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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Japan Baseball Game Lasts 4 Days and 50 Innings |
| 2014-09-04 |
| [An Nahar] In a scenario more usually associated with its cousin, cricket, a baseball game in Japan dragged on for four days with two high school teams slogging it out over a record 50 innings. Chukyo and Sotoku began their slug-fest on Thursday in the semi-final of Japan's high school rubber-ball baseball championship in Akashi, western Japan. But after the usual nine innings in which both teams' pitchers outfoxed all batters for a scoreless draw, the game went into extra time. At the bottom of the fifteenth the umpire called it a day and ordered the teams to come back to the field after a night's rest. For two solid days, batters repeatedly stepped up to the plate only to be dismissed without a single run being scored. It wasn't until Sunday morning that Chukyo's captain broke the deadlock, walloping a double in the record-breaking 50th inning. That inspired a teammate, who scored one more later in the inning, giving Chukyo a hard-earned 3-0 victory. It also landed Taiga Matsui, the team's ace pitcher, with a truly impressive set of figures, having been hit just 26 times off a whopping 709 balls. But there was no rest for Chukyo, who were back on the field hours later, dispatching fellow finalists Miura Gakuen in a more reasonable afternoon-length game. The Japan High School Baseball Federation said the semi-final was the longest match that had ever taken place in the high school championship, which was started in 1956. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 A thousand RBIs for the Emperor! |
| Posted by: Shipman 2014-09-04 15:42 |
| #1 OK, I'll do it. Insert stupid tasteless joke about 'banzai charge in the 47th inning'... |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2014-09-04 07:58 |