San Francisco finally played like the club that owned the WPBL’s best regular-season record, jumping on Los Angeles early and keeping its championship hopes alive with a 10-5 Game 3 win Saturday.
The Firebells had arrived in the league’s first championship series as the favorites after a 10-5 regular season, a semifinal sweep of Boston and an offense led by No. 1 overall pick Kelsie Whitmore. But after surrendering the opening two games to the Queens, they were playing with no room left for another mistake.
Quick facts
- San Francisco beat Los Angeles 10-5 in Game 3 of the best-of-five championship.
- The Queens still lead the series, 2-1.
- Joely Leguizamon went 2-for-4, hit her first career home run and was named Player of the Game.
- Nicki Eckert worked four innings, allowed two runs and struck out two.
- Game 4 is scheduled for Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.
Before the game, Whitmore asked her teammates to remember why they play. The captain had been held hitless in her first eight championship at-bats after tying for the regular-season home run lead and finishing second in OPS.
That message showed up immediately. Amanda Gianelloni opened the bottom of the first with a double, then Whitmore lined an RBI single to end her skid and moved to second on the throw. Skylar Kaplan followed with another run-scoring hit, and Samantha Gutierrez later drove in a run after Alexia Jorge was hit by a pitch.
San Francisco had a 3-0 lead after one inning, a far different start from the first two games. The Firebells had squandered a 6-2 advantage in Game 1, when reliever Rosi Del Castillo was injured after facing two hitters, then committed six errors during a 10-run Los Angeles fourth inning in Game 2 — a league record.
The Firebells added four more runs in the second. Andreanne Leblanc and Jill Albayati each brought home a run, while Leguizamon delivered the biggest swing of the inning with a home run, her first in the WPBL.
Leguizamon said the shot also settled an old family wager. Her father had promised her $200 if she ever cleared the fence, and she noticed him in the crowd during his first game back since opening weekend.
“If I hit it over the fence, I get $200,” Leguizamon said. “To do it with my Mom and Dad there, and to see them while I was rounding the bases, was a really wholesome moment.”
The shortstop said her reason for staying in the game has always been simple: she loves baseball. “I’ve never wanted to do anything but play,” she said after the win.
Eckert gave San Francisco the stability it needed on the mound. The weekend-only pitcher, whose day job is with New York City’s Department of Education, allowed only two runs across four innings, both on Jamie Mackay’s two-run homer. She struck out two.
Manager Matt Williams praised Eckert for giving the club every inning she had. “We were backed against the wall, and we got one,” Williams said, also crediting the offense for its response.
San Francisco kept adding on with two runs in the fourth and another in the sixth, but Los Angeles made the middle innings uncomfortable. The Queens scored three times off Liz Gilder in the fifth, loaded the bases later in that inning and again in the sixth, and at one point sent the potential tying run to the plate.
Gilder escaped each jam. Williams noted that his pitching group had been stretched, but said the two left-handers used Saturday gave the Firebells more options for the next game.
San Francisco will try to square the series Sunday, while Los Angeles gets another chance to claim the inaugural WPBL title. Williams indicated Whitmore could make her second start of the series.
Leguizamon said the Firebells will keep their focus narrow. “It has always been one pitch at a time and one inning at a time,” she said. “That is what we’ll keep riding until the end.”
First pitch for Game 4 is set for 3 p.m. ET, with ESPN+ carrying the game in the United States and the WPBL YouTube channel streaming it internationally.
