The enemy meets on a single wooden bridge. South Korea and Japan will battle for a ticket to the final in the baseball semifinals at the Tokyo Olympics.
The Japanese baseball team advanced to the semi-finals by defeating the United States and played against Korea. [로이터=연합뉴스]
The Japanese national baseball team won 7-6 after 10 extra innings in the second round against the US on the baseball knockout stage at the Tokyo Olympics held at Yokohama Stadium in Japan on the 2nd. Japan, who climbed to the knockout stage with the first place in Group A and defeated the United States, who placed first in Group B, will compete with Korea for a place to the final in the semi-final to be held at 7 pm on the 4th.
Korea and Japan met once in the semi-finals of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. At that time, Korea defeated Japan and advanced to the finals to win the gold medal, and Japan lost the bronze medal match and returned empty-handed.
Japan took the lead at the bottom of the third inning. After two shootouts, he took the lead with a double by Hayato Sakamoto and a double hit by Masataka Yoshida. In the two-team full base, which was followed by a continuous walk, Yuki Yanagita added a point with an infield hit from shortstop.
Soon the game was turned over. In the fourth inning, Todd Fraser, Mark Colossbury, and Nick Allen scored just on time to score three points. Japan also tied the tie with Sakamoto’s just-in-time hit in the bottom of the 4th inning, but Triston Casas of the United States responded with a 3-run homer from the left at first and second base in the 5th inning, again falling behind 3-6.
Still, Japan continued to pursue it. In the bottom of the 5th inning, lead hitter Seiya Suzuki caught up to one point with a left wing solo, and then, using Hideto Asamura’s mid-double double as a stepping stone, he followed up to a difference of one point again. At the end of the ninth inning, which was close to losing, in the 1st and 3rd bases, Yanagita’s second baseman grounder called in a third base runner to achieve a dramatic tie.
The game was ultimately decided in a penalty shootout in the 10th overtime. The United States could not score points with a consistent full swing from first and second base in the 10th inning. On the other hand, Japan sent two runners forward one base at a time as a sacrifice bunt for pinch hitter Ryoya Kurihara in the bottom of the 10th samurai first and second base.
Guy Takuya scored the finish line by hitting a right-handed hit in the continued 1st 2nd and 3rd base. It was the moment when fateful rivals, Korean and Japanese baseball, met again on the Olympic stage after 13 years.
By Bae Young-eun, staff reporter bae.youngeun@joongang.co.kr
