NJ’s Own Look to Make Their Mark in New National Women’s Baseball League

Sabrina Robinson remembers being told that she had the talent to play for Morristown High School’s baseball team. And yet, she didn’t secure a roster spot after making it through multiple rounds of cuts.

“They told me I was good enough, but they just couldn’t have me on the team,” Robinson says, recalling a conversation she had with three of her school’s baseball coaches. She knew what that meant: They didn’t want a girl playing ball with the boys. 

Only 13 at the time, Robinson gracefully accepted the devastating news and left with her head held high. “But I literally went home and was so upset,” she says. “I was like, I’m not playing this sport anymore! I can’t do it anymore. I don’t want to deal with this. I’m never going to change people’s minds. But then I flipped it, and I was like, No, I love this sport, and there’s no reason I can’t. I’m not hurting anyone. I’m not doing any harm. I’m not the problem.’

“And then I realized I wouldn’t want to be on that team if they didn’t want me anyway.”

Fast forward to present day, and there is an entire team that wants ballplayers just like the 23-year-old Robinson. Better yet, there’s an entire league.

The Women’s Pro Baseball League, or WPBL, launches its inaugural season on August 1; it runs through early September. It is the first professional baseball league for women since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League—highlighted in the 1992 movie A League of Their Own— dissolved 72 years ago.

The WPBL consists of four founding clubs representing New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco, though the entire inaugural season is taking place at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois—a neutral location.

Robinson, a switch-hitting first baseman with catching experience, is playing for Boston after having been selected in the third round of the WPBL’s first draft, which took place in November. More than 600 women tried out for the league last summer in Washington, D.C.

“I was surprised, because, honestly, I just thought I’d be, like, 80 years old by the time [a women’s baseball] league came back around again,” Robinson says of her reaction to the WPBL’s creation. “I knew it would come back at some point. I just didn’t think it would come back so soon, and especially while I was still in playing shape.”

Robinson, who began playing baseball around age 5 and founded Montclair State University’s women’s club baseball team while battling injuries, won’t be the only Garden State native in the WPBL.

The San Francisco squad boasts two New Jerseyans: 23-year-old left-handed pitcher Niki Eckert, who comes from Englewood, and 22-year-old catcher Alexia Jorge, who hails from Lyndhurst. Both were second-round draft picks.

“The 11-year-old version of Alexia always said, ‘When I get older, I’m going to be a professional baseball player,’” Jorge says of what drew her to the WPBL. “Looking back, with the contract signed and everything falling into place, that little version of me is happy. There’s still a lot of work to get done. There’s no doubt in that, but it was just something I couldn’t pass up.”

Jorge, who started playing baseball at age three, said that she “didn’t face that much adversity” growing up in the sport—at least, not because of her gender. A three-year starter for Lyndhurst High School’s varsity team, she was recruited to play college ball by multiple schools. In 2021, she became the first female baseball player in the history of Saint Elizabeth University. She remembers players and coaches from the Morristown-based Catholic school always making her feel welcome, even before she officially committed. That, and the chance to stay close to home, made for an easy decision. 

“I had an idea that I wanted to go there,” Jorge says, “but just having that reassurance that I was walking into a program with open arms that was already ready to accept me, and already had great guys on it—mature people—I was just blown away.” 

Now Jorge, Robinson and more than 100 other women are looking to blow baseball fans away in the WPBL. 

The league already features some well-known stars, including Savannah Bananas standout Kelsie Whitmore—the first woman to play in a Major League Baseball Partner League—and Little League World Series legend Mo’ne Davis, who now resides in Clementon. With players coming from the United States as well as countries including Canada, Japan, Australia and Mexico, the WPBL and its participants believe the league will attract immediate, widespread attention and achieve fast growth, much like the WNBA and women’s soccer have done in recent years. “Once the right people see what women are capable of on the baseball field, they’re going to turn their heads and be like, ‘Why didn’t we continue this from the All-American Girls League?’” Jorge says. “I think it’s going to be a big shock to a lot of people and just keep on changing the women’s sports world for the better, and I’m really excited to see that.”

If nothing else, Jorge and Robinson know that the WPBL will be a beacon to future generations of female ballplayers. And so will they. It’s a responsibility they take great pride in. 

“I really hope to be the player and the visual that I never had growing up, and that representation,” Robinson says. “I coach younger girls now who question, Do I feel like I need to go to softball?’ This is the fight that I was having in high school: Do I need to switch over to softball, or can I keep playing the sport that I love to play, and it’s really for no other reason than my gender? 

“So I hope to open doors for younger girls, and that they have more opportunities to go into women’s baseball.”