Ishinomaki Technical High School ace pitcher Takumi Miura has already fulfilled one promise by bringing his ailing mom to Koshien Stadium. Now, he has vowed to bring her back for the prestigious summer National High School Baseball Championship at the storied venue.
Ishinomaki Technical High School ace pitcher Takumi Miura has already fulfilled one promise by bringing his ailing mom to Koshien Stadium. Now, he has vowed to bring her back for the prestigious summer National High School Baseball Championship at the storied venue.
On March 22, Miura and his team from tsunami-hit Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, put up a valiant fight at the spring tournament at Koshien, which is not surprising considering the tragedy and difficulties they have had to overcome in the past year.
As his mother watched from the stands, Miura got hit by a pitch on the index finger of his pitching hand in the fourth inning, when his team was behind four runs to Kagoshima Prefecture’s Kamimura Gakuen.
When Miura came back out to the dugout after getting treatment, his team had not only caught up, but had gone ahead, 5-4. Despite his pain, Miura returned to the mound for the fifth inning. With the bases loaded and two out, however, he allowed a walk. He was replaced by another pitcher after that, but the reliever failed to stop Kamimura Gakuen and Ishinomaki Tech went on to lose 9-4. Their tournament was over after one game.
After the loss, Miura could not hold back his tears.
“I’m definitely coming back for the summer Koshien tournament,” he told reporters. “I’m going to promise my mother a victory at the summer Koshien tournament.”
In his elementary school graduation book, Miura said his dream was to take his mother to the coveted Koshien tournament. In his first year of high school that dream turned into a goal when doctors said his mom, Tomiko, 47, who suffers from glaucoma, may lose her sight completely one day.
On the day of the March 11 quake, Miura was stranded at his school due to the large tsunami. On his cellphone screen, he watched news images of the city’s coastal areas, where his mother works at a school lunch factory, get overrun by tsunami waves and swept away. Thoughts of his mother immediately ran through his head. He tried to remember what his mom had last cooked for him.
Four days later, when the waters receded, Miura was able to walk back to his house, which was undamaged. There, he found his mother and younger sister huddling in the living room. They all cried in relief. That’s when Miura’s dream of going to Koshien went from simply being a dream to a goal he was determined to achieve.
In order to reduce the physical gap between himself and rival pitchers in baseball strongholds, Miura ate as much as he could. Thanks to his mother’s cooking, his weight increased by 10 kilos to 78 kg. In January, his team was selected to compete at Koshien under a special quota reserved for schools that had overcome difficulties or had unique circumstances.
On the day of the Koshien game, March 23, Miura played with a new glove that had the words, “Strength of Ishinomaki” stitched into it.
His mother watched him pitch with tears in her eyes. “Concentrate!” she yelled from the stands, and closed her eyes numerous times as if to pray.
“My son looks so big wearing that ace pitcher’s uniform,” says Tomiko, who has fortunately retained her vision. “I can’t believe he actually took me to Koshien. I’m so glad to be alive.”