Joso Gakuin of Ibaraki Prefecture survived a furious ninth-inning comeback from Miyagi's Sendai Ikuei on Wednesday to triumph 7-6 in the final of the 73rd high school baseball national invitational tournament.
An RBI double from Masashi Miura highlighted a three-run third inning that gave Joso Gakuin a 4-1 advantage, before Sendai Ikuei cut the deficit on a solo homer by Toshio Kikuchi in the fourth at Koshien Stadium.
However, with Joso Gakuin leading 6-4 and in sight of its first-ever victory in the annual spring classic, Hiroyuki Inaishi added a crucial run on a sacrifice fly for a 7-4 lead in the top of the ninth inning.
Needing three runs in the bottom of the frame to force extra innings, Takuma Sato hit an RBI double as Sendai Ikuei scored two runs, but it proved too little, too late for the school from Japan's northeastern Tohoku region.
Hisashi Murakami gave up three runs on seven hits over five-plus innings, while Tetsuya Murata worked the final 22/3 innings for Joso Gakuin.