Takeru Imamura won a pitching duel over Yusei Kikuchi as Nagasaki Prefecture's Seiho beat tournament-debutant Hanamaki Higashi of Iwate 1-0 in the final of the national high school invitational tournament Thursday.
Seiho became the first Nagasaki school to win a national championship at Koshien Stadium, three years after it suffered a humiliating 21-0 defeat to Yokohama in the final.
"This win is in return for those who endured the bitter experience in the final three years ago," Seiho manager Koji Yoshida said.
"I kept faith in Imamura until the end of the game. We're so happy that we became the first champions from Nagasaki."
Imamura allowed only one run in 44 innings in the 32-team tournament, scattering seven hits and striking out five in the final.
Seiho broke a scoreless deadlock in the seventh inning as Kohei Shimazaki drew a two-out walk and Hirotoshi Hashimoto followed with a double to deep center off highly touted left-hander Kikuchi.
Hanamaki Higashi had runners on first and second with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but Imamura retired pinch hitter Daiki Sasaki on a flyout to left to end the game.
"I just tried to hold my opponents scoreless each inning. That brought a good result," Imamura said. "We'll train hard and try to come back to Koshien this summer stronger."
Kikuchi was equally impressive in the showcase event for future professionals. He gave up just three runs over 40 innings.
Hanamaki Higashi was looking to become the first school from the Tohoku region to win a national title.
