Kazufumi Maruyama of the professional baseball Tokyo Yakult Swallows and Yuma Souma of the Orix Buffaloes won the “2022 SKY PerfecTV! Dramatic Sayonara Award Annual Grand Prize”. I attended the award ceremony held in Tokyo on the 13th.
[Photo]Kazufumi Maruyama showing a smile after receiving the trophy
Maruyama hit a goodbye double to the left middle in the bottom of the 9th inning, which was 0 to 0, in the 24th round of the Yokohama DeNA BayStars held at Jingu Stadium on September 25th. His first goodbye hit was the one that determined the team’s consecutive league title.
Maruyama said, “Before I entered that turn at bat, coach Omatsu told me, ‘Keep your head down and become a man.’ Thanks to those words, I was able to enter the turn at bat calmly. It was the first goodbye for a professional. I’m happy that the timely shot was the one that decided the championship. Next year, I will fight hard one game at a time so that I can win this award.”
In the 25th round against the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks held at Kyocera Dome Osaka on September 19th, So hit the center in the bottom of the 10th inning with a tie and the bases loaded with two outs. With this victory, the team won three straight matches against the leader, Fukuoka Softbank, and was close to the game. It was a valuable blow that gave momentum to the team aiming for consecutive league titles.
At the podium, So said, “That match was a match that both teams could never lose. In that match, I made an error and failed to bunt. Up until then, it was the worst match, but in the end, I went with a strong feeling that I would come around to a good place and definitely decide, and as a result I got this result. I am really happy. Thank you very much for this time.”
This award is given to the player (one player each in the Central and Pacific Leagues) who hit the most dramatic walk-off home run or hit-off hit during the regular season. Monthly “SKY PerfecTV! It was selected by fan voting from all 12 plays of the Sayonara Award. The winners, Maruyama and So, were presented with an original trophy and prize money of 2 million yen.
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