Tension

My loyalties were divided in the baseball game I watched this afternoon as Chiben Gakuen from Nara played the Commercial High School baseball team from Nagasaki. Nara is a relatively local team, so I would have been happy to see them win,  but my father-in-law is from the small fishing town where this incredibly strong team with many Koshien High School Baseball Tournament victories under their belt is from. 

Up until the ninth inning, Nara led by one point to zero. Then, at the bottom of the ninth, Nagasaki equalised. With only one player out, one player on third base and one player on second base, it looked as if Nagasaki were going to score a decisive victory right there, especially as Nara's pitcher had ratcheted up three balls. However, incredibly, when Nagasaki's player hit the ball, Nara managed a double play which ended Nagasaki's inning and prevented their third base man from scoring the point that would have won them the game. Incredible.

Unfortunately, Nara were unable to capitalise on this. They were quickly caught out and struck out in the tenth inning and then, in a big sayonara, Nagasaki put an end to it with the only home run of the game. Pure magic. I bet my father-in-law is delighted.

The photo shows a Nara player making a dash to first base.