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The story
In the U18 Asian Baseball Championship being held in Taipei, Taiwan, the Samurai Japan U-18 team faced host nation Taiwan in their second Super Round game on the 12th and came from behind to win 2-1. The day before, on the 11th, they had blown a lead and lost 2-3 to Korea, making this a must-win game. Starting ace Shoki Oda (Yokohama), the standout right-hander who hit 156 km/h at this summer’s Koshien, allowed the game’s first run in the opening inning but battled through to finish with just 1 run allowed over 6 innings. The win locks in Japan’s spot in the final on the 13th. On 5ch, many praised Oda’s gritty pitching, while others questioned the tournament schedule for calling up players right after Koshien for back-to-back games, and raised doubts about Yokohama High School for sending out two of its key players.
Samurai U-18 team advances to the final, coming from behind to beat host nation Taiwan… Ace Oda tops out at 155 km/h, allows 1 run over 6 innings
Samurai Japan’s U-18 team, competing in the 14th BFA U18 Asian Baseball Championship held in Taipei, Taiwan, defeated Chinese Taipei 2-1 on the 12th in their second Super Round game. Since results carry over from the Opening Round match against the Philippines, this puts Japan at 2 wins, 1 loss in the Super Round. They have now secured their place in the final on the 13th.
Japan had suffered a come-from-ahead 2-3 loss to Korea on the 11th. In this must-win game, pitcher Shoki Oda (Yokohama), who set the tournament’s fastest-pitch record of 156 km/h at this summer’s Koshien, made his first appearance of the tournament. He ran into a jam with one out and a runner on third in the first inning, allowing the go-ahead run to score on a groundout to second base by the No. 3 hitter, outfielder Liu Huang-Yu.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
When it comes to passion for cheerleading, it's Taiwan > Korea >>>>> Japan
Taiwan's the best, man
YouTube keeps recommending me Taiwanese and Korean cheer squads.
That's no good for me.
Say what you want, the guy's a real ace.
That's just his whole thing, isn't it.
This 'Asian Championship' is just Japan-Korea-Taiwan playing pretend since it's decided before it even starts.
Japan's starting ace Shoki Oda
Taiwan's starting ace was in tears too, like a man
Great job, Shoki Oda!
In baseball? Wow, we're really that weak?
It's not held every year, and Japan won the World Cup not long ago.
Besides, Cuba, the US, Korea, and Taiwan are simply stronger to begin with.
Love that he stays upbeat even when he's in a jam — that smile was adorable lol
local Taiwanese
baseball fangirls too
He kept shifting into a higher gear the longer the game went.
So it's round robin, then the top two teams play the final?
Also, international baseball tournaments always feel like some kind of punishment game.
It's right after these guys burned themselves out at Koshien with U18.
Kind of feel bad for the players getting dragged into it.
It's probably fine for kids who didn't play in the summer Koshien, but
calling up the new team's ace and cleanup hitter at this point makes no sense — and I don't get why Yokohama High School agreed to send them either.
he always starts out at his own pace and seems to shift into a higher gear as the game goes on lol
His fastball has the cleanest velocity, love it.
But he's not getting any swings and misses with that pitch.
Must be nice living in such peaceful times.
Nobody's watching high schoolers play baseball anyway.
Background and Talking Points
The BFA U18 Asian Baseball Championship carries results over from the Opening Round and decides final standings in the Super Round, with the top teams earning spots in next year’s U18 World Cup. In the thread, discussion centered on whether it makes sense to call up players for an international tournament right after they’ve just finished competing at Koshien, and on the burden placed on high schools that send out their star pitchers. There was also back-and-forth about the rules for selecting national team players, but eligibility criteria based on birthplace or ancestry — as seen in tournaments like the WBC — vary by competition and are a separate matter from the selection criteria used for this BFA-run U18 tournament, a distinction that’s easy to mix up. Many posts conflated the two, but this article deals only with facts based on its source.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Baseball] U18 Asian Championship: Samurai U-18 team advances to the final, coming from behind to beat host nation Taiwan… Ace Oda tops out at 155 km/h, allows 1 run over 6 innings”.
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