The Qld teen making history in US women’s sport
Paddison thinks she has more opportunities in baseball, even more so with the development of the women’s league.
The Women’s Professional Baseball League (WPBL) was announced in 2024, driven by growth in other US leagues such as the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the National Women’s Soccer League.
Molly Paddison looks at the numbers she wore during the Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL) tryouts.Credit: Dominique Tassel
Molly initially wasn’t going to express interest in the WPBL, but a friend convinced her. A month or two later he was invited to tryouts in DC.
Players could submit a video instead of traveling to the US, but Paddison felt his experience as the national representative at the time could not compare to international stars.
More than 600 actors from 10 different countries signed up to participate in the auditions. Within four days, this number was reduced to 100 players.
Paddison told this imprint that stepping onto the big league field was “crazy.”
Molly Paddison is one of eight Australian players declared eligible to be drafted into the Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL).
“I went out and said ‘all the players I like played here’.”
Four Australians attended the hearings but Paddison was the only representative of the group.
“So I needed to make new friends,” Paddison says. “I wasn’t sure what the atmosphere would be like, but it was really nice. The girls were really friendly.”
In the end, eight Australians made it to the list of 150 draft-eligible players.
Molly Paddison is the only Queensland player declared eligible to be drafted into the Women’s Professional Baseball League (WPBL).
“I had to take risks and put myself out there,” Paddison says. “I guess it paid off.”
Paddison is the only Queenslander on the list, alongside the ACT’s Maddi Erwin, Victoria’s Allie Bebbere, WA’s Leah Cornish and Caitlin Eynon, and NSW’s Ticara Geldenhuis, Claire O’Sullivan and Elodie O’Sullivan.
She jokes that if all eight women were on the same team, it would be “chaotic for everyone,” but “it would be so much fun to be on a team with your best friends.”
“It would have been chaotic for the coaches, they wouldn’t have known what to do with us,” he says.
Paddison is happy to see women being given more opportunities in sports and young girls being able to dream big.
“I think this is a terrible opportunity for everyone in the baseball community,” he says.
“I didn’t have those opportunities by watching growing up. I didn’t know there was a baseball team in Australia. And now it’s been so publicized in the baseball community that these girls have someone they can look up to.”
“I always looked up to MLB players as mentors, but now other girls can look for that in all the girls coming up.
“This is just the beginning for women in baseball. Young girls can say, ‘like this is something I could do as a job.'”
Paddison acknowledges that players will need to have second jobs as the league launches, but the league will grow each year and the opportunity the WPBL offers women is huge.
A league of their own (again)
You might think that a women’s baseball league has been around for a long time, but women haven’t had the opportunity to play “America’s pastime” professionally this century.
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), made famous by the movie and TV show A League of Our Own, Only 12 seasons aired until 1954.
Former AAGPBL star Maybelle Blair, 97, is the honorary president of the WPBL and performed the first ceremony at the August tryouts.
The WPBL announced the locations of its top four teams on Wednesday. In the draft, Paddison has the chance to play in Boston, New York, San Francisco or Los Angeles.
Many hope the next expansion will include places like Chicago and Philadelphia, but Paddison hopes to see the league eventually expand to states like Texas.
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