Spring/Summer Champions
Known in Japanese as 春夏連続優勝, haru-natsu renzoku yuusho or Spring-Summer Consecutive Champions, this signifies the winning of the senbatsu (Spring) and natsu (Summer) tournaments in a calendar year. To date there have been 6 instances of such a feat:
| Year | School | Spring | Opponent | Result | Summer | Opponent | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 | Sakushin Gakuin (Tochigi) | 34th | Nichidai-san (Tōkyō) | 1 - 0 | 44th | Kurume Commercial (Fukuoka) | 1 - 0 | |
| 1966 | Chūkyō Commercial (Aichi) | 38th | Tosa (Kochi) | 1 - 0 | 48th | Matsuyama Commercial (Ehime) | 3 - 1 | Now known as Chūkyōdai Chūkyō |
| 1979 | Minoshima (Wakayama) | 51st | Namishō (Osaka) | 8 - 7 | 61st | Ikeda (Tokushima) | 4 - 3 | Namishō is now known as Daitaidai Namishō. |
| 1987 | PL Gakuen (Ōsaka) | 59th | Kantō Ichi (Tōkyō) | 7 - 1 | 69th | Jōsō Gakuin (Ibaraki) | 5 - 2 | |
| 1998 | Yokohama (Kanagawa) | 70th | Kandai Ichi (Ōsaka) | 3 - 0 | 80th | Kyōto Seishō (Kyōto) | 3 - 0 | Daisuke Matsuzaka finishes the feat with a no-hitter in the final against Kyōto Seishō. |
| 2010 | Kōnan (Okinawa) | 82nd | Nichidai-san (Tōkyō) | 10 - 5 (12) | 92nd | Tōkaidai Sagami (Kanagawa) | 13 - 1 | |
| 2012 | Osaka Tōin (Osaka) | 84th | Kōsei Gakuin (Aomori) | 7 - 3 | 94th | Kōsei Gakuin (Aomori) | 3 - 0 | This is the first time two teams have had a rematch in consecutive finals, and the 3rd time a team (Kōsei Gakuin) has reached 3 consecutive calendar finals (they are the only ones to lose all 3). |
Read more about this topic: High School Baseball In Japan, Notable Episodes
Famous quotes containing the words spring, summer and/or champions:
“It is even more grim and wild than you had anticipated, a damp and intricate wilderness, in the spring everywhere wet and miry. The aspect of the country, indeed, is universally stern and savage, excepting the distant views of the forest from hills, and the lake prospects, which are mild and civilizing in a degree.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I know I am but summer to your heart,
And not the full four seasons of the year.”
—Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950)
“Myths and legends die hard in America. We love them for the extra dimension they provide, the illusion of near-infinite possibility to erase the narrow confines of most men’s reality. Weird heroes and mould-breaking champions exist as living proof to those who need it that the tyranny of “the rat race” is not yet final.”
—Hunter S. Thompson (b. 1939)