Ayami Sato

The Airbnb.

And then we got to the Airbnb and then we had to literally like... get to the get to get to the um ballpark because we had been offered um an interview with uh ayami sato before the game and her and her translator mayo it was our

only pre-game interview yes which was really it made sense because she wasn't pitching yeah and we needed a translator and um it was really it worked out well we were a little late but they were a little late so it worked out well well

forever it did it worked out okay but we were you know it was definitely we were on we were running running running yeah um and if you watched our fit check from that day it was very hairy because we were like okay we just gotta get this done and go go go go uh so we you know we we didn't know what we were doing we got to the ballpark we're like where do we go i know we met melissa

Yep.

And so we got to Robin Roberts Stadium finally for the first time and walked in and had the amazing privilege of getting to interview Ayami Sato.

So that is the first interview that we're going to let you guys listen to.

Do you want to say anything? Other than we did do it with the translator.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Okay, so that was Ayami Sato.

And she was, like I said, she was just lovely.

... are, uh, are up your alley.

Um, so speaking of, you know, this, this kind of burden that Kelsey Whitmore faced to contextualize who she is and what she does in the context o- of men's baseball or other baseball environments, we had Ayami Sato here last year in the Inner County Baseball League, which is a men's semi-pro league.

Mm-hmm.

Um, and obviously, you know, she, she had to deal with that a little bit as well.

... have it.

Okay.

'Cause I think I saw you share, uh, Ayami Sato's, like, uh, like, pitch movement plot like we see on the-

Right

So there were a lot of questions about how everything was going with this league, but there was also an excitement to it because they were expecting Kelsey Whitmore to play, and she's probably one of the best-known players for the US Women's Baseball Team.

Um, Ayami Sato, one of the best pitchers out of Japan who played for Keith Stein's-

[clears throat]

...

Oh, signed baseball.

This is, uh, Ayami Sato you're alluding to.

There she is, yes.

Oh, well, you know, I'll talk to you about the Leafs', uh, Kristy Pitts in a second here-

Yeah

... because, uh, I went, I introduced Ayami Sato to the, uh, members of the Toronto Maple Leafs, uh-

Oh, nice

... and, uh, [laughs] and this year-

All games for now are being played at a neutral site in Springfield, Illinois.

The team has 15 players on the roster, and there's some pretty impressive women, including Moan Davis, a star from the 2014 Little League World Series, and Ayami Sato, a 36-year-old pitching ace from Japan.

For this first season, every team will play 15 games, and they're seen on ESPN Select.

Once again, they have a league of their own, and the hope is it catches on.

But yeah.

Um, I think one of the players that I'm really excited about is Ayami Sato, who is a pitcher for the LA Queens.

She's an amazing pitcher, an amazing, you know, curve ball that she has.

I just watched her pitch, and it seems like every time I was just like, "Wow.

And then for the Los Angeles Queens, we have five obvious Asians, and they're all from Japan, so the Queens being like the [laughs] Dodgers, just trying to grab them all.

And they, the Queens have round one number two pick, Ayami Sato, pitcher, very well-known, um, Japanese female pitcher.

And currently she has three wins and one loss.

She has a 6.92 ERA with 13 innings pitched, 24 hits, 15 runs, 10 earned runs, one walk, 10 strikeouts, and two home runs.