Nichinan Gakuen vs Meitoku Gijuku

The game remained deadlocked through the eighth. In the top of the ninth, Nichinan escaped a scoring threat to keep the tie intact, setting the stage for the bottom half.

With two outs and nobody on, Nichinan strung together three consecutive hits. The third — a walk-off single by second-year batter Toyomaru — scored the winning run and sent the Nichinan Gakuen supporters into a frenzy at Koshien Stadium.

Meitoku Gijuku's three errors — compared to Nichinan's clean fielding sheet — proved decisive in a game decided by the thinnest of margins.

• Toyomaru (Nichinan Gakuen) — The second-year student delivered the biggest hit of his career, the walk-off single with two outs in the ninth.
• Onitsuka (Nichinan Gakuen) — His seventh-inning sacrifice fly tied the game and kept Nichinan's comeback alive.
• Satoyama (Meitoku Gijuku) — The Meitoku cleanup hitter drove in the game's opening run in the first inning.

Player of the match: Toyomaru (Nichinan Gakuen)

Nichinan Gakuen outhit Meitoku Gijuku 10-9, a narrow edge that reflected how evenly matched the two sides were over nine innings. The decisive statistical gap was in the error column: Meitoku committed three errors to Nichinan's zero. In a game that stayed 1-1 from the seventh to the ninth, those extra outs given to Nichinan proved fatal.

Nichinan's pitchers deserve credit for holding Meitoku scoreless after the first inning despite allowing nine hits, repeatedly bearing down with runners on base.

The victory sends Nichinan Gakuen into the second round of the 108th Summer Koshien, keeping alive a tournament run that started with Miyazaki Prefecture's first Reiwa-era win at the national championship.

For Meitoku Gijuku, the defeat ends their tournament at the first hurdle. Manager Mabuchi — who holds the record for the most Koshien appearances in history with 40 combined Spring and Summer tournaments dating to 1981 — saw his side eliminated in the opening round for the second consecutive Summer Koshien.

Nichinan Gakuen refused to break after falling behind early, trusted their pitching to keep them in the game, and struck at the decisive moment with two outs in the ninth. Meitoku Gijuku's early run and superior experience were not enough to overcome three defensive miscues against a side that simply refused to lose.