When Ayami Sato arrives at the mound in Toronto Christie Pits Park on Sunday, his first release will make history.
Sato, 35, has arrived from Japan to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs, one of the nine teams in the Intercount Baseball League (IBL) in southern Ontario. She will be the first woman to join a male professional league in Canada.
The IBL is over 100 years old and some of its players spent time in major league baseball equipment or in other elite leagues.
Sato is already considered a legend in international female baseball. As part of Japan’s national team, he helped his country win world championships and took home three MVP awards along the way.
A woman is about to make the history of baseball in Toronto on Sunday, launching a professional male game for the first time in Canada. The Japanese star, Ayami Sato, will take the mound with Toronto Maple Leafs of the Intercount Baseball League.
She told CBC News in a recent interview in The Ball Diamond that is honored to be an arce sheet and break the gender barrier in Canadian baseball.
“I am very happy, very excited,” Sato said in English, with much of the rest of the interview with a translator.
The Maple Leafs manager and former Toronto Blue Jay Rob Butler says that Sato is considered the best pitcher in female baseball, and the team is happy to give him the opportunity to show his skills.
“We are excited to see something new, something different, something fresh,” he said. “We want to break some barriers and give it a great opportunity.”
Butler says that Maple Leafs Hope Sato, who has brought “an incredible interest in female baseball”, will also attract new fans to their games this summer, especially women.
Sato ‘in a league of your own’
Ashley Stephenson, who played against Sato as a member of the Canadian national team, predicts that the respect of fans in Canada will be easily winning.
“It’s an exceptional pitcher, the best pitcher I faced in international competition,” Stephenson said in a Florida video call, where he trains with one of the minor leagues teams of the tiles.
“He was in his own league.”
But Stephenson, who is a member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, says that he is also sad because there is no professional female baseball league in Canada for players at the Sato level, especially taking into account the recent success of women’s professional leagues in football, hockey and basketball.
“Part of me also wants us to have that for baseball,” he said.
A new baseball ecosystem for women
Keith Stein, a Toronto businessman who is one of the owners of Maple Leafs, is working to grant Stephenson’s desire.
He is currently building the Proper Female Baseball League (WPBL) with the American baseball pioneer Justine Siegal.
Stein told CBC News that it is a “parody” that there is no professional league for women. For a long time, he says, the girls were pushed to play softball instead of hardball, something that expects the WPBL to help change.
“We believe that WPBL will be the catalyst for the creation of an ecosystem and completely new baseball culture for women, not only in the United States but all over the world,” he said.
Until now, more than 50 Canadian women have requested to try the League, which will begin with six American teams in 2026, although Stein hopes to expand it north in future seasons.
“There will be a franchise in Toronto,” he said.
The manager of the Toronto Jays of the World Series, Cito Gaston, is an advisor to the League, and Sato as well. Stein hopes that she is also a player.
For now, the Japanese pitcher, who knows little about Canada apart from being cold and hockey is more popular than baseball, is preparing for his first game with his teammates.
“They have really been great and I am anxious to play with them,” said Sato. In a recent practice, players were giving him encouraging words, five and fists.
‘Blaze a path for us’
It is not lost in Sato that is making history. She hopes that playing in a male professional league demonstrates courage for young girls and will follow her example of accepting new challenges.
“I hope that inspires many girls here,” he said.
The mission was already carried out, according to young players who participate in a practice of the Canadian Girls Baseball League in a park not far from where the Maple Leafs play.
“I have heard that it is a legend,” said Quinsey Jenkins, 12. “I am excited that a girl is going to launch among the children, and I hope you can overcome them.”
His message to Sato: “salt and make all the other girls like me feel proud, and call him a path so that we can follow.”
Danielle Waserman believes that it is unfair that there is no professional league for Sato and other women in Canada. “It is very strong on your part to play in a male league and I really admire it,” said the 10 -year -old.
Sophia Bander, whose uniform shirt says “I’m changing the game,” he looks forward to a female league he can see on television.
For now, the 13 -year -old is happy that Sato is playing in her city, where she can encourage a superstar.
“I’m glad you have the opportunity to show your talents to everyone else,” Bander said. “And I’m proud.”
