Day 15 - Championship - Kouryou Koukou vs. Saga Kita Koukou

The final is here. After 48 games, we are down to our final 2 teams. Saga Kita (Saga-ken), who started with an upset of Fukui Shougyou and defeated powerhouse Teikyou. Kouryou (Hiroshima-ken), with its unimaginable comeback in the 9th inning against 2-time champion Komadai Tomakomai and using its offensive power to beat the spring champs Tokoha Kikugawa. Both teams enter the Koushien grounds for the final time this season. Both are worthy of the title of 89th Koshien Champions, but only one will have their anthem played as their flag is raised.

Kouryou throws out its ace Nomura. Saga once again starts with Baba. Saga Kita takes the field, the siren blares and the game begins.

Top 1 - Baba breezes through the top of the order quickly - Tochiura with a popup to 2B, Uemoto K's, and Habu, he induces into a grounder to second.

Bottom 1 - Tsuji gets the count full, but he grounds out to first base. Then Ide and Soejima walk! Nomura's control looks off! Have the games finally gotten to him?

No. Nomura settles down. Ichimaru grounds to third, but is slow enough where the only play is at first. And with runners at second and third, 2 outs, Oogushi K's to get him out of the pinch.

Top 2 - Something seems wrong. Kouryou's batters are getting good contact on the ball. Yamashita suddenly lines one to left field. Fukuda bloops one barely out of the reach of SS Ide and into center field. Hayashi looks to move the runners over. He puts the bunt down, Baba fields it, looks at third, ... looks at third, then suddenly goes to first! Hayashi's safe! Baba just took too long! Manrui (bases loaded) and no outs!

Okada up now. There's no way Saga can get out of this mess unscathed, right? Grounder to second! Tanaka with the stop! He tries to turn two. Over to Ide for one, throw to first, no! Not in time! Yamashita scores and Kouryou gets the early lead!

One out now, runners at the corners. Nomura up now, count's 1-2 and ... dead ball! Baba hits him and now the bases are loaded again! Baba's superb pitching has just up and left him!

Last batter Kobayashi steps up. Baba gets the count to 1-2, the pitch and ...

SQUEEZE! But the pitch is down and away! Kobayashi pulls the bat back to prevent striking out, but Fukuda is out hanging! He's tagged out and now there's 2 outs, runners at second and third! Baba is almost out of the mess!

But we're at the top of the order again and Tochiura steps up. He grounds the ball right through the left side and Okada strolls in! Kouryou now has a 2-0 lead!

Saga Kita's manager has seen enough. He makes the early call for ace Kubo-kun. Now they will have to depend on their ace to carry them the rest of the way. More importantly, can he stop the bleeding now?

And he does. Uemoto grounds out to second to end the inning.

Bottom 2 - Nomura looks to have gained his composure, as he sets down Tanaka, Egashira, and Kubo.

Top 3 - Good start for Kubo. Habu pops to short, Yamashita flies out to right, Fukuda hits a ball down the left field line?! He's in for a double! Wow, he hit that ball hard. Two outs though. Hayashi up, and he hits a hard grounder to second! Tanaka stops it though and makes the play at first to end the inning.

Bottom 3 - Last batter Babasaki K's. Tsuji grounds to third. Ide with a liner to left! Saga Kita finally has their first hit! Maybe they're making their adjustments to Nomura.

But Soejima K's to end the inning. But there is some progress.

Top 4 - Okada with the start in place of Arimizu in right field. First pitch he scorches into the gap between first and second and all the way to right-center field. Okada reaches second with a lead-off double! Change of pitchers, but Kouryou is still getting good bat on the ball.

Nomura sacrifices the runner along to third and chances are good that Kouryou can play some add-on now. Last batter Kobayashi is up again. Sharp shot down the third base line! Soejima with the block! He looks Okada back and makes the throw to first! Nice defense by Soejima!

Now Kubo has to deal with Tochiura again. Two balls and, oh! He hits Tochiura! Runners on the corners now!

But Kubo gets Uemoto to ground out again to end the inning! No damage!

Bottom 4 - Saga Kita starting to swing away. Ichimaru, on a 1-1 count, grounds to short. Oogushi, likewise on 1-1 count, pops out to short. Tanaka, on the 1-0 count, pops out to short left field.

Top 5 - Habu and Yamashita go up and down. Perhaps a quick inning for Kubo.

Or not. Fukuda drives one this time to the right-center field wall for another double. He's 3-3 now with 2 doubles! Still two outs though.

Hayashi walks. Not so good. Okada hits a scorcher down past the third baseman! But it's hit too hard for Fukuda to score! So the bases are loaded once again for Kouryou! And Nomura's up to help his own cause! Even though he's in the 8 spot, he's been good at the plate.

But not this time. Kubo gets him to strike out, getting out of the second bases loaded jam in the game!

Bottom 5 - Egashira lines to first. Kubo K's again. And Babasaki grounds to first. One hit after 5 innings, and 3 total base runners.

Top 6 - Kobayashi hits a double to the left field wall! Tochiura moves him over. Saga has to give up a run one of these days. Uemoto walks, runners at the corners again. Infield in. Habu with a grounder to SS. Wait! Ide looks at third and has Kobayashi in a rundown! They tag him out, the runners advance to second and third, but there's two outs again!

And Yamashita grounds to second! Saga Kita continues to get out of jams, can they turn it around offensively?

Bottom 6 - They're taking more pitches now. That's got to be good.

Tsuji - K.
Ide - K.
Soejima - K.

You can just sense the game is slipping from Saga's hands.

Top 7 - Fukuda is finally retired with a grounder to second. Hayashi nubs one down the third base line. Soejima charges, ball looks like it might go foul, but he picks it up and drops it! Hayashi is safe at first! Okada up, he's hit! Runners on first and second. Each inning is a struggle for Kubo and Saga. Nomura up now.

And he delivers! He hits a liner into the left-center field gap! Hayashi and Okada are off and running! They get the ball, throw it in, but both runners score! Kouryou has finally cashed in their runners and have taken a 4-0 lead! Kubo's face says it all! It doesn't look good at all.

But he continues to fight. Kobayashi would sacrifice Nomura to third before getting Tochiura to fly to right.

Bottom 7 - 9 outs to go. Saga has depended on timely hitting, they sure could use some now.

Ichimaru - K.
Oogushi - pop-up to third.
Tanaka - K.

Nomura's faced one more than the minimum so far, and Saga has no answer.

Top 8 - One out, captain Habu up. Liner over 2B Tanaka and into rigth-center field! He comes in with a double! Yamashita decides to swing away, he grounds to short. Fukuda is turned away again flying to left.

Bottom 8 - It almost seems like a matter of time now before Kouryou takes the championship.

Egashira - K.
Kubo - Base hit through the left side! Hey! They've got their second hit of the game!

Arakawa pinch hits for Babasaki. Perhaps they're trying to make a desperate run. Liner to left! Runners on first and second now! Still some work to do.

Matsuo pinch runs for Arakawa. Lead-off batter Tsuji up. He walks! Bases loaded, no out! Wait. Go back to yesterday's game. Nomura also struggled in the 8th inning. Could this be the same?

Ide up. Nomura seems to be nibbling on the borders of the zone, but Ide isn't swinging, nor is Nomura getting the calls. Ide walks! One in! It's 4-1 now and still the bases are loaded!

Soejima up now. Nomura's losing his control. 1-1, and he hits it.

It's high, the left fielder Yamashita is running back. He's still running back. He's still running back. He stops at the wall - nowhere else to go.

AND IT'S GONE! IS IT REALLY? IT IS!

Soejima has hit a GRAND SLAM HOME RUN!

And Saga Kita has the lead!

Saga's players are out of the dugout! Kouryou's oen-dan is in shock! In the span of a couple of minutes, Kouryou has gone from being 5 outs away from a championship to being down 1 with 3 outs to go! And there's still only one out!

Nomura settles down a bit as Ichimaru grounds out to third. But Oogushi lines to right field! Is this it for Nomura? No, as he manages to get Tanaka to go down on strikes.

But now Kouryou has only 3 outs to play catchup. They've been all over Kubo the entire game, so there's a chance.

Top 9 - Full count to Hayashi. He sends one through the left side! Tying run on base. Okada looking to move him into scoring position. Bunt is down the first base line. Tsuji gets it, runs to Okada, but he retreats back to home. Suddenly in the background, Hayashi continues onto 3rd! Tsuji rushes to make the tag, he gets it. Rifles to 3rd and ...

Out! The umpire calls him out! Hayashi stands up and looks up in anguish! They've tried to push it and went too far! Now Kouryou is down to their final out.

And it is ace Nomura vs. ace Kubo.

The count goes to 1-2. Down to their final strike. Kubo delivers and ...

Sanshin! Nomura strikes out! And Saga Kita has done the unbelievable! They've rallied from 4 runs down and defeated Kouryou for the championship! The team charges the mound! Saga Kita, you've earned this championship!

Meanwhile, Kouryou is still in a state of shock. So close to the championship, but turned away by a cruel twist of fate. You, you deserve an ending better than this. Nomura, you've pitched your heart out throughout the tournament, yet could not complete the task. People will say that that's why the game is 9 innings, but that dehumanizes you as a team. No team that has made it this far deserves to lose in such a matter. Hold your heads high, you've done well. You've done more than what most people have expected.

And the sun sets on another Koshien Tournament. A tournament filled with amazing games, amazing performances. In the end, the team from Saga Kita Koukou rises above all the teams and claims the 89th annual Summer Koushien Tournament.

This is Kamina Ayato, signing off.