Keira Izumi grew up in San Diego playing baseball in a world where she often felt like the odd one out. She started playing when she was six, but for most of her childhood, there wasn't an obvious path from playing baseball as a girl to playing it at the highest level. Izumi figured that if she wanted to keep going, she'd probably have to be the first girl to do it.
At 19, she's discovering she doesn't have to be the first anymore. And she's doing a lot about it.
Izumi was part of the inaugural WPBL season with the New York Heights, primarily playing infield and pitching while also juggling a mechanical engineering degree at USC (she is currently ”drowning in midterms"). What's most interesting about her story isn't everything she's already accomplished, but how much she's doing to make the path a little easier for the girls coming behind her.
She Didn't Wait for Someone Else to Build It
In 2023, Izumi represented the United States at the first-ever PONY Girls Baseball World Series in Japan. For a young player who had spent much of her baseball life being one of the only girls on the field, suddenly being surrounded by girls who loved baseball was a pretty big deal.
Then she got to USC and found herself in a familiar situation. There wasn't a women's baseball team, so she started one. She reached out to anyone who would listen and thought may help. She quite literally cold called us and pitched us on becoming a sponsor of the inaugural USC women's baseball team. She succeeded with us and, along with the help of UW Alumna Katie Firestone, secured many more for the team, including the Dodgers Training Facility and the Trojans Sports Research Lab.
Too often, girls don't leave baseball because they want to. They leave because the programs, funding and opportunities aren't there, and softball becomes the easier path. By founding the USC Women's Baseball Team, Izumi is giving women at the university a place to play the sport they loved without having to switch to softball. She also coaches girls with the LA Heat and has been a Baseball For All ambassador for years.
These are roles she takes seriously. She's not just playing professional baseball. For the girls she coaches, Izumi represents something she didn't always have herself: a real pathway to keep playing baseball.
Then She Got to Be Part of History
Izumi started at second base on Opening Day of the WPBL's inaugural season, becoming part of the first U.S. women's professional baseball game in more than 70 years.
A few days later, she hit her first professional home run and pitched the final inning in the Heights’ first win in franchise history.
The moment that really captured her rookie season came in the playoffs. The Heights were facing elimination against the Los Angeles Queens when Claire O'Sullivan hit a home run to break a seventh-inning tie. Izumi followed with one of her own, sending another ball over the wall and giving New York back-to-back home runs, and the first back-to-back home run in WPBL history.
That's the kind of moment that makes baseball fun, but there was something bigger happening too. A 19-year-old who once wondered if there would ever be a place for her in the game was helping write the first chapter of a new professional league.
Baseball Isn't Her Whole Life
What makes Izumi's story even more interesting is what she does when she's not playing.
She's a third-year mechanical engineering student at USC, so there was no putting school on hold when theWPBL season started. When classes started, she was flying between Los Angeles and Springfield, squeezing a professional baseball into a college schedule filled with labs and coursework.
Eventually, the schedule caught up with her. She had to miss Game 3 of the semifinals—what would become the Heights’ last game of the season--because of a lab she couldn't move. For her, that's part of what keeps baseball in perspective. The game matters, but there's a whole world outside of it.
We can only assume that her two worlds will eventually overlap. She's studying materials science and has already thought about what it might be like to do research and development of baseball bats.
The Next Generation Is Watching
Izumi is also one of the featured players in Firestarters, a documentary about the women who took a chance on building professional women's baseball.
It's hard to imagine a better person to represent the next generation. Izumi grew up believing she might have to be the first girl to break through every door. Now she's part of a professional league where girls can watch women play baseball and see a future that is actually possible.
Maybe that's the biggest thing she's accomplished so far. She didn't just find her place in baseball, she's helping make sure there will be a place for the girls coming next.
