Katie Reynolds and Katherine Murphy recently made history as members of the first-ever Women’s Pro Baseball League draft class, but their collective journey to this point began years ago on a baseball diamond in Belmont.
Murphy, then in elementary school, and Reynolds, a Belmont High student, connected at a youth clinic held by the Marauders varsity team. Seeing another girl at the clinic, Murphy recalled, “was really inspiring.”
“At that point, I didn’t know about girls baseball at all so she was my role model,” Murphy said. “Having her as an example to look up to inspired me to keep playing.”
And both still are.
Reynolds, Belmont High Class of 2020, and Murphy, a 2025 graduate, each heard their names called last week in the fourth round of the first-ever Women’s Pro Baseball League draft. Reynolds, a right-handed pitcher, went to San Francisco with the 65th overall selection. Murphy, a left fielder, went number 78 to New York.
“When I was growing up, I was kind of going through it alone, being on boys’ teams,” Reynolds said. “People tell me I’m a trailblazer, but seeing it play out and her go through the same path … it’s just really neat.”
The four-team Women’s Pro Baseball League kicks off its first season next August. Though the teams represent four cities — Boston, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles — all inaugural season games will be played at a neutral site in Springfield, Illinois.
Murphy first learned about the league on Instagram, thinking, ‘Wow, is this even real?’ Reynolds follows women’s baseball avidly and took a keen interest in the league’s development.
Both attended the Women’s Pro Baseball League’s four-day tryout, held in the August humidity of Washington, D.C. and both emerged from the 600-athlete pool as top-100 performers and draft-eligible prospects. Reynolds called it “a full-circle moment.”
Belmont High School baseball coach Jim Brown is “over the moon thrilled” for both. He highlighted Murphy’s sweet swing and Reynolds’ nasty curveball as their top on-field traits, but sticking with the sport they loved over the softball alternative sticks out, too.
“The thing about the two of them, they both loved baseball,” Brown said. “It was their thing. They played it all year and that’s what they wanted to do.”
Each Women’s Pro Baseball League franchise selected 30 players across six rounds during the virtual draft on Nov. 20. Not everyone selected is guaranteed a contract. The league expects each team to carry approximately 15 players for the seven-week season, which includes four weeks of regular season play, a week of All-Star competition, and a two-week playoff tournament.
Teams will play two, seven-inning games per week between Thursday and Sunday. Players receive housing during the season and receive “reasonable travel stipends” to return to their main residences during non-game days. They also receive per-game pay and a share of revenue from league sponsorships.
Reynolds started playing Little League Baseball at age 5 and continued through Babe Ruth. She played softball at Belmont High School for one year but switched to baseball.
“I was sort of pressured by people with that constant question of why not softball,” said Reynolds, who kept playing baseball. “I didn’t love it as much as my sport so I went back to baseball after that season.”
Had the COVID-19 pandemic not hit her senior spring, Reynolds, who also played basketball, would’ve been the school’s first female varsity baseball player. A recent communications graduate of the University of North Carolina and the first female player on the school’s club baseball team, the 24-year-old righty tops out in the low 70s with a four-pitch mix. Reynolds took a semester off from school to participate in the Amazon Prime series “A League of Their Own,” an adaptation of the 1992 film that showed the beginnings of women’s baseball during World War II.
Competing in Baseball For All, the country’s largest girls’ baseball tournament, helped her get on the show. The organization’s founder, Justine Siegal, recruited Reynolds for the six-week experience.
Baseball For All also played a big role for Murphy, now a freshman studying business at the University of Maryland. Murphy’s mother, Cammie Henderson, introduced her to baseball. Henderson was the first girl to play Babe Ruth Baseball in Virginia and was another “huge inspiration” for the 19-year-old’s baseball career.
Like Reynolds, Murphy played Little League, Babe Ruth and competed with the Marauders high school program, making varsity as a senior and playing second base. She also played soccer for Belmont High School.
To think that not one but two Belmont natives heard their names called is “pretty crazy,” Murphy said, especially after meeting on a town baseball diamond so many years ago.
“I don’t think there are many girls who have the same story with someone to look up to and now are both here,” Murphy said.
