Yaya Kojima

Yaya Kojima (小島 也弥)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 1", Weight 119 lb.

• School International Pacific University
• High School Kyoto Ryoyo High School

• Born June 9, 1996 in Matsue, Shimane Japan

Biographical Information

Yaya Kojima has won several titles with the Japanese women's national team.

Kojima debuted in the 2016 Women's Baseball World Cup, with the 20-year-old playing regularly as a corner outfielder. She lined out against Claire Eccles of Canada in her first at-bat but her fourth-inning single off Autumn Miles drove in Yukiko Kon to break a 2-2 tie and give Japan the lead for good. She was 0-for-2 with a walk before being replaced by Yukiko Ishida in the Gold Medal Game, but Japan still beat Canada for the title. She hit .444/.524/.612 with 6 runs and 6 RBI in 7 games in the Cup, handling five putouts and one assist without an error.

In the 2018 Women's Baseball World Cup, she fell to .125/.444/.125 with 5 runs and 5 RBI in 9 games, drawing 7 walks and stealing 4 bases. She had two putouts, one assist and no errors in the outfield. She tied for second in walks, behind So-yeon Kim. Japan still repeated. She had 3-run games against both Taiwan and Hong Kong in the 2023 Women's Baseball Asian Cup as Japan won the title. She finished the Cup an impressive 7-for-12 with 6 walks, 13 runs and 5 RBI in 6 games, with 2 putouts, 2 assists and no miscues. She was 6-for-7 in steals. She led the event in runs (two ahead of Soo-ji Ahn), tied for 8th in hits, was 3rd in OBP (after Seo-jin Yang and Haruna Tadano), tied Chi Lin and Sana Jinsiya Kacheri Kunnummal for the most walks and tied Wing-Hin Ng and Vivien Cheung for 4th in stolen bases. She made the event All-Star team, joining Yang and Hsiao-Mei Chen in the outfield.

Japan moved on to the 2023-2024 Women's Baseball World Cup. In the 2023 portion, she was a backup, mostly at second base. She went 3-for-7 with a HBP, a steal, a run and four RBI, handling 3 chances error-free as Japan won its pool to move on to the 2024 phase.