{"id":420098,"date":"2026-07-31T23:07:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T23:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/420098\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T23:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T23:07:09","slug":"los-angeles-queens-help-launch-womens-pro-baseball-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/420098\/","title":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Queens help launch Women’s Pro Baseball League"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SPRINGFIELD, Ill.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The first day all the members of the Women\u2019s Professional Baseball League were at the same field, it rained.<\/p>\n

That didn\u2019t dampen the smiles around Robin Roberts Field the day before the league opens play Saturday, marking the first professional women\u2019s baseball games in 72 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting to be together for six whole weeks or around two whole months with them [if we make the playoffs] is honestly going to be a game changer,\u201d said third baseman Ashton Lansdell, who stars for the USA national team. \u201cI think we\u2019re going to build a really unique and exciting culture that is going to last a very long time, especially with the inaugural season at WPBL. Like we\u2019re starting from the ground up, so we get to build all of these things from the very beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Queens, managed by former Dodgers second baseman Eric Young, have arguably the most star-studded roster, behind Savannah Bananas third baseman Lansdell, former Little League star Mo\u2019ne Davis<\/a> and Japanese ace pitcher Ayami Sato.<\/p>\n

\"Ayami <\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Queens\u2019 Ayami Sato pitches during a Women\u2019s Pro Baseball League exhibition game in March 19 in Fort Myers, Fla.<\/p>\n

(Rebecca Blackwell\/AP Photo\/Rebecca Blackwell)<\/p>\n

\u201cI pretty much have an idea who I want to lead off and who\u2019s my starter,\u201d Young said. \u201cThose two things I do know. But the rest of the lineup, I\u2019m looking forward to making it. The first one will be very special, just like everything else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s baseball has been long fractured with few opportunities for the best to gather in one spot. The only consistent tournament has been the Women\u2019s Baseball World Cup, with the U.S. going undefeated in group play this week in Rockford ahead of the WPBL\u2019s quick week of preseason practices.<\/p>\n

The WPBL will be the first women\u2019s baseball league since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which operated from 1943 until 1954 to offset the loss of male baseball players called into action during World War II. The league gained popularity and notoriety when it was dramatized in the 1992 film \u201cA League of Their Own.\u201d<\/p>\n

While women\u2019s baseball didn\u2019t boom and girls were mostly limited to playing softball, some women sought a chance to play the sport they loved.<\/p>\n

The WPBL, even with a limited six-week season at one location, is helping many players realize seemingly impossible dreams and honoring the first recorded women\u2019s game with a paid crowd and the home of the single-season Springfield Sallies.<\/p>\n

Games will span seven innings and the league will use aluminum bats featured in college baseball and softball, while outfield dimensions were altered to be closer to the Women\u2019s World Cup field dimensions. Salaries range from $300-$500 per game for the 15-player rosters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just what we\u2019ve all dreamed of our whole lives,\u201d Lansdell said. \u201cThe coolest thing out of all of it is that we\u2019re starting this league this year, but in the next five to 10 years, even two years down the road, I\u2019m so excited to see just the growth of women\u2019s baseball and the amount of hope and inspiration that we have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like many women\u2019s baseball players, Lansdell had a history in softball, contributing to the Women\u2019s College World Series season in 2025 at Ole Miss. More recently, she went 11-for-13 with two doubles and two home runs in five games during the U.S. World Cup group stage for a historic .846 batting average.<\/p>\n

\"Players <\/p>\n

Players warm up before a game on the fourth day of tryouts for the Women\u2019s Professional Baseball League in August 2025 at Nationals Park in Washington.<\/p>\n

(Julia Demaree Nikhinson \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

She will be the core of the Queens\u2019 lineup, surrounded by some of the biggest name in the sport. Brittany Apgar grew up playing in all-boys baseball tournaments before playing college softball at Greensboro College.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is really when the quote that baseball is 90% mental and 10% physical kicks in because that game\u2019s going to be a lot,\u201d Apgar said of the Saturday opener. \u201cLike we have the honor of doing the first game. That will be a lot of pressure on everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Queens flaunt one of the best right sides of the infield in the league with Lansdell at third and Curacan 19-year-old shortstop Thaima Maximiliana.<\/p>\n

Australian shortstop Caitlin Eynon hit .375 in the World Cup and could contribute to the Queens\u2019 lineup, too.<\/p>\n

Davis highlights an outfield that includes Apgar and Japanese center fielder Suzu Narasaki. Amira Hondras, 18, played for the U.S. after spending time with MLB Develops and the Chicago White Sox youth league and is one of the best young women\u2019s baseball prospects in the nation.<\/p>\n

Sato leads a staff of pitchers from several backgrounds. Canadian 19-year-old right-hander Michelle Roche plays college baseball in British Columbia while 38-year-old veteran Meggie Meidlinger has been a bullpen stopper for the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than anything, I\u2019m excited for the opportunity to play with talented players from around the world,\u201d Sato said through her translator, Mayo Hiran. \u201cThat\u2019s something that I\u2019ve been working for for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Queens face the New York Heights to begin their season and will play 30 games through the start of September before a two-week playoff period.<\/p>\n

By this time next year, they may get a chance to play home games in the Los Angeles area. The league hasn\u2019t announced its plans for shifting games outside of Illinois other than to confirm they aspire to do so.<\/p>\n

But for a few moments this weekend, in Springfield alone, dreams will come true and a sport will be reborn.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a lot of people\u2019s first time for a lot of things,\u201d Apgar said. \u201cSome of the people didn\u2019t actually get to make it to tryouts, so there\u2019s some people that are drafted that I haven\u2019t even seen in person before. It\u2019s all exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SPRINGFIELD, Ill.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The first day all the members of the Women\u2019s Professional Baseball League were at the same field,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[82966,167894,423,48,52,51,167892,10572,47,50,49,167893,1741,14825,14502,7496,4610,1557,2215,14823,72],"class_list":["post-420098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-baseball-game","tag-brittany-apgar","tag-game","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-lansdell","tag-league","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-los-angeles-queens","tag-lot","tag-pro-baseball-league","tag-softball","tag-sport","tag-thing","tag-woman","tag-women","tag-wpbl","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}