Kelsie Whitmore stepped onto the mound and into the history books.
The 23-year-old continued to break barriers in baseball on Wednesday by becoming the first woman to pitch in the Atlantic League, days after making her historic debut as a starting outfielder.
Whitmore made a relief appearance for the Staten Island FerryHawks on Wednesday, escaping a bases-loaded jam by getting former major leaguer Ryan Jackson to fly out to left field during the top of the ninth inning of a 3-1 loss to the Lexington Legends.
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Whitmore threw a first-pitch ball before two called strikes to get ahead in the count 1-2 on Jackson, who played in 42 games over three seasons in Major League Baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Angels between 2012 and 2015.
On Sunday, Whitmore became the first woman to start a game in the independent Atlantic League, playing left field and batting ninth. Whitmore struck out in her first at at-bat, was hit by a pitch in her next plate appearance and flied out to right field in her final at-bat of the game.
Whitmore, a former high school baseball player in California and college softball player at Cal State Fullerton, signed with the FerryHawks on April 8. She first debuted during the team's season opener on April 21 when manager and former New York Mets infielder Edgardo Alfonzo called on Whitmore as a pinch runner with two outs in the ninth inning of a 5-3 loss.
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Whitmore's professional baseball career began in 2016 with the Sonoma Stompers of the independent Pacific Association, where she spent parts of two seasons. She played for the U.S. women's baseball team from 2014 to 2019 as a pitcher and outfielder, winning a silver medal in the 2014 Women's Baseball World Cup and gold at the 2015 Pan American Games.
"Playing baseball at the highest level is my goal,'' Whitmore said prior to the start of the Atlantic League season. "You know, if you ask any other guy that's going to be in the league what his goal is, it's the same thing, to get to the next level and play at the highest level I could possibly play at."
