Women's Professional Baseball League makes a rainy debut in front of enthusiastic crowd

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Sarah Hodel and Rachel Koehler arrived at Robin Roberts Stadium more than four hours before the first game of the Women's Professional Baseball League. Once inside, Hodel stopped periodically for pictures as she walked along the concourse.

She wanted to savor every moment.

“Back in high school I was on my speech team and my informative speech was on women in baseball,” said Hodel, a 43-year-old athletic trainer from Duluth, Minnesota. “So as soon as I saw this happening a couple years ago it was my goal to come.”

That moment finally arrived on Saturday night, when Mo’ne Davis and the Los Angeles Queens rallied for a 10-8 victory over Denae Benites and the New York Heights in a rainy debut for the first women's professional baseball league in the United States in almost 30 years.

“Growing up I played softball,” said Koehler, 33, of St. Paul, Minnesota. “I wanted to play baseball because going professional was always like the dream, but there (were) no opportunities. ... So now that that’s actually an opportunity and something that girls can look up to I think is amazing.”

Maggie Foxx picked up the league's first hit on a two-run single for Los Angeles in the first inning. Benites connected for the WPBL's first homer, a two-run drive to center in the bottom of the fourth.

The Queens trailed 8-4 before scoring two runs in the sixth and four more in wet and windy conditions for the final frame of the seven-inning contest.

“When I walked on the field I started crying because of how much this moment meant, and how much it meant to everybody,” Foxx said. “It means everything to us.”

A steady rain fell for much of the day, soaking the 101-year-old home of the WPBL's inaugural season. But much of the crowd of more than 4,000 started lining up hours before the game, hoping to grab a Davis bobblehead on the way to the metal bleachers.

The line for the main merchandise booth stretched all the way to the outfield along one side of the ballpark.

“Having a daughter, it’s really exciting to give her exposure to female professional athletes,” said Antonietta Mabry, 47, an accountant from Columbus, Ohio. “It’s such a rare thing, so it’s really cool to give her some really positive female role models and examples.”

Mabry was accompanied by her husband, Jason, a 48-year-old auditor, and their daughter, Rosalee. The 9-year-old Mabry got her glove autographed by San Francisco second baseman Amanda Gianelloni.

The Firebells and Boston Hunters — the league's other two teams — play on Sunday. A couple players from each team helped the grounds crew pull the tarp off the field after the rain subsided.

“I’m excited to be here because I play softball and I really like it and it’s really cool that I get to see professional women play,” Rosalee Mabry said.

The WPBL paid tribute to the past, present and future of women's baseball during a rain-delayed pregame ceremony. The crowd cheered as the lineups for the Queens and Heights were announced.

But the biggest ovation of the night was for 99-year-old Maybelle Blair, who threw a ceremonial first pitch to San Francisco's Kelsie Whitmore, one of the biggest stars of the WPBL. Blair, who serves on a WPBL advisory board, played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which ran from 1943-54 and inspired the 1992 movie, “A League of Their Own.”

“I think that's pretty incredible,” Benites said. “Maybelle's been sticking with us since the beginning of this journey. She's paved a path for us, really. ... She's a special person and I'm so happy that she got to make it out here and do that today."

Lindsey Keirsey, 42, a high school history teacher in Fenton, Missouri, said she is obsessed with the AAGPBL and “A League of Their Own.” She attended the game with her husband, Drew, 43, and their four children, Hadley, 17, Nolan, 15, Elam, 11, and Abbott, 10.

“We go to St. Louis Cardinals games all the time,” Hadley Keirsey said. “As much as I love baseball, I think it’s an amazing opportunity to see so many women be able to play and just break ground like that. Even though it’s just a sport, I think that if we can do things like this and let women play in sports like this, women can do so many more things.”

AP Sports: https://apnews.com/sports

A young fan blows a kiss to New York Heights' Kylee Lahners (22) before the inaugural Women's Professional Baseball League game against the Los Angeles Queens, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Springfield, Ill. (AP Photo/Lexie Knight)

A fan reacts while the tarps are removed from the field before the inaugural Women's Professional Baseball League game between the Los Angeles Queens and the New York Heights, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Springfield, Ill. (AP Photo/Lexie Knight)

Former All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player Maybelle Blair, left, and Los Angeles Queens' Elodie O'Sullivan, right, share a moment before the inaugural Women's Professional Baseball League game against the New York Heights, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Springfield, Ill. (AP Photo/Lexie Knight)

Fans wait for the inaugural Women's Professional Baseball League game between the Los Angeles Queens and the New York Heights, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Springfield, Ill. (AP Photo/Lexie Knight)

Fans cheer before the inaugural Women's Professional Baseball League game between the Los Angeles Queens and the New York Heights, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Springfield, Ill. (AP Photo/Lexie Knight)

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of people lined Amsterdam's canals on Saturday to watch the city's canal boat parade, the highlight of an annual Pride festival that this year comes just a week after a deadly attack on a Pride event in Berlin.

Openly gay Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten, dressed in a white shirt, black life vest and gold necklace, waved to crowds as he sailed in a small boat through the colorfully decorated parade of 80 vessels, waving to participants and spectators as techno music pumped from speakers along the route.

The colorful floating parade came a week after the Berlin attack left one person dead and 29 injured. A suspect, Abdul Ballout, was suspected of driving a van into a crowd near the festival Saturday night before apparently stabbing others with a machete in what authorities believe was an Islamic extremist attack. Ballout was shot and killed by police during a confrontation on Sunday in a suburb of the city, authorities said.

Jetten, the first Dutch prime minister to ever take part in the boat parade, said in a video posted on X that the event was more important than ever because worldwide the freedom and security of the LGBTQ+ community "is under pressure with new discriminatory legislation, lack of safety on the street or last week's terrible attack in Berlin.”

Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said in the aftermath of the German attack that authorities in the city would “where necessary take extra measures that visitors will hopefully notice as little as possible.”

Motorboats carrying police officers cruised the canals and a helicopter hovered overhead as Saturday’s parade got underway.

The Berlin attack also cast a shadow Saturday over Hamburg’s Pride parade, one of Germany’s biggest, where increased security was noticeable as dozens of trucks made their way through Germany’s second-biggest city.

Police and organizers said about 300,000 attended, compared with about 260,000 people last year, German news agency dpa reported. Hamburg’s police chief said earlier this week that roughly twice as many officers as last year would protect the event.

The boat parade is the traditional highlight of Amsterdam's Pride. This year it coincides with a World Pride celebration that also is being hosted by the Dutch capital.

Rod Lugtenburg, 55, from Toronto, said he came to Amsterdam for World Pride. He stood on the city's famous Skinny Bridge wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with a rainbow maple leaf as the boats passed.

“For me, it's about acceptance, being able to be who you are,” he said.

“I have Dutch heritage and I have always loved the fact that the Dutch have been leading the way” in acceptance and rights for the LGBTQ+ community. “And Canada is right behind them, so I'm very proud.”

The joyful event happened against a backdrop of rising reports of verbal and physical assaults on members of the LGBTQ+ community in the Netherlands, that has long been considered a haven of tolerance. On Friday, a court in Amsterdam convicted a man of using discriminatory language at a Pride event in the city earlier in the week. He was ordered to do 40 hours of community service.

Boats taking part in the parade included vessels representing the Dutch government ministries, the military and police as well as LGBTQ+ organizations and clubs.

The Netherlands LGBTQ+ rights group COC, which is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year, had a boat in the parade carrying a manifesto calling for progress in the fight for human rights for LGBTQ+ people in the Netherlands. It also carried a portrait of activist Marsha P. Johnson, who took part in the Stonewall rebellion when patrons at the New York inn of that name resisted a police raid on June 28, 1969. The raid helped usher in a new, militant phase of the movement for gay rights.

Another boat carried two giant inflatable likenesses of U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The two figures, dressed in Delft blue and white costumes and each clutching a tulip, leaned toward one another for a kiss, in the style of pottery figurines that are a staple of tourist souvenir stores throughout the Netherlands.

The group that created the boat said on its website said they re-imagined the symbol of love and unity “not to provoke, but to pause power for a moment and highlight something human.”

Associated Press writer Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed.

Two inflatable caricature balloons depicting U.S. President Donald Trump, center, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, as people line the Dutch capital's historic canals Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, to watch the Amsterdam Pride Canal Parade. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)

People celebrate atop a boat on one of the Dutch capital's historic canals, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, during the Canal Parade, the most popular event of the Pride Amsterdam festival. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)

Netherland's Prime Minister Rob Jetten, center, waves as he rides on a boat, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, during the Canal Parade, the most popular event of the Pride Amsterdam festival that attracts tens of thousands of visitors to the city. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)

People celebrate atop a boat on one of the Dutch capital's historic canals, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, during the Canal Parade, the most popular event of the Pride Amsterdam festival. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)

People line the Dutch capital's historic canals Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, to watch the Canal Parade, the most popular event of the Pride Amsterdam festival that attracts tens of thousands of visitors to the city. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)

People celebrate atop a boat on one of the Dutch capital's historic canals, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, during the Canal Parade, the most popular event of the Pride Amsterdam festival. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)