Tokaidai Kofu crushed Tenri 10-3 in the quarterfinals of the National High School Baseball Championship Friday, while Chiba Keizaidai Fuzoku beat Shutoku 4-2 to reach the semifinals in its first appearance in the annual tournament.
Tokaidai Kofu went ahead in the first inning with a two-run homer by Hiroki Nakazawa and went on to take a 9-2 lead after a five-run fifth as the Yamanashi Prefecture school pounded out 15 hits against five pitchers from the Nara school at Koshien Stadium. Keita Sano pitched a complete game and went 5-for-5 at the plate to help Tokaidai Kofu book its place in the semifinals.
In Friday's other game, Tsutomu Ihara tripled home the tying run and Keijiro Matsumoto followed with a go-ahead single in a three-run rally in the third inning as Chiba Keizaidai Fuzoku came from behind to eliminate Tokyo's Shutoku. In Saturday's semifinals, Tokaidai Kofu meets Komadai Tomakomai of Hokkaido and Chiba Keizaidai Fuzoku takes on Ehime's Saibi, the winner of the national invitational tournament this spring.