Madonna Japan Members In Australia

The 2024 Australian Women's Showcase will be played next week in Lismore, New South Wales and there are five members of Madonna Japan, the Japanese women's national team, who will be participating in it.  Three of those five are veterans of the Japan Women's Baseball League (JWBL) so I thought I'd do a quick post on them.

2018 Epoch JWBL #52

Akari Hoshikawa played four seasons in the JWBL with Reia (2017), Kyoto Flora (2018) and Aichi Dione (2019-20).  2019 was probably her best season when she hit .339 and had a league leading .480 on-base-percentage.  She won the Best Nine award that year at third base.   Since leaving the JWBL (and the league folding), she's been playing for the Awaji Brave Oceans.

2018 Epoch JWBL #53

Tamaki Muramatsu was probably the best catcher in the JWBL's final couple seasons.  She spent five years in the league with her first two seasons with Reia, which was essentially a farm team for the other three teams in the league.  When she graduated to the Kyoto Flora in 2018 she hit .331 and won the Rookie Of The Year award and her first Best 9 award.  She led the league in RBIs in 2019 and won a second Best 9 award.  After the league folded, she was a founding member of the Hanshin Tigers women's team although she ultimately only played for them for one year.  She's been playing for the Hatsukaichi Sun Blaze since 2022.

2018 Epoch JWBL #27

Miwa Naraoka spent six seasons (2013-18) playing for Saitama Astraia and had a career batting average of .311.  She won three Best Nine awards (2016-18), two Golden Gloves (2016-17) and led the league in hits in 2016.  She also pitched in a handful of games in 2014-15.  After retiring from the JWBL, she spent several years playing for the Agec Women's Baseball Club before founding the Kyushu Honeys with Yuki Kawabata.

It doesn't look like either of the other two players, Erika Nakae and Miwa Tanaka, ever played in the JWBL.  Tanaka is currently a member of the Yomiuri Giants' women's team but I'm not sure what team Nakae plays for.

The tournament will be held from May 9th through the 12th and features the Adelaide Giants, Brisbane Bandits and Victoria Aces.  Hoshikawa, Muramatsu and Tanaka will be joining Adelaide for the weekend while Nakae and Naraoka will be with the Aces.