Local News

The Chiba Lotte Marines trounced the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks 7-0 in the sixth and final game of the so-called Climax Series (Pacific League playoff series), to eliminate the Hawks from post-season play. As the team that finished in first place during the regular season, the Hawks were spotted a one-game advantage before the six games were played. After going up three games to one, they only needed one win to move on to the next round, but lost the last three games when their hitting stroke disappeared.