17 year old high school student, sidearm knuckleballer, and the first female Japanese professional baseball player Eri Yoshida is likely to see her first game action in the pre-season game for her Kobe 9Cruise on the road against the Kishu Rangers at the Kimiidera Stadium in Wakayama scheduled on March 24. Manager of Kobe, Yoshihiro Nakata, had mentioned that he wanted to test Eri in a game in the latter half of March, and this recently scheduled match against Kishu fits the bill.
He’s also declared that Eri will pitch in the season opener on the 27th, this seems kinda gimmicky but it’s the independent Kansai League’s first year, so whatever gets the press eh. The season opener will be against the Osaka Villicanes at the sure to be cavernous for indie ball Kyocera Dome (!) at 18:15.
The atmosphere at the Japan-Korea I went to see (Japan won 14-2 in 7 innings on the mercy rule, the first time either country’s done it to each other… of course, the Koreans came back 2 days later to shut down Japan 1-0 in its usual nail-biting fashion) was absolutely electric, probably the best sporting event atmosphere that I’ve been in.
Here are some videos from that day (7 Mar 2009, Tokyo round of 2009 WBC).
Taiwanese fans doing the Atlanta Braves tomohawk chop-like cheer against China in the day game.
Ichiro’s at bats, crazy camera flashes in his first plate appearance, bunt single in his second, and crowd going crazy after his 3rd hit of the evening.
