Japan rides big inning to LLWS title

Leading the Musashi Fuchu team to the title, pitcher Yutaro Tanaka struck out 14 and Hokuto Nakahara hit a grand slam in the 10-1 win Sunday night over Boynton Beach, Florida.

“They train so hard. We want to congratulate all the players for their accomplishment,” Kenji Yamaki, head of the athletics department of Fuchu City Hall, said Monday. “I hope this will give encouragement to other children.”

Fuchu is a city in western Tokyo.

Despite a trend in recent years for children to choose soccer and other sports instead of baseball, the win underscores the depth of talent in a country that has produced such Major League stars as Seattle Mariners’ slugger Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki “Godzilla” Matsui of the New York Yankees.

Yukio Matsuda, a senior executive of Japan’s Little League, said he hopes the victory will dispell concerns that baseball’s sagging popularity with children has hurt the level of play.

“The win backs up the fact that Japan’s level has been improving lately,” he said. “I knew they were going to do well to some degree, and they really came through.”

Tokyo completely dominated its opposition during the series, outscoring opponents 59-9.

Its 15 home runs over its six games tied a record for the most in a series since pool play began — Kao-Hsuing, Taiwan’s 1996 team also hit 15 homers, but did it in just five games.

Japan has long been the team to beat.

Though Louisville, Kentucky won the title last year over Japan’s Sendai, another Tokyo team beat Apopka, Florida, 2-1 to take the 2001 championship game. Japan’s Osaka defeated Phenix City, Alabama, 5-0 for the title in 1999.

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