◆ Pacific League Softbank Hawks 5-5 Nippon-Ham (12 extra inning) (20th, ES CON FIELD)

Softbank Hawks In the 11th inning, Juto Kobayashi pitcher took the mound for extra inning and held the opposing team scoreless hit, allowing no hits runs. In the summer of his senior year of high school in 2020, the tournament Koshien was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but he participated in Koshien exhibition games alongside Nippon-Ham and Ryohei Hosokawa. He faced a classmate—with whom he had gone out to dinner the night of the 18th—as the leadoff batter in the 11th inning and induced a groundout to second base closer.“Since he was a classmate, rather than feeling nervous, I was able to pitch while enjoying it a bit. Seeing my younger teammates perform well inspires me, and it makes me feel I need to work even harder,” he said, drawing energy from the game played by his alma mater, which had advanced to the finals. After being released by Hiroshima during last year’s offseason, he played for Tokushima in the Shikoku Independent League before joining Softbank Hawks as a developmental player in May.After being registered on the first-team roster on August 7, this was his third appearance.