So, as you all know, I am an advocate for women athletic trainers, especially ones who want to be a dominate force in a male dominate area of the profession. Well, today I'm here to not talk about athletic trainers, but women athletes that have taken over. There have been 2 females that were signed by the Sonoma Stompers, a professional BASEBALL team in the Pacific Association of Professional Baseball. These two women will be side by side with the men of this baseball team. Kelsie Whitmore and Stacy Piagno, both pitchers and the former an outfield, latter infield, were in the starting lineup on July 1. The STARTING LINEUP! How crazy is that?! They will remain on the team indefinitely. The GM states that this is NOT a one day event. They will not be starting every day, they will have to earn their spots. However, they will be playing. And they will be playing key roles at that. The two will also be playing on Team USA in this fall's Women's Baseball World Cup held in Korea. Whitmore, a recent high school grad, will be attending college at Cal State Fullerton. Piagno graduated from U of Tampa and no-hit Puerto Rico in the 2015 Pan Am games.
Fun fact about the Stompers... They also have the record for oldest pitcher to win a game with Bill Lee who was 67 at the time of his win!
They have also had the first openly gay professional baseball player.
The article that I read about the Stompers has the GM speaking wonderous things about females in the sport. He wants to see it more. He loves that he can say there are two females on his team. It's truly a step in the right direction.
Now, we have leaps and bounds before we see women playing in the MLB, but how awesome is this? Female athletes, female athletic trainers... It's all starting to unfold the way we would all like it to. An even playing field if you will. I can't wait to read more stories like this one!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2016/06/30/in-historic-move-two-female-players-signed-by-minor-league-baseball-team/
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