Terrmel Sledge brought the Nippon Ham Fighters back from defeat with a walk-off grand slam in game one of Japan’s Pacific League championship series.

With the Fighters trailing 8-5 at Sapporo Dome, Sledge connected off Eagles pitcher Kazuo Fukumori to give his team a dramatic win in Game 1 of the seven-game series.

The Fighters are my favorite Japanese team due to their location on Hokkaido. My daughter visited there on a student exchange and we twice hosted students from the island at our house. The Fighters winning the championship a few years ago under Trey Hillman was one of the big events on the island. My daughter even brought me back a Fighters’ hat.

Go Fighters!