A Fun Week with the Family

Hello everyone.

I had a great week last week, spending a lot of overdue time with my family. We played in the Japan Cup starting last Friday, September 24. It is a very prestigious tournament that includes 32 professional, club and college teams. All of the professional Division I teams that we play during the regular season were there, along with several teams from Divisions II and III. The tournament is played in "knockout" format, which is another way to say single elimination. Our first game was Friday at 9 a.m. gainst a Division II team. We won 22-1. The run rule was in effect for this tournament, so we split the game among three pitchers. I threw the fifth and final inning of the shortened game. My family arrived that evening, so I was able to meet them after dinner and help them get settled into our hotel.

On Saturday we faced Denso, a pretty tough draw, at 9 a.m. in our second game. Their scrappy leadoff hitter started the game with a full-count home run, but we were able to settle down after that. We scored four runs and held them just two more hits through the rest of the game to win, 4-1. We had a break before facing Hitachi Software at 1 p.m. in our third game. We played well against them last spring, but have not faced them yet during the second half. This was the first time since college that I've pitched two consecutive games in the same day, so I was a little nervous, but I think I actually pitched better with more work! Our offense kept going, scoring in multiple innings and getting a key home run late in the game to add some insurance. The final score was 5-0, and that moved us into the semifinals on Sunday. Things did not get any easier for us as we faced Renesas Takasaki, the current first-place team in our league. We played them well, and kept the game close, but ended up falling, 2-1, to finish the tournament tied for third place with Shokki. Toyota and Renesas faced each other in the title game, playing eight innings in what was a pitcher's duel between Ueno and Abbott. Renesas won the game in dramatic fashion with a walk-off grand slam in the eighth inning to take the title, 5-1.

We had several days off last week, so I was able to show my family around Tokyo and the other places that I enjoy visiting. We started the week by going to shine and shopping streets in Asakusa. They were able to get a bunch of souvenirs and see a popular tourist attraction. We also spent time in Harajuku, Shibuya, Shinjuku and at the Tokyo Tower. It was a pretty full week, and I think they enjoyed it. They left Friday, and it was back to work for me on Saturday. Unfortunately, rain cancelled our practice games, so we just had a gym day. We were able to get in a couple scrimmages Saturday, and resumed regular practice today. We have another big weekend coming up, as we play three games from Saturday through Monday. We start with Iyo Bank, followed by Sagawa and Shokki. We have seven total games remaining, so we'll know a lot about where we stand after this weekend. It was nice having a bit of a break, but we'll definitely have a very intense week of practices this week as we prepare for such a big weekend.

Wish us luck. I'll check in again next week.

Angela