After being drafted to the WPBL, players knew they were signing up for a seven-week league in Springfield, Illinois. They knew they’d be sacrificing their day-to-day lives in order to live out their dreams of playing professional women’s baseball.
However, New York Heights shortstop Keira Izumi knew she’d be sacrificing even more by competing in the WPBL. She’s about to enter her junior year at the University of Southern California. While there are other players who are also enrolled in school, the majority of those players can take a gap semester or do online classes. As a mechanical engineering major, Izumi doesn’t have that option. Instead, she will be flying back and forth between Los Angeles and Springfield for the next few weeks starting on Sunday, Aug. 23.
This is a “lovely, unique situation,” as she calls it, that Izumi’s been planning for since she was drafted last November. Growing up, Izumi didn’t think it’d be possible for her to play baseball professionally, so she prioritized her academics out of high school and chose to attend USC. However, when the opportunity of the WPBL popped up, Izumi knew she couldn’t pass it up.
“I was definitely very torn in the moment—it really is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Izumi told The IX Sports. “When I was growing up, I never thought women’s pro baseball would ever be something that happened in my lifetime, let alone have the opportunity to play in it. Being that it’s such a tremendous opportunity and I love baseball so much, of course I wanted to take this opportunity.”
And she’s been able to seize the opportunity to join the WPBL while continuing her studies thanks to the support of her parents. She recognizes that not all parents would be open to their child taking on such an unconventional and difficult schedule, especially since it could distract her from her schooling.
“I’m very fortunate to have very supportive parents who know the importance of school and my academics, but also understand how much baseball means and how much this opportunity means. I was actually kind of surprised they didn’t push back more about it,” Izumi said. “They believe in me a lot, and I believe in myself and their support. [I knew] if I truly wanted to pursue baseball and engineering at the same time, I’d be able to do it.”
Izumi’s father Jason has always been supportive of his daughter’s baseball career and her academic aspirations. The WPBL created a “best of both worlds” type situation for Izumi, but not without its obstacles. Jason said their family knew there was a lot to consider when figuring out if Izumi could balance flying across the country every week for the second half of the WPBL season.
“It was definitely a talking point, where we got together as a family with her and her mom and I. We discussed, priority-wise, what are we going to prioritize, what can she manage and so forth,” Jason told The IX Sports. “We sat down and kind of figured out like ‘O.K., is this doable? How can we actually make it happen? Are we going to sacrifice a lot doing one thing versus the other?’ So, we did sit down and weigh the pros and cons.”
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Similarly to what his daughter expressed, Jason believed the WPBL was too good of an opportunity to pass up. And, he felt confident that she would overcome the struggles in order to fulfill her dreams.
“Ultimately we decided that this was a once in a lifetime kind of event, not that school isn’t, but she felt that with her schedule and her workload, she could overcome some of the days that she was missing at the beginning of the semester,” Jason said.
Izumi will be missing Thursdays and Fridays at USC as she’ll be in Springfield from Thursday mornings until Sunday nights for games. Izumi’s professors were understanding of her situation, but she unfortunately doesn’t get the same treatment as USC student-athletes since she isn’t competing for the Trojans specifically.
To make up for the time she’s missing, Izumi has been working ahead on some of her courses as much as she can. Mechanical engineering is a very hands-on major, so she can’t work too far ahead on assignments. She also has a plan in place with some of her classmates in the same classes to help catch her up on material when needed.
While at USC, Izumi is focusing on material science research and is showing an interest in making bats down the line. It’s the perfect “venn diagram intersection” for her to combine her love of baseball and mechanical engineering.
“Maybe later in five years we’ll be swinging Izumi bats,” Izumi said.
Aside from getting support from USC, Izumi said Heights manager Rachelle “Rocky” Henley has been nothing but encouraging and understanding of her situation. That eases a lot of anxieties for Izumi as she prepares to take on her intensive traveling schedule.
“[Henley] knows that even though I’ll be going back and forth, I’m going to give my best effort no matter where I am. I think she respects me and trusts me in that aspect,” Izumi said.
As of now, Izumi will only miss one Heights game with her traveling schedule.
So far, Izumi’s pleased with her decision to join the WPBL despite knowing it’ll be a whirlwind for a few weeks. It’s an experience, crazy or not, she never thought was feasible growing up.
“These first few weeks have been absolutely a dream come true. It’s amazing to be out here and truly just live, eat and breathe baseball the whole time we’re here,” Izumi said. “When I was little … was when I started to think ‘I think I’ll be the first girl to play college baseball’ and ‘I’ll be the first girl to play in the MLB.’ It was never really a thought to me that I could be playing professionally alongside other women because there just wasn’t thought or talk about it until a couple years ago.”
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Izumi’s parents have attended a few games at the start of the season, and it’s been “surreal” for all of them to witness the amount of love and support the teams have received in Springfield. For Jason, though, one of his standout moments so far was one he experienced at home watching the game on his television: when Izumi hit her first home run in the Heights’ second game on Aug. 6 vs. San Francisco.
“I wasn’t there, but it was still a special moment where you’re yelling at the TV and screaming. That was pretty cool just to see her reaction, how happy she was and the celebration,” Jason says. When asked if he ever thought he’d be screaming at the TV for his own daughter, Jason answered, “No, never. I could’ve never imagined that. I scream at it all the time when your team’s not playing [well], but yeah, that was something that I never imagined would’ve occurred that I could experience.”
Through eight games, Izumi is averaging .278 with five hits, two runs, three RBIs and one home run. New York has nine regular-season games left.
The WPBL is full of experiences its players, families and fans probably never thought they’d have. For Izumi, she never thought she’d be playing baseball professionally while also working towards earning her degree in mechanical engineering.
How does she feel about taking on this unique challenge? “Quite stressed and anxious and overwhelmed,” she said. But she knows once she gets her routine down, she will overcome the difficulties. And it’ll all be worth it if she gets to keep playing baseball.
