[Litty]

2023

The White Dragon was ready to wreak havoc on the league. 20-year-old Irina Rybkin was a Ukrainian national who had come to the United States when she was six and first picked up a baseball bat when she was seven. She had extreme gap power and deadly accuracy, often being able to call her shots to the foot. She had played softball as a Fighting Illini but declared herself for the 2023 WBLA draft.

Prior to the draft, in late May, Charlotte acquired 2021 Rookie of the Year Victoria Rubio from Richmond in exchange for pitcher Dana Pearson. The trade was largely seen as a win for Charlotte, as Rubio had hit .293 in limited at-bats during the 2022 season while Pearson had gone 3-1 with an ERA above 3.00.

Rybkin did not go first overall, as Bristol used the first overall pick on solid all-rounder Kylie Lyons, who had hit .483 for East Side Community Highschool in New York. However, the White Dragon would go second to Charlotte, who were in desperate need of power in their line-up. 2022’s #1 draft pick, Alex Quirk, had a rough rookie year as she went 1-9 in 22 games and 9 starts, finishing with a 2.70 ERA. However, Irina and the Valiant failed to come to an agreement and Irina returned to Illinois for another year of college.

Cape Cod won their third straight north division title with a 53-19 record, improving on the previous season by a single win. Once again the Valkyries finished second, finishing just above .500 with a 37-35 record. But the surprise story of the season was the Bristol Bears, who went 22-50, improving on 2022 by eleven wins. In the south, Salisbury took the title with a 46-26 record, beating Richmond by just three wins. Meanwhile, Charlotte regressed by five wins to finish 15-57.

Cape Cod swept New York in the first round of the playoffs while Salisbury beat Richmond in 4. This spoken to the troubles in New York- they were guaranteed a playoff spot due to the presence of expansion teams but they just weren’t the team that had dominated in the first two seasons of the league. In the WBLA Cup, Salisbury were in firm control despite losing the first game of the series. They won games two through four before Cape Cod took game six. However, the #1 postseason seed couldn’t mount a full comeback and Salisbury took their first title. With their win, it meant that all four founding teams had won at least one title.

Salisbury’s Jamie Boyle was the league leader in batting average with a .431 average that was leaps and abounds ahead of second (New York’s Edith Fitzsimmons with .368). Veteran Taylor DeVos once again took home the home run title with 26, one shy of the league record, as well as the RBI title with 92. It should be noted that Edith Fitzsimmons finished second in all three categories this year (23 home runs, 84 RBIs). Jack Head of Cape Cod led the league with a 1.77 ERA while sharing the title of winningest pitcher with Salisbury’s Mica Agazzi after each earning 12 wins in 14 starts (Agazzi and Head went 12-2, thus earning a decision in all of their starts). Meanwhile, Dawn Constable retained the K crown, striking out 101 over the season.

During awards season, Salisbury’s Louisa Garcia won Rookie of the Year, hitting .288. Jack Head won Pitcher of the Year after her 12-2, 1.77 ERA season. And Jamie Boyle’s .431, 15 home run season rightfully earned her MVP.

Scouts also started reporting on a potential must-have player hitting in high school. Soon enough, all eyes would be on Keesha DeWilliams.