LA Queens Crowned as first WPBL Champions

The Los Angeles Queens closed out the Women's Pro Baseball League's inaugural season by winning the first championship in a five-game series that ended with a 2-0 win over the San Francisco Firebells last week at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois.

It was a complete-game effort by Ayami Sato, in a league that hadn't seen a shutout in any of its 30 regular-season games or the rest of the playoffs. Offense dominated the league from its first game, a 10-8 Queens win over the New York Heights. Game 5 of the title clinching series was the lowest-scoring game in league history, five runs below a 6-1 Boston Hunters win on Aug. 13.

Watch highlights of Game 5 here: https://youtu.be/b4sUuiX6zXg?si=iCj6U-ssUDFSLGgo

Overall, the WPBL's inaugural season saw the league sell more than 55,000 tickets and make more $1.3 million in ticket revenue despite playing all of its games in Springfield. It's the first women's baseball league introduced in the United States in decades.

The Queens finished the regular season in third place at 8-7. In the semifinals, they edged the New York Heights 2 games to 1. In the championship series, Los Angeles won the first two games of the best-of-five series 7-6, 11-7 before San Francisco rallied to tie the series winning 10-5, 17-4.

The league played its first season in Springfield, Illinois but there is currently no plans to expand beyond the current four teams or playing in other locations.

For more information on the WPBL:  https://www.womensprobaseballleague.com