Wednesday, August 02, 2006
The Owakare Jiai
Today I played in my own wakare jiai today. A wakare jiai is like a sending off, final game. Since I'm leaving in a few weeks, this applies to me. I had been helping Mr Tokuzumi with our school's baseball practices and games since April; I even made it up to the title of coach. It was really fun, like hitting infield grounders and attending the games on weekends and cheering my head off in English when no one knew what I was saying. Very good memories these four months, my first four month stint as a baseball skipper and four months that I won't soon forget.
As for the game itself, it was the grade 9's and I against the grade 7 and 8's. Before the game, I outfitted my team with team Canada caps, so we had the international angle down. If we had fielded a lineup with everyone playing their own positions, we would have pasted the other team, but we were just having fun so we had the real first baseman pitching, the right fielder playing catcher, the catcher playing left field and so on. I grabbed first base, my position of choice as an 18 year old ball player. It was mighty hot in the blazing sun (think 35 degrees C) and when the other team exploded for 7 runs in the third inning, I was out there on the field with sweat pouring off my head for a mighty long time.
At the dish in the 4-spot, I had a pretty non-descript game. 0/1 with 2 walks, a fielder's choice, a strikeout, 2 stolen bases and 2 runs scored. We were down 10-2 at one point, but then we exploded for 8 runs in the bottom of the fourth. The kids didn't want to have the game end in a tie, so we went to extra innings. I thought we were in trouble in the top of the 7th, but with the grade 7 and 8 team threatening with a man on second, a couple grade 9's hooked up on the ol' hidden ball trick to nail the guy. The hidden ball trip works every time. I was laughing so hard in centre field after witnessing that. They ended up scoring that inning anyway, to take an 11-10 lead. Mr Tokuzumi said that if we didn't score in our half of the inning, that the game would end in a tie. So batter 3, Shogo, grounded out. 1 away. I walk to the dish, stare down the grade 7 pitcher, and dig in for my at-bat. The count goes to 3-0, so I start thinking walk. The fourth pitch comes in...it's at my shoe laces. I hear Mr Tokuzumi call strike behind me. I look at him with a smile and he says "you don't want to walk right?". After hacking at the next pitch, I draw the walk. Tying run on first, winning run at the plate. I steal second base, then watch as the next pitch to the fifth batter Kengo sails over the right field fence for a game-winning, sayonara two-run home run. It was Kengo's second 2-run jack of the game. Of course, the entire team mobbed him at home plate as the crowd went wild. What an owakare jiai!!
As for the game itself, it was the grade 9's and I against the grade 7 and 8's. Before the game, I outfitted my team with team Canada caps, so we had the international angle down. If we had fielded a lineup with everyone playing their own positions, we would have pasted the other team, but we were just having fun so we had the real first baseman pitching, the right fielder playing catcher, the catcher playing left field and so on. I grabbed first base, my position of choice as an 18 year old ball player. It was mighty hot in the blazing sun (think 35 degrees C) and when the other team exploded for 7 runs in the third inning, I was out there on the field with sweat pouring off my head for a mighty long time.
At the dish in the 4-spot, I had a pretty non-descript game. 0/1 with 2 walks, a fielder's choice, a strikeout, 2 stolen bases and 2 runs scored. We were down 10-2 at one point, but then we exploded for 8 runs in the bottom of the fourth. The kids didn't want to have the game end in a tie, so we went to extra innings. I thought we were in trouble in the top of the 7th, but with the grade 7 and 8 team threatening with a man on second, a couple grade 9's hooked up on the ol' hidden ball trick to nail the guy. The hidden ball trip works every time. I was laughing so hard in centre field after witnessing that. They ended up scoring that inning anyway, to take an 11-10 lead. Mr Tokuzumi said that if we didn't score in our half of the inning, that the game would end in a tie. So batter 3, Shogo, grounded out. 1 away. I walk to the dish, stare down the grade 7 pitcher, and dig in for my at-bat. The count goes to 3-0, so I start thinking walk. The fourth pitch comes in...it's at my shoe laces. I hear Mr Tokuzumi call strike behind me. I look at him with a smile and he says "you don't want to walk right?". After hacking at the next pitch, I draw the walk. Tying run on first, winning run at the plate. I steal second base, then watch as the next pitch to the fifth batter Kengo sails over the right field fence for a game-winning, sayonara two-run home run. It was Kengo's second 2-run jack of the game. Of course, the entire team mobbed him at home plate as the crowd went wild. What an owakare jiai!!
