A photo exhibition of the nine schools from Tohoku, Kanto and Tokyo heading to the 91st National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament (hosted by The Mainichi Newspapers and the Japan High School Baseball Federation), which opens March 23, is on in the free space beside the Palaceside Building first-floor east main entrance =photo above.
The nine: Hachinohe Gakuin Kosei (Aomori); Morioka Dai-fuku (Iwate); Kasukabe Kyoei (Saitama); Narashino (Chiba); Kokushikan (Tokyo); Toin Gakuen and Yokohama (Kanagawa); Yamanashi Gakuin; Ishioka Ichi (Ibaraki). About 200 photos from autumn-tournament games and cheering, plus newspaper reports, are on show.
Among them Ishioka Ichi was chosen on the "21st Century frame." Opened as an agricultural school in 1910, it took its present name in 1949; besides a general course the full-time program has horticulture and landscape design. It recalls Kinashi Agricultural (Akita) at last summer's Koshien. It did not play the 2018 autumn Kanto meet, but in the prefectural third round it came from behind against Meishu Hitachi, last spring's Senbatsu last 16, and in the quarters edged Tsuchiura Nihon University, a summer Koshien team, beating strong private schools into the last four. In the semis against Fujishiro, five-time Koshien veterans, they lost a walk-off in the 13th after a tie-break. Selection as a "public-school star" seems to have played a part.
We look forward to each school's fight.
The show runs through the 14th.
