NPB and Koushien: A nice start into a new day

After waking up today I watched two games from Japan. First up was a match at Koushien Stadium where Aomori Yamada played against Seiko Gakuin. This was an interesting game with both teams being in a deadlock in the first few innings. But then a grand slam homerun for Seiko Gakuin in the 5th broke up the tie and sent them up 4-0. Aomori Yamada would score as well in the remaining innings, but they faied to capitalize on a loaded bases situation in the top of the 9th when their clean up hitter and pitcher struck out in three straight pitches. Seiko Gakuin won 6-4.
I also watched the closing innings of Niigata Meikun vs Kofu Shogyo on Wednesday, a very close game. I tuned in when the score was tied at 1-1 and it was already the 6th inning. Both teams went on scoreless until a single would give Niigata Meikun the winning run in the 12th inning.
Watching those students play in front of a huge (although not sell out) crowd at koushien Stadium is a lot of fun. It seems as if they are enjoying every minute they get to stand on the field, sometimes they laugh, sometimes they are frustrated with themselves, but they never have this dull and emotionless expression that some professional players seem to have when they play. Also I noticed that the games at Koushien have a much faster pace than professional baseball matches. Maybe that is because there are four games on each day and they have to get through the program as quick as possible.

This concludes this round and now these teams are left in the competition:
Day 10 (07-08-17):
Game 1: (Nagasaki) Nagasaki Nichidai vs. Kyoto Gaidai Nishi (Kyoto)
Game 2: (Shimane) Kaisei vs. Yoshikan (Oita)
Game 3: (Shizuoka) Takoha Gakuen Kikugawa vs. Nichinan Gakuen (Miyazaki)
Game 4: (Gunma) Maebashi Sho vs. Saga Kita (Saga)
Day 11 (07-08-18):
Game 1: (Tochigi) Bunseigei Daifu vs. Imabari Nishi (Ehime)
Game 2: (Nara) Chiben Gakuen vs. Teikyo (East Tokyo)
Game 3: (Niigata) Niigata Meikun vs. Ogaki Nichidai (Gifu)
Game 4: (Hiroshima) Koryo vs. Seiko Gakuin (Fukujima)

So when the Koushien broadcast (which can be found on the Asahi Shimbun website) ended I tuned into the top game of the NPB Pacific League where 1st place Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters took on 2nd place Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. Fighters starting pitcher Yu Darvish carried a no-hitter into the 6th inning, I think, when it was crashed by a single. That guy seems to be the new top prospect of Japanese baseball after Matsuzaka Daisuke went to the MLB. He also made his first big impact while playing at the Koushien tournaments and is currently engaged with Actress Saeko who seems to be pregnant with his child. So he's all set to fill in as the new star celebrity of Japanese Baseball.
Fighters, who are the defending Japan Series champions, went on to win 0-8. This was only the 2nd time I watched an NPB game, the other one being Tohoku Rakuten Eagles against a team whose name I forgot. What's most interesting is the noise in the stadium. The crowd is always chanting, shouting and singing, bands can be heard and theer is constant noise, even when the sides change offense and defense.