(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
 South Korea first finalist Premier12 after comeback in 9th inning vs. Japan!
Nederlands
 TOKYO (Japan) -
South Korea won 4-3 vs. Japan on Thursday-evening (November 19) in the first Semi-Final of the Premier12 to become the first finalist for the all-deciding Final to be played on Saturday.
In a sold-out Tokyo Dome in Japanese capital Tokyo, Japan dominated for eight innings, leading 3-0 behind the superb pitching of Shohei Ohtani.
He took a No-Hitter into the seventh inning and gave up only one basehit, while striking out eleven.
But in the ninth inning, the Koreans rallied for four runs on five hits to turn the game its way!
And with that, Japan suffered its first loss of the event, while South Korea will play in the final!
On Monday, the Quarter Finals were played and that were the last games played in Taiwan.
Except for the opening game of the event in Sapporo (Japan), all other games were played there.
After two days of no-action, the tournament now returns to Japan, as the final four games are all played in the immense Tokyo Dome, the home of the wellknown Yomiuri Giants in Tokyo.
Japan reached the Semi-Final by winning 9-3 vs. Puerto Rico on Monday in the Quarter Final.
South Korea won 7-2 vs. Cuba to reach the final-four.
On Friday, the USA will face Mexico in the second Semi-Final game in the Tokyo Dome, starting at 7 PM local time (11 AM Dutch time).
The USA reached the Semi-Final by winning 6-1 vs. the Netherlands Kingdom Team.
Mexico stunted in the Quarter Finals by winning against then-unbeaten Canada.
After trailing 3-1, Mexico rallied for three runs in the eighth inning to win 4-3 and reach the Semi-Final.
With that, only teams from Pool B had reached the final-round in Japan.
The Bronze Medal Game and the Final will be played on Saturday.
(November 19)
In the very-first game of the tournament, on Sunday, November 8, Japan and South Korea also faced each other in the Sapporo Dome in Sapporo (Japan).
In that game, Japan, the number one on the world ranking list, won 5-0 vs. South Korea, which is eight on the ranking list.
Shohei Ohtani, who struckout 10 batters and gave up only two hits in six innings in that opening game, returned to the mound tonight for Japan.
And again, he did great.
The first 3 1/2 innings of the game was a pitching-duel between Ohtani and Dae-Eun Rhee.
...The Tokyo Dome is the site for the final round...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Ohtani faced the minimum of batters in these innings.
The righthander allowed only one batter to reach base.
That happened in the second inning when he hit lead-off hitter Dae-Ho Lee, but he was later eliminated in an inning-ending double play.
Rhee got two baserunners in the first inning.
He then gave up an one-out single to Akiro Nakamura in the second, but he stranded.
In the third, Rhee got another baserunner when he hit Tetsuto Yamada with a pitch with two outs.
Next batter Yoshitomo Tsutsugo then popped up the ball into the infield.
Rhee, his catcher, the first and third baseman all ran towards each other to catch the ball.
However, there must have been a lack of communication in the noisy Dome, as the ball dropped on the ground in the middle of them.
The ball jumped and catcher Yui-Ji Yang let the ball roll into foul territory.
Instead of an rare infield-hit, it now was a foul ball.
Tsutsugo lined the next ball to first baseman Byung-Ho Park to end the inning.
In the bottom of the fourth, Japan opened the score and rallied for three runs off of Rhee,
The righthander walked lead-off hitter Sho Nakata, but followed with a strikeout.
But then Akira Nakamura delivered a hit-and-run single, putting runners on first and third base.
Nakamura also had hit Japan's first basehit in the second inning.
Rysosuke Hirata followed with a single through the left side of the infield to give Japan an 1-0 lead.
Next batter Motohiro Shima then grounded towards short stop Jae-Ho Kim.
While it wasn't an easy play, he had a chance of eliminating Hirata at second base, but instead threw the ball into rightfield.
That enabled Nakamura to score the next run and gave Japan runners on first and second base.
It also led to a pitching change, as Woo-Chan Cha took over.
He got the bases loaded when he walked Shogo Akiyama, who this season broke the single-season hit record in Nippon Professional Baseball, the Japanese Major League.
A sacrifice fly by Hayato Sakamoto followed to give Japan a 3-0 lead.
In the top of the fifth, Shohei Ohtani struckout the side.
He already had fininished the fourth inning with two strikeouts, so he had now five in a row to lift his total to eight in the game.
The 21-year old Ohtani continued his dominance hereafter.
In the sixth inning, he was supported with a nice play by third baseman Nobuhiro Matsuda, who jumped up to catch a line drive by Jae-Gyun Hwang to keep the No-Hitter intact.
A pop-fly followed, then Ohtani ended the inning with his ninth strikeout.
After having retired the side in five of the previous six innings, the Koreans reached base again in the seventh inning for the first time since the second.
Lead-off hitter Keun-Woo Jeong lined the ball into centerfield for a single to break Ohtani's No-Hitter.
The hit came on only the 70th in this game by Ohtani.
Hereafter, Ohtani struckout the next two batters to lift his total to eleven, then a force out ended the inning.
After Japan stranded two runners in the bottom of the seventh, Takahiro Norimoto took over the pitching for Ohtani, who had struckout eleven batters and gave up only one basehit in seven innings.
Norimoto followed in the footsteps of Ohtani and also retired the side, including one strikeout.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Ryosuke Hirata and Motohiro Shima singled with one out.
The first advanced to third base on a flyout to centerfield.
Hereafter, a pitching change followed and the two runners stranded, as a strikeout closed the at bat.
The top of the ninth inning proved to be the most productive for South Korea.
Norimoto returned to the mound, but gave up singles to pinch-hitters Jae-Won Oh and Ah-Seob Son.
Hereafter, the Koreans scored their first run when Keun-Woo Jeong delivered a runscoring double.
After hitting only one basehit in the previous eight at bats, the Koreans now had hit three and had runners on second and third base with no outs.
The bases then got loaded when Yong-Kyu Lee was hit by a pitch.
That marked the end for Norimoto.
He was replaced by Yuki Matsui, who this season tied the save-record in the Japanese Major League with 39.
The tenson was building in the Tokyo Dome when lefthander Matsui walked lefthanded batter Hyun-Soo Kim that brought in another run an narrowed the Korean deficit to only 3-2.
And kept the bases loaded with no outs!
Another pitching change followed, as Hirotoshi Masui, also a closer, took over.
He was greeted with a 2-run single by powerhitter Dae-Ho Lee that gave the Koreans a 4-3 lead and suddenly had turned the game around completely!
Hereafter, the next batter was Byung-Ho Park, who will play in the Major League next season, with the Minnesota Twins earning the right to negotiate with him.
However, his line drive was caught for the first out, but a following single by Byeong-Hun Min re-loaded the bases.
After an infield-fly, Jae-Won Oh drilled the ball into deep centerfield, but there centerfielder Shogo Akiyama made a great catch, running into the wall, but avoiding more runs with his catch.
However, South Korea had registered five hits and four runs to turn the game its way!
Now with a 4-3 lead, submariner Tae-Hyon Chong became the new Korean pitcher.
He retired the first two batters, but then gave up a single to Sho Nakata.
Hereafter, righthander Hyun-Seung Lee was brought in as seventh pitcher to face pinch-hitter Takeya Nakamura.
But he grounded out, closing the game, which had a very unexpected ending.
Japan dominated for eight innings behind the outstanding pitching of Shohei Ohtani.
The bullpen then, however, was unable to secure the lead.
A 4-run rally in the top of the ninth gave South Korea the win and a spot in the final!
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