Eight seasons of disappointment and heartbreak, all forgotten in the second it took Tadashi Settsu to get strike three past Kazuhiro Wada and officially put the Hawks back on top.Toshiya Sugiuchi threw seven shutout innings, and the Hawks put enough runs on the board behind him to defeat the Chunichi Dragons 3-0 in Game 7 to capture their first Japan Series title since 2003 on Sunday at Yahoo Dome."I'm exhausted," Hawks manager Koji Akiyama said. "But it was a great series. Chunichi is a great team. We are fortunate to come out on top."

Softbank won everything that was placed in its path this season. The Hawks captured the interleague title, the Pacific League pennant and PL Climax Series title before winning a back-and-forth Japan Series against ChunichiThe Hawks flipped the script in the series finale, becoming the only team to win at home. Softbank benefited from a bases-loaded walk in the third inning, catcher Katsuki Yamazaki's RBI single in the fourth and Seiichi Uchikawa's run-scoring hit in the seventh."It's good we won the series in Fukuoka before our home fans, and I want to thank all the fans here and the Hawks fans throughout the country," Akiyama said.

The last time the Hawks were crowned champions they were still under the Daiei umbrella and Akiyama was named the MVP.