She Never Thought She’d See a Women’s Pro Baseball League. Now Kelsie Whitmore Is Making History.

3 min readThis summer, the WNBA, NWSL, and PWHL will welcome a new sister league into the fold: the Women’s Professional Baseball League (aka the WPBL).“When I first found out about the the Women's Professional Baseball League, I was in shock because I've never thought that while I'm in the prime of my career, there would ever be a Women's Professional Baseball League,” says Kelsie Whitmore, a player for the Savannah Bananas and now the WPBL’s San Francisco Firebells.The 28-year-old pitcher stopped by The Huddle to chat with editors and hosts Abigail Cuffey and Amanda Lucci about coming up in the sport and what the new league means to her—and the next generation of female ballplayers.Kelsie has been playing baseball since she was 6 years old, joining her local little league team. She progressed through travel ball and high school ball, always the only girl on her team. At 16, she joined the U.S. women's national baseball team“I wanted to play college baseball, but there were no opportunities,” Kelsie says, so she settled for playing softball at California State University, Fullerton and moonlighting as a professional baseball player during her summers off. “My coaches supported it, which was awesome,” she says.After graduating, Kelsie’s heart was still set on a career in professional baseball, even though the path forward was murky.“I remember just so many thoughts running through my head of like, ‘What if I didn't?’ What if I stopped? What if I gave up?’ And it made me sick to even think about that,” Kelsie says. “I would just tell myself, ‘No, we want this so bad. We're gonna keep going. We'll do whatever we can.’”And so Kelsie persevered, bouncing between a couple different leagues before signing with the Savannah Bananas in 2025.On the Bananas, Kelsie felt allowed to be herself for, really, one of the first times—and she relished the opportunity. “Before the Bananas, I was definitely timid. I was quiet. I didn’t really put myself out there,” she says. “The Bananas have helped me really explode my personality and identity a lot—a lot more than I ever have on any team because they welcome that.”Now, Kelsie brings that fully realized self to the new WPBL.“Women in baseball already bring their own kind of flavor and personality, so it's gonna be a lot of fun to see to see how that all plays out,” she says. ”Women playing in a male-dominated environment, kind of shrink ourselves because we feel like we can't truly be who we are out there. Once we all step on the field and we're all with each other, it's like the walls let down and our hearts open up, and we're just able to play so free. You can definitely expect in the WPBL that we're gonna be just truly authentically ourselves out there and we're gonna have so much fire.”Fire—and plenty of dedication too, as Kelsie and all the players know how much this moment means for the next generation of ballplayers too.“You see little girls in the stands, and they're making posters for you and telling you, ‘I saw you pitch. Now I'm pitching in little league.’ You realize it's bigger than just the game.”The driving force behind the new league is Justine Siegal, a trailblazing baseball coach and educator, who’s been working to break down gender barriers in the sport for decades. As the league’s commissioner, she’s ensuring every detail—big and small—is perfect ahead of opening day on August 1 in Springfield, Illinois.“As soon as you think you have something, you realize there’s 30 more things to do,” she told Women’s Health in her Game Changers feature of all the necessary preparations, from ordering nameplates to curating snacks. “Even though we’re not the players, we’re still working as a team.”It’s a level of care and detail many players haven’t experienced in the past, as they’ve been relegated to small, dingy locker rooms or simply sidelined altogether. For these players, the WPBL is truly a dream come true.To hear more from Kelsie about her time on the mound, including her training regimen and what keeps her motivated, click play on the episode of The Huddle above.Hosts Abigail Cuffey and Amanda LucciVideo Executive Producer Dorenna NewtonVideo Producer Janie BoothDirector of Photography Derrick Saint PierreEditor Will KleinAmy Wilkinson is a contributing entertainment editor at Women's Health, where she edits the magazine's celebrity cover stories and writes health features. She has previously held editor titles at Entertainment Weekly and MTV News. In 2021, Amy completed her 600-hour teacher-training at Core Pilates NYC to become a comprehensively trained Pilates instructor.