On 23 March, the opening match between Hiroshima and Fukuoka Softbank was played in Mazda Stadium, with Fukuoka Softbank winning 3-1 and win. They finished the season with 9 wins, 6 losses and 3 draws.

Fukuoka Softbank started Naoyuki Uwasawa pitcher. With one out and runners on first and second base in the first inning, he got through the double play and retired three batters in the bottom of the second. He then tossed four innings with pitch in the bottom of the fifth with runners on first and second with one out on Walk and hit. Kazuki Sugiyama pitcher, who had moved up to mound, struck out the follow-up and finished the first half of the game with no runs.

With two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the fifth, the Yankees opened the scoring with back-to-back RBI singles by Ukyo Shuto and Downes. Trailing 2-1 in the top of the ninth, they had another chance with runners on first and third with one out in the hit and added a run on a squeeze by Akira Kawase. In the bottom of the ninth, Ryo Oyama pitcher closed out the game with a three-way tie.

win Fukuoka Softbank had two hit performances, including the first Ukyo Shuto by . Starter pitcher Uezawa went 5 hit 2 Walk 2 strike out 2 runs five innings, and the relievers combined for the fewest runs.

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SO 000020001 3
Hiro 000000100 1

So Naoyuki Uwasawa-Kazuki Sugiyama-Yuki Tsumori-Shuto Ogata-Haru Matsumoto-Ryo Oyama
Hiroshi Mori, Shohei, Takahashi Koya, Kobayashi Juto, Shimauchi Sotaro, Okamoto Shun

Text by Minami Niwa