Canadians ready to play ball as 1st season of Women's Pro Baseball League gets underway

Nearly a dozen Canadian athletes are going to be part of the chase to be the first-ever champions of the Women's Pro Baseball League, which begins its inaugural season in the U.S. this weekend.

British Columbia's Claire Eccles will be among them, wearing a New York Heights jersey as the team takes on the Los Angeles Queens at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Ill., on Saturday in the WPBL's first ever game.

"I feel really lucky, I feel really honoured," said Eccles, a veteran outfielder and pitcher, who never believed she'd get the chance to play professional baseball.

But that day has come and Eccles says it's a privilege to be part of what's about to unfold.

"I'm not taking that for granted at all," said Eccles, whose Heights teammates include three fellow Canadians — Jaida Lee of St. John's, Madison Willan of Edmonton and Élodie Ciamarro of Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Que.

They're among 11 Canadians on the rosters of the WPBL's four teams, which include the Heights and the Queens, along with the Boston Hunters and the San Francisco Firebells.

Willan, a multi-sport athlete who played hockey and golf at the University of Alberta, told CBC's Radio Active that "it's really exciting that a lot of Canadians are getting a chance to play."

Keith Stein, the league's Canadian CEO and co-founder, is proud to see so many ballplayers from north of the border taking the field in the days and weeks ahead.

"We produce great Canadian baseball players and the women are some of the best athletes in the world," said Stein, a lawyer and entrepreneur from Toronto.

The WPBL is the only professional women's baseball league in the United States — though it is not the first. It follows in the footsteps of the famed All-American Girls Professional