Japan to host USA in international women’s softball series in August
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<p>The Japanese Softball Association (JSA) announced a three-game series between the top-two ranked programmes in the world: No. 1 USA and No. 2 Japan. The three games will be played in Iwakuni, Fukushima and Yokohama, all of them with Tokyo 2020 Olympic heritage.</p>
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<p>The first game of the series will be played on Friday 4 August at Atago Sports Complex Baseball Stadium in Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, where the US team held their pre-Tokyo 2020 training camp. </p>
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<p>Both teams will face off again on August 6 at Fukushima Azuma Stadium, where the Tokyo 2020 Olympics started; while the final game is scheduled for August 7 at Yokohama Stadium, where Japan claimed the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Gold Medal with a 2-0 win against USA.</p>
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<p>The match times, rosters, how to watch and ticket sales information will be announced at a later date.</p>
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<p>The three-game series will begin days after the WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup group stage. USA will compete in <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.wbsc.org/en/events/2023-womens-softball-world-cup-group-a/home" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Group A in Fingal-Dublin, Ireland, from 11-15 July (opens in a new tab)">Group A in Fingal-Dublin, Ireland, from 11-15 July</a></span></strong>; while Japan needs to qualifiy for the global event during next week’s Asian qualifier. </p>
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<p>On August 8, 2022, <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.wbsc.org/en/news/tokyo-2020-legacy-japan-tops-usa-to-close-womens-softball-series-in-front-of-12-000-fans-at-yokohama-stadium" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="more than 12,000 fans packed the Yokohama stadium for the three-game series finale (opens in a new tab)">more than 12,000 fans packed the Yokohama stadium for the three-game series finale</a></span></strong>. The Olympic Champions edged USA, 1-0, winning the Japan All-Star Series two games to one. After the game, both teams posed together behind an LA 2028 message made of softballs, backing softball’s return to the Olympic programme in Los Angeles.</p>
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