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Women Play Ball

A young baseball player wearing a helmet kneels on a base.
THE BIG LEAGUES Mo’ne Davis plays in the first WPBL game, on August 1, in Springfield, Illinois. WOMEN’S PRO BASEBALL LEAGUE

On August 1, Mo’ne Davis scored a run. It wasn’t just any run: It was the first run scored during a Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL) game. The WPBL is a new pro baseball league for women in the United States. It is the first in more than 70 years.

The last time the U.S. had a professional baseball league for women was in 1954. It was the final year for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). That league started in 1943.

In an old black-and-white photo, a baseball coach talks with a group of women players on the field.

DREAM TEAM Eddie Stumpf coaches the Rockford Peaches, an AAGPBL team, in 1943.

BETTMANN/GETTY IMAGES

Home Run History

Justine Siegal started the WPBL. In 2015, she was a guest coach for the Oakland Athletics. She became the first female coach in Major League Baseball. Interest in women’s baseball “has never been higher,” she told TFK.

Mo’ne Davis, who scored the league’s first run, has made baseball history before. In 2014, she pitched in the Little League World Series. She was the first girl to pitch a shutout shutout game in which one team prevents the other from scoring (noun) in a Little League game. She was 13. She told TFK it feels “really nice to finally get out there and just play.”

New Teams in Town

The WPBL has started with four teams. They represent Boston, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco. This inaugural inaugural beginning; first (adjective) season, the teams all play in Springfield, Illinois. The championships begin September 16.