Hundreds of women flocked to Washington on Friday to take their first swings at turning pro baseball dreams into reality.
Some at the historic tryout will be seasoned veterans and trailblazers in the women’s game.
Plenty of others are beginners chasing a shot at the pros.
They’ll meet on the same field in a camp organized by the Women’s Pro Baseball League.
Set to debut next year, the league is holding the first pro women’s baseball tryouts in more than 80 years this weekend in partnership with Major League Baseball’s Washington Nationals.
The U.S. hasn’t had a pro women’s league since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League — the one immortalized in “A League of Their Own” — dissolved in 1954.
Players will take part in drill-focused sessions, athletic performance testing and player evaluations at the Nationals’ Youth Baseball Academy over the first three days, and the showcase will culminate in a live game at Nationals Park on August 25. In the end, 150 players will advance to the league’s inaugural draft in October.
For co-founder Justine Siegal, the tryouts mark a crucial step in creating a true arena for female baseball players to compete against one another, which was the driving force behind her vision for the league.
More than 600 players registered for the four-day camp.