When Ayami Sato opens a 42-game common season with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday, the Japanese pitcher would be the first lady to play for a Canadian skilled males’s baseball workforce.
She is going to take the mound shortly after 2 p.m. ET in an anticipated begin towards the visiting Kitchener Panthers, throwing a fastball practically 80 miles per hour and a curveball reportedly with the next spin price than most main leaguers — ensuing in additional swing-and-miss towards hitters.
For these doubting Sato’s means to reach the nine-team Intercounty Baseball League based mostly in southern Ontario, the Japanese legend is inviting folks in and round Toronto to come back watch her debut at Dominico Discipline in Christie Pits.
Whereas the curveball is not her favorite providing, the foot-five right-hander revealed this week throughout a go to to CBC Sports activities headquarters in Toronto, she enjoys watching opposing hitters wrestle to make contact.
WATCH | Japanese girls’s star Sato brings wealth of expertise to IBL’s Maple Leafs:
The 35-year-old Japanese pitcher whose fastball reaches 80 mph, will pitch within the dwelling opener for the Toronto Maple Leafs, an intercounty baseball workforce based in 1896.
“I simply saved [throwing] it and received higher and higher by taking part in,” Sato advised Anastasia Bucsis by way of interpreter Yoko van Veen. “Everybody tells me good issues about my curveball.”
Sato, 35, stated she has been emotional “day by day” since her latest arrival in Toronto and is happy to assist the eight-time champion Maple Leafs, who had been seventh final season with a 17-25 report earlier than being swept in three video games by the Barrie Baycats in a best-of-five first-round playoff collection.
“Final 12 months I received a [contract] provide and knew I used to be needed and wanted right here,” Sato stated. “I [want to have] an amazing season and, most significantly, I’ll benefit from the video games. I need to contribute to the workforce.”
The Maple Leafs made Sato the IBL’s first feminine participant final December. Crew proprietor and Toronto resident Keith Stein, a lawyer and entrepreneur, was debating hiring a lady in administration or teaching however was swayed to signal a participant by Leafs govt Andreas Kloppenborg.
“I am at all times attempting to determine methods to create better fan engagement and curiosity in our workforce,” Stein advised the Toronto Star in February.
WATCH | Maple Leafs ‘breaking obstacles’ and hoping Sato is a star attraction:
A lady is poised to make baseball historical past in Toronto on Sunday, pitching in knowledgeable males’s recreation for the primary time in Canada. Japanese star Ayami Sato will take the mound with the Intercounty Baseball League’s Toronto Maple Leafs.
‘I am excited to observe a legend’
Sato, extensively thought-about the most effective feminine baseball participant on the planet, helped Japan to 6 consecutive Ladies’s Baseball World Cup titles between 2010 and 2024. She was named event MVP in 2014, 2016 and 2018.
In her lone World Cup begin final August, she did not enable an earned run and struck out 5 whereas limiting the US to 4 hits and did not stroll a batter in a 4-3 loss. Sato has solely walked seven in 11 World Cup begins protecting 70 2/3 innings.
“I am excited to observe a legend pitch for the Leafs,” workforce supervisor and former Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Rob Butler advised the Star earlier this 12 months. “We’re very lucky to have Sato on our workforce.”
The Maple Leafs took an curiosity in Sato after she was featured final 12 months all through the Amazon Prime documentary See Her, Be Her that shares the story of Sato and 6 girls combating for gender equality in sports activities.
She performed basketball throughout center faculty since there have been no baseball groups for ladies however a ardour for the latter remained. Luckily, the boys’ coach allowed her to affix his workforce. Sato performed on girls’s groups by way of highschool and at Shobi College in Kawagoe, Japan, however by no means imagined it might result in an opportunity on the skilled degree in Canada.
“I do not see myself being a job mannequin,” stated Sato, who grew up in Anami, Kagoshima, a small island in southern Japan. “I am simply doing what I’ve to do however I actually recognize this chance. I’m so comfortable. I would wish to get pleasure from this second, and I’ve to get pleasure from this second.”
Sato is a particular adviser with the Ladies’s Skilled Baseball League, a six-team loop set to launch subsequent 12 months. Stein co-founded the WPBL with Justine Siegal, the primary lady to teach for an MLB workforce with the-then Oakland Athletics in 2015.
“If I’ve the chance to play within the league sooner or later, I might like to take part,” Sato advised CBC Sports activities’ Tara De Boer for a narrative printed by Toronto Life final December. “However, for now, I am centered on doing every part I can to deliver dwelling some wins for the Maple Leafs.”
In between her pitching appearances, Sato will probably be centered on exploring eating places in Toronto and consuming Canadian beer.
“It is my first time dwelling overseas, so every part’s new. I am going to attempt to cherish each single second right here in Toronto,” she stated.
“I feel I am going to search for a superb beer after I’m not on the sector.”
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