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Okinawa Shogaku High School won its first Summer Koshien title (Japan’s National High School Championship). They defeated Tokyo’s Nihon University Third High School (Nichidai-san) in the final, 3-1, in front of a sell-out crowd of 45,600 at Koshien in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture.
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Nihon took an early lead in the bottom of the first, but Okinawa scored in the second, sixth and eighth innings to claim the win. Eimu Ginoza scored the first run and drove in the other two with an RBI single in the sixth and an RBI double in the eighth. Sophomores Yuito Arakaki and Ryosuke Sueyoshi combined on a six-hitter. Right-hander Arakaki pitched 7.1 innings, allowing only one run on six hits. Left-hander Sueyoshi got out of a pair of jams to earn the save. He got pinch-hitter Shosei Nagano to ground into a game-ending double play with runners at third and first.
“Being able to come through in those situations makes me the most happy,” Ginoza said in a postgame interview with The Japan News
Okinawa Shogaku High School head coach, Kimiya Higa, served on Shiro Mabuchi’s coaching staff at the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup 2022 and 2023, contributing to the historic 2023 World Title. The Japanese press highlighted his resemblance to world-famous Portuguese soccer manager Josè Mourinho.
The Summer Koshien is a single-elimination tournament. The first round pairings and byes are decided by lottery. The first round consists of 34 teams, and 15 teams with byes join at the second round (the round of 32). Therefore, it takes either five or six wins for a team to win the championship.
Okinawa eliminated Yamanashi Gakuin, while Nihon beat Gifu Shogyo in the semifinals
The Baseball Federation of Japan (BFJ) and NPB Enterprise will co-host the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup 2025 presented by RAXUS from 5 to 14 September in the Okinawa Prefecture with the support of the High School Baseball Federation. The Prefecture revealed the event’s programme through their official X profile.
