[Koshien 2026] Yokohama’s Shoki Oda: “I Still Have Unfinished Business at Koshien”—The Top Ace’s “Fighting Spirit”

The “Super High School-Level Player” Setting Midsummer Koshien Ablaze: Shoki Oda [Yokohama]

The 108th National High School Baseball Championship (Summer Koshien) has finally kicked off. One of the most anticipated matchups in the first round is Yokohama vs. Okinawa Shogaku, a clash between last spring’s and last summer’s champions, with Yokohama’s Shoki Oda standing tall on the mound as their ace pitcher.In addition to his blazing fastball, his forkball—clocking in at around 140 km/h—is another major weapon.

After being eliminated in the first round of this spring’s Senbatsu tournament, Oda pitched a complete game of 186 pitches against Toho Gakuen in the Kanagawa Spring Tournament. In the semifinals of the Kanagawa Summer Tournament against Keio, he recorded a personal best of 157 km/h and pitched valiantly despite injuring his right calf.Then, in the final against Toho Gakuen, he injured his left leg, but with two outs in the ninth inning, he threw a fastball that tied his personal best and completed the game on 130 pitches.

“I don’t pitch while thinking about what’s ahead; I just focus on getting through that inning solidly. Thanks to my experience in the spring (when I threw 186 pitches), I think I’ve learned to consider pitching strategies that don’t rely solely on raw power when I start to get a little tired, as well as how to rest on the bench and how to warm up,” he said.

He has used his role—which could be interpreted as either the manager’s message that, as Yokohama’s ace, he must not easily give up the mound, or as overuse—as fuel to expand his repertoire as a pitcher.

When Oda takes the mound in the first inning, he uses a brown Rawlings glove. In the latter half of the game, he switches to a yellow Rawlings glove. Oda explains the reasoning behind this as follows:

“Pitching is a physical position, and even the weight of a sweat-soaked glove can change your feel and throw off your pitching. (Changing gloves in the latter half of the game) is something I’ve been doing for a while.”

Last summer, he lost to Gifu Prefectural Commercial High School in the quarterfinals, and this spring, he suffered another bitter defeat against Kamimura Gakuen (Kagoshima).

“I still have unfinished business at Koshien. I want to give my all in every game, throw my heart out for the team, and go for that deep-crimson championship banner.”

If Oda is the team’s pillar, then shortstop Shoma Ikeda is the linchpin of both the defense and the offense. He also sometimes closes out games as a closer with a top speed of 150 km/h.

His ideal shortstops are Shinya Miyamoto and Kazuo Matsui.“I want to become a shortstop who can keep an eye not only on my own performance but also on those around me, and I want to keep playing baseball for as long as possible,” he says, looking toward the future. Furthermore, with second-year student Tetsuzaburo Kobayashi—a left-handed pitcher capable of throwing 150 km/h—on the roster, Yokohama boasts one of the strongest lineups among the representative schools.

From the August 21–28, 2026, combined issue of *FRIDAY*