Kyoto International High School, a Korean ethnic school in Japan, has reached the top for the first time in history at the Japan National High School Baseball Championship, known as the "Summer Koshien."
On the 23rd, Kyoto International High School won 2-1 in an extra-inning battle against Kanto Daiichi High School, representing Tokyo, in the final match of the Summer Koshien held at Hanshin Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture. Throughout the game, a tense pitching duel unfolded. Kyoto International had a chance with two outs and runners on first and third base in the top of the 5th inning but failed to score as the following batter did not get a hit. Kanto Daiichi also missed scoring opportunities with runners on second base and two outs in the bottom of the 6th and 7th innings, as their batters grounded out.
In the top of the 10th inning, during the extra-inning tiebreaker with no outs and runners on first and second base, Kyoto International scored two runs through a combination of a hit, a walk, and a fly ball to the outfield. They then secured the victory by allowing only one run in the bottom of the 10th inning to Kanto Daiichi.
Immediately after the victory, Kyoto International players were seen singing their Korean school anthem, which includes the lyrics "Across the East Sea, the Yamato land is the sacred old dreamland of our ancestors," live nationwide on Japan's public broadcaster NHK. At Koshien, the school anthems of participating schools are played, and NHK broadcasts all the games.
Koshien is held twice a year under the names of the Spring Invitational High School Baseball Tournament in March and the Summer National High School Baseball Championship in August. The Summer Koshien, with 49 participating schools, is larger in scale than the Spring Koshien, which features 32 schools, and is considered the dream of Japanese high school baseball players.
Kyoto International first advanced to the Summer Koshien main tournament in 2021 and reached the semifinals but failed to make it to the final. They also participated in the 2022 Summer Koshien but lost in the first round, and last year they did not qualify for the main tournament.
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