Photo/Illutration Yuki Kotani throws out the first pitch before a professional baseball game at Meiji Jingu Stadium on Sep. 2. (Shota Tomonaga)

Fifteen-year-old Yuki Kotani had one goal when he stood on the mound to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at Meiji Jingu Stadium in Tokyo on Sept. 2.

"Don't bounce it," he thought.

The youngster has been battling pediatric cancer for most of his life but that has not dampened his love for baseball. 

The ceremonial event took place during world Childhood Cancer Awareness Month before a packed stadium to see the Tokyo Yakult Swallows and Hanshin Tigers square off. 

DESIRE TO PLAY BASEBALL AGAIN

Yuki, a junior high school student who lives in Hirakata, Osaka Prefecture, started playing baseball when he was 5.

A baseball team was formed in his neighborhood, and he became one of its first members.

His mother, Naoko, 44, said, “Even a small kid can play baseball,” and took him to the dry riverbed that served as the team’s practice ground, just a three-minute walk from their home.

Yuki played catch with a rubber ball and swung toy bats. He ran around with the other elementary school students until his oversized uniform was covered in mud.

His father, Hiroki, 47, would take his family to Kyocera Dome in Osaka to watch baseball games on his days off.

At that time, the Orix Buffaloes, the stadium's home team, was a perennial loser. But Yuki proudly cheered for them all during the Buffaloes' lean years, until they finally broke through and won the Japan Series in 2022.

As he reached the upper grades of elementary school, Yuki could not get enough of the twice-weekly team practices and went to the riverbed every day after school with his bat and glove.

Getting a hit made him feel refreshed. He joined the baseball club in junior high school, wanting to improve his skills.

However, he could only participate in the club activities for a few months in his second year. His position was left fielder but he played in only two games. He spent most of the time in the hospital.

When he was 6, he was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, a type of pediatric cancer. A tumor on his back was surgically removed, but it recurred during his third year of elementary school.

Despite its removal, it recurred again in the winter of his sixth grade. Each surgery required hospitalization, interrupting his baseball activities.

Yuki's cancer is rare, and doctors say that neither the survival rate nor the treatment method is well understood.

His hair fell out due to chemotherapy treatments he received every few weeks. He also repeatedly suffers from vomiting and diarrhea and continues to fight the anxiety that his cancer may return.

Yuki doesn’t even remember how many surgeries he’s had. He wonders when he will be cured and if he will ever be able to play baseball again.

TAKING THE MOUND

In June, a doctor at the National Cancer Center Hospital in Tokyo, where he is receiving treatment, asked him if he would like to throw out the first pitch at a professional baseball game.

This event was held by the Swallows to support pediatric cancer patients and their families.

He told his mother that he was nervous, but this kind of opportunity doesn’t come along often.

“If you want to throw, then you should do it,” she encouraged her son. 

In July, he bought a hardball for the first time and practiced pitching with his father at the usual riverbed. It was his first time playing baseball in about a year.

When he told his father that his goal was to throw the ball to the plate without bouncing it, his father advised, “Take a deep breath and throw at your own pace.”

On Sept. 2, in the first pitch ceremony before the start of the game, Yuki stood on the mound in front of the packed stands. 

He wound up and threw the ball toward the Swallows catcher. It was a no-bounce strike, low and straight down the middle.

“I really love baseball, " Yuki said. "If you never give up, good things will happen.” 

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