San Francisco sports fans excited for Women’s Professional Baseball League team

By Amanda Hari

San Francisco is stepping up to the plate to welcome another professional sports team, this time in an entirely new league.

The Women’s Professional Baseball League has chosen New York, Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco as the cities that will represent the four teams competing in their inaugural season.

People throughout the Bay Area are excited to see it, including Sara Yergovich, the co-owner of San Francisco’s only women’s sports bar, Rikki’s. 

“We have a picture of a league of their own here,” said Yergovich, pointing to a photo on the wall of women’s sports memorabilia. “To be one of the four founding cities for that league is phenomenal.”

For Yergovich, this new team is extra special.

“I played baseball as a kid,” Yergovich explained. “I didn’t play softball, I think just because I had brothers, I ended up playing baseball.”

Yergovich was the only girl on her team and in her league. She thought she was the only one anywhere. 

“I didn’t know that there were other girls out there that played baseball at all, so to go from that, and to stop playing when I was 14 because there wasn’t really a future in it to now having a women’s sports bar and having a new team in the Bay Area for women’s baseball. I can’t even believe it,” Yerogvich expressed. “The younger me couldn’t believe it.”

Co-Director of the Center for Sport and Social Justice at Cal State East Bay, Matthew Atencio, said that representation is imperative.

“I really hope that this new baseball team will inspire young girls to play sports,” said Atencio. “We know there are parts of the bay are where we do need to increase girls’ participation, for instance, in areas such as Oakland, only 9% of girls are meeting the 60 minutes per day of activity that is recommended by the CDC.”

We’ve already seen women’s sports hit a homerun in the Bay Area.

The Golden State Valkyries, the new WNBA team, sold out every home game in their inaugural season. The new baseball team is taking a page out of their book and staying with their color scheme.

“There’s definitely something going on here in terms of our history, in terms of how we view the inclusion of women and girls in sports; we find it very, very important,” said Atencio about the mindset of the Bay Area towards women’s sports. “We have a long history of that. And as we’ve come past the 50th anniversary of Title IX legislation, the Bay Area has really set the standard in terms of girls and women’s sports participation.”

In Oakland, a woman recently stepped up to the mound. Kelsie Whitmore was a pitcher for the Oakland Ballers in 2024. She’s already tried out for the WPBL. The league’s draft will be next month. 

Yergovich believes San Franciscans will hit it out of the park when it comes to supporting the team.

“The Bay Area has a great baseball history with the Giants and formerly the A’s, and so I’m excited for people to feel that and bring in the women’s sports element, and I know they’re going to be receptive to it,” Yergovich stated. 

The WPBL will play all its 2026 games at a neutral venue. The league said it will be announcing the location at a later date.