16-year-old high school student Eri Yoshida may be the first woman to play professional baseball in Japan, having been drafted by the Kobe 9 Cruise, a professional team in a new independent Japanese league that will begin its first season in April. Yoshida, who is 5 feet tall and weights just 114 pounds, spoke with the press on Monday.

"I always dreamed of becoming a professional. I have only just been picked by the team and haven't achieved anything yet," she told the press."

Yoshida, a pitcher, throws a side-arm knuckleball and said that she wants to follow in the footsteps of Boston Red Sox's pitcher Tim Wakefield, who has built a career on the knuckleball. She took part in a tryout earlier this month, and passed. The right-handed pitcher held male batters hitless for one inning during the tryout, which helped her become one of the 33 players chosen in the draft.