Nippon-Ham pitcher Koki Kitayama (27) expressed his fighting spirit on the 13th to defeat Softbank Hawks in order to come back and win the championship. Starting on the 14th, they will play a three-game series against the reigning champions, who are four games behind, at Escon Stadium. The right-hander, who will be leading the charge, said, "We were beaten by The Hawks last time, so personally I want revenge. As a team, they are an opponent we have to beat, so I want to pitch in a way that will give us enough momentum to win all three games." This season, the team has struggled greatly against Softbank Hawks, giving up 86 runs in 11 games, with a record of 1 win and 10 losses. Kitayama himself was hit hard in their last encounter on May 24th (at Mizuho PayPay Stadium), giving up 8 hit and 6 runs in 4 innings, so he cannot afford to lose again.

As a hitter to be cautious, he cited Masaki, who batted .295 with an 11-Home Run average, saying, "He's an amazing batter and hard to pick up. He has good plate discipline and can easily get walk. But when he goes to fix his count, his ball speed is quite fast, so there's a high risk of extra-base hits," he said, preparing himself against the in-form leadoff man.

The team will face the absolute champions with three ace pitchers who have a combined 25 wins. On the 15th, Takashi Kato, who leads the league with 9 wins, will start, and on the 16th, ace Ito, who has 8 wins and will pitch on five days' rest, will start. pitcher adjusted their training at Escon that day with catch practice and javelin throwing drills. "The Hawks have a lot of good hitters, so if we can't throw a powerful fastball, get the batters to foul off pitches, or get them to strike out, it will be difficult to closer with just finesse. Pushing forward will be key," said Kitayama. They will shut down the powerful batting lineup and bring momentum to the team.