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Japan's champs return to non-reception

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Posted: Tuesday August 31, 1999 02:11 PM

Kazuki Sumiyama and Osako may not have received the reception they deserved, but at least they're home. AP

TOKYO (AP) -- It was hardly a hero's return for Japan's world champion Little League team on Tuesday, but the players were unfazed.

One elderly woman clapped when the team emerged from customs at Tokyo's Narita Airport, but that was only after a TV crew pointed them out.

The boys, donning their World Series baseball caps, seemed oblivious to the lack of fanfare.

"It was great that we could come this far," said 12-year-old star pitcher Kazuki Sumiyama, who struck out nine in Saturday's championship game to lead his team to victory. "From the very start we played to win."

Coach Tsutomu Kameyama, a former Hanshin Tigers outfielder, was upbeat too.

"I'm happy we made it home in one piece, and can finally get some Japanese food," he said.

The boys from Hirakata, in western Japan, are the fourth Japanese team to win the Little League World Series, after the Chofu Little League of Tokyo (1976), the Wakayama Little League (1968) and the West Tokyo Little League (1967).

They beat the runner-up team from Phenix City, Alabama, 5-0 in the championship game in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

More than 7,000 teams from around the world played in the tournament. More than 6,500 of them were eliminated in the first three weeks of play, which began in July.

The Hirakata team advanced into the championship final with a 12-2 playoff victory over Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, on Thursday.

A cheering throng of 5,000 greeted the Phenix City players when they came home Monday night.

The world's No. 1 team didn't seem to feel the lack of a similar welcome. The coach was just happy to escape strict American tobacco regulations.

"I can smoke freely now," he said.

So far, there's no ticker tape parades planned for the team's return to Osaka, western Japan's commercial center, and Mayor Takafumi Isomura has yet to fit a reception for the boys into his busy schedule.

They might not have time to meet him anyway. They're due back in school on Wednesday.

With all the excitement of the trip, even meeting the New York Yankees, one impression lingered for Captain Takashi Sakurai, who stood out at the championship as the shortest player there, at 4-foot-7 (140 centimeters).

"Everybody's so big," he said.

 

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