Manzanar Women’s Softball, 1943 Season: Modern Women Having a Wee Bit of Fun

After a preseason elimination tournament to determine the caliber of teams for league placement, the women’s fastpitch softball season at Manzanar was off and running again on May 24, 1943. The National and American League teams were established as follows:

NATIONAL LEAGUE	AMERICAN LEAGUE
Juniorettes	Gremlins
Twixteeners	Roughnecks
Lambda Nine	Modernaires
Wee Funsters	Dusty Chicks (renamed Gay Niners)
Forget-Me-Nots	Junior Misses
T.N.T.	Crackshots
Subdebs
Zephyrettes
Stardusters

 

Rules for the 1943 season included:

• All games to be played on the 14-15 diamond starting promptly at 6:15 PM
• Ten-minute grace period to have the full team on the field without risk of losing by forfeit
• In case of postponement, you must have consent of the opposing team, at least one day before the game
• Have your team come out to make sure you do not lose by forfeit on windy days, unless the wind is extremely strong
• All games will be five innings until the days get longer
• Girls whose names are not on the roster of any team may be able to play if they notify Chiyo Sugimoto one week ahead. Any girl whose name is on a roster for a team may not play for any other team

Of note, a five-cent per player fee was charged to enroll in the league.

 

 

AMERICAN LEAGUE

The American League featured the remnants of the Spring 1942 A League champion Dusty Chicks, who, early in the season, decided to rename themselves the “Gay Niners,” then proceeded to do their best imitation of the original Dusty Chicks by beating up on the Roughnecks, 21-7. The Roughnecks were a younger squad, and their nervousness showed as the Niners took advantage of their errors in scoring four runs in the first inning, two in the second, two in the third, and 13 runs in the fifth inning. Fuzzy Mizutani was the hitting star of the day for the Gay Niners.

Despite the Gay Niners’ definitive victory over the Roughnecks, these were not the juggernaut Dusty Chicks of 1942. A new powerhouse team had arisen this season in the form of the Modernaires, who made their voices heard when they trounced the Gay Niners, 13-3. The Modernaires were led by “Duchess” Takeuchi, who hit a “four circuiter” out to center field.

The Gay Niners were again overwhelmed in a mid-June, Saturday evening contest against the Crackshots. The Niners jumped out to a quick 6-4 lead in the first inning but relinquished it when the Crackshots staged an eight-run rally in the third inning, taking a 13-8 lead. The Niners tried for a comeback in the fourth inning when Fuzzy Mizutani blasted a two-run home run, but in their half of the fourth inning the Crackshots again poured on the gas, scoring six more runs to take a commanding lead. There just wasn’t enough in the Niners’ tank as they succumbed to the Crackshots by a final score of 19-10.

The Roughnecks continued to experience a rough start to their season when they engaged the Junior Misses on Diamond 4. To be fair, the Roughnecks had their scoring chances as they put at least two women on base each inning but failed to score more than one lonely run until the fifth inning when they finally pushed two more runs across the plate. By then, however, it was too late as the Junior Misses had rallied in the fourth inning, scoring six runs on four hits and two walks, highlighted by Grace Odahara’s two runs batted in.

The Gremlins, who routinely trotted out to the diamond dressed in green, tried valiantly to bounce back from their loss to the Roughnecks when they took on the Junior Misses in what became a pitchers’ duel. Several times during the game each team threatened to score, only to leave a woman standing on third base when the final out in the inning was recorded. Extra innings were needed. In the eighth inning, the Junior Misses’ Tomi Nagao smacked a hit to center. The next batter, H. Nagai, smashed the ball out to right sending Nagao racing around the bases and crossing home plate for the winning 1-0 score. Gremlins pitcher Y. Yamamoto struck out eight Junior Misses, allowing only four hits, while her mound opponent, Junior Misses winning pitcher Masa Kimura, fanned 10 Gremlin batters, allowing just two hits.

As mentioned, it was the Modernaires who dominated the 1943 summer women’s softball season, yet the Manzanar Free Press had very little coverage of the team. In fairness, by mid-June, the men’s softball teams were also in action, and trying to provide coverage for every team playing at the time utilizing a single sports section page was a difficult task.

In the July 14, 1943, edition of the Manzanar Free Press, it was reported that the Modernaires took the undisputed title of the American League. They accomplished the feat by blanking the Junior Misses, 4-0. In a three-run first inning, every Modernaire batter faced Misses starting pitcher Masa Kimura. Frances Tani, starting pitcher for the Modernaires, fanned eight batters in securing the win.

The July 17, 1943, edition of the Manzanar Free Press published standings showing the Modernaires sitting atop the American League with a perfect record of five wins and no losses. The Junior Misses and Gay Niners, who had edged out the Gremlins 3-2 in their final season contest, were tied for second place with three wins and two losses each, while the Crackshots and Roughnecks each had two wins and three losses. The Gremlins held the position of cellar-dwellers, having lost each of their five games.

As champions of the American League, the Modernaires earned the privilege to play two games on Diamond 1 against a team of all-stars selected from the rosters of the other American League teams. The rosters for the American League women’s all-star games were as follows:

 

MODERNAIRES	POSITION
Frances Tani	pitcher
Tak Ando	catcher
Alice Nishida	first base
Ruby Oshio	second base
Chiyeko Hiraoka	third base
Sets Takeuchi	shortstop
Junko Tatae	left field
Terry Arita	center field
Reiko Ando	right field

Reserves: Iris Akiyama, Mary Kageyama

ALL STARS	POSITION	TEAM
Haru Hamamoto	pitcher	Gay Niners
Masa Kimura	pitcher	Junior Misses
Yo Tabuchi	catcher / center field	Gay Niners
Yoshiko Kusunoki	catcher / center field	Junior Misses
Fuzzy Mizutani	first base	Gay Niners
Tomi Nagao	first base	Junior Misses
Jean Namba	second base	Gay Niners
Grace Odahara	second base	Junior Misses
Yoshiko Sugimoto	third base	Crackshots
Kyo Mio	third base	Gremlins
Kazuko Yoshimura	shortstop	Roughnecks
Helen Miyaoka	left field	Crackshots
Yoshiko Ishibashi	right field	Gay Niners

 

In the first of the two games, it was the combined talents of the All-Stars that finally took down the undefeated Modernaires. The All-Stars started scoring in the first inning. Kusunoki led off with a walk, then advanced to second base on an error by Modernaires catcher Ando. A groundout by the next batter moved Kusunoki over to third base. Grace Odahara was walked, followed by a wild pitch that advanced her to second base. Fuzzy Mizutani next tapped a roller to third base. The Modernaires’ infield tried to cut down Kusunoki, who had been running on contact for home plate, but Kusunoki was safe. Kazuko Yoshimura slapped a hit to center, scoring Odahara and Mizutani before the final two outs were recorded.

After pushing across a run in the second inning, both teams ignited some fireworks in the third inning as Fuzzy Mizutani blasted a two-run home run for the All-Stars while the Modernaires scored four badly needed runs in their half of the inning.

In the fourth, the Modernaires took advantage of All-Star pitcher Masa Kimura, who was brought into the game to relieve Hamamoto, scoring two runs and tying the game at 7-7. The ‘Naires added on a run in the fifth inning to take the lead.

With one out in the sixth inning, the All-Stars staged a rally, capped by successive hits from Odahara, Mizutani, Yoshimura, and Tabuchi, who all came around to score. By the end of the inning, the Modernaires found themselves down by a score they could not come back from as they eventually lost the seven-inning affair, 14-9.

In game two between the Modernaires and All-Stars, it was the Modernaires, who exacted revenge, toppling the All-Stars by a score of 14-3. Modernaires pitcher Frances Tani limited the All-Stars to five hits while the Modernaires unleashed a 14-hit attack.

The Modernaires’ J. Hatae started things off with a triple, later scoring on a hit from Takeuchi. Two more runs proceeded to score in the inning, giving the Modernaires a 3-0 lead in the first. They got three more runs in the third inning when Nishida, Hatae, and Ando all crossed the plate.

The All-Stars made the game interesting when they rallied for their runs in the bottom of the fourth thanks to hits from Mizutani, Yoshimura, and the game’s only circuit clout, by Yoshiko Sugimoto. But the Modernaires just kept on hitting and never looked back.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Over in the National League, the Stardusters found themselves in an early season tight contest when they met up with the Forget-Me-Nots. In the second inning, down 2-1 to the Dusters, the Nots forged ahead, scoring five runs. But the lead didn’t last long as the Dusters scored three runs in the third inning to tie the score at 6-6 thanks to H. Hino, Y. Shimizu, and S. Furuta. When the Dusters came up in the bottom of the final inning, they found themselves down by a score of 9-8. Nots pitcher Akemoto lost control on the mound and walked Dusters E. Kitaoka and E. Tamaki. After regaining their composure, the Forget-Me-Nots had the Dusters down to their final out with two women on base. H. Hino came to bat for the Dusters with three hits in her first three trips to the plate. She proceeded to knock in the winning runs, giving her club the walk-off win.

The Wee Funsters found themselves matching up with the Zephyrettes, a team that had entered the league after completion of the preseason elimination tournament, in front of an early June packed crowd on Diamond 4. The Wee Funsters grabbed a quick lead in the first inning as P. Tamaki, Y. Yamazaki, K. Kadota, and R. Tamai all crossed home plate.

The Zephyrettes answered with two runs in their half of the first inning, but the Wee Funsters added to their lead scoring another run in the second inning. A home run by K. Kadota for the Funsters contributed to what became an 8-4 victory. Nervousness on the part of the Zephyrettes was apparent, most notably in the third inning when Y. Shiba, thinking there were three outs when there were only two, stepped off third base and was tagged out.

The Lambda Nine and Subdebs engaged in a tight battle when the two teams met up in the beginning of June. Tied at 2-2 in the third inning, it was the Lambdas who jumped ahead with a five-run rally. Their lead got even bigger with a three-run barrage an inning later. The Subdebs tried to make a late comeback, which fell just short as they lost 10-8 to the Lambdas.

As the calendar approached mid-June, the Wee Funsters took on the Twixteeners in a Friday evening National League affair. As they would do to all their league opponents, the Wee Funsters dominated the contest, scoring in every inning on the way to beating the Twixteeners 8-4.

The game was just a warm-up for the Wee Funsters, who next overmatched the Subdebs by a final score of 18-1. In the bottom of the second inning, the Funsters pushed across eight runs on two hits, four walks, and two errors, then exploded for nine more runs in the third inning on five hits, three walks, and two errors.

Meanwhile, the Stardusters and Zephyrettes engaged in perhaps the most exciting National League contest with each team neck-and-neck with the other, necessitating extra innings. In the sixth inning, down by three runs, the Zephyrettes’ M. Uyeno hit a three-run home run to tie the game at 10-10. Y. Shimizu proceeded to single and came around to score the winning run, sending the Zephyrettes off with an 11-10 victory.

The Zephyrettes’ next game was nowhere near as close when they faced the Juniorettes, who raced off to a quick start when the bats of T. Maeda, Mary Matsuno, and S. Yoshii brought in three runs. But that was basically all the Juniorette offense, as it was the Zephyrettes who piled on the runs for a 28-4 victory. Batting stars for the Zephyrettes included E. Maeda, who collected three hits and scored five runs.

The Wee Funsters didn’t just dominate on offense, but experienced fantastic pitching as well, particularly in late June when they clashed with T.N.T. Funsters’ starting pitcher M. Myose performed brilliantly, giving up no hits, runs, or walks. Her no-hitter would have been a perfect game if not for a few Funster errors. Errors aside, the Funsters had a lot of fun this day as they walked off with a 7-0 win.

Not to be outdone, Zephyrettes pitcher F. Maeda threw a no-hitter of her own when she and the Zephyrettes faced off against the Subdebs. Batting honors in the Zephyrettes’ 5-0 victory went to S. Miyamoto, S. Yamashita, K. Takeuchi, and C. Ryono, who each collected a hit.

The T.N.T.s were unable to bounce back from their loss to the Wee Funsters as they were next humbled by the Zephyrettes by a score of 12-9.

In mid-July, in yet another show of domination, the Wee Funsters toppled the Stardusters, 19-8, while in separate contests the Roughnecks edged out the Crackshots and the Lambda Nine edged out the Juniorettes by scores of 5-4 and 3-0 respectively.

Though they outhit the Zephyrettes, the Twixteeners fell 4-2 as the two teams were well matched. The Zephyrettes took advantage of the wildness of Twixteener pitcher R. Okamura in producing four runs on three hits.

As the month of July and National League season came to a close, a series of extra-inning affairs punctuated the slate of games. First it was the Twixteeners, who again outhit their competitor. But this time fortunes were reversed as the Twixteeners pulled out a 2-1 victory over T.N.T. in six innings. The contest was a strikeout affair as T.N.T.’s T. Uyeno fanned seven batters while Y. Okamura of the Twixteeners whiffed 10.

Next it was the Lambda Nine who needed two extra innings to dispense with the Zephyrettes by a score of 9-8. The Lambdas had a chance to win the game in the fifth inning but left two women stranded on base with the score tied. In the sixth inning, both teams traded runs. In the seventh inning, the Zephyrettes scored a run to take the lead again, but it was the Lambda Nines who answered with the tying and winning runs in the final seventh inning.

At season’s end, it was the Wee Funsters who finished their season undefeated with eight wins and no losses, giving them the undisputed championship of the National League and the privilege of playing two games against an all-star squad composed of players from the other National League team rosters. The Zephyrettes, Twixteeners, T.N.T., and Lambda Nine all finished tied for second place with five wins and three losses. The Juniorettes completed their season having won two games and lost six, while the Subdebs and Forget-Me-Nots each won one game and lost seven to put themselves at the bottom of the standings.

At the end of July, the Wee Funsters engaged the National League All-Stars in an evening game on Diamond 3. The rosters were as follows:

 

WEE FUNSTERS	POSITION
P. Tamaki	catcher
M. Myose	pitcher
A. Tamai	first base
Y. Shiba	second base
K. Kadota	third base
Y. Yamazaki	shortstop
M. Uyematsu	left field
S. Takeuchi	center field
M. Ono	right field

Reserves: M. Nishimori, T. Hayashi, V. Kikuta

ALL STARS	POSITION	TEAM
M. Yano	catcher	Twixteeners
F. Maeda	pitcher	Zephyrettes
T. Uyeno	pitcher	T.N.T.
M. Tachibana	first base	Lambda Nine
S. Miki	first base	Zephyrettes
M. Kitaura	second base	Twixteeners
C. Yamada	second base	Forget-Me-Nots
Y. Watanabe	third base	Lambda Nine
M. Kunitomi	third base	Juniorettes
T. Shimizu	shortstop	Twixteeners
M. Uyeno	left field	Stardusters
L. Uyemura	center field	Subdebs
E. Tamaki	center field	Stardusters
K. Nagai	right field	Subdebs

 

In the first of the two contests, it was the All-Stars who scored first as they took a liking to Funsters pitcher M. Myose’s offerings to the tune of three hits and five runs in their half of the first inning. In the bottom of the first inning, the Wee Funsters answered with four runs of their own, highlighted by a home run from M. Uyematsu.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, the All-Stars again pummeled Myose’s pitches, this time for six runs, giving them a commanding 12-6 lead. But the Wee Funsters could not be counted out. In the top of the fifth inning, they scored eight runs to take a 14-12 lead. The lead was short-lived as the All-Stars rounded out their half of the fifth inning, scoring three runs to grab the lead back. The All-Stars held the Wee Funsters scoreless in the sixth inning and needed to do so again in the seventh to preserve the win. Though Myose wasn’t having a lot of luck on the mound to this point, she more than made up for it with her bat as she had three hits in four plate appearances, including a double in the five-run seventh inning that gave the Funsters back the lead. Myose returned to the mound for the bottom of the seventh inning, bearing down when she needed to most, holding the All-Stars scoreless in their last at-bats as the Wee Funsters grabbed the 19-15 victory.

In the return tussle it was the National League All-Stars who came out as the victors, defeating the Wee Funsters, 10-8. The All-Stars struck with four runs in their half of the first inning, after which the Funsters scored two runs of their own to cut the deficit in half. After Funsters pitcher M. Myose blanked the All-Stars in the top of the second, the Funsters came up to bat and tied the score, 4-4. Little F. Maeda, pitching for the All-Stars, then briefly shut down the Wee Funsters before they erupted for three runs. In the top of the fifth inning, the All-Stars blasted Myose for six hits and five runs. Later, down 10-8, the Funsters had two ladies reach base, giving them a chance to tie the score. But Maeda bore down, leaving the runners stranded.

Maeda, who had already pitched out of trouble multiple times, was replaced on the mound by H. Hino for the final inning. Hino struck out the first batter, before giving up a double and a walk, putting two women in scoring position. Hino regained her composure and calmly struck out the next batter, S. Takeuchi. Yamazaki then stepped to the plate and hit a bouncer right back to Hino, who threw to first base for the last out of the game.

RUSS SPEILLER has been a SABR member since 2023 and could not be more grateful to the writers, editors, and consultants who contributed to this book. Having graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Chemical Engineering, Russ lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his incredible family. He has contributed to numerous SABR books, the BioProject, and Turnstyle magazine. This is his first time leading the construction of a SABR book and he is appreciative of the SABR publications board for choosing to greenlight this effort. He really hopes you all enjoy and learn from How We Played the Game. To read more of Russ’ work, please visit russspeiller.substack.com.

 

SOURCES

Unless otherwise noted, all information used to construct summaries was compiled using game summaries and the comments of the sports editors of the Manzanar Free Press newspaper, accessed via digitized copies of the paper found online at the Library of Congress. http://www.loc.gov/item/sn84025948/?st=calendar&year=1943.