Saturday, 29 May 2010

Eri Yoshida, 18 yr old Japanese Female Knuckleballer Gets Dude! Award!

 
Eri Yoshida, Dalai Lama Dude! Award Winner!

She's 18 years old, only 5 feet 1 inch tall, weighing in at 115 lbs.  Her opponents are all in the six foot, 200 lb catagory.  But, not to worry, her knuckleball seems to even the odds.  Eri Yoshida's first professional appearance for the Chico Outlaws was an auspicous one, played at their home Nettleton stadium.  She became the first female to play professionaly in two countries.  In her first inning the Tijuana Cimarrones lead-off hitter bunted a single.  The second popped out and the third hit into a double play to end the top half.

The Outlaws scored 4 times in the bottom of the first.  Three of those came from a home run by J.J. Sherrill.  The fourth came from Yoshida herself as she sliced a bases-loaded single past the first baseman into right field.  As of now, it looks like Eri's hit was the first ever by a female in a pro baseball game! The inning ended when she was forced out at second base on a feilders choice.

Overall, she seemed in command of her game, not letting herself get flustered during the third when the team from TJ took advantage of her mistakes.  The Cimorrones tied the game in the third inning and Yoshida didn't return in the forth, so she will not get any credit for either a win or loss in the game.