{"id":580332,"date":"2026-02-19T02:35:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T02:35:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/580332\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T02:35:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T02:35:45","slug":"womens-pro-baseball-league-drafts-thornwoods-amira-hondras","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/580332\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s Pro Baseball League drafts Thornwood’s Amira Hondras"},"content":{"rendered":"

A vision that always seemed like it would stay a fantasy recently became a reality for Thornwood\u2019s Amira Hondras<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hondras, a senior infielder\/pitcher who has continuously broken barriers as a female baseball player, was drafted in November into the new Women\u2019s Pro Baseball League.<\/p>\n

\u201cHearing my name called and being with my family was definitely a dream come true,\u201d Hondras said. \u201cThis opportunity is something all of us wanted but never really thought we could have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hondras was chosen by Los Angeles with the 11th\u00a0pick of the fourth round in the inaugural draft for the new league, which also has teams representing New York, Boston and San Francisco.<\/p>\n

Cofounded by Justine Siegal<\/a>, who became the first woman to coach in MLB with the Athletics in 2015, it\u2019s the first pro baseball league for women since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League \u2014 featured in the movie \u201cA League of Their Own\u201d \u2014 dissolved in 1954.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a special thing, not only for me but all these women and the younger generation that\u2019s coming up,\u201d Hondras said. \u201cSeeing is believing, so now the young girls can see this and it paves the way for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Thornwood'sThornwood’s Amira Hondras, right, takes it all in at the East vs. West All-Star game during the Double Duty Classic at Rate Field in Chicago on Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (Vincent D. Johnson \/ Daily Southtown)<\/p>\n

Hondras was also honored Feb. 4 at the Chicago White Sox ACE signing day. Hondras, who was the first female to play for the ACE youth baseball program, was recognized along with 18 male players who were signing with colleges.<\/p>\n

Those players included Homewood-Flossmoor\u2019s Antonio Brown Jr.<\/a> (Purdue Northwest), Ryan Myers<\/a> (Morehouse) and Jamir Scott<\/a> (Rust), Mount Carmel\u2019s Connor Elenteny<\/a> (Notre Dame), Ethan Hayes<\/a> (Morehouse), Joey Ireland<\/a> (Illinois), Mario Medina<\/a> (Davenport) and Jonathan Osornio<\/a> (Cowley), Marist\u2019s Trinton Falls<\/a> (Moraine Valley), Shepard\u2019s Steve Magana<\/a> (Triton), Brother Rice\u2019s Brent Nevils<\/a> (Xavier of Louisiana) and Reavis\u2019 Jose Rodriguez<\/a> (Lake Land).<\/p>\n

Troy Williams<\/a>, the White Sox director of ACE and community baseball, has watched Hondras grow up from a girl who would come watch her older brother, Tre<\/a>, play for the team, into a pro who now has the merchandise to back it up.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s got a really cool baseball card,\u201d Williams said. \u201cOn signing day, she shows up with the card that has Los Angeles on there, has her picture on there, and she signed it for me. It was super cool. That was probably my favorite moment of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Thornwood'sThornwood’s Amira Hondras (3) slides safely into third for a stolen base at the East vs. West All-Star game during the Double Duty Classic at Rate Field in Chicago on Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (Vincent D. Johnson \/ Daily Southtown)<\/p>\n

Six weeks earlier, Hondras was at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers, Florida, for a draft party, waiting for her name to be called.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe suspense was definitely there,\u201d Hondras said. \u201cSitting around waiting and every time someone with an \u2018A\u2019 in their name came up, we were like, \u2018Is this it?\u2019 But it was an incredible moment when it happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to go out onto the field and get my picture taken with the team hat and everything. It was awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was just the latest moment in the spotlight for Hondras, who was also recognized on the field in October at Game 2 of the World Series in Toronto, where she was given an MLB Develops Most Valuable Player award.<\/p>\n

\"AmiraAmira Hondras (3) looks for the call after putting a tag on Marian Catholic\u2019s Chace Tankson (22) during a nonconference game in Chicago Heights on Friday, March 15, 2024. (John Smierciak \/ Daily Southtown)<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was such a once-in-a-lifetime experience,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Williams has seen Hondras receive plenty of those. With more to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou couldn\u2019t write a better story,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d equate it to a Disney movie almost. It\u2019s super inspiring. She\u2019s breaking down barriers and knocking the door down for other girls who want to play baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hondras still has her senior season at Thornwood coming up. She will then join her Los Angeles team, but she won\u2019t have to move too far right away.<\/p>\n

The league is planning to play its entire first season at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, beginning Aug. 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like that first game is going to mean everything for me,\u201d Hondras said. \u201cThe last time this happened was about 70 years ago, so it\u2019s a full-circle moment for everyone and it\u2019s a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A vision that always seemed like it would stay a fantasy recently became a reality for Thornwood\u2019s Amira…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2379],"tags":[5,138,49,2561,9604,30645,3263,853,1358,4,185,396,2562],"class_list":{"0":"post-580332","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-white-sox","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-white-sox","11":"tag-chicagowhitesox","12":"tag-daily-southtown","13":"tag-daily-southtown-sports","14":"tag-high-school-sports","15":"tag-latest-headlines","16":"tag-local-news","17":"tag-mlb","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-white-sox","20":"tag-whitesox"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116094970599045462","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}