Takasaki vs Tenri

Sato escaped a first-inning threat from Tenri, then drove in the game’s decisive run in the bottom half. He cruised through the middle innings, yielding only four hits across his outing. He was pulled in the eighth inning as Kendai Takasaki turned to its bullpen.

Tenri mounted its only serious threat in the top of the ninth. A leadoff single put the tying run aboard, and after a walk and a fielder’s choice, Tenri had runners at the corners. A second walk loaded the bases with two outs.

That brought ace Soshi Ishigaki to the mound as Kendai Takasaki’s fourth pitcher of the game. The second-year right-hander — who threw a complete-game shutout in the quarter-finals against Ariake — calmly fired five cutters to Tenri’s No. 5 hitter Sekimura. The last one caught the low corner for a called third strike, ending the game and sending Kendai Takasaki to the final.

The ninth-inning showdown between Ishigaki and Sekimura with the bases loaded and two outs was the decisive moment — a single swing would have given Tenri the lead. Ishigaki leaned entirely on his signature cutter, throwing all five pitches of the at-bat as cutters. Sekimura froze on the last one, low and away.

“I felt honoured as an ace to be sent in in such an extreme situation,” Ishigaki told reporters after the game, as reported by Asahi Shimbun’s Virtual Koshien. “Being entrusted with this situation is proof that I’m trusted as an ace.”

Soshi Ishigaki (Kendai Takasaki) — Player of the match. The sophomore ace entered with two outs and bases loaded in the ninth and struck out Sekimura on five cutters. His tournament line: a complete-game win in round one, a save in round two, and a 10-inning complete-game shutout in the quarter-finals before this bases-loaded escape.

Shun Sato (Kendai Takasaki) — The two-way star pitched into the eighth inning, scattering four hits and zero runs, and delivered the game’s only RBI with a first-inning single. He also escaped a bases-loaded jam of his own in the top of the first.

Kendai Takasaki bullpen — Three relievers bridged the gap from Sato’s exit in the eighth to Ishigaki’s entrance in the ninth, keeping Tenri scoreless.

Kendai Takasaki out-hit Tenri 7-4 and committed no errors. The box score tells a straightforward story: Tenri managed only four scattered singles and never advanced a runner past second base until the ninth inning. Sato’s command through the middle frames — no Tenri runner reached second from the second through the seventh — was the key. This was Kendai Takasaki’s third 1-0 win of the tournament, underscoring a pattern of pitching-dominant, low-scoring baseball.

Kendai Takasaki advances to the 108th Summer Koshien final, their first championship-game appearance in school history. They will face Chiben Wakayama, who defeated pre-tournament favourites Yokohama 7-1 in the other semi-final. The final is scheduled for Saturday 22 August 2026 at Koshien Stadium.

For Tenri, the defeat ends a run that saw them chasing a third Summer Koshien title (they last won in 1990). The Nara Prefecture representative reached the semi-finals for the first time since 2022 but could not break through against Kendai Takasaki’s pitching staff.

A classic Koshien semi-final decided by a single run and a single ninth-inning at-bat. Kendai Takasaki’s pitching depth — from Sato’s seven-plus innings of control to Ishigaki’s cold-entered heroics — proved the difference against a Tenri side that ran out of answers at the plate. The final against Chiben Wakayama’s powerful lineup will ask a different question, but a team that has won three 1-0 games in one tournament is built for close games.