All but one player in the Osaka Toin starting lineup had at least one hit as they beat Kanaashi Nogyo 13-2 in the final of the National High School Baseball Championship on Tuesday.

Osaka Toin, who won their fifth summer Koshien title and eighth overall, became the first high school to complete a spring-summer double twice, having accomplished the feat in 2012.

Osaka Toin jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning at sold-out Koshien Stadium and never looked back. Kyota Fujiwara sparked a six-run rally in the fifth with a leadoff single and Jinto Miyazaki drove in a team-high four runs.

Osaka Toin starter Ren Kakigi, who went 0-for-3 at the plate, went the distance on 112 pitches, allowing five hits with seven strikeouts and three walks.

It was his second complete game in as many days after he threw 155 pitches in Monday's semifinal.

"It was a team effort so I'm really happy," said Osaka Toin manager Koichi Nishitani.

"We were disappointed with the way we lost last summer and all we had in mind was to get two titles this year. I had always been saying we're aiming to be the best team ever, and today we achieved that goal," he said.

Last year, Osaka Toin won the spring invitational championship at Koshien, but made a shocking third-round exit in the summer.

Had Kanaashi Nogyo won, the Akita Prefecture school would have become the first from the Tohoku region to capture the championship. The team was the first from Akita to reach the final since 1915.

A record 56 high schools participated in the 100th anniversary of the summer Koshien that started Aug. 5.

 


Check out Kyodo's video of crowds in Akita cheering for Kanaashi Nogyo: