IMAMURA BRILLIANT AS SEIHO WINS SPRING KOSHIEN TOURNEY

Three years after a humiliating 21-0 defeat by Yokohama in the final game of Japan’s Spring Koshien Tournament in Nishinomiya, Nagasaki’s Seiho High School defeated Iwate’s Hanamaki Higashi, 1-0, on April 2 at Koshien Stadium to win this year’s version of the event. It marks the first time a Nagasaki school has won a national championship.


The lion’s share of credit goes to pitcher Takeru Imamura, who allowed just one run in 44 innings of work in the 32-team tournament, including a shutout in the final game in which he scattered seven hits. The only run of the game came in the seventh inning, when Seiho’s Hirotoshi Hashimoto doubled in Kohei Shimazaki off Yusei Kikuchi.

Kikuchi allowed only three runs over 40 innings for Hanamaki Higashi, who were making their first-ever Koshien appearance.