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Pitcher’s start, victory in the pros made history Ila Borders, a pitcher for the Duluth-Superior Dukes, is the first woman to pitch, start and win a men’s professional baseball game. The left-handed pitcher was born on Feb. 18, 1975, in Downey, Calif. Her interest in baseball began as a 7-year-old with a strong throwing arm playing third base in the Little Miss softball league in La Mirada, Calif. After Borders saw her first professional baseball game with her father, she told him that she wanted to play baseball instead of softball. Her father allowed her to sign up for baseball through her childhood and teen years. At age 13, she was on so many teams and played so many games, she often had to switch baseball jerseys in the car. When she turned 14, her father "doctored" her ID and got her into a semi-pro league. The experience of playing ball with men in their mid-20s prepared Borders to compete professionally. However, many coaches were skeptical that she could compete in baseball as she grew older. As a junior in high school, Borders was scouted by Southern California College and was the first woman to earn a college baseball scholarship. Borders pitched her historic complete college game victory on Feb. 15, 1994. In the summer before her junior year in college, she played with the Swift Current Indians, a team in the Saskatchewan baseball league in Canada. In 1997, she transferred to Whittier College, and, soon after, Borders signed a contract with the St. Paul Saints minor league team in Minnesota at the beginning of its 1997 season. She became the first woman to pitch in a men’s professional game on May 31, 1997. A few weeks later, Borders was traded to the Duluth-Superior Dukes. She pitched her historic win in a men’s regular season professional baseball game on July 24, 1998. Today, she has a contract with Dukes that continues through 1999. — By Alyson Hudson
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