By DAVID SVIEN
Special to the News-Times
“The girls always want to play baseball or softball, 24/7!”
Amie Welden grew up in Massachusetts playing both sports, a born-and-bred passionate Boston Red Sox fan, and it’s carried down to her daughters.
Averie and Kailee, 11-year-old twins who attend Oak Harbor Intermediate School, would happily live on the diamond.
The fifth-grade duo, who have been playing with North Whidbey Little League since 2021, began as baseball players before morphing into softball stars but still have a date with hardball destiny.
Selected to participate in this summer’s Maria Pepe Little League Baseball Legacy series, the Welden twins and their family will head off to Williamsport, Pennsylvania for the June 6-8 event.
The weekend-long celebration will see 96 players divided into eight teams, with each squad guaranteed a minimum three games played at Howard J. Lamade and Volunteer Stadiums.
Maria Pepe was a trailblazer for girls playing little league baseball. The national association banned females from participating in hardball games in 1951, and when Pepe, a pitcher, played alongside boys from her New Jersey neighborhood in 1972, Little League threatened to revoke Hoboken’s charter.
The National Organization for Women rallied to Pepe’s cause, with an ensuing lawsuit finally winning the right in 1974 for girls to play little league baseball.
The series named in her honor debuted in 2024 and truly celebrates the place of women in the sport, with all coaches and umpires involved also being females.
Kailee Welden is primarily a pitcher who also bounces around the field as a utility player, while Averie is often on the receiving end of her sister’s throws while operating as a catcher and third baseman.
After starting as baseball players — “I’m an avid Red Sox fan, so they may have been unintentionally brainwashed into thinking baseball is the greatest sport around,” said mom — they now play softball for the North Whidbey Tidal Wave in the Majors division.
“They love baseball, but socially it was tough being with a bunch of boys,” Amie Welden said. “They have embraced softball as an alternative and are having much more fun being surrounded by girls their age.”
Kailee and Averie, who also participate in FLL Robotics, German Club and Track Club at Oak Harbor Intermediate, greatly enjoyed watching the Junior League Softball World Series in Kirkland last summer.
That experience inspired them, and the Williamsport trip, and temporary return to baseball, has them fired up.
“They jump at any opportunity to play,” Amie Welden said. “They both said their favorite part about the sport is meeting new friends. All-Star season is their favorite because they get to meet kids from all over the state and play at a more competitive level.”
With the 96 young women playing in the Maria Pepe series coming from around the USA, the twins get a chance to be trailblazers of their own.
“I am so excited for them to have this opportunity,” Amie Welden said. “What a great experience for not only them, but our small hometown Little League and all of Whidbey Island.
“I wanted to share our story to inform and encourage any other girls to take advantage of this opportunity, that it really can happen to anyone,” she added. “They too can be selected to play on Little League’s biggest stage! We hope it encourages more girls to get out and play!”
To help Averie and Kailee (and mom and lil’ sis) make it to Williamsport, the twins are selling handmade items at farmer’s markets, and there is also a GoFundMe at: www.gofundme.com/f/help-averie-and-kailee-reach-williamsport.
