Osaka – Two teams have have for the first time bowed out of the ongoing summer edition of the national high school baseball tournament, citing coronavirus infections among members, organizers said.
The organizers said Tuesday they accepted requests to leave the tournament from Miyazaki Commercial High School from Miyazaki Prefecture and Tohoku Gakuin Senior High School in Miyagi Prefecture.
The decision marked the first time that a team had pulled out of the tournament at the storied Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, after the opening ceremony.
Miyazaki Commercial was hit by a cluster infection, with 13 people, including players, testing positive for the coronavirus. Eight others were also determined to be close contacts of infected people.
A Tohoku Gakuin player, meanwhile, tested positive after his team won its first match of the tournament, with four teammates found to be close contacts. Tohoku Gakuin offered to quit the tournament, saying that the infected student and his close contacts could risk being identified if the team continued to compete.
Miyazaki Commercial was set to play its first match, against Wakayama Prefecture’s Chiben Gakuen Wakayama Senior High School on Thursday. Chiben Gakuen will get a bye.
Tohoku Gakuin will not appear in its second match, against Nagano Prefecture’s Matsusho Gakuen High School. Matsusho Gakuen will win the match by default — the first such victory in the history of the national baseball tournament.
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