Lexi Hastings ’25 (ED) made history last year when she helped lead UConn softball to the NCAA tournament for the first time in over 20 seasons, and now she is looking to make more history this summer as part of a new professional baseball league for women.
Hastings, a four-time All-Big East selection, concluded her UConn career in 2025 with a conference tournament championship and the Huskies’ first trip to the NCAAs since 2001. She was the 2024 Big East Player of the Year, and holds the school record for career runs scored and stolen bases, and is second in hits. She also holds the Big East record for most hits in a single season.
She earned her undergraduate degree from the Neag School of Education in sports management and is pursuing a master’s degree in higher education and student affairs.
Hastings will play for Boston in the new Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL) this summer. In the league’s first year, all games will be played at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois, beginning in August. She was the 20th overall pick in the first round of the league’s inaugural draft.
“After finishing up my softball career at UConn, I knew I wanted to play sports professionally, but wasn’t sure how to get there,” says Hastings.
She gained her first baseball experience in a women’s tournament last summer in North Carolina and wound up making connections with scouts from the WPBL, who encouraged her to try out for the league. Hastings was one of approximately 600 players to take part in tryouts and emerged as a first-round pick. The final day of tryouts were held at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.
“I am really big on taking opportunities when the doors open,” says Hastings. “Baseball was definitely a curveball in my life, and I wasn’t going to watch it go by. I grew up playing softball my entire life, and I had no idea this many women in the United States or overseas play baseball.”
Hastings says she was a triple threat in softball by hitting for power, slapping, and bunting, but the slapping part has not historically been a part of baseball.
“Honestly, I think baseball is a bit easier than softball, going from having to react really fast to underhand pitching to more decision time in overhand baseball,” says Hastings, who is staying active in softball as a member of the United States Virgin Islands national team.
Hastings says she gained inspiration from her parents, who are military veterans. Her parents adopted her at five years old, and they sacrificed and created opportunities for her and her siblings. Their work ethic and love have inspired Hastings through every aspect of her life, and she is motivated to honor all they have done for her life.
“My mom was a mechanic in the military, so she had to navigate spaces that had not been historically a place for women,” says Hastings. “She had to find her place, and she instilled in my two sisters and I to be independent, strong, capable women with a voice and confidence.”
“Lexi has been balancing graduate studies and a career as a professional athlete so well,” says Milagros Castillo-Montoya, an associate professor of higher education and student affairs. “I’m inspired by her unwavering commitment to her graduate studies while contributing to this exciting era of women’s sports. She doesn’t leave her experience from the field out there. She brings it to her work as an educational practitioner.”
Hastings is currently doing a graduate assistantship at UConn in inclusion and civil rights.
“I want to blend my passion for equity and how that shows up in the sports space,” says Hastings, who foresees a career in collegiate athletics in some capacity.
“Lexi is the kind of student every faculty member hopes to teach,” says Danielle DeRosa, an assistant professor-in-residence of educational leadership in the Neag school. “She was an engaged undergraduate student who was interested and curious in the content. She was also a fantastic peer — always encouraging others to think critically by asking questions that not only seek answers, but challenge assumptions in an effort to make sport more inclusive.”
Of course, many people’s first thought when they hear of women playing baseball is the 1992 movie “A League of Their Own” starring Tom Hanks and Geena Davis, a fictionalized account of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The league played during World War II and remains the most successful women’s baseball league in history.
“It was one of my favorite movies growing up,” says Hastings. “There haven’t really been any softball movies, so when I watched ‘A League of Their Own,’ I always thought about trying out for professional sports if I had the opportunity.”
