Kim La-kyung, the ace of South Korean women's baseball, will throw the historic first pitch of the US women's professional baseball league as it revives after 72 years.

Kim is scheduled to take the mound as the starting pitcher for the home team New York Heights against the Los Angeles Queens in the opening game of the 2026 Women's Professional Baseball League (WPBL) season, which opens tomorrow (the 2nd) at Robin Roberts Stadium in Illinois, USA.

The WPBL is the first US women's professional baseball league to be held since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which ran from 1943 to 1954, with four teams competing: New York, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Firebells, and the Boston Hunters.

Each club selected a total of 120 players through a draft last year, and South Korean players selected include Kim La-kyung, catcher Kim Hyun-ah (Boston), infielder Park Joo-ah (San Francisco), and Park Min-seo (New York).

Among them, Kim La-kyung, Kim Hyun-ah, and Park Joo-ah have signed with their respective teams and are set to play in the inaugural WPBL season.

Kim La-kyung has been the ace representing South Korean women's baseball, wearing the national flag since her middle school days.

She entered Seoul National University's Department of Physical Education to balance academics and sports, and continued her career through a long rehabilitation process after undergoing elbow ligament reconstruction surgery in 2022.

Choosing a new challenge beyond the limitations of the domestic women's baseball environment, Kim played in the Japanese industrial league before challenging the US stage with the launch of the WPBL.

All WPBL games will be held at the 5,200-seat Robin Roberts Stadium, and each team will play a 15-game regular season consisting of 7-inning games before determining the champion through the postseason.

Kim Hyun-ah's team Boston and Park Joo-ah's team San Francisco will play their team openers at the same venue on the 2nd.

Meanwhile, manager Matt Williams, who led the KBO League's KIA Tigers from 2020 to 2021, will participate as the inaugural manager of San Francisco.

Locally in the US, Britt Afger, a pitcher and outfielder for Los Angeles who has a congenital right-hand impairment, is drawing attention.

Afger built her competitiveness by repeatedly training the motion of quickly transferring her glove to her left hand.