Japan belt five homers in win over Colombia to clinch Opening Round second place
Japan secured today the second place at the WBSC Men's Softball World Cup Group C Opening Round with a five-inning, 8-1 win against Colombia. Japan used five home runs today, including two-dinger games by Kaito Masaki and Kazuya Toriyama, to score all the runs of the game.
Colombia scored the first run of the game off Shota Onodera in the top of the first inning. Jeison Anillo hit a lead-off single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a Mateo Luna single to right field.
However, in the bottom half of the first frame Japan answered quickly. Tei Hamamoto singled, Taiyo Kataoka walked and then Masaki hit a line-drive shot to center field to give Japan a 3-1 lead.
Two innings later, Japan used the long ball to extend their lead to 6-1. Yusuke Morita led off the inning with a shot to right field, and one out later Masaki stayed hot hitting his third home run of the game, a monster shot off the scoreboard at OGE Energy Field. One pitch later, first baseman Toriyama went deep over the center field fence to make it 6-1.
And then in the bottom of the fifth Toriyama went yard again to finish the game. The left-handed first baseman crushed a rise ball off Sergio Hernandez sending it over the right field fence for a walk-off two-run homer.
Masaki was sensational today, with three homer in the day (one against Guatemala and two agains Colombia). He finished the Opening Round hitting .462with three homers, six RBIs and six runs. His OPS rocketed to 1.764.
Shota Onodera was the winning pitcher for Japan. He surrendered eight hits and one run in five innings while striking out three. The right hander closed the Opening Round with a 0.50 ERA for the tournament with 19 strikeouts. His WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) for the tournament is 0.93.
This result decided the Opening Round final positions, leaving Japan in second place with a 4-1 record, Guatemala third (3-2) and Colombia fourth (2-3).