The final championship game of the 25th National High School Women's Hard Baseball Championship in Japan was held on August 23 in Kokoyuan, Japan's high school baseball holy site. This is the first time in history that girls' high school baseball competition was held in Jiaziyuan. In the finals of
, Kobe Hirotsuki defeated Kochi Central 4-0. Kobe Hirotsune’s pitcher Aiyuri Shimano made his debut in 2018. It was in the summer of junior high school third grade, and she played with the boys at the hard baseball club "Daodian Boy" (Daodian Boy) in Osaka. Her top ball speed reached more than 120 kilometers. As the team’s ACE pitcher, she won the Giants Cup at the Tokyo Dome and became the first female pitcher to beat the boy.
"I want to increase the popularity of women's baseball. I want to have a girl's championship like Kokoto." In her first year in high school, Shimano's plea became the subject of a newspaper article.
On April 19, 2019, Masahiko Takenaka, then Secretary-General of the Japanese High School Baseball League, read the letter. Takenaka served as Secretary-General in 2001. He has a strong sense of crisis about the future of the baseball world, including a decrease in the number of players. After reading this article, he commented at the end of the meeting between the Japanese High School Baseball Association and the Kokoen Stadium that day.
"I personally think that the women's final can be held on the same day as the men's final."
In October of the same year, Takenaka died suddenly due to interstitial pneumonia. He was only 64 years old at the time. But his wish was continued. In April this year, the official announced that the high school girls' baseball final will be held in Jiaziyuan.
Japan Women's Baseball League Chairman Hiroko Yamada said in an interview with Asahi Shimbun, "Many people who are born as girls start playing baseball because they envy their brothers. But sometimes they will give up on this sport or turn to other sports just because they are girls. But all this will change. This is a big step towards not giving up."
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