September 9, 2026 | Springfield, IL: In the WPBL’s first Playoff Game, Boston, winless against San Francisco in the regular season, looked to be on the plus side of a crooked score. Well, it certainly wasn’t crooked, but still ended up askew in the wrong direction.
It started with a full inning of three ups and three downs. In the second, the Hunters drew first blood on Molly Paddison’s four-pitch walk, Ticara Geldenhuis’ sliding double, and a sac fly by Beth Greenwood.
Boston starter Kate Blunt put two on in the bottom frame with a walk and a plunk but escaped any damage with a double play and an outfield fly ball to right.
In the bottom of the third, Ayaka Yamamoto reached on a liner despite a spectacular effort by the Hunters’ Suzuka Yamamoto. Racing all the way from second to shallow right, Suzuka made a diving attempt that would’ve been the Play of the Game if the ball hadn’t trickled out of her glove.
The Firebells Ela Day-Bedard then legged out an infield grounder that had double play written all over it and stole second. Amanda Gianelloni sent her to third on a two-bagger to the wall; Kelsie Whitmore was pitched around for a free pass to load the bases, and Skylar Kaplan, the menace to Boston’s society, made them pay with an RBI single; Andréanne Leblanc sac flied in a run, and San Francisco took a 2-1 lead.
The Hunters went ahead in the top of the fourth off Alli Schroder’s one-hop off-the-wall single to center; Denver Bryant launched a base hit to left of center – a wild pitch put two in scoring position, and catcher/coach Beth Greenwood plated a pair on a double she earned by alluding Joely Leguizamon’s tag.
In the top of the fifth, Blunt held onto a slim 3-2 lead, and in another night of “what could’ve been,” the Hunters failed to capitalize on back-to-back base hits by Hastings and Haas with none away. Whitmore then got a pop-up, a fielder’s choice, and a swinging strikeout to end the inning.
San Francisco, true to form, fattened their lead with two additional runs from the same players who brought in the ones prior. Kaplan and Leblanc, the law firm that handles offense as well as defense, did it with a double and sac fly.
Rosi del Castillo came in relief – gave up nothing in the sixth, helped her cause at the plate in the bottom frame, moving a runner to third that scored on another sac fly, and Kaplan came back for second’s, adding another RBI to her resume to make it a 6-3 game.
Liz Gilder came in to save the day, but not before she gave the Hunters a golden opportunity to tie it or go ahead. With one away and the bases full of Bostonians, Paddison fanned for the third time. Geldenhuis got the benefit of a bad hop to pull within two, and with the bags reloaded and two away, Greenwood grounded to short.
Kaplan was Player of the Game – 2-4 with a pair of RBI’s – hitting safely in every game against the Hunters. San Francisco will be Championship Round bound if they win Game 2 on Friday.