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:
“With spring the father-sky remakes the world:
The male shower has flowed into the bride,
Earth’s body; then shifted through sky and sea and land
To touch the quickening child in her deep side.”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)
“The summer grasses:
of mighty warlords’ visions
all that they have left.”
—Matsuo Basho (1644–1694)
“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)