Chiba Lotte Marines clinch Japan Series in stellar Game 7
It wasn’t long before the San Francisco Giants bagged the World Series title in the United States by besting their opponents, Texas Rangers, in just 5 games. It seems the madness didn’t just stop there. The game of baseball isn’t only restricted to the North
Americans and that was quiet apparent when the Japan Series started off in full swing in Asia. The two countries cannot admire baseball more than they do at the moment. The two teams meeting for the encounter were none other than the Chiba Lotte Marines and
the Chunichi Dragons.
The two sides have been at it for a while and in particular contrast to all normal games, the 6th fixture between the two teams lasted a long time. The encounter took an ending strike in the 15th inning to call on a result. The match
lasted 5 hours and 43 minutes to be precise. The game was classified as the longest in baseball game in history, spanning for at least two ball fixtures, held simultaneously.
The last fixture was just as exciting as it displayed an exhibition of hard hitting. 15 runs were scored and the match was taken to the 12th inning to decide the winner. It took a triple from Yoshifumi Okada to get Most Valuable Player of the
Series, Toshikai Imae, to finish in with a run. The score in the top 12th was 8 Marines – 7 Dragons. The game eventually closed down when Yoshihiro Ito took out all the Chunichi players to get the 3rd ranking team, its grand victory.
This was the first time a 3rd ranking team clinched the title in the Japan Series
Norifumi Nishimura who is a first year manager for the Marines was given a traditional dodge and toss lift at the end. He went on to say, “When we won the Climax Series, they only tossed me in the air three times. But tonight I got tossed four times. It
doesn't get any better than this."
He also said, "I keep saying the same thing that everyone contributed. We played
zen-nin yakyu (baseball using all players). I am so proud of the team and the way they played; not only in the Japan Series, but also all season long."
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