Tomoya Masaki Powers Hawks into Third Straight Japan Series

Tomoya Masaki hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the fifth inning as the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks beat the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 6-2 on Friday, October 16, completing a sweep of the Pacific League Climax Series Final Stage and advancing to the Japan Series for a third consecutive year.

The Hawks finished the series unbeaten, winning all three games at Mizuho PayPay Dome and closing it out with a third straight comeback victory. Including their regular-season advantage, SoftBank won the stage 5-0.

Masaki turns the game with one swing

Nippon-Ham struck first on Kotaro Kiyomiya’s RBI hit in the opening inning, but SoftBank tied the game in the third. Yudai Yamamoto opened the inning with a double, advanced to third and scored on Yudai Shoji’s RBI single.

The Fighters moved back in front in the fifth after a SoftBank error helped create a two-out scoring chance. Tatsuki Mizuno’s infield single brought home the run for a 2-1 lead.

Masaki answered immediately. With one out and a runner at second in the bottom half, the Hawks’ leadoff hitter drove Takayuki Kato’s full-count fastball into the left-field seats. The two-run shot — Masaki’s first postseason homer — gave SoftBank a 3-2 lead it never surrendered.

The Hawks then pulled away. Yamamoto tripled home a run in the sixth, Tatsuuru Yanagimachi followed with an RBI single, and Taisei Makihara added a sacrifice fly in the seventh.

Maeda settles in before the bullpen closes

Twenty-one-year-old left-hander Yugo Maeda earned the win in his Climax Series debut. He allowed five hits and two runs, one earned, over five innings after recovering from Kiyomiya’s first-inning hit.

SoftBank’s bullpen finished the clincher with four scoreless innings. Kota Suzuki, Darwinzon Hernandez, Yuki Matsumoto and Kazuki Sugiyama each worked an inning as Nippon-Ham was held off the scoreboard after the fifth.

The Hawks collected 11 hits and played in front of 39,894 spectators. Their three wins in the final stage all came after they had trailed, underlining the lineup depth that has carried the club through another postseason.

Hawks return to the Japan Series

SoftBank will open the 2026 Japan Series on October 24 and will pursue a second consecutive championship. The Hawks also became the Pacific League’s representative for the third year in a row.

Shoji was named the final-stage MVP after going 5-for-11, but Masaki delivered the swing that settled the clincher. His fifth-inning homer turned a one-run deficit into the lead and ended Nippon-Ham’s season.