The situation was strikingly familiar. When Tokyo Kitasuna Little League stumbled in the early stages of the 2007 Tokyo district tournament, the team's margin for error in subsequent games narrowed to essentially zero. A trio of seventh inning errors had helped Tokyo Nakano Little League to a 5-2 victory in the third round of the 29-team district tournament, and that meant that a second loss in the tournament -- or a defeat at any point in the single-elimination Japanese Region tournament -- would bounce Tokyo Kitasuna from the international tournament.

But Tokyo Kitasuna had faced the long march before. In 2001, Ota Little League blanked Kitasuna, 3-0, in the very first round of district tournament play. The team from Tokyo's Koto district responded by reeling off twelve consecutive victories, including a come-from-behind, 5-4 decision in the championship game, to win the Japanese national tournament. Manager Youichi Kubo's squad later climbed to loftier heights, and eventually won the 55th annual Little League World Series.

Kubo was again piloting Tokyo Kitasuna's all-star team in the 2007 international tournament. He knew the course on which to steer his team.

Tokyo Kitasuna rebounded from its mid-May loss, winning five consecutive games to qualify for the Japanese championship tournament as Tokyo's runner-up. Once there, the team won four more games, including a come-from-behind championship game victory, to capture its second Japanese championship in seven years. With Japanese leagues competing as a separate region in the 2007 international tournament, Tokyo Kitasuna was on its way back to South Williamsport.

Tokyo Kitasuna's 2001 squad rallied from a two-run deficit in the fourth inning of its national championship game matchup. The 2007 team faced the same deficit early in its Japanese championship contest. Hiratsuka Little League scored four times in the top of the second to take a 5-3 lead. But Tokyo Kitasuna pitchers Ryo Ogawa and Yuya Fukushima combined to hold Hiratsuka scoreless for the remainder of the game, and the Tokyo team struck for three runs in the third inning before holding on for a 6-5 victory. The loss was Hiratsuka's first defeat in 15 international tournament games.

Tokyo Kitasuna overcame deficits in all four of its region tournament victories. Gifu Tohno Little League held a 2-0 lead in the third inning of their opening round contest, but Kitasuna scored three times in the bottom of the inning en route to a 6-2 victory. Junsho Kiuchi and catcher Kanta Hirade both homered for Tokyo Kitasuna, which struggled early in part because of eleven runners left on base.

Six of the eight opening round games in the region tournament were decided by one or two runs, but Tokyo Kitasuna left little doubt in its second round win, a 39-2 rout of Hachinohe Aomori Little League. The Tohoku district representative actually took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning, but a nine-run avalanche in the bottom of the inning put Tokyo Kitasuna firmly in control. Kitasuna added nine more runs over the next two innings before scoring 21 times in the bottom of the fifth inning. Tokyo Kitasuna's output represented the second-most runs ever in a Japanese national tournament game, and the most ever in a non-opening round game. Musashi Fuchi Little League scored 43 runs in an opening round win over Sapporo Shinkotoni Little League in 2005. Hirade, Ogawa, and Ryo Kanakubo each had four hits to pace a 30-hit Kitasuna attack.

Tokyo Kitasuna's powerful bats were a precursor to Typhoon Man-Yi, which crawled up Japan's Pacific Coast the following week and forced postponement of semifinal and championship round games. When play resumed, the team managed only four hits against Musashi Fuchu in an all-Tokyo semifinal round clash. But Tokyo Kitasuna scored four runs in the fourth inning to reverse a two-run deficit and claim a 4-2 victory. Kanakubo and Fukushima each homered during Tokyo Kitasuna's decisive rally, while Kanakobo and Kiuchi combined to keep Musashi Fuchu off the scoreboard after a two-run first inning rally.

Hiratsuka claimed the opposite championship game berth, scoring nine runs in the final two innings to break open a 1-1 game and defeat defending national champion Kawaguchi Little League, 10-1, in the other semifinal round game.

Tokyo Kitasuna won its first four games at the Little League World Series -- true to their form, the Japanese representatives trailed in three of the contests -- and won the international championship with a 7-4 victory over Pabao Little League (Willemstad, Curacao). In the championship game, Tokyo Kitasuna and Warner Robins American (Georgia) Little League battled into extra innings before a walk-off home run in the bottom of the eighth inning gave the Georgia team a 3-2 victory.

Linescores:

Opening Round	1	2	3	4	5	6		R
Matsumoto Minami	3	0	0	3	4	0		10
Kobe Kita	4	0	2	1	1	3		11
Opening Round
Ehime Tobe	3	1	1	0	1	0		6
Musashi Fuchu	4	0	1	7	3	x		15
Opening Round
Gifu Tohno	1	0	1	0	0	0		2
Tokyo Kitasuna	0	0	3	2	1	x		6
Opening Round
Hachinohe Aomori	0	3	1	0	1	3		8
Ushibuka	0	5	0	0	1	0		6
Opening Round
Chita	0	0	0	0	0	1		1
Kawaguchi	0	3	0	0	0	x		3
Opening Round
Funabashi	0	0	0	2	0	0		2
Mizusawa	0	0	0	0	0	0		0
Opening Round
Sapporo Toyohira	0	0	0	0	0	0		0
Hiroshima Nishi	0	1	0	0	0	x		1
Opening Round
Hiratsuka	0	0	4	3	0	0		7
Takarazuka	0	0	0	0	5	1		6
Quarterfinal Round
Musashi Fuchu	0	4	0	0	0	3		7
Kobe Kita	0	0	0	0	0	2		2
Quarterfinal Round
Hachinohe Aomori	0	2	0	0	0	0		2
Tokyo Kitasuna	0	9	4	5	21	x		39
Quarterfinal Round
Kawaguchi	0	1	0	1	0	0		2
Funabashi	0	0	0	0	0	0		0
Quarterfinal Round
Hiratsuka	0	0	0	3	4	4		11
Hiroshima Nishi	0	0	0	0	0	0		0
Semifinal Round
Musashi Fuchu	2	0	0	0	0	0		2
Tokyo Kitasuna	0	0	0	4	0	x		4
Semifinal Round
Hiratsuka	0	0	1	0	4	5		10
Kawaguchi	1	0	0	0	0	0		1
Championship Game
Hiratsuka	1	4	0	0	0	0		5
Tokyo Kitasuna	3	0	3	0	0	x		6

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