Intercity Baseball tournament gets under way with 34 teams at Tokyo Dome

May the Event become a Huge Step Forward to Reinstate Baseball and Softball in 2020 Tokyo Olympic, says President Fujio Cho of the Japan Sports Association,

Day 1

The 85th Intercity Baseball Tournament got under way at Tokyo Dome on July 18, with 34 teams from across the country vying for the coveted Black Lion Flag.
In a speech at the opening ceremony, Norio Ichino, head of the Japan Amateur Baseball Association (JABA), expressed his hope that the amateur players would demonstrate the highest-level of baseball during the 12-day tournament.
Akihiko Inoue, head of Kimitsu Iron Works in Chiba Prefecture of Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp., received the newly created internal affairs and communications minister prize on behalf of the Shin Nittetsu Sumikin Kazusa Magic club from Masakazu Sekiguchi, senior vice minister for internal affairs and communications for energizing the local community.
The Incentive Award this year went to the All Ashikaga Baseball Club in Tochigi Prefecture, which is competing in the summer games for the first time in 36 years. Ashikaga Mayor Satoshi Izumi received the honorable award from Yutaka Asahina, president of the Mainichi Newspapers Co. which is co-sponsoring the tournament with JABA.
Kimio Watanabe, captain of the JX-ENEOS team from Yokohama, made a pledge for fair play, saying he and other players would do their best to mark a new chapter in the 85-year history of the Intercity Baseball Tournament.
After the opening ceremony, the championship began with a game between Tokyo Gas and Sendai-based 77 Bank (Shichiju-Shichi Ginko).
(The Mainichi)

Results 85th　Intercity Championship:
 July 18　Friday：
Tokyo Gas　（Tokyo） 6–1 77Bank　（Sendai）
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nagoya (Nagoya)　4－　5 Osaka Gas (Osaka)
JX-Eneos (Yokohama)　5　－　4　Japan　Railways, Tokai (Nagoya)
 July 19 Saturday:
Panasonic (Kadoma)　－　 JFE East Japan (Chiba)
NTT East Japan (Tokyo) - Japan　Railways, Kyushu (Kita-Kyushu)
Muroran Sharks (Muroran) - Japan Railways East (Tokyo)
 July 20　Sunday:　
Fuji Heavy Industry (Ota) - Sega Sammy (Tokyo)
Winner of Mitsubishi Nagoya and Osaka Gas　- Japan Railways East Touhoku (Sendai)
Nippon Life Insurance (Osaka) - Toho Gas (Nagoya)
 July 21　Monday;
Nippon Shinyaku (Kyoto) - Nippon Steel Sumitomo Metal RBX (Tokai)
Eiwa Shoji Wing (Yokkaichi) - Nippon Steel Sumitomo Metal Kazusa Magic (Kimitsu)
Okinawa Electric Power (Okinawa) – Honda Suzuka (Suzuka)
 July 22　Tuesday:
All Ashikaga Club (Ashikaga) – Matsuyama Phoenix (Matsuyama)
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Kobe (Kobe) - JFE West Japan (Fukuyama/Kurashiki)
Seino Un-yu (Ogaki) - Toshiba (Kawasaki)　
 July 23 Wednesday:
Vitalnet (Niigata) – Tokyo Gas (Tokyo)
Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Yokohama (Yokohama) – Honda Kumamoto (Otsumachi)
Japan　Railways West Japan (Hiroshima) – Honda (Sayama)
 July 24 Thursday:
 July 25 Friday:
 July 26 Saturday:
 July27 Sunday:
 July 28 Monday: Semi Finals
 July 29 Tuesday: Final