Canadians ready to play ball as 1st season of Women's Pro Baseball League gets underway

Nearly a dozen Canadian baseball players have roster spots on 4 WPBL teams

Nearly a dozen Canadian athletes are going to be part of the chase to be the first-ever champions of the Women's Pro Baseball League, which begins its inaugural season in the U.S. this weekend.

British Columbia's Claire Eccles will be among them, wearing a New York Heights jersey as the team takes on the Los Angeles Queens at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Ill., on Saturday in the WPBL's first ever game.

"I feel really lucky, I feel really honoured," said Eccles, a veteran outfielder and pitcher, who never believed she'd get the chance to play professional baseball.

But that day has come and Eccles says it's a privilege to be part of what's about to unfold.

"I'm not taking that for granted at all," said Eccles, whose Heights teammates include three fellow Canadians — Jaida Lee of St. John's, Madison Willan of Edmonton and Élodie Ciamarro of Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Que.

They're among 11 Canadians on the rosters of the WPBL's four teams, which include the Heights and the Queens, along with the Boston Hunters and the San Francisco Firebells.

Willan, a multi-sport athlete who played hockey and golf at the University of Alberta, told CBC's Radio Active that "it's really exciting that a lot of Canadians are getting a chance to play."

Keith Stein, the league's Canadian CEO and co-founder, is proud to see so many ballplayers from north of the border taking the field in the days and weeks ahead.

"We produce great Canadian baseball players and the women are some of the best athletes in the world," said Stein, a lawyer and entrepreneur from Toronto.

The WPBL is the only professional women's baseball league in the United States — though it is not the first. It follows in the footsteps of the famed All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which folded in the 1950s.

The season ahead

After Saturday's opening day, the second game of the season will see the Firebells play the Hunters on Sunday.

After that, the league's games are scheduled to run Wednesday through Sunday, with all the action taking place at Robin Roberts Stadium, a 5,200-seat facility in Springfield.

Each WPBL team will play 15 games, prior to playoffs that will determine the league's first-ever champions in September.

Canadian fans will be able to watch WPBL games on YouTube, while ESPN and the Scripps Sports Network will air the league's regular-season and playoff games in the U.S.

Stein says it's taken a lot of work to get the league to this point, but it's also been gratifying to see the support it's received so far.

Making sacrifices for the game

As of the mid-week, Stein said more than 20,000 tickets had been snapped up, and the league had announced well before the weekend that opening day was sold out.

"It's really hard starting a new league," said Stein, who was part of the ownership group of Toronto's Arena Football League franchise, and is among the owners of the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball franchise.

The players are making sacrifices to be part of the new league: Many have day jobs and some are in school, meaning that they are having to work around those commitments in join the WPBL.

Eccles, for instance, has a full time job with Canada Soccer and she's appreciative that her employer is allowing her to arrange her work so she can play.

Media reports from Forbes and the Sports Business Journal have said each WPBL team has a budget of $95,000 US to cover player salaries.

WPBL tryouts were held at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., last summer, and more than 600 ballplayers participated.

"I was just so blown away," said Stein, who noted that the players travelled at their own expense, for their shot at a chance to play pro ball.

A draft followed in the fall, which saw 120 players selected. But getting drafted was not a guarantee of getting a contract, so roughly half the draftees are on rosters for opening day.

Hunger for a championship

Alongside the Canadians and many Americans playing in the WPBL, the league also counts players from Mexico, Curaçao, Japan, South Korea and Australia.

Closer to home, the Fruitvale, B.C.,-born Alli Schroder is another Canadian getting ready for her moment in the pros — and looking to see how far her team, the Boston Hunters, can go.

"I'm really excited and hoping to take on a leadership role on the team and bring a championship home to Boston in the first year of this league," the right-handed pitcher told CBC's Radio West, ahead of the start of the season.

Fellow Canadians Raine Padgham, who hails from Abbotsford, B.C., and Maïka Dumais of Quebec City — both of whom are also pitchers — will be representing Boston alongside Schroder.

The Los Angeles Queens have just a single Canadian on their roster: Michelle Roche, a right-handed pitcher from Burnaby, B.C.

The San Francisco Firebells, meanwhile, have three Canadians: Liz Gilder, a left-handed pitcher from Port Moody, B.C., who is a self-described "thrower of baseballs," according to her Instagram; Andréanne Leblanc, an infielder from a Montreal suburb; and Ela Day-Bédard, an infielder and university student from Gatineau, Que.

Like Eccles, the call to play pro ball was something Gilder didn't see happening for her.

"I actually didn't think that there would be women's professional baseball in my playing career," Gilder told CBC News after being drafted last November.

When draft day came and her name was called, "I felt shocked," Gilder said, adding it was also "really cool."

With files from CBC News, Radio Active, Radio West and The Associated Press