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Molly Paddison is having a full-circle moment right now.
During a four-year stint in the US as a child, she discovered baseball after her parents unsuccessfully signed her up for soccer.
“I was picking daisies in the middle of the field,” Paddison says. “I wasn’t much into it, and then I saw my brother playing baseball.”
Molly Paddison and Allie Bebbere are both making history as two of the eight Australian women declared draft-eligible for the Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL).
Next month, the 18-year-old might be getting drafted to one of four brand-new baseball teams back in her childhood home country.
She’s also graduating from high school. There’s a lot going on.
Paddison played on mixed gender teams until she was in her teens, entering the women’s-only teams early.
She has since represented Queensland in the Australian Women’s Championships and joined the Down Under Diamonds to represent Australia on a Japanese tour in September.
Paddison also participated in the AFL Academies, and briefly considered pursuing the sport over baseball.
“I always just kept running back to baseball,” she says. “It was always where my heart was. I still love both sports.”
Paddison feels she’s had more opportunities in baseball, even more so now with the development of the women’s league.
The Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL) was announced in 2024, spurred on by the growth in other US leagues like the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and National Women’s Soccer League.
Molly Paddison looks up at the numbers she wore during the Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL) trials.Credit: Dominique Tassell
Molly initially wasn’t going to put in an expression of interest for the WPBL, but a friend convinced her to. A month or two later, she was invited to the trials in DC.
Players could send in a video instead of travelling to the US, but Paddison felt her experience as a then-national representative wouldn’t compare to international stars.
More than 600 players, from 10 different countries, registered to take part in the tryouts. Over four days, this was whittled down to 100 players.
Stepping out onto a major league field was “insane”, Paddison told this masthead.
Molly Paddison is one of only eight Australian players to be declared draft-eligible for the Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL).
“I walked out and I was like, ‘all these players I love have played here’.”
Four Australians attended the trials, but Paddison was the sole representative in her group.
“So I had to make new friends,” Paddison says. “I wasn’t sure what the vibe was gonna be like, but it was really nice. The girls were really friendly.”
Eventually, eight Australians made it onto the list of 150 draft-eligible players.
Molly Paddison is the only Queenslander to be declared draft-eligible for the Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL).
“I had to take a risk and put myself out there,” Paddison says. “I guess it’s paid off.”
Paddison is the only Queenslander on the list, joining Maddi Erwin from the ACT, Allie Bebbere from Victoria, Leah Cornish and Caitlin Eynon from WA, and Ticara Geldenhuis, Claire O’Sullivan, and Elodie O’Sullivan from NSW.
She jokes it would be “chaotic for everyone” if all eight women were on the same team, but “it’d be so fun to be on a team with your best mates”.
“It’d be chaotic for the coaches, they wouldn’t know what to do with us,” she says.
Paddison is happy to see more opportunities for women in the sport, and that younger girls can dream big.
“I think it’s such a sick opportunity for everyone, all around the baseball community,” she says.
“I didn’t have these opportunities growing up watching. I didn’t know there was an Australian baseball team. And now it’s so publicised in the baseball community that these girls have someone to look up to.
“I was always looking up to MLB players as mentors, but now other girls can look for that in all the girls coming up.
“This is just a start for women in baseball. Younger girls can be like ‘oh like that’s something I could do as a job’.”
Paddison acknowledges players will have to have a second job while the league starts out, but the league will grow every year and the opportunity the WPBL presents for women is huge.
A league of their own (again)
While you might think a women’s baseball league was long-established, women have not had the opportunity to play “America’s pastime” professionally at all this century.
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), made famous by the movie and TV show A League Of Our Own, only ran for 12 seasons until 1954.
Former AAGPBL star Maybelle Blair, 97, is honorary chair of the WPBL and threw out a ceremonial first pitch at the August tryouts.
The WPBL announced the locations of its first four teams on Wednesday. At the draft, Paddison has the chance of playing for Boston, New York, San Francisco, or Los Angeles.
Many are hoping the next expansion will include locations like Chicago and Philadelphia, but Paddison hopes to eventually see the league expand to states like Texas.
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