The Daiei Hawks clinched their second straight Pacific League crown on Saturday with a 1-0 victory over the Orix BlueWave in Fukuoka.
Cleanup batter Hiroki Kokubo slammed a solo homer into the left-field bleachers in the sixth inning off Orix starter Masahiko Kaneda to finally help the Hawks land the title.
"It is a victory so many times more delightful than it was last year," skipper Sadaharu Oh said after the game.