Yuta Shoji “You can only watch the video of the finals up to 8 times”
The 2022 Summer High School Baseball Tournament in Kanagawa, where Yokohama and Tokai University Sagami collided. In the bottom of the 9th inning, which was 0-0, with 2 outs and 2nd base, Yokohama Hagi Munehisa’s hit in front of the right, and the second base runner Kishimoto Isshin stepped on the home, the summer of Tokai University Sagami ended.
Right-hander Yuta Shoji, who was wearing the number 10 jersey and had allowed one goal in 28 innings until the final, showed an outstanding sense of stability.
“I couldn’t think of anything else. I had a lot of friends calling out to me, but most of them didn’t hear me. When I walked around the stadium at the closing ceremony and finally walked in front of the stands in Sagami, It was really painful.”
Five months later, he still can’t see footage of this scene. “I watched the video of the final several times, but I can only watch it up to the 8th inning. I stopped before the 9th inning. If I had kept myself calm and calm, I would have been able to hold back.
Against Hagi, the first ball took a strike with a 140 km straight out course, but the second ball slider aimed at the outside angle entered sweetly. The result might have been different if he had pitched to the outside course, but he calmly accepts that “I’m not good enough.”
In junior high school, while attending Tokai University Sagami, he played for Machida Senior. His older brother, Kenta, who is seven years older than him, is an OB of Tokai University Sagami High School, and will be the generation of 2015 who won the national championship with Shinnosuke Ogasawara (Chunichi) and Ryo Yoshida (Orix). He was a pitcher, but he couldn’t make it onto the bench, so he watched the winning moment from the stands.
