Fruitvale’s Alli Schroder is destined to throw her first professional pitch in August.
The 23-year-old was the first Canadian selected in the inaugural professional women’s baseball league draft.
The right-handed pitcher was picked in the first round, fifth overall by Boston.
The forest firefighter feels the timing is right for professional women’s baseball.
“Everybody always says a girl won’t play in MLB (Major League Baseball), but that’s not what we are really asking for,” says the national team program member since 2017.
“We are just asking for our own sports teams being respected and I see a similarity with basketball and hockey as well, so I think now women are having these platforms that are there own sports, people are really becoming attracted to it,” she added.
Schroder was four when she started playing baseball and starting playing for the provincial team at age 12.
She hopes adding women’s baseball to the professional ranks will motivate more local girls to follow in her footsteps and pursue professional sports careers.
“I’m really excited for what it means for women’s baseball,” said Baseball Canada’s Women’s National Team Future Award winner in 2018.
“I’m also really excited for, first of all, what it means for women and girls playing youth sports,” she added.
“I hope it just gives them a facility to achieve, playing professional women’s sports isn’t that far out and they can do it in any sport they want to play,” Schroder explained.
Schroder also feels the starting the first-ever season of professional women’s baseball in August allows her to train at home and spend time on the forest fire front lines before opening day.
Schroder also likes how the league is approaching its inaugural campaign and asks fans to be patient.
“It’s the first year of the league so give us a little bit of time here to figure things out,” she urged, noting it will not be a travelling league in its first season.
“We are all going to playing out of Springfield, Illinois for the first year, in between the eastern and western teams to keep it in the central location.”
The six-team loop includes teams in New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Be the first to know! Don’t miss out on breaking news and daily updates in your area. Sign up to MyKootenayNow News Alerts.
