(30 May 2010) SHOTLIST
1. Mid of Japanese female baseball player Eri Yoshida warming up
2. Tilt down line up board
3. Yoshida being announced, UPSOUND (English): Number three, Eri Yohsida", Yoshida running onto field
4. Close-up of young girl holding "Knuckle Princess" poster
5. Mid of Yoshida throwing the ball
6. Mid of batter swinging at the ball
7. Close-up of roster with Yoshida on cover
8. SOUNDBITE: (Japanese) Eri Yoshida, Female Baseball Player:
++SIMULTANEOUS ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY INTERPRETER++
"Her teammates tried to make her relax because she looked really nervous before."
9. Mid of catcher talking to Yoshida on pitching mound
10. Pan of fans holding up signs in Japanese
11. Zoom in on T-shirt with Yoshida's number on it
12. Mid of Yoshida batting and running to first base
13. Various of fans cheering
14. Close-up of Yoshida
15. Mid of Yoshida pitching
16. Mid of batter hitting ball, catcher catching ball
17. Wide of Yoshida pitching, batter hitting ball
18. SOUNDBITE: (Japanese) Eri Yoshida, Female Baseball Player:
++SIMULTANEOUS ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY INTERPRETER++
"She's not quite satisfied."
19. Mid of cheering fans cheering, Yoshida turning around during press conference
20. SOUNBITE: (English) Jessica Giordanengo, Young female softball player:
" I've been playing softball for so many years now and I maybe think about going into baseball. That would be pretty cool."
21. Pan from media to Yoshida
22. UPSOUND (English) Interpreter translating Eri Yoshida's soundbite:
"She likes the idea of more women liking playing baseball."
23. Mid of Yoshida in dugout
24. Mid of Yoshida on pitchers mound, seen through net
25. Yoshida pitching with batter in foreground, through net
26. SOUNDBITE: (English) Garry Templeton, Coach:
"She blends in well, I mean she's just a ball player. They see her as a ball player not as a girl."
27. Wide of Yoshida walking off the field with cameras following her
28. Mid of Yoshida walking off field
STORYLINE
A Japanese teenage pitcher playing for an independent minor league team in Chico, California on Saturday become the first woman to play professional baseball in two countries.
She also made history by getting what's believed to be the first hit by a female pro baseball player.
Nicknamed the "knuckle princess" in her home of Japan, 18-year-old Eri Yoshida said through a translator that "her teammates tried to make her relax because she looked really nervous before."
About 20 minutes later, Yoshida made history again.
Coming to the plate for the Chico Outlaws with bases loaded, Yoshida got what's believed to be the first hit by a female in Pro Baseball.
A knuckleball or knuckler is a baseball pitch with an erratic, unpredictable motion.
The pitch is thrown so there is less spin on the ball.
On the mound, she pitched a scoreless first inning, her sidearm knuckler dancing like those of her idol, Tim Wakefield of the Boston Red Sox, forcing the visiting Tijuana Cimarrones team to foul out.
Yoshida learned to throw the knuckleball as a young girl by watching Wakefield.
She taught herself the pitch and never had any formal coaching for how to throw the knuckler until she met her idol during spring training in Florida earlier this year.
Wakefield gave her a tutorial and was impressed by what he saw.
Yoshida became Japan's first female pro baseball player last year when she pitched for the Kobe Cruise 9 in the Kansai Independent League in Japan.
She was 0-2 in 11 appearances with a 4.03 ERA (Earned Run Average) in 10 2-3 innings.
Yoshida struggled in the final two innings, allowing four runs.
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