Yukiko Ueno returns from injury as Japanese Softball League enters Olympic break
The league will resume on 4 September. The Japanese National Softball Team will run an pre-Tokyo 2020 Olympic training camp from 17-31 May in Takasaki City.
The Japanese Softball League ended the first half of the 2021 season with good news for the country’s national team. Veteran ace Yukiko Ueno returned to the circle after a month on the sidelines due to a muscular strain in the right side of her body, which she sustained in the league’s opening weekend back in early April.
Ueno pitched on three consecutive days this past Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Ueno’s team, Bic Camera Takasaki Bee Queen, sits atop of the standings with a 8-3 record. The two-time Olympic medallist returned in Bic Camera’s Friday contest against Iyo Bank, where she gave up a three-run homer in the first inning and was charged with the loss of the 3-2 game.
During the weekend, Ueno worked in relief in consecutive days in her team’s victories against Toda Medics (8-3) and Denso Bright Pegasus (4-3). In the latter game, the right-hander earned the win.
Bee Queen leads the standings with an 8-3 record, while five teams are tied for second place at 7-4: the Toyota Red Terriers, Shinning Vega, Bright Pegasus, Toyota Sundiva and Toda Medics. The second half of the season will begin on 4 September, with the finals scheduled for 6 and 7 November.
The Japanese Olympic Softball Team will converge in Takasaki City on 17 May for a training camp to tune-up for the upcoming Olympic Games on home soil, where Japan hopes to repeat the gold medal run the squad had at Beijing 2008.
