In Aomori/Hirosaki Higashi High School Baseball Club, the only female member, Momoko Sasaki, challenges the "last summer" for the national high school baseball championship.

Mr. Sasaki is currently in the 3rd grade and has a pitcher position. Baseball is said to have started under the influence of his father and sister who was a manager of the baseball club. He played as a player from that time, and said, "I had a yearning for female professional baseball player Eri Yoshida."

When I was in junior high school, I entered the softball club because I didn't have a baseball club, but I reconfirmed the appeal of baseball by playing softball, and when I entered high school, I joined the baseball club. Tokichi Kasai, the director of the department, said, "I am the only member of a female baseball team in Aomori prefecture and it is rare in the Tohoku area."

At the beginning, Kasai strongly opposed Mr. Sasaki's entrance. “I told him that the physical strength and the rigor of continuing to practice alone among boys cannot be done with a half-hearted feeling,” he recalls.

Mr. Sasaki said, "In the story of the director, there was a suggestion that if I tried it once and it was not good, I should do it as a manager. I was not prepared with such a resolution, so I was disappointed and tears came out." Kasai, who saw Mr. Sasaki who participated in the practice as a member the next day, came to respect Mr. Sasaki's will.

According to the rules of the Japan High School Baseball Federation, female students are not allowed to participate in official high school baseball games. Although it is not possible to participate in the official match, it may be possible to participate in the practice match if the consent of the opposing team is obtained. Mr. Sasaki, who once saved a team that had continued to run after standing on the mound as a relief. "I'm pretty good at not being able to compete in the game, but I want the rules to allow female students to participate in the near future," he said.

In practice, he was often inferior in physical strength and physical ability when practiced with male members, and was sometimes scolded by the members. "There are times when we can't just forgive you for listening, so talk to your managers and get rid of it," he said.

Four female managers belong to the same department. This is a room that only Sasaki-san and the female manager, who is called the "supervision room," can enter, and the female managers will consult with Sasaki-san. "The four of us are friends who go out to eat and play together," he smiles.

At the championship tournament that starts in July, Mr. Sasaki cannot enter the bench due to regulations, and he supports from the stand. Sasaki says, "I would like to support myself by doing what I can do with my own voice". Kasai said, “I could have been on the bench as a scorer, but she wants to keep the players going to the end. Since she has a good voice, she may support the players from the stand.”

He said that he repeatedly thought about quitting baseball after looking back on his three years of club activities. Looking back, "I had a pain in my back just a year ago and I thought I would quit baseball because of the pain," says Sasaki, but with the encouragement of the women's baseball team nationwide, I got the opportunity to interact with female players who continue to play baseball. I decided that I wanted to continue playing baseball after I graduated from high school.

It's only one month until the competition. "I was scared at first so I couldn't even talk to my teammates of the same grade, but now I can get along well. I want everyone to give up and fight until the end," Yale said.