Eri Yoshida just made an appearance on Wake Up Plus (Nippon TV in Kanto) and announced that she will be playing for Na Koa Ikaika Maui next month.

I just noticed now that The Maui News posted an article back on March 14 that Yoshida signed a deal with the Na Koa Ikaika Maui.  A snip:

Eri Yoshida, who last year became the the first female pitcher to earn a win in a North American professional baseball league in 13 years, has re-signed with Na Koa Ikaika Maui, the team said Tuesday.

"I am glad that Eri will be back for the 2012 season," said Maui manager Jamie Vermilyea. "We are looking to build on her solid start last season. She is a specialty pitcher, mainly working off of a knuckleball. We are thinking about developing another pitch. Most likely we will be looking to use her as a starter."

Eri Yoshida pitched in an exhibition game against the Hanshin Tigers' farm team on Wednesday.  She entered the game in the 6th inning and tossed a shutout inning in relief.

Final line: 1 IP, 21 NP, 5 BF, 0 H, 1 SO, 2 BB, 0 R, 0 ER.

6th inning - ground out to second, walk, walk, strikeout, line out to short

Yoshida is slated to make her second start of the year on Thursday (May 17) against the Kishu Rangers at Kippy Stadium.

Eri Yoshida made her first start of the season against the Kishu Rangers today.  Yoshida gave up one run on six hits over five innings of work and became the first female pitcher in Kansai Independent League history to record a victory.

Final line: 5 IP, 70 NP, 6 H, 2 SO, 1 BB, 1 R.

Video streaming by Ustream

14-year-old knuckleballer Chelsea Baker is currently in Japan.  She met with about thirty of her fans in Tokyo today and is scheduled to make two appearances in Osaka on March 9 and 10.  Baker will also visit the Hyogo Blue Sandars on March 9 and make an appearance at Kippy Stadium with Eri Yoshida.

UPDATE 3/8 @ 5:23pm - Baker ordered a pair of Eyemetrics on Wednesday.

UPDATE 3/10 @ 1:06am - Baker met with Yoshida today at Kippy Stadium.  The two first met back in 2010.

"She may be younger than me but she has a lot of knowledge and experience with the knuckleball.  When I see her, it makes me want to work harder," said Yoshida.

The Hyogo Blue Sandars held a press conference for Eri Yoshida today (Ustream).

During the press conference, manager Yutaka Ikeuchi was asked about how he planned to use Yoshida and said he planned to ease her in by having her pitch out of the bullpen and slowly work her way up to starting.

According to Nikkan Sports, Eri Yoshida (20) will be playing for the Hyogo Blue Sandars this year.  A press conference is scheduled on February 3 at Sanda Sports Park Baseball Stadium in Hyogo.

Even though her contract will run through to the end of November, Hyogo plans to allow Yoshida to pursue playing opportunities in the US.

According to the Maui News' Robert Collias, Eri Yoshida is set to return to the Na Koa Ikaika Maui in 2012.  A snip:

Japanese female knuckleball pitcher Eri Yoshida, who ended up winning the last game Maui played, is set to be back on the roster in 2012.

Source: Maui News (via Gideon)

Eri Yoshida returned to Japan today.  Her comments to reporters:

"I'm not sure what to do, about the current season and next. ... I did win a game and I really wanted to pitch more.  I would like to pitch in games, but I also want to practice (in preparation for the next season). ... I need to work on building up my body.  In order to be successful with the knuckleball, I need to improve myself by practicing and experimenting."

UPDATE 8/25 @ 11:50am - Yoshida also told reporters yesterday that she will continue pursuing her dream of pitching in the Majors and will try once again to pitch in the US next season.

Giden Rubin sent me some Eri Yoshida photos he took from her last game with Samurai All Japan on July 30.  He originally shot them to go with the interview piece he wrote, but since they were never used, he passed them on to me to post.

If you have any comments on the images, or even on the interview he conducted with her, feel free to leave your comments down below -- I'll be pointing him to this post so he'll be able to see your comments directly.

In any cases, here they are:

According to Eri Yoshida's latest blog post, it seems the Na Koa Ikaika Maui team played an exhibition game against a team of firefights and police officers on Saturday (8/13).  Yoshida pitched in the game and tossed 3 shutout innings while allowing just 1 hit.

Her thoughts on the outing:

I was pitching on 3 days of rest, but I think my time with Samurai [All Japan] may have helped my conditioning because my pitches weren't that bad.

The only problem was my control wasn't as good as my last outing, so I wasn't really satisfied with my pitching.

I especially need to continue working on the mental and technical side of things.

Yoshida also mentions that she might take this opportunity to stick around in Maui for some sightseeing.