Softball Australia National Team star Kaia Parnaby, a veteran left-handed pitcher in her seventh season in the Japanese Softball League, got her 500th strikeout in the Japanese Women’s Softball League on Sunday (13 September). It was just the third game of the postponed 2020 season.
Parnaby is in her seventh season as a pitcher for the SGH Galaxy Stars. The Australian National Team star made her JWSL debut in 2014 and struck out 67 in her rookie year. Her best year was in 2018, when she struck out 98 opponents, the second best in the league, trailing US fireballer Monica Abbott. Last season, she registered 69 strikeouts over 68.2 innings pitched, while posting a 2.34 ERA.
A five-time WBSC Women’s Softball World Championship participant and two-time bronze medallist, Parnaby is the ace of the Softball Australia National Team. Last year, she helped the Aussies to go undefeated in the WBSC Asia/Oceania Olympic Qualifier and clinch a spot at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The lefty posted 1.40 ERA in three complete-game victories.
With softball being the first of 339 Olympic events to be contested at the Tokyo 2020 Games, Australia and Japan will officially open the Olympic Games on 21 July 2021 at Azuma Baseball Stadium in Fukushima.
