Any baseball fan, from the casual to the hardcore, who didn't know Waseda Jitsugyo first-year player Kotaro Kiyomiya had an RBI hit in his Summer Koshien debut on Saturday, probably spent the day off the grid.
Kiyomiya was everywhere long before the tournament began. That he got a hit in his debut, one that drove in a run no less, eclipsed even the news of the day from the pro ranks — Kiyomiya even garnered a mention on the video board at Tokyo Dome, as the Hiroshima Carp warmed up for their game against the Yomiuri Giants.
All four of his at-bats were replayed on various news programs that night and again on Sunday morning. In Akihabara station, one kiosk adorned part of its newspaper section with cutouts of the teenager's head. Nikkan Sports and Sports Nippon devoted their back pages to Kiyomiya, and they probably weren't alone.