Shimane: Friendly rematch for high school baseball teams

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:25 JST, September 10, 2022

IZUMO, Shimane — As several baseball teams were forced to withdraw from this year’s national high school championship’s regional tournaments due to the novel coronavirus, one such unlucky team was given an opportunity to compete with the team it was supposed to play against in the Shimane prefectural tournament.

Due to the infection of a team member, Izumo Business High School withdrew from the tournament, so Nima High School won by default. Having lost in the third round, Nima offered to schedule a match with Izumo Business.

The game was held on Aug. 3 in Izumo, and started at 5 p.m. to allow as many players’ parents as possible to attend. Cheerleaders also came to root for their school team. The captain of the Izumo Business team bowed to spectators to express his gratitude after the team beat Nima 20-3.

“We felt that being able to play baseball was not something to be taken for granted. I will never forget the support we received,” he said.