2001 Japan National Little League® Tournament Results
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All-Japan Tournament
Major Baseball Division



Toward the past
2001

Toward the present

35th Annual All-Japan Tournament
Championship Game at Edogawa-Ku Stadium; Tokyo

Participating Teams Prefecture League
Hokkaido Champions Hokkaido Sapporo Yamanote LL
Tohoku Champions Miyagi Sendai Higashi LL
Shinetsu Champions Nagano Suzaka LL
Kitakanto Champions Saitama Omiya LL
Higashikanto Champions Ibaraki Ryuugasaki LL
Higashikanto Runner-Up Ibaraki Tomobe LL
Tokyo Champions Tokyo Edogawa Minami LL
Tokyo Runner-Up Tokyo Tokyo Kitasuna LL
Kanagawa Champions Kanagawa Midori Higashi LL
Tokai Champions Aichi Nagoya Kita LL
Tokai Runner-Up Mie Matsusaka LL
Kansai Champions Hyogo Takarazuka LL
Kansai Runner-Up Osaka Toyonaka LL
Chugoku Champions Hiroshima Hiroshima Saiki LL
Shikoku Champions Ehime Saijo LL
Kyushu Champions Fukuoka Yukuhashi LL

Tournament Results:

Opening Round:
Takarazuka 23, Sapporo Yamanote 2 (score is correct)
Nagoya Kita 11, Edogawa Minami 5
Tomobe 7, Hiroshima Saiki 4
Omiya 9, Yukuhashi 4
Tokyo Kitasuna 11, Ryuugasaki 4
Suzaka 8, Midori Higashi 3
Matsusaka 8, Toyonaka 3
Sendai Higashi 5, Saijo 3

Quarterfinal Round:
Nagoya Kita 5, Takarazuka 4
Tomobe 5, Omiya 2
Tokyo Kitasuna 6, Suzaka 1
Matsusaka 16, Sendai Higashi 0

Semifinal Round:
Nagoya Kita 9, Tomobe 0
Tokyo Kitasuna 12, Matsusaka 8

Championship Game:
Tokyo Kitasuna 5, Nagoya Kita 4 (TITLE)


Postscript:

Tokyo Kitasuna lost its second game in the All-Tokyo tournament, but recovered to eventually win the All-Japan tournament. Tokyo Kitasuna lost 3-0 to Ota in the second round of the 35-team Tokyo tournament, then won six consecutive loser's bracket games to reach the final four. The All-Tokyo tournament was arranged so that the last unbeaten team (Edogawa Minami) advanced to the All-Japan tournament, while the three remaining once-beaten teams played a round-robin schedule to determine the other qualifier. Tokyo Kitasuna won a pair of one-run games, defeating Musashi Fuchu (4-3) and Hachiouji (3-2) in this stage of the tournament. Tokyo Kutasuna then won four games at the All-Japan tournament to win the Japanese championship for the first time.

Tokyo Kitasuna's victory at the All-Japan tournament earned the team a berth in the Asia Region tournament at the Tsingyi Sports Ground in Hong Kong. With the Far East Region split into the new Asia and Pacific Regions, Tokyo Kitasuna was competing against only Hong Kong and South Korea at the region tournament. Tokyo Kitasuna swept two games from each team in the double-round-robin format, and advanced to the Little League World Series.

Tokyo Kitasuna won its pool at the World Series with a 2-1 record. The Asian representative defeated Arabian American Little League (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia) 4-2 on the tournament's first day, and lost their second game by a 6-1 score to Club Activo 20-30 Little League (Santiago, Veraguas, Panama). Needing a win to advance beyond the pool stage of the tournament, Tokyo Kitasuna defeated the Pariba Little League (Willemstad, Curacao) 4-2 in their final pool game. Tatsuya Suzuki’s three-run homer to left field capped a four run first inning and Nobuhisa Baba pitched the final 1-1/3 innings to earn the save as the Japanese champions advanced to the international semifinals. In the semifinals, Atsushi Mochizuki’s grand slam in the fifth inning broke open a 1-0 game as Japan defeated Matamoros (Tamaulipas, Mexico) 15-5 to reach the international championship game for the fifth consecutive year.

Mochizuki then hit a walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning to give Tokyo Kitasuna a 2-1 win over Curacao in the international championship game. Twenty-four hours later, Tokyo Kitasuna again trailed 1-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, but Baba's two-run single just past the shortstop drove home Masayuki Itoh and Yuusuke Nomura as Tokyo Kitasuna rallied past Apopka National Little League (Apopka, Florida) 2-1 to win the Little League World Series. Mochizuki was the winning pitcher, striking out two and scattering six Florida hits in the win.


Linescores:

  Opening Round 1 2 3 4 5 6 R
Takarazuka 12 5 0 4 0 2 23
Sapporo Yamanote 0 0 0 0 2 0 2
  Opening Round
Nagoya Kita 1 0 0 0 2 8 11
Edogawa Minami 0 0 0 4 1 0 5
  Opening Round
Tomobe 3 3 0 0 1 0 7
Hiroshima Saeki 0 0 0 1 3 0 4
  Opening Round
Yukuhashi 1 0 0 1 0 2 4
Omiya 3 0 2 4 0 x 9
  Opening Round
Ryuugasaki 1 1 1 1 0 0 4
Tokyo Kitasuna 0 2 3 2 4 x 11
  Opening Round
Midori Higashi 1 0 1 0 0 1 3
Suzaka 0 4 2 2 0 x 8
  Opening Round
Toyonaka 0 2 1 0 0 0 3
Matsusaka 4 3 1 0 0 x 8
  Opening Round
Saijo 0 2 1 0 0 0 3
Sendai Higashi 0 1 4 0 0 x 5
  Quarterfinal Round
Takarazuka 1 0 1 2 0 0 4
Nagoya Kita 1 0 1 0 1 2 5
  Quarterfinal Round
Tomobe 0 0 2 0 0 3 5
Omiya 0 2 0 0 0 0 2
  Quarterfinal Round
Suzaka 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
Tokyo Kitasuna 3 0 0 1 2 x 6
  Quarterfinal Round
Sendai Higashi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Matsusaka 7 5 3 0 1 x 16
  Semifinal Round
Tomobe 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Nagoya Kita 3 1 3 2 0 x 9
  Semifinal Round
Tokyo Kitasuna 6 0 4 0 2 0 12
Matsusaka 3 0 1 0 3 1 8
  Championship Game
Nagoya Kita 0 2 0 0 0 2 4
Tokyo Kitasuna 0 0 0 4 1 x 5




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Last revision: 04/22/2004