Female fireballer Ayami Sato ready to make baseball history with IBL Leafs

National Post

10-05-2025

At 2 p.m. Sunday — that's 3 a.m. Monday in Japan — Ayami Sato makes history on the mound at Christie Pits.
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Many people on both sides of the world are taking interest in the first start of a female pitcher for a pro baseball team in Canada. The 5-foot-5 right-hander debuts for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the Intercounty Baseball League, crossing the gender gap, not to mention 13 time zones.
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'My parents are my biggest fans,' Sato told the Toronto Sun through interpreter Yoko van Veen. 'They have always encouraged me to do extraordinary things and I hope to show them and everyone new talents here.'
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She is scheduled to throw just a couple of innings, but the 35-year-old multi-world champion, with an 80-m.p.h. fastball and wicked curve, makes it clear she didn't sign here to be a one-day curiosity.
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'This challenge will make me grow as a player and a person this season. I do believe I have the energy and believe there's room to grow.'
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Arriving in Toronto in late April, staying home as long as possible to take advantage of the earlier spring weather in Japan to train, she has been working out with the Leafs, getting to know teammates.
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'She'd looked fantastic out there,' said Leafs manager and former Blue Jay Rob Butler. 'She brings that Japanese work ethic, hours and hours of preparation, and she's really in game mode.
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'She's faced live hitting with us, thrown strikes, has movement on her two-seam fastball and curve. I know she's nervous, but in an excited way. She's been on a big stage before.'
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Sato starred in the international baseball community, part of six World Cup titles for Japan between 2010-2024, a three-time tournament MVP. A year ago, she gave up four hits and held the U.S. from getting an earned run in a 4–3 loss.
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A basketball player in middle school, her love of baseball convinced a boys' team coach to put her on the team and she excelled through high school and at Shobi University. Though she considered giving up on baseball because of lack of opportunity to play at home, the formation of a Japanese women's league in 2009 sustained her career.
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Her journey to Canada began late last year when Leafs co-owner Keith Stein and his staff, looking to increase female fan engagement through a management or coaching hire, chose a unique on-field move instead. Stein, a co-founder of the new Women's Pro Baseball League that's holding summer player tryouts for franchises in the Northeastern U.S., was among those who watched Sato in the Amazon Prime documentary See Her, Be Her. It focused on female ball players battling gender inequality.