Softbank's Kurihara, a shot of joy, finally a big job - professional baseball CS

I threw down my helmet and jumped into the ring of joy. Softbank's No. 4 Kurihara hit a walk-off home run with the bases loaded, giving them a shot at advancing to the Japan Series for the third consecutive year.

Although they were able to tie the score in the third inning, the next point was a long shot. In the 9th inning, they attacked Fukushima, with one out and 1st and 3rd base. At this point, the Nippon Ham bench avoided No. 3 Kondo and took a strategy to load the bases. Kurihara said, ``I was extremely nervous.'' Stay calm even under pressure, and ``try to improve the way you hit and wait to make a cleaner swing than usual.'' When he swung the third pitch, the ball was sucked into the right-center seat.

He hit 40 home runs, the first time in 21 years for the team, and won the double crown with an RBI, leading the team to three consecutive league championships. Naturally, there are high expectations for this short-term battle. On this day, he retired in the first, third, and sixth innings with runners on, and said, ``I wanted to do my best in situations like this.'' In the end, the big job was done.

Last year as well, they won consecutive games from the first match and were on the verge of becoming champions, but they lost three straight from there and were in trouble until the final match. Coach Kokubo said, ``All we have to do is win three games.'' I'm not letting my guard down.