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A teen baseball star from Newfoundland and Labrador is making history once again — this time by being one of the first players drafted to the new Women’s Professional Baseball League.
On Thursday, 19-year-old Jaida Lee of St. John’s was the 14th overall pick in the league’s inaugural draft, selected to play for New York.
Watching the draft from Whistler, B.C, Lee told CBC News on Friday it was a dream come true.
“A few of my friends got picked in the first 13 [picks], so I was just kind of super excited for them and texting them,” Lee said.
“I thought I was going a decent bit later, so I was kind of shocked when I went up. And then all my friends were cheering … it was a lot of emotion.”
It’s far from her first time making a splash in the sports world. In 2022, Jaida was the first female to play in men’s baseball at the Canada Games since it began in 1967. Her first pitch ball went on to become part of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
The Women’s Pro Baseball League website hails the young pitcher as “one of the most promising teenage arms in North America.”
Jaida will continue to play for the University of British Columbia, but will travel to the United States to get ready for the season.
While Lee was a high pick in the draft, she said her place on the New York roster isn’t guaranteed. Each team chose 30 players, she said, but only 15 will be offered contracts.
However, Lee said she’s a fierce competitor and is ready to give her all to be part of history.
“I had dreams to play professionally and stuff, but in my head it was always me playing professionally with men. Like there was never a thought, not because I didn’t want it, but there’s just no thought that there was going to be a women’s pro league within my lifetime,” she said.
“Seeing this league, it means a lot.”
Friends and family celebrate in N.L.
At home in St. John’s, her dad, Dave Lee, said the West Side Charlies bar at the Village Mall in St. John’s hosted quite the party.
“Everyone went crazy,” he said, looking back at the moment his daughter’s name was announced during the draft’s livestream on television.
Jaida started playing ball when she was about six-years-old, he said. She had to play on boys’ teams because there wasn’t a girls’ team she could join at the time.
“She had that drive that, you know, most kids don’t have,” Dave Lee said. “She just worked harder than everybody.”
He said his daughter was even told to play softball instead because of the lack of female baseball teams during her childhood.
But now, he said, Jaida is now setting an example for young women across Canada.
“She’s paving a way now for younger players. For the current players that are involved and for the younger players, it should open up opportunities that were never available to women,” he said.
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