Less than an hour later, Arwen McCullough of Livermore made her dream come true when she also became part of her new hometown team’s history-making class.
Whitmore, 27, already has strong ties to the Bay Area and has long been a trailblazer for women in baseball. In 2016, she and Stacy Piagno played for the independent Sonoma Stompers of the Pacific Association, becoming the first female teammates in a men’s league since the 1950s. Two summers ago, Whitmore became the first woman in the history of the independent Pioneer League to start a game as a pitcher while playing for the Oakland Ballers. Last season she played for the storming Savannah bananas.
The four-team WPBL, which also includes Los Angeles, Boston and New York, will be based in Springfield, Illinois this summer. But Whitmore wasted no time in reaching out to the expansion team’s Bay Area fans.
“If you asked a six-year-old version of me (about) this opportunity and it happening right now, she probably wouldn’t believe you, but two, just be so so excited about it,” Whitmore said on the livestream of the draft. “I’m just grateful for this opportunity. And I’m excited to represent the city of San Francisco. And where it all started for me. The first professional team I ever played for was in the Bay Area, for the Sonoma Stompers. I’m really excited to be able to go back there and just represent the city of San Francisco.”
“And everyone be ready, because we’re going to win you a championship.”
In addition to Whitmore, San Francisco selected two other members of the Team USA women’s baseball team from the first six picks last summer. With the No. 9 overall pick, they selected shortstop Joely Leguizamon, who played for the Dominican Republic in the Pan American Games.
Los Angeles took Japanese ace Ayami Sato with the second overall pick. Sato, 36, has led Japan to five women’s baseball World Cup titles and was the first woman to play in a men’s league in Canada. Los Angeles has also drafted Mo’Ne Davis, the 2014 Little League hero from Pennsylvania, with the No. 10 overall pick.
With the 105th overall pick, San Francisco selected McCullough, a right-handed pitcher who grew up playing baseball in Livermore – and idolized Giants stars Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey. After two seasons on the Granada High softball team, she enrolled at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where she helped start the school’s first women’s club baseball team. This spring the Mustangs won the national championship. On Thursday night, McCullough was her hometown team’s 27th overall draft pick.
“I’m not only excited for my generation, but especially for the younger girls,” McCullough, 21, said earlier this week. “It gives them players they can look up to. Shows them they can play baseball.”
San Francisco took another Northern California product, Sebastopol shortstop Kaija Bazzano, with its 20th overall pick.
The WPBL was co-founded by Justine Siegal, who became the first woman to coach in the MLB with the Oakland A’s in 2015. This is the largest attempt at an all-women’s league since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which existed from 1943 to 1954 and was immortalized in the 1992 film “A League of Their Own.”
Each of the four teams selected 30 players Thursday, but active rosters only go 15 deep. The seven-week season begins August 1, including an all-star competition and two weeks of playoffs.
More than 120 players were eligible for the draft, representing ten countries. That draft pool was reduced from more than 600 players who participated in the league’s tryouts this summer at Nationals Park in Washington, DC. Other players were identified through videos and personal scouting.
San Francisco selected players from six different countries and could potentially field an Opening Day United Nations with Canada’s Andreanne LeBlanc at first base, Team USA veteran Amanda Gianelloni (their second overall pick) at second, the Domincan’s Leguizamon at shortstop and Japan’s Ayaka Yamamoto at third.
Thursday’s draft consisted of six rounds, with each team selecting five players per round. The San Francisco franchise received the first overall pick after a random drawing. Los Angeles came in second, followed by New York and Boston. The draft worked in a snake-order format: the team that picked last on one turn picked first on the next turn.
The design was streamed live on the WPBL website as well as the social media platform and that of the League Instagram, TikTok And YouTube channels. There were also several viewing parties around the country, including at Rikki’s Bar in San Francisco and the Milestone Tavern in San Luis Obispo, where McCullough also served as host.
The inaugural season of the WPBL will be played at the 5,200-seat Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield. The league said the league preferred a central location for its inaugural season. According to a WPBL news report, Springfield also hosted one of the earliest paid women’s games in 1875.
“I discovered baseball when the Giants made it to the World Series (in 2010, ’12 and ’14) and I always wanted to play it,” McCullough said. “It has been my heart and my sport.”
San Francisco’s draft class
1st pick — Kelsie Whitmore, RHP (27) — San Diego, CA, USA
2 – Amanda Gianelloni, 2B (28) — New Orleans, LA, USA
3 – Joely Leguizamon, SS (26) – Dominican Republic
4- Jill Albayatti, RHP/UtL (21) — Anaheim, Ca, USA
5 – Samantha Gutierrez, C (22) – San Diego, CA, USA
6 – Ayaka Yamamoto, 3B (21) – Fukuyama, Japan
7 – Niki Eckert, LHP (22) – Tarrytown, NY, USA
8- Andreanne Leblanc, 1B (24) — Mont-Saint-Hilaire, QC, Canada
9 – Jua Park, SS (20) – Hadong, South Korea
10 – Alexia Jorge, C (22) – Lyndhurst, NJ, USA
11 – Ela Day-Bedard, IF (20) – Gatineau, QC, Canada
12 – Rosa Del Castillo, CF (26) — Puebla, Mexico
13 – Elizabeth Gilder, LHP (24) – New Westminster, BC, Canada
14 – Skylar Kaplan, LF (24) – Glen Burnie, MD, USA
15 – Hinano Beppu, 2B (29) – Kitakyushu City, Japan
16 – Jordan Eyster, CF (21) – Royal Oak, MI, USA
17 – Katie Reynolds, RHP (24) – Watertown, MA, USA
18 – Peyton Coria, RHP (19) – Perry, CA, USA
19 – Hanna Miura, 2B (22) — Sapporo, Japan
20 – Kaija Bazzano, SS (23) – Sebastopol, CA, USA
21 – Kaelei Kajitani, 1B (21) – Madera, CA, USA
22 – Kiley Ingram, RHP (18) – Ontario, CA, USA
23 – Scrappy Hopkins, C (27) – Fort Walton Beach, FL, USA
24 – Flor Elena Valerio Montoya, RHP (23) – Tijuana, Mexico
25 – Esthela Segovia, C (31) – Tijuana, Mexico
26 – Bella Espinoza-Molina, RF (23) – Ladera Ranch, CA, USA
27 – Arwen McCullough, RHP (21) – Livermore, CA, USA
28 – Allie Lacey, 2B (31) – La Crescenta, CA, USA
29 – Micaela Minner, 1B (40) – Akron, OH, USA
30 – Kailyn Bearpaw, 1B (22) — Sapulpa, OK, USA
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