For the first time in more than 80 years, women will take the field for professional baseball tryouts. The Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL) announced it will hold its inaugural tryouts Aug. 22–25 in Washington, D.C., headlined by baseball trailblazers Mo’ne Davis and Kelsie Whitmore.
The event, which begins at the Nationals Youth Baseball Academy before shifting to Nationals Park, marks the first women’s professional baseball tryouts since the launch of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in 1943.
Davis became a household name in 2014 as the first girl to win a Little League World Series game and pitch a shutout.
She recently threw out the first pitch at Nationals Park during the Washington Nationals’ Ladies Night celebration, a full-circle moment with Robert Hassell III, the same batter she struck out over a decade ago — and will return in a few days for the WPBL’s historic tryouts.
She will be joined by Whitmore, the first woman to compete in the Atlantic League, one of Major League Baseball’s four partner leagues.
“I am really excited to attend the tryouts and see the turnout,” Whitmore said. “There are so many talented young female baseball players out there and it will be amazing for the world to finally get a chance to see what we are all about. This is just the beginning for women in baseball.”
The WPBL, founded in 2023, is the only professional women’s baseball league in the United States.
It plans to launch six teams in the spring of 2026 with a full season, playoffs and a championship. Top performers from this summer’s tryouts will be eligible for the WPBL Draft this fall.
“The WPBL is for all the girls and women who have dreamt of playing baseball at the highest level, our time is now,” said WPBL Co-Founder, Dr. Justine Siegal. “You’re going to see curveballs, stealing, and power hitters – all led by passion. At the tryouts, you will see dreams come true.”
The tryouts will be led by U.S. women’s baseball star Alex Hugo, the only two-time USA Baseball Sportswoman of the Year (2019, 2024) and captain of Team USA’s silver-medal squad at the 2024 WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup.
Hugo will oversee evaluations of up to 150 players expected to enter the draft this October.
Adding to the significance of the weekend, Maybelle Blair, a former pitcher in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League and now Honorary Chair of the WPBL Advisory Board, will attend the final two days of tryouts.
Blair, 97, has spent her life advocating for opportunities in women’s sports after pitching for the Peoria Redwings in 1948.
Tryouts will run Friday through Sunday at the Nationals Youth Baseball Academy, with drills, athletic testing and evaluations scheduled daily.
On Monday, Aug. 25, Nationals Park will host live game play from 9:15 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Final roster cuts will also be made that day, determining who advances to the draft.
The WPBL is opening the doors to fans who register through the WPBL, giving them a front-row seat to a landmark moment in women’s baseball.
