World No. 2 Japan defeated No. 3 Puerto Rico, 4-0, to win the WBSC U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup 2025 in Caronno Pertusella, Italy on Saturday.
Starting pitcher Haru Kitamura retired the first 18 batters she faced, taking a perfect game into the seventh inning. She then allowed a walk and a single, before ending the game with her 12th strikeout.
“Everything worked perfectly for six innings. In the seventh, I felt a little overexcited. I believe I overthrew a bit and started worrying,” Kitamura said through an interpreter. “There was a lot of emotion. But I could focus on the next pitch I had to throw, and I could get that final out.”
“I’ve worked hard to get here,” she added. “Now I can celebrate with my teammates this world title. I believe this is just the beginning for all of us. We want to repeat at the U-18 level, and hopefully we will be up for more in the future.”
Head coach Yu Yamamoto commented on her playing style. “If you look at the players, our girls have a smaller size. They showed they can still win. What you call ‘small ball’ is the style of play that I believe is more effective.”
“We couldn’t adjust to their starting pitcher,” commented Puerto Rico’s head coach Carlos Leon. “She used her away pitches very well, and we couldn’t adjust. Japan is a team that can put the ball in play, put pressure on the opposition, and force errors. That’s what happened tonight.”
He added: “We celebrated a historic win against the United States and are heading home with a silver medal. I thank God for this.”
It’s the first WBSC U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup title for Japan after finishing third on home soil in the inaugural edition in 2023 and adds to their senior women’s title, which they claimed last year. The WBSC U-18 Women’s Softball World Cup, which will be played later this year in Oklahoma, USA, is the only trophy missing from their cabinet. In total, it is Japan’s 10th gold medal in Women’s Softball World Cup (senior, U-18 & U-15) and 28th medal overall.
For Puerto Rico, the silver medal repeats the same result from 2023, when they lost 3-0 to USA in the final and raises their medal tally in Men’s and Women’s Softball World Cups to two.
Earlier in the day, world No. 1 and former champions USA defeated No. 9 Mexico in the bronze medal game.
The Live Blog as it happened
Puerto Rico’s starter Isabella Ortiz walked Ichigo Suzuki with two outs in the bottom of the first to allow the first runner of the game.
Ortiz walked Rara Minato to lead off the bottom of the second, and Japan used the short ball to take the lead. Rio Masuda dropped a bunt for a hit, pushing Minato to second. Juna Higashiyama sacrificed to advance the runners to third and second. Yui Yamamoto also bunted, and Minato scored the go-ahead run. Masuda reached third on the play and scored on an illegal pitch. Yamamoto reached third on the play and scored on a groundout.
Makayla Megnauth took over for Ortiz in the bottom of the third. Japan loaded the bases on a pair of singles and an error, but Megnauth got out of the jam with a strikeout.
Japan added a run in the bottom of the fourth. Mioka Mochizuki hit a two-out double and scored on Yuzu Saito’s RBI single.
In the bottom of the sixth, Puerto Rico handed the ball to Maya Melendez.
Haru Kitamura was perfect for 6.1 innings.
Kitamura took a perfect game into the top of the seventh. She then walked pinch hitter Kamila Santiago. Yazmine Johnson singled and brought Santiago to second.
Kitamura used five pitches to strike out Skilah Rodriguez and end the game, sealing Japan’s victory.