NISHINOMIYA, Hyogo Pref. (Kyodo) Yoshitaka Isomura hit his second homer in as many days and three teammates also cleared the fences as Chukyodai Chukyo trounced Hanamaki Higashi 11-1 Sunday to reach the National High School Championship final.
In the other semifinal at Koshien Stadium, Naoki Ito struck out 11 in his fourth complete game of the tournament as Nihon Bunri become the first-ever Niigata Prefecture school to reach the final with a 2-1 win over Gifu Shogyo.
Chukyo, from Aichi Prefecture, broke the game open with a five-run fourth that made it 6-0.
Isomura homered to left leading off the inning and Kanji Kawai capped it with a bases-loaded triple off highly touted left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, who came on as the Iwate school's third pitcher, unable to start because of a sore back.