Kelsie Whitmore (born July 5, 1998) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

and

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

for the

Staten Island FerryHawks The Staten Island FerryHawks are an American minor-league professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Staten Island. They are a member of the North Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, a "partner leag ...

of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. She was the first woman to appear in the starting lineup in an Atlantic League game. She was a member of the

United States women's national baseball team The United States women's national baseball team is a national team that represents the United States of America in international women's baseball competitions. It is controlled by USA Baseball and is a member of the Pan American Baseball Confeder ...

from 2014 to 2019. Whitmore played college softball for the

Cal State Fullerton Titans The Cal State Fullerton Titans (also known as CSUF or Fullerton Titans) are the athletic teams that represent California State University, Fullerton. The Titans are a member of the NCAA Division I level. The Titans compete within the Big West Co ...

and has also played professionally for the

Sonoma Stompers The Sonoma Stompers are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Sonoma, California. They are current members of the California Collegiate League. They began play as members of the Pacific Association of Professional Baseball Clubs in 2014. ...

of the

Pacific Association The Pacific Association of Professional Baseball Clubs was an independent baseball league based in Northern California. The league was founded in 2013 by four former North American League teams. History During the initial season, two Hawaii-b ...

Career

As a youth, Whitmore played Little League Baseball and PONY Baseball. She attended

Temecula Valley High School Temecula Valley High School, known by locals as TV, is a public high school for grades 9 to 12 in Temecula, California. The school opened in 1985 as the city's first high school. When it was built, it was a part of the Elsinore Union High Schoo ...

Temecula, California Temecula (; es, Temécula, ; Luiseño: ''Temeekunga'') is a city in southwestern Riverside County, California, United States. The city had a population of 110,003 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and was Municipal corporation, i ...

. She played for the school's baseball team, and was the only female on the team. She also played soccer and golf at Temecula Valley. Whitmore enrolled at

California State University, Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public university in Fullerton, California. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) ...

, where she received a scholarship to play college softball for the

. She was also allowed to train with the

Cal State Fullerton Titans baseball The Cal State Fullerton Titans baseball team represents California State University, Fullerton in NCAA Division I college baseball. Along with the other CSUF athletic teams, the baseball team participates in the Big West Conference. Since its e ...

team. Whitmore received a fifth year of eligibility from the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

due to the cancellation of the 2020 season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. In the 2021 season, she batted .395 with a .507 on-base percentage and a .824 slugging percentage. She was named the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

's softball player of the year. While she attended high school, Whitmore joined the

. She won the silver medal at the 2014 Women's Baseball World Cup and the gold medal in the

2015 Pan American Games Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music * Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak al ...

. Whitmore also participated in the 2018 Women's Baseball World Cup, as the United States finished in fourth place. Playing for the national team from 2014 through 2019, she had a 1.35

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

as a

. In 2016, the

of the

, an independent baseball league, signed Whitmore and Stacy Piagno; they became the first female teammates in

since the 1950s when women played in the

Negro Leagues The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

. She recorded her first professional

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

on July 20. She also played for Sonoma in the 2017 season. Whitmore had two hits in 26 at bats. She also pitched three innings for Sonoma. Whitmore pitched to Anna Kimbrell during a game in 2016, forming the first all-female

battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

in a professional baseball league game since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. In October 2021, Whitmore joined the

Portland Pickles The Portland Pickles are a collegiate woodbat baseball team based in Portland, Oregon. They play in the South Division of the West Coast League, a premier collegiate summer baseball league based in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia. The ...

of the

West Coast League The West Coast League (WCL) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league founded in 2005, comprising teams from Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Alberta. The WCL was previously named the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League (WCCB ...

, a collegiate summer baseball league, when they played a two-game series against the

Venados de Mazatlán Venados de Mazatlán ( en, Mazatlán Deer) are a professional baseball team in the Mexican Pacific League based in Mazatlan, Sinaloa. In 2016, the team won the Mexican Pacific League Championship and went on to win their second Caribbean Series ...

of the

Mexican Pacific League The Mexican Pacific League (), known as Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacífico for sponsorship reasons or simply LMP for its acronym in Spanish, is a professional baseball winter league based in Northern Mexico. The ten-team regular season schedule ru ...

. In the second game, Whitmore pitched five innings without allowing a run. On April 8, 2022, Whitmore signed with the

of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. She debuted in the Atlantic League as a pinch runner on April 22 and became the first woman to start an Atlantic League game on May 1, playing as a

left fielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

. On May 4, Whitmore became the first woman to pitch in an Atlantic League game when she made her first pitching appearance for Staten Island; entering the game with the

bases loaded B backdoor breaking ball :A breaking pitch, usually a slider, curveball, or cut fastball that, due to its lateral motion, passes through a small part of the strike zone on the outside edge of the plate after seeming as if it would miss the p ...

and two

outs In baseball, an out occurs when the umpire rules a batter or baserunner out. When a batter or runner is out, they lose their ability to score a run and must return to the dugout until their next turn at bat. When three outs are recorded in a ha ...

, she retired Ryan Jackson, a former major leaguer, on a

fly out In baseball, the rules state that a batted ball is considered in flight when it has not yet touched any object other than a fielder or his equipment. Such a ball can be caught by a fielder to put the batter out. Once a batted ball touches the g ...

to end the inning. For the 2022 season, Whitmore batted .026 (a single in 39 at-bats), while on the mound allowed 14 earned runs in 10 1/3 innings for a 12.19 ERA.

References

External links

Kelsie Whitmore
on Team USA

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitmore, Kelsie American female baseball players Baseball catchers 1998 births Living people Baseball players at the 2015 Pan American Games Sonoma Stompers players Pan American Games medalists in baseball Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games 21st-century American women Staten Island FerryHawks players Cal State Fullerton Titans softball players Baseball players from San Diego

Career

See also

References

External links