Japanese players have familiar feeling with Tri-Con Roos at Freeport International Baseball Invitational

After the Tri-Con Roos got a double play and a lineout in the second inning to limit Springdale to one run, Yoshi Yamahara and the rest of his teammates and coaches shared fist bumps and high fives upon returning to the third base dugout at Armstrong High School.

Yamahara knew some of his teammates like Freeport International Baseball Invitational veteran and Australian Nick Leahy and others he only met a couple of days before, but the camaraderie shared is one of the main reasons why he returned from Japan to the invitational for a third consecutive season.

“It is amazing to play with people from Australia, America on an international team,” Yamahara said. “I also like my host family (the McKivigans). They are very good.”

Yamahara stayed in touch with teammates from the past on social media and is sharing the experience this year with two friends from Tokyo: Tsugu Tatekawa and Yutu Shiratori. Tatekawa is making his second appearance at the invitational, last playing in 2016, and Shiratori is participating for the first time.

All three are teammates on the International Christian University baseball team in Tokyo. The Freeport International has had a long-standing relationship with the school, and it has made Japan one of the top international presences yearly at the event.

“It’s one of the programs that our school offers, so everyone on the baseball team knows about it,” Shiratori said. “The ones who wanted to come here are here.”

Tri-Con is composed of players from several local schools like Burrell, Freeport, Leechburg and Knoch, along with the Japanese trio and Leahy. They are managed by John Geist, with help from Knoch baseball coach Sean O’Donnell.

Tatekawa, who was born in Tokyo, is back after sitting out last year because of a summer internship.

Shiratori was born in Tokyo, but moved to San Jose, Calif., in 2006 and then returned home for school a few years ago. He is stopping in San Francisco on the way home to renew his California visa.

Like Yamahara, Shiratori has embraced getting to know his teammates and is enjoying his first invitational, although playing a tripleheader the first day of the event was a bit taxing.

“It’s pretty fun, but after playing three games (Tuesday) I don’t want to do that anymore, because I was really tired,” Shiratori said. “Two in one day is my max.”

The schedule lightened up for Tri-Con the rest of the week with them only playing one or two games each day.

The trio agreed that baseball ranks high on the list of popular sports in Japan, along with soccer and basketball. At the top of the baseball pantheon for many Japanese fans is Shohei Ohtani, who signed with the Los Angeles Angels prior to this season.

Each one’s face light up with a smile when they heard Ohtani’s name.

“In the professional baseball society in Japan he would be at the top,” Tatekawa said.

All three kept a close watch on Ohtani’s progress with the Angels this season and previously watched him on TV at home when he played with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham-Fighters of the Nippon Professional Baseball League. None of them has ever seen him play in person.

Tatekawa mentioned players like Ichiro Suzuki, who recently retired with the Mariners, former Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui and former Mets second baseman Tsuyoshi Shinjo as players that they’ve looked up to in the past.

All three are Pirates fans and they came to Pittsburgh early to take in a game last week against the Brewers. They have camo Pirates hats that match their Tri-Con uniforms.

Tatekawa is staying with Kristen Cernicky and her family, as he did two years ago. The Cernickys are neighbors with the McKivigans, which host Yamahara and Shiratori.

For Cernicky, it has been fun to reconnect with Tatekawa after missing out on hosting him last year.

“They feel at home,” she said. “I think that would be hard to go live with someone in another country, but we’re comfortable around each other, and their manners are impeccable. It’s like they’re part of the family.

“I asked Tsugu what he wanted to do when they got here, and he said he wanted to go to The Cheesecake Factory. I thought that was pretty funny, and I told him we could take care of that. They wanted to go to a Pirates game, and I told them we could take care of that, too.”

Though it’s a week that flashes by for all involved, they’ll all keep in contact whether it’s on Facebook or Snapchat. Tatekawa, Shiratori and Yahamara will probably receive a few new friend requests before the week is over.

“We keep in touch all time,” Cernicky said. “They send us presents during Christmas, and we sent some things for Christmas, too.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer.