The Women's Pro Baseball League — founded by Justine Siegal and Keith Stein — set out in April to crown its first-ever champion, and it's going to come down to the last possible game. The Los Angeles Queens and San Francisco Firebells play a winner-take-all Game 5 on Tuesday, September 22 at Robin Roberts Stadium, with the winner becoming the first team in the sport's modern history to be called WPBL champions.
How the series got here
Los Angeles came out of the semifinals and won the first two games of the best-of-five series in dramatic fashion — a 7-6 comeback in Game 1, then an 11-7 win in Game 2 built on two grand slams from Osaka, Japan native Ayuri Shimano, including a 10-run fourth inning that put the Queens within one win of the title. San Francisco stayed alive with a 10-5 win in Game 3, then blew the series back open entirely in Game 4: a league-record 20 hits in a 17-4 rout that tied the series at 2-2 and forced the decisive Game 5.
"Jamie in that first game was on fire. But we came out these past two days and figured ourselves out and relaxed. It was a good day for us to see the ball," Firebells manager Jill Albayati told The IX Sports after the Game 4 blowout, crediting an eight-run fourth inning for turning the series around.
What's at stake Tuesday
Both teams have already delivered a series that's swung on comebacks and record-setting outbursts, and Game 5 raises the stakes one more time: first to three wins claims the WPBL's inaugural title outright, with nothing held in reserve for either side. First pitch is 7:00 PM ET at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, IL — the same stadium that's hosted the entire postseason since the semifinals opened September 9.
Whoever wins will be a genuine first in women's professional baseball — the answer to a question the league has been building toward since its founding. Check back after Tuesday's game for the full story of how the WPBL's first champion was made.
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