Kelsie Whitmore makes history pitching for FerryHawks

After becoming one of the first women to sign with a professional team affiliated with Major League Baseball last month, and then becoming the first woman to be in the starting lineup for an Atlantic League club last Sunday, Kelsie Whitmore became the first woman to take the mound in an Atlantic League game on Wednesday night, making a relief appearance in the Staten Island FerryHawks' 3-1 loss to the Lexington Legends.

Whitmore, a 23-year-old two-way player who started in left field in her first game Sunday, was called upon to get her club out of a bases-loaded jam with two outs in the top of the ninth inning at Richmond County Bank Ballpark at St. George. She inherited the high-leverage situation with the FerryHawks in need of a big out to keep the deficit to two runs.

Whitmore got Ryan Jackson to fly out to left after getting ahead in the count, 1-2. Staten Island was unable to come back in the bottom of the ninth, but Whitmore delivered under pressure on the mound to keep the FerryHawks in the game.

Whitmore began her professional baseball career when she was 18, playing for the independent Sonoma Stompers. She played for Sonoma from 2016-17, and last year she pitched for the independent Portland Pickles. She also played for the USA Women's National baseball team, winning a silver medal in the 2014 Women's Baseball World Cup and a gold medal at the 2015 Pan American Games. She posted a 1.35 ERA for Team USA from 2014-19 and hit .348 during the 2019 Pan Am games.