YOKOHAMA -- Broken bats are common in baseball, but Japanese National Softball Team fireballer Yukiko Ueno, 39, took it to another level when she broke a composite bat on Sunday, 26 July, at Yokohama Stadium.
With the score tied 0-0 in the fifth inning, Ueno sawed Canadian hitter Erika Polidori’s bat in two.
“I’ve never seen this happen before at the international level,” said a WBSC official.
Japan would go on to score an eight-inning, 1-0 walk-off win over Canada to clinch a spot in Tuesday’s gold medal game versus top-ranked USA -- a rematch of the 2008 Beijing final.
Photo: Kyodo News for WBSC.
