Brandon has also authored several articles including “The Kuroda Index” and “Yu Darvish: A Pitch-by-Pitch Scouting Report. Scouting Japanese Pitchers by Pitch Velocity and Location.”

Each year Brandon publishes the “Japan Baseball News Weekly” ( http://www.japanball.com/weekly.htm ) newsletter with updated weekly stats for every player and weekly scouting analysis from April to October. Brandon can be contacted at brandon@japanball.com.

Narita High School (Chiba) 6 - 3 Kanto Daiichi High School (East Tokyo)

video highlights:

Narita scores first in the first inning:
http://video.asahi.com/viewvideo.jspx?Movie=48464580/48464580peevee330018.flv

Great defense by Kanto in the 5th inning:
http://video.asahi.com/viewvideo.jspx?Movie=48464580/48464580peevee330034.flv

Narita scores again in the 3rd inning:
http://video.asahi.com/viewvideo.jspx?Movie=48464580/48464580peevee330028.flv

Seiko Gakuin High School (Fukushima) 3 - 10 Konan High School (Okinawa)

 video highlights:

Konan High School takes the lead in the 4th inning:

http://video.asahi.com/viewvideo.jspx?Movie=48464580/48464580peevee330099.flv

 tournament totals

Brandon Siefken has covered Japanese pro and amateur baseball since 1991. He currently provides services to a Major League Baseball team and has been quoted in The New York Times, ESPN, Bloomberg, The Japan Times, the Japan Pro Baseball Fan Handbook and Media Guide and other publications regarding Japanese baseball. Brandon has appeared on Will Carroll’s Baseball Prospectus radio show ( http://www.baseballprospectus.com/radio/audio/bpr_100316_1.mp3 ) and is a regular writer for Bob Bavasi’s JapanBall.com site. Brandon has also authored several articles including “The Kuroda Index” and “Yu Darvish: A Pitch-by-Pitch Scouting Report. Scouting Japanese Pitchers by Pitch Velocity and Location.”

Each year Brandon publishes the “Japan Baseball News Weekly” ( http://www.japanball.com/weekly.htm ) newsletter with updated weekly stats for every player and weekly scouting analysis from April to October. Brandon can be contacted at brandon@japanball.com.

Narita (Chiba) 6 - 5 Kita Otsu (Shiga)

Kanto Daiichi (East Tokyo) 10 - 6 Waseda Jitsu (West Tokyo)

Saga Gakuen (Saga) 5 - 13 Hotoku Gakuen (Hyogo)

Konan (Okinawa) 4 - 1 Sendai Ikuei (Miyagi)

Yosuke Shimabukuro’s 100th Koshien strike out in the bottom of the 2nd inning video: http://video.asahi.com/viewvideo.jspx?Movie=48464580/48464580peevee329837.flv

Brandon Siefken has covered Japanese pro and amateur baseball since 1991. He currently provides services to a Major League Baseball team and has been quoted in The New York Times, ESPN, Bloomberg, The Japan Times, the Japan Pro Baseball Fan Handbook and Media Guide and other publications regarding Japanese baseball. Brandon has appeared on Will Carroll’s Baseball Prospectus radio show ( http://www.baseballprospectus.com/radio/audio/bpr_100316_1.mp3 ) and is a regular writer for Bob Bavasi’s JapanBall.com site. Brandon has also authored several articles including “The Kuroda Index” and “Yu Darvish: A Pitch-by-Pitch Scouting Report. Scouting Japanese Pitchers by Pitch Velocity and Location.”

Each year Brandon publishes the “Japan Baseball News Weekly” ( http://www.japanball.com/weekly.htm ) newsletter with updated weekly stats for every player and weekly scouting analysis from April to October. Brandon can be contacted at brandon@japanball.com.

Tokisho (Gifu) 0 - 3 Tokaidai Sagami (Kanagawa)

 Top high school prospect Shinta Hifumi pitched a 1 hit shutout and struck out 6 as Sagami advanced.

Riseisha (Osaka) 2 - 5 Seiko Gakiun (Fukushima)

Niigata Meikun (Niigata) 1 - 0 Nishi Nihontandaifu (Fukuoka)

Kyushu Gakuin (Kumamoto) 8 - 7 Kagoshima Jitsu (Kagoshima)

Brandon Siefken has covered Japanese pro and amateur baseball since 1991. He currently provides services to a Major League Baseball team and has been quoted in The New York Times, ESPN, Bloomberg, The Japan Times, the Japan Pro Baseball Fan Handbook and Media Guide and other publications regarding Japanese baseball. Brandon has appeared on Will Carroll’s Baseball Prospectus radio show ( http://www.baseballprospectus.com/radio/audio/bpr_100316_1.mp3 ) and is a regular writer for Bob Bavasi’s JapanBall.com site. Brandon has also authored several articles including “The Kuroda Index” and “Yu Darvish: A Pitch-by-Pitch Scouting Report. Scouting Japanese Pitchers by Pitch Velocity and Location.”

Each year Brandon publishes the “Japan Baseball News Weekly” ( http://www.japanball.com/weekly.htm ) newsletter with updated weekly stats for every player and weekly scouting analysis from April to October. Brandon can be contacted at brandon@japanball.com.