Junior right-hander Taisei Shimakura and Division II E.J. King take a four-game winning streak to Okinawa for a three-game series this weekend against Division I Kadena and Kubasaki. (E.J. King baseball)
E.J. King’s baseball team had a rough go the last time it faced a Division I opponent, losing three straight to Nile C. Kinnick the first weekend of March.
Now riding a four-game winning streak, all against Division II Yokota, the Cobras are hoping for a different outcome against D-I opposition when they visit Okinawa this weekend.
Jayden Arocho, David Armstrong, Taisei Shimakura and the Cobras are slated for three games at Foster Field I. They play at 5 p.m. Friday against Kadena, then a twin bill starting at 1 p.m. Saturday against defending Far East D-I champion Kubasaki.
“I want my boys to play up and face great pitching to prepare us” for the Far East D-II tournament next month at Yokota, Cobras coach Matthew Carl said Tuesday, two days before they fly south.
Aside from playing higher level teams, the games do not have a 90-minute time limit, as do DODEA teams in Japan and Korea.
The Panthers and Dragons have played each other seven times, each game slated to last seven innings except when one or the other leads by 10 or more runs after five innings.
“We look forward to playing seven inning games with two (D-I) teams and we welcome the challenge,” Carl said. “I have the utmost respect for both Okinawa teams and their coaches have done a great job making sure those programs play good, fundamental baseball.”
Those three games are the last scheduled among DODEA-Pacific schools before the week-long spring break.
Kadena’s Isabella Price and Kubasaki’s Savannah Stewart will be among Okinawa’s sprint star power in Thursday’s 17th Mike Petty meet. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
On Thursday, track and field athletes from Kadena, Kubasaki and two international schools gather on Kadena Air Base for the 17th Alva W. “Mike” Petty Memorial track and field meet.
It won’t feature any schools from outside of Okinawa, but it does include the Pacific’s two fastest boys sprinters, Kubasaki’s Ryan Hater (10.90 in the 100 two weeks ago in Taipei) and Okinawa Christian International’s Jeremiah Douglas (10.98)
Douglas holds the Pacific record in the 100, 10.45, set last season. Hater’s fastest career time is 10.59.
Two of the speediest girls sprinters are also expected at Petty, Kadena’s Isabella Price and Kubasaki’s Savannah Stewart.
AloJapan.com