Made in Japan: day 4

Day 4: It's time for real baseball. The team had to play twice today. (Yesterday the game was postponed because of the rain) Two games versus the High School team of Hakata. The team is still under construction but players showed a lot of improvement in their abilities to play together as one team. The japanese showed us how they can warm -up as a real team with dedication and pride. We basically have the same type of drill in Europe but the way they do it is way more dynamic. Different culture...

Make it quick and accurate.

After a serious and well organised warm-up the team is ready for the game. But the first game was only a one way game. The Team Europe offense was not able to put enough runners on base to put pressure on the japanese pitcher. We had to wait for the last inning to have a hit (a double) and then to score our first and last run of the game. Final score 7 to 1. This said players of our team showed a lot of improvement in their game. It's promising.

Rick pitching during the first game.

After 45mn of lunch break the team started the last game of the day. The team made a really good start and hit the ball hard. It seems that our players finally got their rythm. Plays were well executed but still it was not enough to beat our opponent. The japaneses showed no signs of pressure and continued to play their game. We lost this game by a few runs 6-2. The more we play the more we improve.

Philipp on the mound.

After the games team Europe was invited to train with the japanese team under the supervision of their Head-coach to end the day. To work with them was really exciting and very interesting.

JPF.