SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Long before the moment Ayami Sato stepped onto the mound for the Los Angeles Queens for their final game on Tuesday, she was determined to make the day memorable.
Although she’s played all over the world with Team Japan and even made history as the first woman to play on a men’s professional team in Canada, this moment was different, and few players were better suited to understand the full gravity of the day.
So, when the time came, she savored each moment and delivered a legendary performance that helped the Queens secure the first Women’s Pro Baseball League title with a 2-0 win. She needed just 71 pitches to bury the San Francisco Firebells, facing 25 batters in the league’s first-ever complete-game shutout.
Fittingly, the performance earned Sato MVP honors too.
“Tonight was Sato’s moment, and she shone brightly,” Queens manager Eric Young Sr. told reporters after the game.
Even though she struggled at times this season, a dominant performance like this is much more in line with Sato’s stellar international reputation. Selected second overall in the WPBL Draft, Sato already has three Women’s Baseball World Cup MVP Awards and is one of the most decorated players in the history of the sport.
“During the game, I was completely focused on just getting one out at a time, one strike at a time, so honestly, I don’t remember much of it,” Sato said through her partner and translator Mayo Hirano. “I am incredibly happy right now, but at the same time it doesn’t quite feel real.”
Even so, it was plenty real for her Los Angeles teammates, who showed up in force to the postgame press conference, adding three more chairs to the traditional setup and even passing the microphone amongst themselves to add more praise for their starter.
Fellow pitcher Meggie Meidlinger spoke first, recalling the many times she faced Sato and Japan as a member of the United States national team.
“I have been thoroughly impressed by Sato for years,” Meidlinger said. “I knew coming into this season what a gift and a privilege it would be to be teammates with her and even a better friend. So, to get to watch my friend just through a complete game shutout like that was just incredible, and I’m just so extremely proud of her.”
There was a brief pause after, as the two shared smiles and pats on the back, and center fielder Mo’ne Davis took advantage, slowly taking the mic from Meidlinger before asking, “Can I just say something?”
“We thought Game 3 of the semifinals was the best game she’s pitched, but today she came out and just absolutely dominated,” Davis said. Sato pitched two scoreless innings of one-hit ball in that semifinal win against the New York Heights, allowing her team to take the lead and win 15-11.
“I don’t think I talked to her in the dugout today because sometimes you just have to let people lock in, but over time, we’ve had talks over Instagram and just kind of telling each other no matter what goes on, we’re always going to have each other’s backs.”
Sato said that support was especially important as she navigated a disappointing start to the regular season, which began with a three-inning start against the Heights in which she gave up 10 hits and seven runs (three earned).
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Her next start went significantly better with Sato holding the Firebells to just one run in five innings, but San Francisco dinged her for seven runs in four innings the following game. Her roughest outing came against the Heights on Aug. 27. She gave up 12 hits and 11 runs (nine earned) in just 3 1/3 innings.
As she did a few times this season, Sato took to Instagram to share her struggles after that game, saying in part, “I’ve been feeling more and more confident in my pitching, which is why it’s honestly frustrating when the results don’t reflect how I’m pitching.”
When asked about her decision to be so transparent with fans this season, Sato said it was all part of her plan to fully embrace the experience this season.
“Whether things were going well or not, I made a decision that I was always going to be myself,” Sato said. “Throughout all this season, like, I wanted to do … everything I could, so that I would have no regrets.
And it seems to have been cathartic, as she continued to share her journey through social media, which also included sampling Springfield Beer Company’s “She’s On First” or catching a foul ball in the stands of a Boston Hunters game.
“Now I can confidently say that I gave everything I had,” Sato said. “There were times when I have a lot of my mind, and I shared those with my teammates. They listened to me, accepted me, and understood.”
But even when the stats didn’t meet her expectations, Young stayed patient and encouraged her to do the same.
“I know she didn’t have the success she wanted earlier in the year,” her head coach explained. “But she was still gonna get that ball on the third day. … She was getting the ball, and that’s the faith and the trust that we all had in each other. And we made sure Sato knew exactly how we felt about her as a person, first of all, and then as our leader and number one star,” Young said.
And, clearly, it paid off.
Sato was virtually unhittable in the Queens’ final series, allowing just four earned runs in 11 innings pitched. She also recorded six strikeouts and collected two wins.
“I can say 100%, I could not be a champion without every single teammate, so I’m grateful to have met them, and to have become a teammate with them,” Sato said.
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