NISHINOMIYA, Japan – The SoftBank Hawks were crowned champions of Nippon Professional Baseball on Thursday after Isami Nomura’s 11th-inning go-ahead home run gave them a Japan Series-clinching 3-2 win over the Hanshin Tigers in Game 5 at Koshien Stadium.

The Pacific League champion Hawks bounced back from a Game 1 loss on home soil at Mizuho PayPay Dome to claim the next four straight against the Central League-winning Tigers and secure the Fukuoka club’s first Japan Series title since 2020 and 12th overall.

Facing elimination down 3-1 in the best-of-seven series, the Tigers were poised to stay alive with a 2-0 lead on RBIs from Seishiro Sakamoto and Teruaki Sato before veteran SoftBank star Yuki Yanagita sent it to extra innings with a two-run blast in the eighth.

With their season on the line, the Tigers brought ace right-hander Shoki Murakami out of the bullpen for the 10th inning. Following a scoreless 10th, right-handed hitter Nomura led off the 11th with a big fly to the opposite field off Murakami’s 2-2 fastball.

Lefty Kotaro Otake threw six shutout innings of three-hit ball for the Tigers, while SoftBank starter Kohei Arihara left the game after 4-2/3 innings in which he allowed six hits, three walks and was charged with both Hanshin runs.

Catcher Sakamoto put the Tigers up 1-0 with two out in the bottom of the second, singling a 2-1 two-seamer from Arihara to left field and scoring a runner from second base.

Sato made it 2-0 in the fifth as he equaled the Japan Series record of five consecutive games with an RBI. With two out and runners on first and second, he hit a drive to center field off a fastball from left-hander Darwinzon Hernandez, who had just entered the game for Arihara.

Yanagita turned the game around with his first home run of the series, going deep over left field off a first-pitch fastball from righty Daichi Ishii with one out and one on.

The Hawks continued to attack Ishii, with Tatsuru Yanagimachi watching his fly to right field fall inches short of a go-ahead home run and rounding the bases for a triple instead. In-form slugger Hotaka Yamakawa was next at the plate but drew an intentional walk before Ryoya Kurihara grounded out to strand the runner.

Yamakawa was named series MVP after totaling five hits and seven RBIs, including a Japan Series record-equaling streak of home runs in three straight games through Game 4.

SoftBank skipper Hiroki Kokubo lauded his team for bouncing back from the disappointment of last season’s Japan Series loss to the DeNA BayStars.

“We played really well in all five games, with no time to catch our breath,” he said. “I’m very happy that we were able to achieve our goal of becoming number one in Japan, which we were unable to achieve last year.”

Hanshin manager Kyuji Fujikawa, who led the Tigers to the CL pennant at a record pace in his first year, said his team showed its potential but needed to make improvements.

“The Hawks were extremely strong. To compete on equal terms or better against such a strong team, we need to get stronger ourselves,” Fujikawa said.