September 4, 2026 | Springfield, IL: Heading into their final meeting of the regular season, the Heights (7-7) faced the #1-seeded Firebells (9-4) with the #2 seed spot on the line. On paper, it appeared as if San Francisco had the advantage, but if you have a habit of making bets solely based on records and statistics, you haven’t gotten the memo on how we roll here at the WPBL.
New York – famous for bright lights and Broadway shows – put on an offensive spectacle in Springfield. 32 runs in two days – if you just tuned in in the bottom of the fourth after the Heights jumped ahead 11-0, you may have thought you were watching a replay of last night’s game against LA.
Emi Saiki got plenty of help from her teammates, but it was by far the most dominant start by any pitcher in the league this season. The newly traded Queen carried a no-hitter into the fifth, fanning four, while allowing just two unearned runs on three hits over six frames – psyching out San Francisco with a bucket full of killer curves.
Liz Gilder, the Firebells reliever, took the mound as a starter – retiring the side in order in the bottom of the first, then gave away a trio of free passes – all on four pitches – and, three costly errors later, handed the Heights a five-run lead.
The Heights Denae Benites was 3-5, knocking in a pair of runs, while upping her league-leading stolen base record to 15, her runs batted in total to 38, and maintaining her slim one-home-run advantage over Kelsie Whitmore, who has another shot on Sunday to tie or take the lead. NY also ended Whitmore’s WPBL best 11-game hitting streak.
Madison Willan continued her prolific plate appearances with back-to-back 3-3 days on the diamond. And NY’s former firefighter Val Perez, saving her best for last heading into the Postseason, is 5-8 with seven RBI’s in her past two games and on Friday had the dubious honor of being the first WPBL player to be ejected from a game.
In the midst of San Francisco’s uninspired defense, Jordan Eyster, filling in for Skylar Kaplan, was gifted Play of the Game on her sliding catch in right field, while offensively, Andréanne Leblanc, the grand slam hero who hurt the Heights last weekend, thwarted the shutout with a two-run homer off one of the few curves that Saiki hung.
With New York’s win tonight, the WPBL’s Postseason matchups are locked in: Boston (#4 Seed) will face San Francisco (#1 Seed) in Semifinal A, while Los Angeles (#3 Seed) will face New York (#2 Seed) in Semifinal B.