The Game Goes On
The baseball team at Tohoku High School, which is situated in the Miyagi prefecture in Japan, is a powerhouse whose alumni include Yu Darvish, the best pitcher in Japan, and Kazuhiro Sasaki, a former closer for the Seattle Mariners.
Tohoku has made 40 trips to the national tournaments at Koshien Stadium but has yet to win one. The single-elimination events, like the N.C.A.A. college basketball tournaments in the United States, transfix the nation.
While it is every young Japanese baseball player's dream to win at Koshien, the team agonized over pursuing a tournament berth after the earthquake and tsunami that hit northeastern Japan four months ago. The school escaped major physical damage, but several players lost relatives and had their homes swept away.
The Game Goes On
Tohoku High School’s pursuit of the prestigious national baseball title in Japan carries extra meaning this year after the earthquake and tsunami that hit northeastern Japan four months ago.