Playoff Game 1 – Samoa (4-3) vs. Japan (4-2)
This game is set to go at 12 noon New Zealand time.
New Zealand time:
12.00pm A3 Vs B4
Samoa vs. Japan
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Samoa (4-3) is the # 3 seed from Pool A, beating Great Britain, USA, Indonesia and South Africa while losing to Australia, Venezuela and the Czech Republic. Samoa earned the third seed over USA (also 4-3) by virtue of the head-to-head matchup with USA. Samoa is led by pitchers Zane Siolo and Thomas Enoka (brother of New Zealand’s Ben Enoka). The win over USA was their biggest win in pool play, occurring on Day 2, and getting them momentum in the tournament.
Samoa’s roster is comprised of players from New Zealand, with the exception of Mani Alapae. The top hitters of the tournament have been first baseman Gerard Long and shortstop Tony Niu.
Here is their lineup from the game against the USA.
1 #2 Gene Robinson
2B
2 #3 Tony Niu
3B
> #22 Thomas Enoka
P
4 #24 Duane Jerard
C
5 #16 Bernard Hale
CF
6 #15 Michael Niu
SS
7 #23 Gerard Long
1B
8 #7 Kallan Compain
RF
9 #19 Joshua Niu
LF
#15 Tristan Samoa#17 Zane Siolo
#8 Aaron Knight
#14 Joshua Cooke
#5 Mani Alapae
#18 Joel Harris
#12 Gregory Anderson
#11 Bradley Annandale
Japan (5-2) is the #4 seed from Pool B, beating Canada, Colombia, Mexico, Netherlands and the Philippines, while losing to New Zealand, and Argentina. They finish with the same record as Argentina, though Argentina earned a number three seed by virtue of their win over Japan. Japan is the only team in the tournament to beat Canada, which finished as the number one seed in Pool B. That win over Canada was their biggest in the pool play round, a 2 hitter by Yukinori Nakashima, against a very tough hitting lineup.
Here is their lineup from the game against Canada:
1 #7 Naoaki Kawada
LF
2 #18 Jun Taniguchi
2B
3 #20 Tomoki Shimada4 #8 Masateru Matsuoka
SS
5 #12 Tadaaki Saeki
1B
6 #28 Kengo Kidani
RF
7 #2 Taiyo Kataoka
C
8 #5 Kota Mera
3B
> #1 Hiraku Yokoyama
CF
#19 Hikaru Matsuda
DH
#24 Yohei Ono#21 Hayami Takahashi
#6 Yu Nishimori
#14 Yukinori Nakashima
P
#16 Kimihiko Ito#17 Kenji Nakamura
#25 Kengo Terui