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Japanese girl signed with a regional baseball team Tuesday, becoming the country's first female professional baseball player.

Eri Yoshida, a knuckleball pitcher, will play for the Kobe 9 Cruise in a new independent league starting in April. The team selected her last month along with 31 male players in the league draft.

"I still don't feel like I've really become a pro baseball player, but I want to do my best," the 5-foot, 114-pound Yoshida said at a news conference after signing her contract. "My specialty is the knuckleball, so I really want to be able to get batters out using it effectively."

The Cruise are a far cry from Japan's elite teams. But Yoshida has broken a barrier in a country where women usually play softball or for company-sponsored amateur baseball teams.

Yoshida, who started playing baseball when she was in second grade, said she wants to emulate Boston pitcher Tim Wakefield, who has built a successful major-league career as a knuckleballer.

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