Right-hander Julian Hall pitched the first couple of innings for Kubasaki in Wednesday's final. (Carlos Cruz/Special to Stripes)

Not only had it been a long time since Far East tournaments of any sort were held anywhere … it seemed like an eternity since Kubasaki and Zama American had won Far East Division I or II baseball tournament titles.

The two teams took care of that Wednesday:

-- Brodie Romnek’s third-inning fielder’s-choice groundout drove in Luka Koja with the only run the Dragons needed in a 2-0 shutout of American School In Japan in the D-I final. It’s Kubasaki’s first Far East title since 2013.

-- The Trojans hadn’t won a D-II championship since 2014. Caleb Schmiedel’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth scored Taz Clark with the go-ahead run and Zama held on to beat host Osan 8-5.

The Dragons (19-7) had split a pair of “friendlies” the last weekend of March at ASIJ’s Mustang Valley. But the atmosphere was much different when the two teams laced it up on Wednesday, Dragons coach Jason Welte said.

“The pressure was different here,” he said. “Here, a lot of the boys including myself felt the immense pressure of trying to bring home the victory.”

Last April 23, Kubasaki won the DODEA All-Japan tournament title, and Welte said that increased the expectation when the Far East tournaments returned after a three-year hiatus.

“There was a bit of expectation for the guys to continue from last year, and in fact they did, in a very big way,” Welte said. “They are an extremely bright, intelligent group, baseball savvy, they know how to play the game and they don’t need that much coaching.”

Welte juggled his pitchers around the tournament’s pitch-count limit. Koja pitched 4 1/3 innings of relief for the win and Nick Adams struck out the last two batters to get the save.

Kubasaki's Lika Koja got the win in relief and helped himself with three hits. (Carlos Cruz/Special to Stripes)

Kubasaki's Brodie Romnek drove in the first of the Dragons' two runs with a fielder's-choice RBI groundout. (Carlos Cruz/Special to Stripes)

Kubasaki's players and coaches celebrate with the championship hardware. (Carlos Cruz/Special to Stripes)

The Trojans (18-3), too, felt an enormous burden to try to reach the D-II mountaintop.

“We had to battle for every single inch this week,” Zama coach Dirk Schmiedel said. “We struggled at the plate. We saw the best pitchers from every other team. Luckily, our pitchers held in there, we did just enough at the plate and the defense held together.”

Zama trailed 4-0 entering the bottom of the third and 5-2 into the bottom of the fourth. But the Trojans scored six runs in the bottom of the fourth and never trailed again. Keito White got the win and David King pitched the last three outs for the save.

“I wish we’d been able to play them during the regular season,” Schmiedel said of the Cougars. “They have great pitchers. They hit the ball hard. I can’t say enough about them.”

Osan first baseman Adam Rutland snags the throw before Zama's Rhino Aumua crosses the bag. (Brian McCollum/Special to Stripes)

Osan's Lonzo Martin slides safely into third base ahead of the throw to Zama's Caleb Schmiedel. (Brian McCollum/Special to Stripes)

Osan's John Ganske tries to beat the throw to Zama's Rhino Aumua at first base. (Brian McCollum/Special to Stripes)

Zama's Keito White delivers against Osan. (Brian McCollum/Special to Stripes)