The team to which Shugakukan lost in the Koshien tournament made it to the finals but was defeated by Hanasaki Tokuharu from Saitama. As I did with Hiroshima’s Koryo, I took at look at how “local” the Hanasaki team members are for comparative purposes. Here’s the page I referred to:
http://apapnews.com/famousmember/member/363/
Five of the 18 players listed are from Saitama and another 5 are from nearby Tokyo. So, the winning Hanasaki team seems to be considerably more “local” than Shugakukan. On the other hand, Saitama alone has a population of 7 million and Tokyo has 9 million, so a case can be made that Shugakukan needs to draw its players from much farther away in order to have access to a analogous population base. Even with Saitama and Tokyo to draw upon, Hanasaki also has players from as far away Osaka and Hyogo.
On a separate but (I think) related point, this tournament was characterized by a number of batting records being broken or equalled. First, the record for the number of solo home runs hit during the tournament was smashed with a whopping 56:
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20170820/k10011105491000.html
Second, Shosei Nakamura of Koryo broke two records and tied one:
“Its loss also ruined a story-book ending for Shosei Nakamura, the Koryo catcher who set individual records for most home runs (6) and most RBIs (17) in a single tournament. He also tied the record for most hits at 19.”
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201708230048.html
As I see it, the origins of the players and the increase in home runs are both indications that the Koshien tournament has become one in which schools with professional coaches and training facilities prepare highly select groups of young men to compete against one another at a semi-pro level of play. I guess this environment is the backdrop that helps explain why Shugakukan has put a team together that lacks a single local player.
– Kirk
