For the girls who just kept swinging: A new era in women’s baseball

Naomi Campbell, Staff Writer

For many girls growing up in team sports such as hockey, soccer, volleyball and even baseball, the older they get, the fewer opportunities they have as women in the world of professional sports. There are Olympic opportunities and sometimes World Championship teams that one can try out for, but other than that, the options are bleak for these women.

Fortunately, in today’s day and age, women’s sports and the promotion of women in sports have gained an immense amount of media attention and global traction. Today, the world of professional sports has adapted to add leagues strictly for these amazing ladies.

In August 2023, the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) was founded, starting out with six teams in Boston, Minnesota, Montreal, New York, Ottawa, and Toronto. It has since added two new teams in Vancouver and Seattle. 

As of 2024, the Professional Women’s Baseball League (WPBL) was officially founded by Justine Siegal, who was the first ever female to be employed as a coach in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics in 2015. 

The WPBL is the first professional women’s baseball league since The Ladies League Baseball in the late 90s. The league has named its first four teams forming in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Boston. Set to launch in 2026, the league aims to be more than just a new professional venture—it represents a long-overdue chapter in baseball’s history — one where women finally take their rightful place on the field.

Batting for ‘berta

Highlighting some of the Canadian talent at the WPBL draft is Madison Willan, who hails from Edmonton, Alta.

Willan is an accomplished multi-sport athlete, excelling in baseball, hockey and golf.  She started out playing hockey at a young age and was eager to try new things, which led her to pick up a baseball glove. Willan went on to graduate from the University of Alberta in 2025, being one of the top forwards on the women’s hockey team, while continuing to play baseball for Team Canada Women’s National Team at the same time.

“Playing both hockey and baseball has shaped me in different ways, and I never really saw them as separate paths,” Willan says. “I didn’t decide to become a multi-sport athlete; it just felt natural to keep doing what I loved.”

Willan goes on to talk about the struggles to be able to play baseball as a girl because of the limited opportunities for women. Yet, she stuck with it and continued to prove to herself and others around her that she could make a name for herself, even before an organisation like the WPBL had come along. 

“There were definitely challenges sticking with baseball growing up,” Willan says. 

“There weren’t any competitive girl’s teams, so I played with the boys for most of my childhood and teenage years. Sometimes that meant having to prove myself repeatedly just to be seen as an equal.”

To be a girl playing on a boys’ team definitely has its downsides, but for Willan, she used that as a positive aspect in shaping the athlete and person she has become now.

“I often faced more criticism for making the same mistake as a male teammate. But those experiences built my mental toughness and made me appreciate the teammates, coaches, and parents who did believe in me.” Willan says.

With the announcement of the WPBL finally starting tryouts and developing a draft day, women from around the world are ecstatic to add another major stepping stone to the growth of not only women’s professional sports, but also something that young girls can now look at as a final goal or the first stepping stone to their baseball careers. Willan explains her excitement for this official announcement and cannot wait to be a part of the first-ever list of prospects.

“It’s something that so many of us have been waiting and hoping for. It’s a real opportunity to play the game that we love at a professional level.” Willan says.  I’m fortunate enough to have been selected as a part of the prospective draft list, and the chance to be a part of the first-ever professional women’s baseball league would be incredible.”

Putting (bull)pen to paper

Leagues like the NHL, MLB, and NBA dominate the professional sporting landscape and live in the dreams of youth across the world, giving young boys and men huge-name athletes to look up to and take advice from. Leagues like the PWHL, WNBA, and now the WPBL bring that dream to women everywhere, giving young girls their own favourite athletes to be inspired by. Willan believes the “opportunities are only growing” with the WPBL and that the league represents a crucial stepping stone for women’s baseball players and women’s sports as a whole.

After two years of waiting, from the official announcement of the league in 2024, the inaugural WPBL Draft will take place on Nov. 20 at 6 p.m. MST. The draft will consist of six rounds with twenty picks per round—five per team—for up to 120 players being drafted. The order in which teams will pick was determined by a random draw, in turn landed on San Francisco drafting first, Los Angeles second, New York third, and Boston finishing it off in the first round. 

The draft will use a snake-style format, where whoever picks first in one round picks last in the next. Fans can check out the event on the official WPBL Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube channels as the growing world of women’s professional sports hits the baseball diamond. 

“My advice to the younger girls is this: if you want to play baseball and not softball, then there is a place for you,” she says. “The opportunities are only growing.”