SoftBank Hawks win Nippon Series

The Fukuoka SoftBank Haws clinched the Japanese title by beating the Hanshin Tigers 4-1 in games. In the championship clincher, the Hawks had to go deep as eleven innings were needed in a game in which the home field advantage did not help the Hanshin Tigers.

The Hawks had the best record of Japanese baseball by far as they posted a .626 winning percentage in the Pacific League. The Tigers posted a .612 winning percentage in the Central League.

After the Tigers won the first game of the Nippon Series 2-1, the Hawks bounced back with a clear 10-1 victory in game two. The following three games were much closer, all with a one run difference (2-1, 3-2, and 3-2).

In game five, the tigers had a 2-0 lead after five frames, but the Hawks bounced back in the eighth inning to tie the game at two on a two-run home run. With Daichi Ishii, who hadn’t allowed a run in 50 consecutive regular season games, on the mound, Yanagida Yuki swung on the first pitch he saw, a fastball at the outside corner. It resulted in a two-run shot.

In the ninth inning, neither team did score, so extra innings were needed. Also in the tenth inning, nether team did score but in the eleventh, SoftBank’s leadoff hitter, Isamu Nomura, hit a straight pitch on the outside corner with the count at 2-2. “All I could do was hang on to it,” Nomura said, as the ball just barely cleared the right field fence for a game-winning home run (see photo below).

As the tradition in Japanese baseball says, SoftBank Hawks’ manager Hiroki Kobuko was tossed up by his team.

This Nippon Series win, is their twelfth and their first since winning it in 2020.