(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
   Japan wins Premier12; South Korea, Mexico qualify for Olympic Games
Nederlands
 BUNKYŌ, TOKYO (Japan) -
Japan won the second edition of the Premier12 on Sunday (November 17) by winning the Final against South Korea, 5-3.
Two days earlier, South Korea won 7-3 against Mexico in the Super Round to reach the Final.
With that, South Korea became the highest qualified team in the tournament from Asia/Oceania and with that, it qualified for next years Olympic Games in Japan.
Earlier on Sunday, Mexico defeated the USA 3-2 in ten innings to not only win the Bronze Medal, but to also qualify for the Olympics.
With the win, Mexico became the highest team in the final ranking from the Americas to qualify.
The USA now has two (!) more chances to qualify for the Olympic Games.
In March next year, in Arizona, the first opportunity comes during the Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
In April, the final Qualification Tournament will take place in Taiwan.
Also participating in that event will be the Netherlands as the second best team from the Africa/Europe Qualifier, which was won by Israel.
In the Bronze Medal-game on Sunday, the USA opened the score in the top of the first inning when Jo Adell homered with one out.
American starting pitcher Cody Ponce threw five strong and scoreless inning, giving up only three basehits and struckout six.
However, Mexico then struck off of his six successors.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, off of new pitcher Daniel Tillo, Jonathan Jones singled with one out and Esteban Quiroz walked.
With two outs, the bases got loaded when José Vargas was hit by a pitch.
Next batter Matthew Clark then delivered a runscoring single to make it an 1-1 tie.
Hereafter Wyatt Mills took over the pitching.
He got an inning-ending flyout, but it was a new ball game.
In the top of the seventh, the USA re-took the lead.
Andrew Vaughn led off with a single, advanced on a sacrifice bunt and then scored on a single by Bobby Dalbec.
Again, the USA was unable to hold onto the lead.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Matthew Clark was the hero again for Mexico, as he led off with a homerun off of new pitcher Brandon Dickson.
As the score was tied, the game went into extra innings, meaning the international tie-break rule was used.
The tie-break runners on first and second base moved on a sacrifice bunt, then a force play was created by walking the next batter intentionally.
With the bases loaded and one out, Mexican reliever Carlos Bustamante (who started this inning) struckout the next batter, then got a flyout that ended the at bat.
...Tetsuto Yamada...
...3-run homerun...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Mexico was more successful in its tenth at bat.
The same strategy was used also in this at bat by both Managers.
The two tie-break runners advanced on a sacrifice bunt, then an intentional walk loaded the bases to set up a force play.
With the bases loaded, Caleb Thielbar was brought in as new pitcher to take over from Brandon Dickson.
He faced Efren Navarro, who had a strong at bat.
With an 1-1 count, Navarro fouled off four pitches.
With a 2-2 count, Navarro hit the ball into centerfield for a walk-off single.
And that gave Mexico a 3-2 victory and earned the team a ticket to the Olympic Games!
In the Final, the winning team also came from behind, as South Korea initially took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
Jung-Hoo Lee led off with a walk, then next batter Ha-Seong Kim homered off of starter Shun Yamaguchi.
With two outs, Hyunsoo Kim also homered to give South Korea an early 3-0 lead.
However, South Korea was kept scoreless in the remainder of the game and added only three more basehits.
Japan got one run back in the bottom of the first inning off of starter Hyeonjong Yang.
With one out, Hayato Sakamoto walked, then scored on a 2-out double by Seiya Suzuki.
In the bottom of the second inning, Japan rallied for three runs off of Yang.
With two outs, Tsubasa Aizawa walked and Ryosuke Kikuchi singled.
Hereafter, Tetsuto Yamada drilled the ball into deep leftfield for a 3-run homerun.
Japan added an insurance run in the seventh inning.
Hayato Sakamoto then led off with a double and scored on a 2-out single by Hideto Asamura.
The Netherlands Baseball Team was officially eliminated for the Super Round of the Premier12 on Sunday, November 3, after Mexico won against the USA in Pool A, which was played in Mexico.
The day before, the Netherlands team was shutout 9-0 by the USA in its first game.
On Sunday, the Netherlands lost 14-4 against the Dominican Republic in what was its first mercy-rule loss since 2013.
The Orange Team then closed on Tuesday with a 10-2 loss against Mexico.
(November 17)
Related Articles:
 Australia, Chinese Taipei, Japan, South Korea advance to Super Round Premier12. (November 8)
Netherlands closes Premier12 with loss vs. Mexico in farewell Stuifbergen. (November 5)
Netherlands eliminated for Super Round Premier12. (November 3)
Netherlands loses big vs. Dominicans in 2nd game Premier12. (November 3)
Netherlands suffers big shutout-loss in Premier12-opener vs. USA. (November 2)
Netherlands Team wins rainshortened exhibition game in Mexico. (October 31)
Netherlands Team plays first exhibition game in Mexico. (October 30)
Hensley Meulens returns as Orange-Manager for Premier12; Roster announced. (October 14)
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