The Los Angeles Queens were in a tough spot entering the first game of the first Championship Series in WPBL history Wednesday night in Springfield, Ill. Having just concluded their three-game semifinal against the New York Heights on Monday, the Queens’ pitching staff was already overextended before the Championship Series even began.
Queens manager Eric Young had used his top three starters — Ayami Sato, Michelle Roche, and Ayuri Shimano — in Monday’s game and entered Wednesday’s contest hoping to avoid all three, as well as closer Meggie Meidlinger, who pitched in Games 1 and 2 of the earlier series, yet still somehow pull out a win. Amazingly, he accomplished both things, thanks primarily to two-way catcher Jamie Mackay, who started the game as LA’s designated hitter.
Mackay entered Wednesday’s game tied with Meidlinger for the third most innings pitched on the Queens but also the worst ERA (13.50, 61 ERA+) among pitchers with multiple appearances for LA. That last included a 12.27 ERA and 2.59 WHIP in three regular season appearances against the Firebells totaling 7 1/3 innings. It seemed telling that Young opted to give the Game 1 start to 18-year-old Amira Hondras, who had not started a game on the mound all season and had thrown just one inning in the three-game semifinal against New York. Young would have to use Mackay, but first he’d see how much he could get out of Hondras.
It wasn’t much. Both Hondras and Firebells starter Kelsie Whitmore stranded a pair of two-out baserunners in the first inning, but after the Queens opened the scoring with a run in the top of the first — manufactured by first baseman Sarah Edwards, who singled with one out, stole her first base of the season, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a single by center fielder Mo’ne Davis — Hondras couldn’t hold the line in the bottom of the inning.
After a pair of walks, a strikeout, and an infield single by the Firebell’s ninth-place hitter, center fielder Ela Day-Bédard, the San Francisco lineup rolled over to second baseman Amanda Gianelloni, who crushed the first pitch she saw over the left-field wall for a grand slam. In a blink, the Firebells were up 4-1, and Hondras was out of the game in favor of Mackay.
Entering with the bases empty, Mackay got Kelsie Whitmore to fly out to right and Skylar Kaplan to ground out. Then, in the top of the next inning, Mackay followed an Ashton Lansdell single by lacing a hit just inside the third-base line, putting runners on second and third when left fielder Jua Park failed to field the ball cleanly. That brought up shortstop Caitlin Eynon as the tying run. Eynon singled home Lansdell, but Whitmore recovered to end the rally there with the Firebells still up 4-2.
In the bottom of that inning, the Firebells got that run back plus one, with the bottom of the order again doing damage, this time via back-to-back RBI hits by shortstop Joely Leguizamon and Day-Bédard.
Still, the Queens continued to build their picket fence, adding another single run in the top of the fourth. Catcher Maggie Foxx led off with a single and advanced to third on a wild pitch and a passed ball, the latter coming when Ayuri Shimano, who started at second base in this game in place of the injured Samaria Benítez, showed bunt, blocking Firebells catcher Alexia Jorge’s view of the ball with her bat. Shimano then singled Foxx home: 6-3 Firebells.
In the bottom of the fourth, the heart of the Firebells’ order got a second shot at Mackay. Whitmore, who was 3-for-4 with two home runs and a double against Mackay during the regular season, led off by ripping a sinking liner down the third-base line, but Lansdell made a great diving catch to her right to retire her fellow captain. Mackay then got Kaplan to fly out to left, and Shimano made a nice play on a bounder up the middle by Andréanne Leblanc, ranging to her right and throwing across her body to retire the slow-footed first baseman. That was a huge defensive inning for the Queens, and it set the tone for the remainder of the game.
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In the top of the fifth, Whitmore’s last inning on the mound, the Queens rallied. One-out singles by Eynon and left fielder Isabella Villarreal and a walk to right fielder Michelle Roche loaded the bases. Edwards drove in one run with a single to push the tying runs into scoring position, and Villarreal scored when a pickoff throw from Whitemore hit Edwards in the leg and rolled away from Leblanc at first base. Whitmore escaped the jam by getting Foxx to hit into a double play, but the Queens were now within one.
In the bottom of the fifth, Jill Albayati, making her first start in the field since Aug. 21, picked up her first hit since then with an opposite-field liner that rolled to the wall, though Albayati, coming off a hamstring injury, opted to stay at first base. Mackay then hit catcher Alexia Jorge in the upper back, prompting a glare from Jorge who had been hit in a similar spot by ball four from Hondras in the second inning. Mackay then fell behind Park 3-1, but rallied to strike her out on a pitch diving so far outside that it skipped by Foxx and allowed the runners to advance.
At that moment, it wasn’t clear if the wild pitch or the strikeout was a stronger indicator of what to expect from Mackay. It turned out, it was the strikeout. With the runners on second and third, Mackay proceeded to strike out Leguizamon and Day-Bédard on six pitches.
The Queens’ lineup, meanwhile, continued to chip away. With reliever Rosi del Castillo in for Whitmore in the sixth, ninth-place hitter Davis led off with a ringing double to left center to immediately put the tying run in scoring position. Shimano then bunted up the first-base line to push Davis to third. Del Castillo came off the mound to field the bunt, but when she bent down to make the play, she rolled her right ankle. That injury immediately cascaded up to del Castillo’s right knee, which has bothered her all season, sidelining her for part of it. Much like Queens second baseman Samaria Benítez on Monday night, del Castillo crumpled to the ground in significant pain and had to be carted off the field.
That put runners on the corners for Lansdell, who, after the injury delay and the entrance of Firebells lefty Liz Gilder, pulled a 2-2 pitch just inside the third base bag for a game-tying double, pushing Shimano to third. Gilder then hit Mackay in the back foot with her next pitch, and Eynon hit the next one to Whitmore in center for a sacrifice fly to give the Queens a 7-6 lead.
Gilder recovered from there, striking out Villarreal and Roche, but Mackay had found her groove. Mackay struck out Gianelloni to open the bottom of the sixth, then, despite facing them for a third time in the game, retired Whitmore, Kaplan, Leblanc, Albayati, and Jorge — San Francisco’s best hitters — in order over the next inning-plus to nail down the win.
After the game, Gianelloni told reporters, “All credit to the Queens and their pitching staff [but] I think we beat ourselves at the plate.” Asked to elaborate, she simply repeated herself.
Her manager, Matt Williams, also said he though his team beat itself, though he seemed to be referring more to its misplays in the field, such as the wild pitches and passed ball that set up runs in the second and fourth, the error by Park in the third, and Whitmore’s throwing error, which plated another run in the fifth. “They played a clean game tonight, and we didn’t,” Williams told reporters. “In a one-run game, if you’re not efficient and clean, it can come back to haunt you, and it did tonight.”
The Queens had a different explanation. Asked about her effectiveness on the mound in this game, Jamie Mackay told reporters, “I think the big thing is lately I’ve been trying to think too far ahead. So I told myself to just take it pitch-by-pitch. I knew my defense had my back. I knew my offense had my back.”
Asked if she made any physical changes prior to this game, Mackay said that she felt her motion had been “lacking a certain amount of whip and snap,” so she poked around and found “a great drill” from a coach on TikTok that felt “really really good. It’s the best it’s felt.”
Mackay also said that catcher Maggie Foxx and closer Meggie Meidlinger “came up with basically a presentation about how to approach [the Firebells’] hitters. … So we had a great plan.”
The Queens had a plan at the plate, as well, often jumping on the first pitch, particularly against Whitmore. Shortstop Caitlin Eynon, who went 3-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored, confirmed that strategy after the game, telling reporters, “We knew that we had to be aggressive. We didn’t want to get ourselves behind in counts. … We know she’s going to throw the curveball and changeup late in the count, so I think it was really more to jump on that fastball early, and it paid off.”
These two teams will be right back at it tonight in Game 2 at 7 p.m. Eastern. Jill Albayati will start for San Francisco. The Queens haven’t named their starter, but it seems likely to be Ayami Sato, who was warming up behind Mackay in the late innings Wednesday night.
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Injury News:
Firebells manager Matt Williams told reporters after the game that the trainers don’t think del Castillo injured her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) but that they are “concerned about a ligament.” He said del Castillo will have tests on Thursday and that “it’s gonna be rough for her to come back and play in this series,” meaning she’s likely done for the season.
Samaria Benítez, who suffered what looked like a similar injury in Monday’s game and was seen on crutches during the player introductions (and getting a piggyback ride off the field from teammate Diana Ibarra after the game), will not play in this series, Queens manager Eric Young told reporters. Young said that Benítez had an X-ray, which was negative, but she is still waiting to get an MRI. The latter test is the more relevant one given the concern that she, too, may have ligament damage in her knee.
Del Castillo’s injury is unfortunate in and of itself but it feels doubly so given that it came at a time when the Firebells, who have been hit harder by injury than any other team this season, seemed to finally be fully healthy again. Catcher Sam Gutierrez (bruised right eye) was active for Game 1 and is “healthy and ready,” per Williams. Jill Albayati (hamstring strain) is back to being a two-way player. And Ela Day-Bédard, who was a late scratch in Game 2 of the semifinals due to a neck injury, which she told reporters happened when she ran into the wall on a catch attempt, was back in the lineup today and said after the game that her neck is no longer an issue.
In the second inning of Game 1, Firebells shortstop Joely Leguizamon was hit in the left cheek by a throw from right fielder Skylar Kaplan that Leguizamon lost in the stadium lights. Leguizamon’s cheek swelled up significantly during the game (Williams called it “a pretty nice goose egg”), but she remained in the game and shouldn’t be limited by it going forward, per Williams.
Notes:
Del Castillo’s injury robs the Firebells of their best pure reliever. Gilder, who replaced her in this game, will likely need to start a game if this series goes at least four games. That leaves Williams with a bullpen of Peyton Coria, who also pitched an inning in this game, Day-Bédard, Andréanne Leblanc, and Jua Park. The last two have made just two appearances each this season for a total of 3 2/3 innings, and Day-Bédard has an ERA of 20.25 (40 ERA+) on the season.
The good news for San Francisco is that weekend warrior Niki Eckert did indeed get the the entire series off from her job at the New York City Department of Education. She was in the dugout Wednesday night but inactive and could fill a role similar to Gilder’s as a lefty starter in one of the middle two games who is also available in relief as workload allows.
Williams said that Albayati will start tonight’s Game 2, though her workload will be monitored. Albayati was limited to 50 pitches in her last pitching appearance in the semifinals (she threw 44). Williams would not put a number on Albayati’s pitch limit for tomorrow, citing the stress of her innings as more relevant, but he did confirm that he can’t push her in terms of workload.
Given that, it’s possible that we could see Eckert in relief tonight then scheduled for the Game 4 start (if the Firebells can win one of the next two). Gilder’s one inning in Game 1 could serve as a throw-day appearance lining her up for the Game 3 start.
Queens manager Eric Young dodged the question about his pitching plan in the postgame press conference Wednesday night. He did say, however, that Ayuri Shimano is fully available in this series and that the injury that limited her to a pinch-hitting appearance in Game 2 of the semifinals on Saturday is no longer an issue. Again, Young had Ayami Sato warming up behind Jamie Mackay in the late innings on Wednesday night, which suggests that Sato might be most available to be LA’s Game 2 starter. Indeed, out of Roche, Shimano, and Sato, all of whom pitched on Monday, Sato threw the fewest pitches (31 to 54 for Shimano and 83 for Roche).
Another difference for Mackay in this game is that she was wearing her glasses at the plate. The reason, she told reporters afterward, is that she has run out of contact lenses in Springfield, adding “I’ve been trying to tough it out the last couple games, and it just hasn’t been working well.” The glasses seemed to help. She went 2-for-3. Said Mackay, “I can see a lot better.”
Speaking of the sartorial aspects of the game, the league has added a third patch to the jerseys for the Championship Series. They now have an “Inaugural Season” patch on the left sleeve, a “Postseason” patch on the left chest, and a “Championship” patch on the right sleeve above the city initials that have been there all season. All three patches are similar in design, with white lettering over a black baseball diamond.
Given that Heights made clear that wearing gray pants at home in Game 3 of the semifinals was not their choice, I asked Queens manager Eric Young, who has expressed a fondness for his team’s diamond-pattered alternate jersey, which the Queens have yet to wear in the postseason, if the league was telling his team which uniforms to wear. He hesitated before saying, “Yes and no.” He then added, “It seems like you want to see the alternates. I want to see the alternates, as well.”
As they did prior to the first game of the semifinals, the league attempted some homespun razzmatazz prior to Wednesday night’s game. They distributed red signs to all the fans that read “I’m a part of history,” set off some colorful smoke pots to accent the pre-game introductions and national anthem, and had “A League of Their Own” actress Megan Cavanagh, who played power-hitting Marla Hooch in the 1992 film, throw out the first pitch to a young Baseball for All player. Cavanaugh later spent a couple of innings with Jenna Becerra in the broadcast booth.
The league also unveiled its championship trophy, though the trophy had been already been seen in the opening graphics for the postseason broadcasts and on some of the shirts being sold at Robin Roberts Stadium. In a classic WPBL broadcast blunder, at the moment of the reveal, the trophy was blocked from the camera’s view by one of the young Baseball for All players on the field.
The trophy is a simple silver cup with three handles “representing the past, future, and today,” per commissioner Justine Siegal’s accompanying speech to the crowd. At the moment, it has no inscription of any kind. It’s not clear if the league intends to inscribe the winning team (or teams, Stanley Cup–style) on it after the series. Fortunately, the players have a lot more to play for than a trophy.
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