Photo/Illutration Yuna Nagano, assistant baseball team member of Joto High School from Tokushima Prefecture, hits fungoes in fielding practice before the game against Tokai University Sugao High School at Hanshin Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, on March 22. (Takuya Tanabe)

NISHINOMIYA, Hyogo Prefecture--Yuna Nagano walked to home plate holding her bat to thunderous applause at Koshien Stadium here on March 22.

One after another, she hit balls during the pre-game fielding practice, making history as the first girl ever to serve as a fungo hitter at the national high school baseball tournament.

The third-year student and assistant team member of Joto High School from Tokushima Prefecture was helping out during infield practice at the annual championship, held during spring and summer.

After adeptly finishing her fungo hitting in front of the large crowd, she changed into her school uniform and watched the game from the bench.

Although her school ultimately lost 5-2 to Tokai University Sugao High School, she said it was still a great day.

“Everyone was smiling and shining so much today,” she said. “I’m satisfied because fielding practice was also enjoyable.”

Nagano was not always interested in sports. 

She said she had joined an orchestra club in junior high school and was not initially good at sports.

But Kaito Morimoto, the captain of the high school’s baseball club, asked her if she could help with the team since it was struggling with dwindling membership, so she decided to sign up.

Her team eventually made it to the semifinals in the fall prefectural tournament, even though the club only had 12 players.

They earned a special spot in the selection of the spring national tournament set aside for schools such as those overcoming difficulties. Joto High School has been struggling with a lack of team members and had Nagano assisting the team by hitting fungoes during practice.

Girls are a relatively recent addition to the baseball diamond at the national tournament.

Female members of high school baseball clubs were allowed to participate in the summer national tournaments for the first time last year by assisting with fielding practice, such as passing the ball to the person hitting fungoes and picking up foul balls.

They were not expected to hit fungoes at the time. But they stepped up to the plate at the spring national tournament this year.

When Nagano joined her school’s baseball club, she started slow, by preparing beverages for players and tossing balls to batters during batting practice. She gradually learned the rules while taking notes on the scorecard.

In April of her second year, she saw one player hitting fungoes since the team’s manager Ryosuke Shinji, 35, and some of the team members were absent.

“I could not practice fielding today,” the player complained.

Nagano then looked around and realized, “I’m the only one who can hit fungoes,” and decided to step up.

She volunteered to train with players starting at 7 a.m. She started by rolling up newspapers and hitting them with a bat.

She continued batting practice every morning and quickly got the blisters on her hands to show for it.

She said that since many students in her high school go on to national and public universities, she continued to study hard because she “didn’t want to use the club activity as an excuse” to slack off.

Last fall, it became a habit for her to study for an hour in the classroom starting at 6 a.m. and then hit fungoes for players on the school grounds from 7 a.m.

Her high school life turned out to be much different from what she had envisioned--going to cafes and enjoying fashion.

Instead, she was always tired and her arms were constantly sore. But she said she has no regrets.

"I think I'm enjoying my youth more than anyone else," Nagano said. 

On the same day, Sakura Nishihara, a female assistant baseball team member of Hikari High School from Yamaguchi Prefecture, also handed balls to the person who hit fungoes before her team’s game during the spring national tournament at Koshien.

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