Cal Poly player, announcer shine at historic Women’s Pro Baseball League tryouts
Roughly 75 years after the original women’s professional baseball league, a new league is in the works — and it already has some familiar San Luis Obispo County names affiliated.
Tryouts were held in late August in Washington, D.C., for the incoming Women’s Professional Baseball League (WPBL), set to begin games in May 2026, reviving the legacy of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, whose history was told in the fictionalized movie “A League of Their Own” starring Geena Davis, Madonna and Tom Hanks.
And four players from Cal Poly’s women’s club baseball team attended, among 600 women seeking a spot in the new league, including players from 10 different countries and the game’s top female global baseball stars.
One of the players, Cal Poly club baseball state champion pitcher/outfielder Arwen McCullough, made the cut of the 150 players who may be chosen in the upcoming league draft in October when six teams will make selections for their rosters.
“Everyone that was there, whether you made the cuts or not, you're just a part of history,” said McCullough, a recreation, parks and tourism administration major. “You got to say that you were invited to the first ever woman's professional baseball league tryouts, and you got to attend, and that, in itself, is an accomplishment.”
McCullough is entering her final year before her expected graduation from Cal Poly and continuing to play baseball as long as she can.
Another local, C.J. Silas, a familiar voice on the microphone at Cal Poly baseball games and on “The C.J. Silas Show” on ESPN Radio 1280, served as public address announcer for games, helped manage press inquiries and served as MC for a banquet dinner.
Tryouts, held Aug. 22-25, included use of the Washington Nationals baseball field for exhibition games that allowed fans to watch for free.
“That was awesome,” McCullough said. “The field was cool to play on. The weather was great. It was low 80s, and the humidity wasn’t as bad as I expected for this time of year. It was a great reunion of players whom I’ve gotten to know playing elsewhere (including tryouts for USA Women’s National Baseball). Some players who tried out are in college playing softball. Some people are at college for baseball. Some people decided to make their own clubs, like I did.”
McCullough, whose highlights included getting to pitch, hit and field during the tryouts, said it’s “just cool to see all the different ways people continue to play and how they just take this opportunity when it comes to them.”
Other Cal Poly club baseball players who tried out were Kendra Wise, Ginger Duncan and Katherine Henning, who didn’t make the draft cut but plan to continue their baseball aspirations, possibly trying out again or looking for other opportunities.
Dreams come true for local announcer
For C.J. Silas, baseball always has been her passion, but she never had an opportunity to play it with girls or continue on after playing Little League with the boys.
“I never expected to see this in my lifetime,” Silas said. “I was running on adrenaline. ... The Nationals gave them the stadium and the field and the grounds crew and a couple ushers, one concession stand, which probably wasn’t enough, a parking garage, and everything was free to the public to come and watch.”
Silas connected with the league after reaching out to the founder through a direct message on Instagram. That led to a series of live radio interviews with people affiliated with women’s baseball, including USA Women’s National Baseball Team star Alex Hugo and Jean Fruth, director of the movie “See Her, Be Her” featuring seven women baseball stars from around the globe.
Silas said that, like her, many women had aspirations to play baseball versus softball or tried to make teams of all men. Now, those women are seeing those dreams come true for the next generation.
“There were a lot of volunteers helping, a lot of women volunteers from the Washington, D.C., area,” Silas said. “And the overall kind of feeling was we didn’t get this chance, and we are emotional because we get to see you get a chance when we didn’t think there would be women’s baseball while we were alive. There were so many joyful conversations about seeing this happen.“
Among those ages 17 to 57 who tried out, notable players included Mo’ne Davis, a star in the 2014 Little League World Series from Philadelphia (who played college softball at Hampton), and Japanese pitcher Ayami Sato, who plays in Canada and has been a standout for the Japan women's baseball national team.
Kelsie Whitmore, a member of the United States women’s national baseball team from 2014 to 2019 and an American professional baseball pitcher and outfielder for the Savannah Bananas, also attended the tryouts and plans to join the new league.
CEO talks potential of new league
Keith Stein, the WPBL’s CEO, told The Tribune that the league will operate under a single entity ownership model, with all teams participating. Locations have yet to be determined, but games will likely take place on the East Coast, though final locations haven’t yet been determined.
Players will be paid and provided accommodations, with a focus on player welfare, Stein said. Games will be played at neutral venues, with live streaming and a media deal with the company Fremantle. Viewing options will be announced on the league’s website.
“We’re almost in final negotiations with several venues, and a key metric for us when when determining where to play is which venues will offer the best amenities to our players, the most state-of-the-art facilities,” Steins said. “Everything we can do to make this a really incredible experience for our players is our top priority.”
Stein said that players will receive a revenue cut as well.
“We want to really offer the the best possible platform in a player perspective,” Stein said. “We are committed to doing everything we can, to putting the players first.”
Stein said the league would be in talks with Silas about potential roles for her involvement in the league as well.
For her part, Silas expressed interested in calling WPBL games as she awaits to hear back from the Miami Marlins about a public address announcing position there.
Silas has applied for multiple Major League Baseball public address announcer positions, making it to finalist stages, and has been tapped to call games on a fill-in basis for the San Francisco Giants.
As for fan interest, Stein believes there’s strong momentum already in forming the league, including the turnout of 1,000 fans who showed up to see our tryouts and $20,000 in sales of WPBL merchandise in the first 24 hours at the tryouts.
“People want to embrace and support women’s professional baseball,” Stein said. “I firmly believe we will not only be successful very quickly — and part of the conversation with the WNBA and professional women’s soccer and professional women’s hockey — but more fundamentally, there’s the appetite out there from a spectator perspective and from a player perspective. Girls and women want to play this sport.”
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