Firebells Fall Short in WPBL Finals as Queens Take Game 5
The short version
- L.A. Queens beat San Francisco 2-0 in Game 5 of the WPBL championship series in Springfield, Ill.
- Firebells won the regular season at 10-5 and swept Boston in the first round.
- Kelsie Whitmore hit .415 with 11 HRs and 31 RBIs and went 3-1 as a pitcher.
- All four WPBL teams played in Springfield this season; home cities are planned for 2027.
San Francisco, the WPBL's top regular-season club, rallied from 2-0 down in the best-of-five final before Los Angeles closed out the title.
The Los Angeles Queens defeated the San Francisco Firebells 2-0 on Tuesday in the deciding fifth game of the Women's Pro Baseball League championship series at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Ill. San Francisco had trailed the best-of-five final 2-0 before winning twice to force the extra game. The club finished as runner-up in the four-team league's first season.
San Francisco entered the playoffs as the regular-season champion at 10-5, two games ahead of Los Angeles and the New York Heights. The offense led the loop with 19 home runs, a 1.041 OPS and a .376 batting average, while scoring 9.47 runs per contest. The pitching staff posted a 5.96 ERA over 101 innings, second only to New York's 5.92.
Kelsie Whitmore, the team captain and the No. 1 overall selection in the league draft, anchored the roster as a two-way performer. At the plate she hit .415 with 11 homers, 31 RBIs and a 1.669 OPS; in the circle she went 3-1 across six starts with a 5.25 ERA over 24 innings.
Support came from Skyler Kaplan (.490 average, .552 on-base percentage), Jua Park (.400, 13 RBIs) and Jill Albayati, who batted .406 and pitched to a 1.40 ERA in three appearances. Joely Leguizamon earned player-of-the-game honors in both finals wins, including a 4-for-4 showing in Game 4.
All of the league's games this season were staged in Springfield despite the four clubs carrying the names of coastal cities. The teams are expected to move to their home markets for the 2027 campaign, though venues have not been finalized.
