Queens at Hunters Early Preview: Boston Needs a Win, and LA Is Still Unbeaten
Boston has played two games and lost both, scoring seven runs while allowing 23. Los Angeles has played three, won all three, and scored 34. On paper, this is the league’s hottest team against the one still looking for its first win, and there is no honest way to dress that up.
But look at how Boston lost on August 5 and it gets more interesting. The Hunters had three hits all night and still scored four runs. Every one came home on a productive out, an unusual but revealing way to build a scoreline, and it says something about a team that did not stop competing after the game got away.
They get the Queens again on August 15, and this time Boston holds the home slot and bats last. After that, the teams meet three more times: August 23 with Boston home, August 26 with Los Angeles home, and September 5 with Boston home again. If Boston is going to get its season started against the league leader, this four-game series arc gives the Hunters several chances to respond.
One scheduling note worth knowing: August 15 is a doubleheader day at Robin Roberts Stadium. San Francisco faces New York at 1:00 PM, then Los Angeles and Boston play at 6:30 PM.
Early preview: This article reflects results through August 7. Both teams play additional games before August 15, so current records, recent form, injuries and probable starters should be refreshed closer to first pitch.
How the first meeting got away
It changed in about twenty minutes. Los Angeles sent 11 batters to the plate in the first inning and scored six runs.
Mo'ne Davis started it with a ground-rule double down the right-field line, her first WPBL hit after an 0-for-4 opener. Ashton Lansdell singled up the middle for her first hit of the season. Maggie Foxx walked to load the bases. Then Sarah Edwards, who had also gone hitless in the opener, worked Alli Schroder to 3-1, got a pitch on the inner half and hit the first grand slam in WPBL history.
The detail that makes it better: that was Edwards' first hit in this league. Not a single, not a bloop. A grand slam. She added a double later and finished with four RBIs.
Los Angeles did not stop there. Caitlin Eynon doubled, Tháima Maximiliana singled a run in, and Brittany Apgar brought another home on a fielder's choice. Two more came in the second, two in the third, one each in the fourth and fifth. They scored in six consecutive innings and finished with 15 hits.
Line score
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| Boston Hunters | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| Los Angeles Queens | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | – | 12 | 15 | 1 |
August 5, 2026 · Robin Roberts Stadium · Queens 12, Hunters 4
Brittany Apgar's night
The best story of the evening did not decide the game, and it was still the thing everyone left talking about.
Apgar was born with a small right forearm, half a palm and no fingers on that hand, and had 12 surgeries before she turned four. She had been batting with an older prosthetic and a specialized glove, and at a league camp in March she faced live pitching from Niki Eckert and realized the setup was not going to hold up against high-velocity pitching.
She turned to social media for help and eventually connected with the prosthetics and orthotics team at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. They built a batting device with a gel liner and a hook extension shaped to fit around the bat. She picked it up in New York and returned in time to play.
August 5 was the first game she used it. She had tried it once in practice the day before. She went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a stolen base, and the first of those hits was a line drive to left off a pitch that was well inside, which she kept fair by getting her hands through it. The device flew off her arm on a couple of swings and she is still working out how to drop the bat cleanly, but she said the same thing you would say: it works.
She also runs with inserts in her spikes because graft surgeries taken from her feet made running painful for years. In the August 5 lineup she hit ninth, which makes her ability to reach base especially useful because it turns the order back over to the top.
What Boston actually did well
Three hits is three hits, and there is no spinning it. But Boston was not outclassed everywhere.
Denver Bryant was Boston’s defensive standout. She made a diving stop to her left at third and threw across on one hop to get Edwards, chased foul pops into the bullpen, backed up her outfielders and drove in a run. If Boston wants to win with run prevention, Bryant is central to the plan.
Molly Paddison went 2-for-2 with a walk and a stolen base out of the seven hole, the only Boston hitter with more than one hit. She is from Australia, and her parents flew over to watch her at the World Cup in Rockford and then came on to Springfield.
And the four runs, oddly, are a credit. Beth Greenwood drove one in on a groundout. Bryant drove one in on a groundout. Gabrielle Haas drove one in on a groundout. Maïka Dumais brought another home the same way as a pinch hitter. That is a lineup putting the ball in play with runners on and refusing to give away at-bats in a game that was already gone.
Alli Schroder had the rough night: 2.1 innings, ten hits, nine earned. She threw 84 pitches to get seven outs, after throwing about 25 in relief three days earlier. Gigi Schiano was much better behind her, giving Boston 3.2 innings on five hits and two earned runs, which is the kind of length a staff this thin badly needs.
The Queens keep finding new people
The thing that should worry the rest of this league is not simply that Los Angeles is winning. It is how many different players keep driving those wins.
Opening night it was Maggie Foxx with the first hit and first RBIs, then Amira Hondras with four RBIs, then Isabella Villarreal off the bench with a two-run double. Against Boston it was Edwards, Lansdell, Apgar and Adelaide Frank, who reached base three times in her first WPBL appearance. Nine different Queens had driven in a run through August 7.
Lansdell took player of the game with a 3-for-4 night, three runs, two RBIs and two stolen bases. She said she had started journaling before every game to get the noise out of her head, a habit she picked up during the World Cup and skipped on opening day, and that the difference was obvious. Her approach was simply to hit the ball to right-center, where the Queens logo sits on the wall, and she said she would keep doing it until somebody stopped her.
On the mound, Michelle Roche made her debut and was excellent. She is 20, from British Columbia, and gave the Queens five innings on three hits and one earned run with no walks and around 51 pitches. Seven of her outs came on the ground. Los Angeles has a rotation problem in the good sense, with Ayami Sato, Roche, Meggie Meidlinger and catcher Jamie MacKay all offering pitching options.
Standings going in
| Team | W | L | RS | RA |
| Los Angeles Queens | 3 | 0 | 34 | 15 |
| New York Heights | 1 | 1 | 21 | 18 |
| San Francisco Firebells | 1 | 2 | 22 | 28 |
| Boston Hunters | 0 | 2 | 7 | 23 |
Through August 7. View current WPBL standings. All four teams reach the playoffs in September, so the table is about seeding.
What I'd watch for on August 15
Amira Hondras' availability. She was hit square on the helmet in the third and came out of the game. She was responsive, walked off with her manager, and was later seen in the dugout, but when asked how she felt she said iffy. She had four RBIs on opening night and is one of the Queens' most productive bats. Her availability is the first thing to check when lineups drop.
Whether Boston can get a starter deep. Schroder threw 84 pitches for seven outs and Schiano covered 3.2 innings. Boston's pitching has been stretched thin in both games. Schiano's outing was the most encouraging length the staff has received so far, and she has earned a longer look.
The first inning. Los Angeles has scored first in all three of its games and put up a six-run first inning in the opening meeting with Boston. The Hunters have been chasing from the start in both of their games. Getting through the top of the first inning level is not a modest goal; it is the foundation of the plan.
Bryant against this lineup again. She was everywhere at third base and the Queens still put 15 hits on the board. If Boston is going to win a game on defense, the rest of the infield has to approach her level, and the outfield has to handle the lights better than teams have so far at this park.
Apgar's batting device, with more time to adjust. She had used it only once in practice before the August 5 game. By August 15 she will have had additional time with it. If she is comfortable dropping the bat cleanly, Los Angeles has a bottom-of-the-order hitter who can reach base, run and turn the lineup back over to Davis and Lansdell.
The call
Los Angeles is 3-0 through August 7, has scored 34 runs in three games and has had a different hero every night. On early results, the Queens have been the league’s strongest team.
Boston still has reasons for optimism. Four runs on three hits showed a lineup willing to grind out productive at-bats after the game was gone. Bryant has been excellent defensively, Schiano gave the staff real length and Paddison is swinging it. Boston also holds the home slot against Los Angeles on August 15, August 23 and September 5, with one road-slot meeting in between on August 26.
Queens by four, and I would not be surprised if it is a real game into the fifth this time. Boston may be closer to its first win than an 0-2 record and a minus-16 run differential suggest. If the Hunters get length from the starter and keep the first inning quiet, the rematch becomes much more interesting.
First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 PM Central Time on August 15.
Frequently Asked Questions
When do the Los Angeles Queens and Boston Hunters play again?
They meet on Saturday, August 15, 2026, with first pitch at 6:30 PM Central Time at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois. Boston holds the home slot and bats last. They then meet three more times: August 23 with Boston home, August 26 with Los Angeles home, and September 5 with Boston home again.
What happened the last time these two teams played?
Los Angeles won 12-4 on August 5, 2026. The Queens scored six runs in the first inning and finished with 15 hits to Boston's three. Every Boston run came home on a productive out rather than a hit.
Who hit the first grand slam in WPBL history?
Sarah Edwards of the Queens, in the first inning of that game. She worked the count to 3-1 against Alli Schroder and drove it out to right field. It was the first hit of her WPBL career after she went hitless in the season opener, and she added a double later in the night for a four-RBI evening.
Who is Brittany Apgar and what is the device she bats with?
Apgar is a Los Angeles outfielder. She was born with a small right forearm, half a palm and no fingers on that hand, and had 12 surgeries by the age of four. After a league camp showed that her old batting setup would not hold up against live pitching, she connected with the prosthetics team at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. They built a device with a gel liner and a hook extension that fits around the bat. August 5 was the first game she used it, and she recorded two hits and a stolen base.
Who was named player of the game?
Ashton Lansdell, the Queens captain. She went 3-for-4 with three runs, two RBIs, two stolen bases and a walk. She said afterwards that she had started journaling before every game to clear her head, a routine she picked up during the World Cup and skipped on opening day.
What are the current WPBL standings?
Through August 7, Los Angeles leads at 3-0 with 34 runs scored and 15 allowed. New York is 1-1, San Francisco is 1-2, and Boston is 0-2 with seven runs scored and 23 allowed. All four teams reach the playoffs in September, so the table is about seeding rather than elimination.
Where are WPBL games played and what are the rules?
Every game of the inaugural season is at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois, from August 1 to September 6. Games are seven innings and official after four, the designated hitter is optional, two-way players are allowed, and hitters may use metal, composite or wood bats. Rosters carry 15 players.
