Ofunato High School was inundated with calls after its loss in the final of the Iwate Prefectural tournament on Thursday.
But it wasn¡¯t a stream of commiserations and condolences pouring in ¡ª there were around 150 calls on the day of the school¡¯s 12-2 loss to Hanamaki Higashi High School according to multiple outlets. It was people asking why Roki Sasaki, Ofunato¡¯s fireballing ace, didn¡¯t pitch in the final with a spot in the National High School Baseball Championship on the line.
Never mind that Sasaki had thrown 435 pitches from July 16-24. Or that he would¡¯ve pitched in the final on no rest after throwing 129 pitches in the semifinals and 194 ¡ª with 21 strikeouts and a game-winning two-run homer ¡ª over 12 innings three days before that.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.