2 years in a row...

Another year, another heartbreak. Okisho, the defending champions of high school baseball, will not be able to defend their title in the summer national tournament. Yesterday was the Okinawa Prefecture finals matchup, and unfortunately when I got to the game (late because of heavy traffic), I was greeted by this scoreboard. (In case you can’t read it, Urasho – our mortal enemies – were winning 5-0 in the 5th.)

After a rough beginning, however, Okisho’s team started to show some grit and comeback power by mounting a serious threat in the 6th inning: bases loaded and only 1 out! But sadly, it ended in a double play, and the score remained 5-0. Then came the 7th, and an even better chance to score runs: bases loaded with no outs! Unfortunately, our batter grounded into a 1-2-5 double play (for non-baseball nerds, this means they got our guy out at home and third), meaning no runs and now 2 outs with runners at first and second. A much lower chance of scoring. And yet we put up one run that inning, and another in the 8th, but alas, it was too little, too late. Higashihama and the boys played so well, but could not make up the 5 runs scored against them in the 1st inning.

It rained in the 9th inning (a reflection of our hearts’ condition?), cooling things down and putting a ‘damper’ on the day. But overall, I’m glad I went, and I’m still proud to say I work at Okisho, and I still believe we have the best baseball team in Okinawa, if not the whole nation. We just let too many chances slip away yesterday.

ありえない、2年連続、浦商に負けた！今回は東浜君が怪我しなかったけど、前日の完投で疲れたため、今日の1回表で浦商はなんと、5点取った！僕たちは交通渋滞で試合に遅れてきたけど、入ったときから沖尚の勢いが良くて、浦商の攻撃をうまく抑えた。沖尚に6回にも7回にも8回にも大きなチャンスがあったけど、残念ながらタイムリーが来なかった。逆に、ダブルプレーが二つあって、満塁のチャンスが逃された。

負けたのは本当に悔しいけど、沖尚は沖縄、いや、日本の最強な野球部を持ってることに確信がある。東浜君、嶺井君、波照間君、仲宗根君、高甫君、西銘君、新垣君、伊古君、伊志嶺君、ベンチプレーヤー、大屋マネージャー、比嘉監督、大城部長、お疲れ様でした！そして沖縄にいる沖尚のファンの皆さん、いつも応援してくれて、誠にありがとうございました。