Mika Tai

Mika Tai (泰美勝)

• Bats Right, Throws Left
• Height 5' 0", Weight 132 lb.

• High School Kamimura Gakuen High School

• Born September 15, 2002 in Oshima-gun, Kagoshima Japan

Biographical Information

Mika Tai has been on the Japanese women's national team. Her brother Katsutoshi Tai pitched in the NPB.

In the 2023-2024 Women's Baseball World Cup, she helped Japan win the title. She was the youngest player on their team in the 2023 portion, four months and three days younger than Kana Onodera, the next-youngest. The 21-year-old hurler debuted against France, closing out a mercy rule win. She relieved Arisa Hotta and struck out the side - Amina Taleb, Youna Pean and Léna Sellam. The WBSC X account said it was an immaculate inning but the box score shows she used 10 pitches, not 9, with a ball to Pean - still very impressive. Replacing Hotta in the 4th with a 9-0 lead over Cuba, she got Libia Duarte on a grounder and was succeeded by Ayami Sato. Japan moved on to the 2024 portion. She closed out a 9-4 win over defending Silver Medalist Taiwan. Coming in for Natsuki Kubo, she went 1-2-3 against Hsiao-Mei Chen, Chiao-Yun Huang and Pei-Chen Huang. Her last appearance of the event, she replaced Miyu Shimizu in the 6th with a 3-3 game against Canada, two outs and the bases loaded. She escaped that jam by retiring Tess Sawkins. She struck out the side in the 7th by getting Emily Baxter, Alizée Gélinas and Mia Valcke, though Sena Catterall had a single. In the 8th, Japan scored four times to give her a 7-3 cushion. With two runners starting aboard due to the extra innings rule, she yielded a double to Alexane Fournier to close it to 7-4. Madison Willan and Zoe Hicks both grounded in runs to make it 7-6 but she whiffed Lucie Anctil to close it out and get the win over Sophy Gagné.