Four teams will begin play August 1 in the Women's Pro Baseball League, with a 30-game season over seven weeks and rosters of 15 players each.
The WPBL will field teams hitting with aluminum bats and representing "storied sports cities" in the U.S., including San Francisco and Los Angeles, according to Justine Siegal, a co-founder of the circuit. Siegal was the first woman to coach for an MLB team with the Oakland A's in 2015.
Malaika Underwood, a La Jolla High Baseball Hall of Fame inductee and 1999 CIF Female Athlete of the Year, was asked for her comments on the upcoming league.
"I am not involved with the league, but, as you can imagine, I know many of the people who are," said Underwood, who serves on the staff of the U.S. Women's National Team in baseball. "And believe it or not, as old as I am (about 43 years old, at this point), I played with some of the players. Ha."
Malaika, who started at second base for the Vikings during her high school career and who once batted leadoff against her boy friend, which totally unraveled him and helped win the game for La Jolla, went on: "I really hope it takes off, but my biggest concern is sustainability without a stronger pipeline.
"Without high school and collegiate (at least club) opportunities for girls to play baseball, I worry that it will be difficult for the league to sustain and grow over time."
Another note on the former Viking star: She was named the CIF Girls Volleyball Player of the Year in 1998-99, her senior year, and went on to star in volleyball at the University of North Carolina on an athletic scholarship. As if that wasn't enough, Underwood filled in her winter sports season playing for the Viking girls basketball team, where her former coach said a couple of years ago, "My whole game plan was give the ball to Malaika. She'll know what to do with it."
Underwood on the WPBL: "Regardless, I hope it is a meaningful and progressive step in changing the social barriers that continue to exist for women playing baseball. And maybe if you build it, the investment in the pipeline will come."
In comments on the day she was inducted into the La Jolla High Baseball Hall of Fame two years ago, Malaika told a reporter that the key was having girls play baseball, not softball, if their participation in the sport was going to grow.
It was reported in various media outlets that the new league will include Mo'ne Davis, who starred in the Little League World Series in 2014. The four teams will play two seven-inning games per week Thursdays through Sundays, at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois. The other cities represented by the teams include New York and Boston.
Tryouts were held in August 2025 at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. Players representing 10 different countries took part: besides the U.S. and Canada, Japan, South Korea, and the Dominican Republic, as well as others. Over 600 players were whittled down to 120, who moved on to the league draft in November 2025.
Other picks represented Mexico, Curacao, Australia, France, and England. Players range in age from 18 to 37 years old.
The WPBL is the first such pro league since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League ended play in 1954. The latter circuit was depicted in the movie "A League of Their Own".
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