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Japanese Region Tournament
Championship Game at Edogawa-Ku Stadium; Tokyo
Participating Teams
Prefecture
City
League
Hokkaido Champions
Hokkaido
Asahikawa City
Asahikawa Taisetsu LL
Tohoku Champions
Miyagi
Sendai City
Sendai Higashi LL
Tohoku Runner-Up
Fukushima
Iwaki City
Iwakitaira LL
Kitakanto Champions
Saitama
Omiya City
Omiya Higashi LL
Higashikanto Champions
Chiba
Funabashi City
Funabashi LL
Tokyo Champions
Tokyo
Tokyo
Tokyo Kitasuna LL
Tokyo Runner-Up
Tokyo
Fuchu City
Musashi Fuchu LL
Kanagawa Champions
Kanagawa
Zushi City
Zushi LL
Shinetsu Champions
Nagano
Ueda City
Ueda Minami LL
Tokai Champions
Mie
Matsusaka City
Matsusaka LL
Tokai Runner-Up
Shizuoka
Hamamatsu City
Hamamatsu Minami LL
Kansai Champions
Hyogo
Hyogo-ku
Hyogo Harima LL
Kansai Runner-Up
Hyogo
Himeji City
Himeji Chuoh LL
Chugoku Champions
Hiroshima
Hiroshima City
Hiroshima Saiki LL
Shikoku Champions
Ehime
Niihama City
Niihama LL
Kyushu Champions
Nagasaki
Sasebo City
Sasebo Chuo LL
Click here to view 2012 district tournament results for Japan.
Tournament Results:
Opening Round (Saturday, June 30):
Tokyo Kitasuna 8, Ueda Minami 2
Iwakitaira 3, Sasebo Chuo 2
Omiya Higashi 5, Hyogo Harima 3
Funabashi 8, Hamamatsu Minami 5
Niihama 8, Musashi Fuchu 4
Matsusaka 9, Asahikawa Taisetsu 0
Zushi 9, Himeji Chuoh 0
Sendai Higashi 1, Hiroshima Saiki 0
Quarterfinal Round (Saturday, June 30):
Tokyo Kitasuna 10, Iwakitaira 0 (4 innings)
Funabashi 10, Omiya Higashi 6
Matsusaka 9, Niihama 0
Sendai Higashi 7, Zushi 6
Semifinal Round (Sunday, July 15):
Tokyo Kitasuna 14, Funabashi 4 (4 innings)
Matsusaka 20, Sendai Higashi 10 (6 innings)
Championship Game (Sunday, July 15):
Tokyo Kitasuna 11, Matsusaka 0 (4 innings; TITLE)
Regulation Little League games last six innings. Tokyo Kitasuna Little League needed just one to assert its dominance on the final day of the 2012 Japanese Region tournament.
Tokyo Kitasuna scored twelve times in the first inning of a 14-4 semifinal round victory over Funabashi Little League, and then tallied ten runs in the opening frame of an 11-0 win over Matsusaka Little League at Edogawa-Ku Stadium near Tokyo. The two mercy rule-shortened victories propelled the Japanese champions into the Little League World Series for the third time in eleven years. Tokyo Kitasuna eventually defeated Goodlettsville Baseball Little League (Tennessee) by a 12-2 score to win the 2012 Little League World Series championship.
Pitchers Yuta Ishida and Kotaro Kiyamiya each threw a pair of complete game victories in Tokyo Kitasuna's sweep at the sixteen-team Japanese championship tournament. Ishida surrendered just a pair of runs in an 8-2 opening round win over Ueda Minami Little League, and Kiyomiya threw a four inning shutout against Iwakitaira Little League on the tournament's first day. One week later, when the four quarterfinal round winners reconvened in Tokyo for the semifinal and championship rounds, Ishida allowed three first inning runs, but settled down and allowed just one run over the next three innings of the win over Funabashi. Kiyomiya then collected his second shutout as Tokyo Kitasuna blitzed Matsusaka in the championship game.
Leadoff hitter Noriatsu Osaka propelled Tokyo Kitasuna to its semifinal round win with a pair of home runs, while catcher Tatsuya Irie and Satoru Aoyama also homered for the Tokyo champions. Osaka and Kiyomiya had homered in both of Tokyo Kitasuna's opening day victories, while Aoyama and Shun Oshima also homered in the win over Iwakitaira.
Matsusaka, which returned to the Japanese championships after a quarterfinal round finish in 2011, reached the championship game by overwhelming Sendai Higashi Little League, 20-10, in the other semifinal round game. Sendai elected to hold pitcher Ito Saeki, who had thrown an eighteen strikeout shutout in his team's 1-0 opening round win over Hiroshima Saiki Little League, with an eye toward a potential championship round meeting with Tokyo Kitasuna. But Matsusaka spoiled the Sendai plan, homering five times and breaking the game open with five runs in the fourth inning and eight more in the sixth.
Tokyo Kitasuna, which was heavily favored in the region tournament on the heels of their victory in the Kanto Cup tournament earlier in the year, avoided a second pitcher being held for it in its quarterfinal round contest. Sasebo Chuo Little League elected to bypass its ace pitcher in an opening round draw against Iwakitaira, knowing that a potential matchup with Tokyo Kitasuna likely loomed should they win their opening round game. Sasebo's pitcher had struck out seventeen in the All-Kyushu tournament championship game, but Iwakitaira ended Sasebo's tournament run by winning the teams' opening round game in the Japanese championship tournament by a 3-2 score.
Tokyo Kitasuna's championship game victory gave the league and longtime manager Yoichi Kubo its third-ever Japanese championship. Eight weeks later, the Japanese winners became the ninth league to claim multiple Little League World Series championships with their victory over Goodlettsville in the Little League World Series championship game in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Tokyo Kitasuna won the 2001 Little League World Series, and finished as the runner-up to Warner Robins American (Georgia) Little League in 2007.
Opening Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | |
Ueda Minami | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
Tokyo Kitasuna | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | x | 8 | |
Opening Round | ||||||||
Iwakitaira | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
Sasebo Chuo | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
Opening Round | ||||||||
Hyogo Harima | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | |
Omiya Higashi | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | x | 5 | |
Opening Round | ||||||||
Hamamatsu Minami | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | |
Funabashi | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | x | 8 | |
Opening Round | ||||||||
Niihama | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 8 | |
Musashi Fuchu | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
Opening Round | ||||||||
Matsusaka | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9 | |
Asahikawa Taisetsu | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Opening Round | ||||||||
Himeji Chuoh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Zushi | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | x | 9 | |
Opening Round | ||||||||
Hiroshima Saiki | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Sendai Higashi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
Quarterfinal Round | ||||||||
Iwakitaira | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Tokyo Kitasuna | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 10 | |||
Quarterfinal Round | ||||||||
Omiya Higashi | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 6 | |
Funabashi | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 2 | x | 10 | |
Quarterfinal Round | ||||||||
Matsusaka | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
Niihama | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Quarterfinal Round | ||||||||
Zushi | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
Sendai Higashi | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 7 | |
Semifinal Round | ||||||||
Funabashi | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | |||
Tokyo Kitasuna | 12 | 2 | 0 | x | 14 | |||
Semifinal Round | ||||||||
Matsusaka | 3 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 20 | |
Sendai Higashi | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 10 | |
Championship Game | ||||||||
Matsusaka | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Tokyo Kitasuna | 10 | 0 | 1 | x | 11 | |||
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