On 21 March, the opening match between Chunichi and Tohoku Rakuten was played in Vantelin Dome, where Tohoku Rakuten win 3-2.

Tohoku Rakuten starter Takahisa Hayakawa pitcher retired three batters in the first inning and then continued to closer a steady pitch to complete pitch through the third inning. He pinch-hit a single in the fourth inning with one out and runners on second base, but he gave up the rest of the inning and retired the mound after 4 innings of 2-hit with no walks Hit by Pitch 4 runs strike out no walks on 50 pitches.

In the top of the fourth, Yuya Ogo and Itsuki Murabayashi had a chance to bases loaded with two outs on hit and Walk, and Franco scored two runs on an RBI single. In the top of the fifth, they put runners on first and second with no outs on back-to-back Walk and added a run on an RBI single by Hiroto Kobukata.

After the fifth inning, Uchi Seiryu pitcher, Masahiro Ehara pitcher, and Naoto Nishiguchi pitcher each closer 1 inning to no runs. In the bottom of the eighth, Shoma Fujihira pitcher hit a two-run RBI doble from second base with two outs to close the gap to one run, but in the bottom of the ninth, Takahiro Norimoto pitcher closed out the game with a three-run tie.

In the win of Tohoku Rakuten, Franco made an appeal with his 1 hit 2 RBI and Itsuki Murabayashi 2 hit. Opening pitcher starter pitcher Hayakawa also pitched four score runs less innings.

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Raku Hayakawa Takahisa Hayakawa-Uchi Seiryu-Masahiro Ehara-Naoto Nishiguchi-Shoma Fujihira- S Takahiro Norimoto
Naka: Hiroto Takahashi, Yuki Hashimoto, Marte, Sho Iwasaki, Daisuke Sobue

Text by Hiroki Yashima