Kubasaki senior Luka Koja has been named Stars and Stripes baseball Athlete of the Year. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa – Sometimes, the genesis of a championship run can be found in the wake of a heartbreaking defeat.

For Luka Koja and Kubasaki, that defeat came 13 months ago at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, where the Dragons fell 4-0 to American School In Japan in the Far East Division I baseball tournament final.

It dethroned the Dragons, who had won the title the year before against the same Mustangs team, on Kubasaki’s home field.

It also lit a fire in the bellies of each Dragon player, Koja said – a resolution to make amends for that title-game loss.

“It was our goal to win the 2025 Far East championship,” said Koja, the Dragons’ senior ace left-hander and No. 2 batter in the lineup.

“We talked about it after school. We talked about it during free time. We talked about it during workouts. It (2024 finals loss) was a motivator, 100 percent,” Koja said.

Kubasaki won 24 of 27 outings, losing only once to island arch-rival Kadena in nine tries.

The Dragons did not avenge their 2024 Far East finals loss, as ASIJ did not attend the tournament this year. But the Dragons won last month’s Far East title game resoundingly, 12-2 over Kadena.

As a team, Kubasaki batted .356 with a .996 OPS, hit 18 home runs, drove in 200 and stole 100 bases. The team’s ERA was 2.46 and the pitchers struck out 218 batters in 145 1/3 innings. The Dragons’ fielding percentage was .947.

Koja sparkled on the mound, with a 7-1 record and a 0.72 ERA, with 83 strikeouts in 48 innings. He batted .365 with a 1.031 OPS, five doubles, four home runs, 27 RBIs and 14 stolen bases. He earned his second Far East tournament Most Valuable Player award.

For all that, Koja has been named Stars and Stripes’ Pacific baseball Athlete of the Year.

Kubasaki’s lone loss to Kadena came on March 26, a 4-3 defeat. Koja said that game showed the Dragons had room to grow and gave them even more motivation moving forward.

Though the Dragons didn’t face the Mustangs in Far East, they did travel to Tokyo to play a series of games at ASIJ’s Mustang Valley, and beat the Mustangs 3-1 on April 18, which Koja called a seminal moment.

“We gained huge confidence after we won that first game at ASIJ,” Koja said of the victory, which came against the pitcher, Billy Freund, who vanquished the Dragons in the 2024 Far East final.

“We really fought hard against him, trying to win that game,” he said. “We had a big celebration (afterward), we realized we could win (Far East) and we carried it all the way through the season.”

The Far East title marked the end of Koja’s career, as well as that of fellow seniors Lukas Gaines and Jacy Fisk, along with sophomore Asher Romnek, who transfers to Florida this summer.

And the season could not have ended more happily, Koja said. “I will carry this with me for the rest of my life and tell that story to the next generation,” he said.

Age: 18

Place of birth: Okinawa.

Other sports: Tennis, soccer, basketball.

Favorite subject: Japanese language.

Least favorite subject: U.S. government.

Favorite athlete: Shohei Ohtani.

Favorite forms of entertainment: Hispanic songs.

Favorite entertainer: Bad Bunny.