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Speaking for the samurai

Photo By Tom Angel

Keiko Matsumato, a fourth-year CSU, Chico exchange student from Chiba, Japan, was recruited to announce players from the Golden Baseball League’s Samurai Bears as they took on the Chico Outlaws last weekend. “When I had to do the starting lineup it was hard because I didn’t know what I should start with: Should I say the number first or the name first?” she said. “But the Outlaws were very nice to me and professional. The only name I had trouble with was the American player, Charles Sciutti. I thought it was pronounced ‘Scooby,’ like ‘Scooby-Doo.'” Rory Miller, the play-by-play announcer for the Outlaws, said, “When we learned there was a Japanese team coming, we wanted to make them feel at home and be sure we got their names right.” Matsumato, a multicultural and gender studies major, said she likes baseball and was thrilled to see Ricky Henderson play with the San Diego Surf Dawgs. “He’s awesome,” she said. Inset: Third-baseman Shinichiro Uchino makes a play on a pop fly.