TOKYO (AFP) – A 16-year-old schoolgirl with a mean knuckleball has been selected as the first woman ever to play alongside the men in Japanese professional baseball.

Eri Yoshida was drafted for a new independent league that will launch in April, drawing attention for a side-armed knuckler that her future manager Yoshihiro Nakata said was a marvel.

"I never dreamed of getting drafted," Yoshida told reporters Monday, a day after she was selected to play for the Kobe 9 Cruise.

"I have only just been picked by the team and have not achieved anything," she said. "I want to play as a pro eventually in a higher league."

Yoshida, 155 centimetres (five feet) tall and weighing 52 kilograms (114 pounds), says she wants to follow in the footsteps of the great Boston Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.

A female professional baseball federation existed for a few years in the 1950s, but Yoshida will become Japan's first-ever woman to play alongside professional male players.

I couldn't find a video of her on youtube. Anyone find anything?

Here you go.

FO, She sure looks like a competitor to me. Shows good upper body strength. While only 16 years old she appears to have matured in to a competent picture errr pitcher.

I've been following her career for awhile now.

Article didn't mention her pick off move.

The runners say that they never see her start to even move her feet.

FO,

You think any batters are picking up her release point?

I don't think they can stay in the box that long.

Just makes you want to drive a hard one up the middle.

quote:

Originally posted by Texas Crude:
Just makes you want to drive a hard one up the middle.

WOW!

Uniform, protocol will have a bearing on her success.
JMHO

kes me wish I was, MR> BASEBALL.

Here is a video on her, you cannot understand it but you can see her pitch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A2zvmLSH1I