Japan’s ‘Knuckle Princess’ Arrives in America

By BILLY WITZ
NYT

CHICO, Calif. — When the former major leaguer Ivan Ochoa laid a well-placed bunt down the third-base line for a single to lead off the game, it drew boos from the home crowd and a loud rejoinder from one fan: “Hit like a man.”

But rather than an insult, Ochoa’s bunt served as the ultimate compliment. It was a sign that the pitcher, Eri Yoshida, a diminutive 18-year-old woman who arrived from Japan with dimples and a sidearm knuckleball, was just one of the guys.

Yoshida made her debut for the Chico Outlaws of the independent Golden League on Saturday night, the first appearance by a woman in American professional baseball since Ila Borders in 2000.

Yoshida allowed four runs in three innings against Los Cimarrones de Tijuana, and she was hit hard at times — the former Yankees farmhand Juan Velazquez crushing a 70-mile-per-hour fastball for a two-run homer. But she retired 7 of the first 10 batters she faced before tiring. And in her one plate appearance, she drove in a run by bouncing a bases-loaded single to right field.

(More here.)