WBSC U-18 Women’s Softball World Cup Group B: Celebrating the ninth anniversary of Pingtan Softball Stadium

When Pingtan Softball Stadium welcomes the WBSC U-18 Women’s Softball World Cup Group B from 14-18 August 2024 - with Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Peru, Puerto Rico and host China competing for two spots in the Finals 2025 - it will be a celebration of not only great international softball but also one of the best international softball venues in the world.

Pingtan Softball Stadium opened in 2015 in time for the inaugural Youth Games of the People’s Republic of China as the newest international-standard softball stadium in the country. The CNY100m ($14m) project includes two fields (primary and secondary fields), training grounds, and facilities to host international tournaments. With 5,000 spectator seats and a giant video board in the primary field, Pingtan Softball Stadium has everything in place to be regarded as China’s best softball stadium.

Since its inauguration, the stadium has hosted various baseball and softball tournaments, including the U-18 Women’s Softball Asia Cup 2023, among hundreds of other national and provincial tournaments.

While Pingtan Softball Stadium has been responsible for developing softball in the region for the past decade, three more baseball fields have recently been completed to offer more flexibility in hosting games. The new fields are being developed as part of the plan to build one of the leading baseball/softball demonstration complexes in the country.

A driving force for Baseball/Softball development

The tournaments held at the Pingtan Softball Stadium over the past decade have been crucial in the development of baseball/softball in China. “It heats the city and has brought the public not only the knowledge of the game but the enthusiasm to the game,” said Yongqing Lin, the sports department staff at Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone’s Travel, Culture, and Sports Bureau.

Since 2015, Pingtan has seen the game grow impressively. At the beginning of this year, 56 baseball/softball teams were registered, more than one hundred coaches were trained while baseball/softball was listed in the curriculum in more than 25 schools throughout the county.

“Our goal is to have 100 teams from the schools, public sectors, businesses, and communities,” said Lin.

Future centre of Baseball/Softball

In addition to hosting international tournaments, Pingtan has a vision for the sport's future development. “We are also focusing on the training, sports medicines, and equipment manufacture aspects of the sport,” said Desheng Ye, director of the Fujian Province Sports Bureau.

While Pingtan Softball Stadium becomes the focus of the world during the WBSC U-18 Women’s Softball World Cup Group B, the newly-built baseball fields nearby will soon host a cross-strait baseball tournament, where eight teams from both sides of the Taiwan Strait will participate in the inaugural games on the baseball fields.

And Pingtan plans to offer more in the future.

According to Chang-Chun Wei, director of the Travel, Culture, and Sports Bureau at the Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone, the site of a more impressive CNY3.9-billion ($543m) international baseball and softball complex project has also been designated.

“On this site, we will have a 26,000-seat indoor baseball stadium, a 20,000-seat stadium, a 6,000-seat indoor arena, and other facilities that would satisfy the needs of baseball and softball events in various scenarios.

“We will build a state-of-the-art international baseball-softball complex. That is our goal,” said Wei.