19/10/2023 1 Minute Read

WBSC U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup Preview: Tokyo’s bright lights shine for softball’s next wave of stars

The WBSC U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup provides a glimpse of the world’s future talent in women’s softball. The event will take place across three venues - Komazawa Olympic Park Sports Complex Baseball Stadium, Setagaya City Okura Sports Center Baseball Ground and Ota Stadium (pictured) - in the world’s largest city, Tokyo, Japan from 21-29 October.

One of the greatest charms of the Japanese capital Tokyo in sport was softball’s return to the Olympic Games in 2020 after a 13-year hiatus, bringing together some of the best teams in the world, and the home team winning gold.

The world’s largest city will play host once again to softball, this time for the inaugural WBSC U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup from 21-29 October.

The confirmation of softball’s inclusion in the LA28 Olympic Games sports programme comes as a timely boost of inspiration for the younger athletes when they compete in Tokyo.

Tokyo’s lights will shine not just with energy, but with dreams. And what better way to manifest this than through a competitive softball competition among the world’s future stars.

The maiden edition of the U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup, which will be played across three stadiums - Komazawa Olympic Park Sports Complex Baseball Stadium, Setagaya City Okura Sports Center Baseball Ground and Ota Stadium - starts with an Opening Round comprised of two groups.

Group A consists of hosts and world No. 2 Japan, No. 5 Chinese Taipei, No. 6 Mexico, No. 8 Italy, No. 18 Peru and No. 23 New Zealand.

World No. 1 USA, No. 3 Puerto Rico, No. 10 Czechia, No. 16 Brazil and No. 21 Philippines are in Group B.

Unfortunately, due to various travel-related issues, Uganda will not take part in the tournament, therefore a total of 11 teams will be participating. Click here for the latest game schedule.

The group stage will feature 25 games taking place at Komazawa and Setagaya from 21-24 October. The top three finishers from each group will advance to the Super Round, while the other five teams will play in the Placement Round.

The top two teams from the Super Round, which takes place from 26-28 October at Komazawa and Ota Stadium, will compete for the title of U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup World Champion on 29 October in the final at Ota Stadium at 14:00, before the Bronze Medal Game takes place at 11:00.

You can watch all the matches of the U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup on GameTime.