Nana Sasanuma

Nana Sasanuma (笹沼奈々)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 5", Weight 143 lb.

• School Heisei International University
• High School Saitama Sakae High School

• Born January 26, 1996 in Yaita, Tochigi Japan

Biographical Information

Nana Sasanuma pitched for the Japanese women's national team.

In the 2014 Women's Baseball World Cup, the 18-year-old excelled. She started against Hong Kong and retired all six batters (two by K) before Risa Nakashima relieved. Her next game, she faced Team USA, the other unbeaten squad to that point. She allowed two hits and one walk in five shutout innings, outdueling Marti Sementelli, 1-0, before Moemi Yoshii took over; Sasanuma got the victory. She was named the event's All-Star SP, even though staffmate Ayami Sato took the MVP. Only Sato and Stephanie Gaynor had a 0.00 ERA in more innings. Japan won the title.

She again had a 0.00 ERA in the 2016 Women's Baseball World Cup. She and Mirai Araki combined on a one-hitter against India (Araki gave up the hit) as she fanned three of six batters she faced and got the win. She started versus Taiwan and allowed one hit (to Chia-Wen Shen) in 3 2/3 innings, striking out eight and walking two before handing the ball to Akino Tanaka. Japan repeated as titlists.

After college, she turned pro with the Aichi Dione of the Japanese Women's Baseball League. Her first strikeout victim was national team regular Iori Miura. It was a rough season as she had a 1-5, 5.49 record. She improved to 4-5, 1.84 in 2019 and had a 5-2, 2.22 record in 2020.