* WBEZ…

The Jimmy Dugan character portrayed by Tom Hanks might have told his Rockford Peaches women’s baseball team in the 1992 classic “A League of Their Own” that there’s “no crying in baseball.”

But there were tears of joy shed at the inaugural Women’s Pro Baseball League game Saturday in Springfield, where real-life Rockford Peach Maybelle Blair, 99, threw her ceremonial first pitch from a wheelchair to kick off the sold-out season opener. […]

The last time Illinois hosted a women’s professional baseball league was 72 years ago, when the iconic Rockford Peaches — formed as MLB players were drafted into World War II — played 12 seasons in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The team went on to win a league-record four championships, and they were famously depicted in the ‘92 film.

Now, a different league of its own is back in Illinois, albeit a bit further downstate. Blair was among three original Peaches who made guest appearances, along with Jeneane Lesko and Gloria Rogers.

* Blair is also the official mascot for the WPBL…

* AP…

Maggie Foxx picked up the league’s first hit on a two-run single for Los Angeles in the first inning. Benites connected for the WPBL’s first homer, a two-run drive to center in the bottom of the fourth.

The Queens trailed 8-4 before scoring two runs in the sixth and four more in wet and windy conditions for the final frame of the seven-inning contest.

* More…

* The Guardian | Ayami Sato, the greatest pitcher in women’s baseball, is ready for her American debut: Even though most Americans tuning into the WPBL may not have heard of her, Sato’s resume speaks for itself. Sato’s fastball has been clocked at nearly 80mph and her curveball has a devastating spin rate that is higher than many Major League Baseball pitchers. As a member of the Japan National Team since 2010, Sato has won six gold medals. She is the only player in Women’s Baseball World Cup history to win three consecutive MVP awards. As a member of the now-defunct Japan’s Women’s Baseball League, Sato led the league in strikeouts in three of the last four seasons. And most recently, in 2024 she became the first woman to play pro baseball in Canada as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the Intercounty Baseball League.

* LA Times | Savannah Bananas star Ashton Lansdell believes she’s destined for women’s baseball history: Lansdell, who was named the captain of the Queens before their opening day on Saturday, has had several viral moments in the last year, from her walk-up dances with the Savannah Bananas, a Harlem Globetrotters-esque traveling baseball team for whom she was one of the first women to play, to a fruit roll-up eating contest with her Queens teammates that reached millions of viewers. The WPBL, though, is what she’s been waiting for, and where she always believed she would find herself. She was drafted seventh overall in December, right as her college softball career had come to a close and she was looking for ways to play baseball.

* AP | Women’s Pro Baseball League has strong contingent of international players for inaugural season: Team Canada star Alli Schroder was the No. 5 pick. She was named captain of the Hunters on Friday. “To have the opportunity to shape a franchise for the first time is super exciting,” Schroder said. “I’m really excited to build from the ground up. I think that this was a dream of mine just to play professional baseball. So now to be a captain, it’s even more than that.”

* Forbes | Women’s Professional Baseball League Kicks Off In Springfield, Ill: The league leaned into its distaff audience by naming each team after trailblazing women. The New York Heights were inspired by Dorothy Irene Height, “a pioneering civil rights and women’s rights leader from New York whose influence and leadership helped shape generations of progress for Americans.” The San Francisco Firebells are for Lillie Hitchcock Coit, known as “Firebelle” for being “a champion of San Francisco’s volunteer fire department.” She is better known in NorCal as the benefactor of the famous Coit Tower. The Los Angeles Queens are inspired by Lizzie Murphy, known as “Queen of the Diamond” as the first woman to play against major leaguers.