The 2021 Launch and the Team's Aims
Hanshin Tigers Women is a women's hardball baseball club team run by the Hanshin Tigers. On December 3, 2020, the club announced the team name and its first manager, former Hanshin player Yuya Nohara. On December 13 it announced 17 incoming players, and the team began playing in the 2021 season. The club's official website lists three aims for the team. The first is "to become a source of admiration and a goal for female baseball players," and the second is "to create an environment where girls can easily start and keep playing baseball." The third is to grow the number of women who play baseball and to increase the number of female baseball fans and Tigers fans. The club treats this as part of its work to promote baseball. In his comments on taking the job, Nohara said he wanted to teach not only technique but also the right attitude toward baseball. He added that he wanted to build a team that female players would admire and aim for, so that the number of women playing baseball would grow even a little.
Players Who Balance Study or Work
According to the club's official website, the team's players take part in practice and games while balancing their studies or jobs. The team plays in tournaments organized by the Japan Women's Baseball Federation and the Kansai Women's Hardball Baseball Federation, against high school, university and club teams. On January 7, 2021, ahead of the team's first season, three of its players were selected for the Samurai Japan women's national team. Since 2024 the manager has been Katsuhiko Kido, a former Hanshin player. According to the club's announcement of December 20, 2023, Kido played for Hanshin after PL Gakuen High School and Hosei University. At the time he was head of the club's professional scouting department and head coach of the Samurai Japan women's team. In his comments on taking the job, Kido said that three years after the team's founding, "a transformation is needed to move up to a new stage." In the same comments he noted that a female coach and a female team manager, a support staff role, would join the team for the first time in 2024.
National Titles in Its Second and Third Years, and Kansai Titles
The team plays in two national tournaments. The All-Japan Women's Hardball Club Baseball Championship, held in Chiba Prefecture in August, is a knockout tournament in which club teams from across the country compete for the national club title. The All-Japan Women's Hardball Baseball Championship, held in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, in October, brings together the top teams from the high school, university and club tournaments. Hanshin Tigers Women won the club championship in 2022, its second year. In 2023, its third year, it beat Saitama Seibu Lions Ladies 4-0 in the final of the All-Japan Championship to win that tournament for the first time. The final stayed scoreless until Hanshin took a 2-0 lead in the sixth inning, and it added two more runs in the seventh. The starting pitcher held the opponents to five hits for a shutout and was named tournament MVP. In Kansai, the team won Expert Division 1 of the Kansai Women's Hardball Baseball League, a round robin among the top university and club teams, in 2021, 2024 and 2025. In 2024 it clinched its second league title, its first in three years, by beating Momoyama Gakuin University of Education 3-0 on September 28 with two league games left. It also won the Kansai Women's Hardball Baseball Championship (the Lucky Tournament) in 2021, 2025 and 2026. In the 2025 final on June 29 it beat Osaka University of Health and Sport Sciences 4-1 for its second title, its first in four years. In the 2026 final on September 12 it beat Awaji BRAVEOCEANS 3-0 for its third title and its second in a row.
National Tournaments in 2025 and 2026
In 2025 the team lost its first game at the All-Japan Championship and did not reach the quarterfinals of the club championship. Its loss in the club championship came against ZENKO BEAMS in a game that went to a tiebreaker. In 2026 the team reached the final of both national tournaments. The club championship final in August was played over two days, on the 13th and 14th, against ZENKO BEAMS again. Hanshin gave up five runs in the second inning and lost 3-7. In the All-Japan Championship final on October 14, it lost 4-6 to the Yomiuri Giants Women's Team. Hanshin scored two runs each in the second and fifth innings to pull within one run but could not draw level. The team finished runner-up in both tournaments, and at the All-Japan Championship a pitcher who had pitched in four straight games received the tournament's Outstanding Player award. According to the club, it was the team's sixth straight appearance at the All-Japan Championship.
Women's Teams of NPB Clubs
Hanshin is not the only NPB club that runs a women's team. The Yomiuri Giants also run one, and an exchange series between the two clubs' women's teams began in 2023 and reached its fourth year in 2026. Their first official meeting was the semifinal of the 2023 club championship, which Hanshin lost 1-2. Their second official meeting was the final of the 2026 All-Japan Championship, the first time the two teams had met at that tournament. The club's official website described the final as a meeting between club teams run by NPB clubs. The website had also described Saitama Seibu Lions Ladies, the opponent in the 2023 All-Japan final, as a team that likewise carries an NPB team name.
How to Watch
Games run from spring to autumn, in Kansai and around the country. The Kansai Women's Hardball Baseball League runs from May to November, at venues in the Kansai area such as Nishinomiya and Kobe in Hyogo Prefecture. The club championship is held in Chiba Prefecture in August and the All-Japan Championship in Matsuyama in October. In 2026 the exchange games with the Yomiuri Giants Women's Team were played at Hanshin Koshien Stadium and Tokyo Dome, letting fans see the team at the same ballparks used by professional baseball. Game results and profiles of the players, the manager and the coaches are posted on the Hanshin Tigers Women page of the club's official website.