San Diegans picked in inaugural Women’s Professional Baseball League draft

by John Maffei

The Women’s Professional Baseball League held its inaugural draft Thursday, and a number of players with San Diego ties were selected — including the top overall pick.

The four-team league — with teams in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Boston — will start play in August. The entire seven-week season will be played in Springfield, Ill., and will consist of a four-week regular season, a week of All-Star play, and two weeks of playoffs.

Pitcher Kelsie Whitmore, a softball player from Temecula Valley High School who now lives in San Diego, was the first player taken in the draft by San Francisco.

Jillian Albayati, a pitcher/utility player who played softball and baseball at Cal State San Marcos, was taken in the fourth round by San Francisco.

Catcher Samantha Gutierrez, a softball player from Mater Dei Catholic and Oregon State, was a fifth-round selection of San Francisco.

Shortstop Keira Izuma, who played baseball at Francis Parker, was chosen in the sixth round by New York.

And outfielder Brittany Womack, an All-CIF softball player at Escondido High School and an all-conference player at San Diego State under the name of Brittany Knudsen, was taken in the 27th round by Los Angeles.

In 2024, Albayati played in a softball game for Cal State San Marcos, then pitched in a game for the shorthanded baseball team before returning to play the second game of a doubleheader for the softball team.

Gutierrez had a distinguished softball career at Oregon State.

Izuma played in 23 baseball games for Francis Parker in 2024.

Womack is a teacher and softball coach at Escondido High School and played on the USA Baseball Women’s National Team, a group that won the gold medal at the 2019 COPABE Women’s Pan-American Championships in Venezuela.

This is the fifth try at women’s professional baseball in the United States. The All-American Girls Professional League, which ran from 1943-54, was the first. The league was later made famous in the film, “A League of Their Own.”