[Litty]

2028

The first overall pick, made by the Ramblers, was Ronda Olague. The Longhorn right-fielder was expected to grow into an outstanding contact hitter at hit .295 for Texas in her senior year. Kent State’s Edna Buck, the 2027 no. 1 pick, played 21 games for the Asheville Wolves before suffering a partial tear in her ulnar collateral ligament, that took her out of action for 12 months.

At the All Star break, Cape Cod and Bristol were locked a tight race in the North Division. Meanwhile, Richmond was utterly dominating the south, having gone 41-9 to this point. Second place Charlotte sat 10.5 games behind them. Billie Eischens was named All Star MVP as the South beat the North 5-3, marking the south’s second consecutive victory in the contest.

At the end of regular season, Bristol made it into the postseason, the only North team to do so, with a 59-41 record. Richmond couldn’t sustain their insane pace but still ended the scene 71-29, holding the best record in the WBLA. The other wildcard spots went to Charlotte (65-35) and Salisbury (59-41).

Richmond beat Salisbury in 5 after squandering a 2-0 lead in the series. Meanwhile Bristol made short work of Charlotte, sweeping them in 3. In the WBLA Cup, Richmond broke out to a 3-0 lead before Bristol rallied to take games 4 and 5. However, a reverse sweep was ended as Richmond won game six 14-8 and thus retained the title. This made them the first back to back winners since New York in 2019 & 2020.

It was another strong year for Keesha DeWilliams, who lead the lead in batting average with .409. She also finished 6th in home runs with 23. Jayla Van Iderstine also retained her title, leading the league in home run with 38. And Louisa Garcia once again netted the RBI title with 111 (Van Iderstine came second with 104). Meanwhile Lenora Pena, a Cuban free agent in Charlotte, achieved a triple crown with a 2.31 ERA, 14 wins (on 21 starts) and 158 Ks.

Bristol’s rookie catcher, Rachel Leon, earned Rookie of the Year with a .292 batting average. Leon was drafted by Charlotte but traded in mid-July. Pena’s triple crown earned her Pitcher of the Year while Louisa Garcia, with her league leading RBIs, .376 and 34 home runs, earned her second MVP award. This made her the third player, after Belle Leachy (2) and Billie Eischens (3), to win multiple MVP awards.
While 12 players retired in the offseason, the two most notable names on the list were Madeeha Baqri and Steph Bachelor. Baqri, the first Muslim player in the league, won 5 Cherry Zeck awards, the 2019 Pitcher of the Year Award and went 63-50 in 152 starts. She spent most of her career in Richmond before joining Huntington in free agency in 2025. Bachelor, a shortstop, also began her career in Richmond before playing seasons in Roanoke and Charlotte. In 615 games she hit .285. While by no means a power hitter, only hitting 25 home runs in her 10-season career, she was a solid contact bat and batted in 279 runs while maintaining a fielding average of .984.

December 20th saw the expansion draft for the Beaver Lionesses and the Regina Snowcats. The expansion draft was noticeably weaker than the last and no-one of noted was taken, or offered for that matter.

Looking ahead to the league’s 11th year, there were two names of everyone’s lips- Olivia and Breanna Dudley. A pair of Bahaman twins who had led Ohio State to back to back collegiate titles. Breanna played shortstop while Olivia was a reliever. They declared for the draft and people immediately began to guess how far they’d go.