FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — A few yards from where the Boston Red Sox prepared for a spring training game Thursday, women's baseball players took the field for a different kind of exhibition — one for a league just taking shape.
The Women's Pro Baseball League was in Fort Myers for a two-day event hosted by the Red Sox and held an intrasquad scrimmage Thursday, marking its first chance since last summer's open tryouts to bring players together and continue
shaping the league's on-field product ahead of the start of its inaugural season on Aug. 1.
A handful of players from the league's four teams — Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York — played a seven-inning game similar to those that will take place during the WPBL's eight-week season this summer at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois. Afterward, the league held a fan fest just before the Red Sox faced the Minnesota Twins, giving a chance for curious baseball fans to get a peek at what the upstart league will offer.
“We're fairly new (fans)," said Deb Stevens, standing next to her friend Linda Turner as they waited to get a baseball signed by players. “We're so excited and happy. It takes a long time for them to get to this point. But they're going to kick butt. That's what I hope they do.”
At a workout Wednesday, WPBL players spoke of their dreams finally becoming reality in the WPBL, which will offer the first professional baseball league for women in the U.S. in more than 70 years.
But Thursday's game wasn't only symbolic. Players flashed speed on the bases, made hard contact at the plate and showed pitching range that pointed to the high-level product the league is aiming for.
“The visibility of it is going to be really new,” said Bree Nasti, a development coach in the New York Mets organization and WPBL coach. “Hopefully that’s just exciting for people to say, ‘Oh, this is what it looks like.’ I think you’re going to have a lot of preconceived notions. I think a lot of people are going to think that it’s going to be a lower level than it is, because that’s what people think about women’s sports before they see them."
Nasti praised the pitching and offense — like New York catcher Alyssa Zettlemoyer's bases-clearing double down the left-field line — but said players were at times out of position, a sign that they still need to build chemistry.
She hopes that new audiences leave the ballpark impressed at the level of play.
“I don’t know what that crowd’s going to be like,” Nasti said. “We don’t. But I do think we’re in a really exciting period in women’s sports where we are seeing in real time how we fill stadiums and how passionate people are about watching women compete at a high level.”
James Ciamarro, from Montreal, was impressed with the pitching from Japanese veteran Ayami Sato and other standouts like Jaida Lee and Alli Schroder.
Elodie Ciamarro, James Ciamarro’s daughter, was drafted 43rd by WPBL team New York in November and for years played in a Canadian women's baseball league founded by her father.
"This is a really good level," James Ciamarro said. “That was the danger — the talent on the field. But based on the names, based on what I've seen already, this has room on the spectrum of professional sports.”
He said the league could fill a growing demand for affordable sports options. He added that rising ticket prices in many men's professional leagues have put games out of reach for families.
“I think that’s going to be a part of the success,” James Ciamarro said. “I think there’s a need for affordable professional sports for fans. And I think it meets that need 100%.”
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