stacey piagno and kelsie whitmore took the field wearing sonoma stompers jerseys making it the first co-ed professional baseball team since the 1950s. kpix 5's sharon chin is live at arnold field with their historic first game. sharon. >> reporter: well, ken, the game is just about to start. it's sold out with 1,000 fans here. not just here to see the battle. many want to see the two women in the starting line-up 25-year- old stacey piagno of st. augustyn, florida, is pitching for the sonoma stompers and 17- year-old kelsie whitmore of temecula is playing left field. she just graduated from high school. we talked to the manager. we heard how francis ford coppola whose winery is a team sponsor pitched the idea of recruiting top female players. >> it's been a life-long dream of his to see it and he tells the story about growing up going to barbecues and 4th of july picnics and watching his aunt who was this incredible athlete outplay all the men in the family. and, you know, he's 75 years old and i think he felt like i better -- if i want to see this i might need to push it along a lit

tonight. 25-year-old pitcher in fielder stacey piagno is on the left from florida and 17-year-old kelsie whitmores from temecula in riverside county. they are going to play for the independent league's sonoma stompers. game time is 6 p.m. at arnold field. go, stompers. >>> everyone is wondering what the weather will be like for the holiday who. here's roberta with our forecast. >> reporter: good friday afternoon, everybody. look at the wall to wall sunshine across the santa clara valley at this hour. nothing but full sunshine for you in san jose all the way through the 4th of july. but we do have the stratus most commonly referred to as the marine layer, the low clouds and fog hanging tight to the coast. this marine layer will deepen each and every day. very little sunshine through the weekend at the beaches. a hailstorm yesterday over the for corners. better conditions for today. we still have the thin layer of clouds next to the coast bright sunshine away from the beaches. the enhancement of the marine layer, there's the area of high pressure keeping us dry albeit cooler than when we started th

. >> reporter: it was 25-year-old stacy piagno on the mound, 17-year-old kelsie whitmore in left fieldf summer, make way. for the girls. >> i feel excited. i'm very honored to be out here. >> reporter: they played their first game friday night for the sonoma stompers, a minor league team, in northern california. >> having a chance to play as a woman means a lot to me. >> reporter: and just like any other ball player, they were targets for young autograph hounds. and fans in the stands. >> sfirs first i heard about it, i was like that was so cool. >> reporter: until now, women have been relegated to all-female baseball, depicted in the movie "a league of their own." kelsey and stacey say their male teammates have been welcoming. >> they're great. i love them all. >> they're really like brothers. >> you can't get undressed where you usually do. that was different, but everything's been fine. >> reporter: the stompers ended up losing 8-4. but that seemed less important than what happened on the field, where a barrier was splintered like a broken baseball bat. ron claiborne, abc news, new

kelsie whitmore is in the field. she is only 17. a stand out high school softball player from southern california. her mind was on one thing. >> i was focusing on my game and i was just like, everything cleared and i felt right. >> reporter: this is history in the making. the first time since the 1950s, two women have been on the same team in a men's professional league. the idea came from none other than hollywood director francis ford coppola, sonoma county resident and huge stompers fan. >> he charged with this mission to find a couple of women to play along side the men. >> some guys on the team have mixed emotions. >> if they can come out here and play with us, compete with us, they deserve to have their opportunity out here even in a shared locker room. >> no one is walking around naked. >> women in baseball. it is time. haven't you seen a league of their own. >> they recognize the instant role model thing is real. >> we're paving a way for young girls which is amazing and it is great but at the same time, we're doing this bec

they are 17-year-old outfielder pitcher kelsie whitmore of temecula in southern california and 25-year-olditcher infielder stacey piagno of florida. they will play for the independent league's sonoma stompers starting today. >> go stompers. >> i missed it. what positions? >> outfield? [ indiscernible ] >> wow. >> times are changing. >> let me figure this out for you now. outfielder pitcher and pitcher infielder. i'm not a baseball girl but -- >> oh, yeah. i love me some baseball. >> i know. >> sorry about your a's last night. >> oh, hey they won three out of four! >> that's pretty good. >> they didn't get the sweep. >> sonny gray on the mound today. two weeks from today i get to throw out first pitch with toronto in town. so i hope you all come. >> we'll all be there. >> 6:16. it's really "friday light," right? >> it is so "friday light"! in fact, i don't have a lot to report. this is going to be quick and easy for me. as you work your way towards the bay bridge, thumbs up. cars are moving. no metering lights. 19 minutes westbound 80 carquinez bridge to the maze off the eastshore freeway.

last week here on "the 9" we talked about stacy filipino and kelsie whitmore. they became out first two women to play for a men's professional week. how do you feel being held up as a role model for so many? >> i definitely feel like we are for younger girls. a lot of younger girls have come to the game and been like super excited and it makes them want to keep harder. >> what was it like the first game with the stompers playing together and being in the dugout and take the field? you are in the outfield, right? >> i was on the mound. it was really exciting. i tried to treat it like any other game and relax. you can't let the hype and media get to you. i was relaxing, pitching like i usually do. i had gotten there that day. it was a great time. the guys on the team have been so amazing and very helpful. >> let's talk about the fact you both started playing when you were five or six years old. in those early years it doesn't matter, if you will, boys and girls can play together on the same team. when is it, oh, you're a girl, you can't play on my team? >> i mean

. >> reporter: 17-year-old kelsie whitmore and piagno signed with the stoppers of pacific association. the two are well accomplished stars on team usa, both eager to show the boys a thing or two on the first professional co-ed baseball team since the 1950s. >> we're doing this because this is a game that we love. >> reporter: general manager fightmafser calls it monumental. >> when you have a chance to do something that's bigger than the game and certainly bigger than the level of baseball we're at, that becomes a little bit more important than maybe the final score on any given night. >> reporter: so here we are the first time in 60 years two women are on a professional u.s. baseball team with the guys f. that sounds like something out of a hollywood movie that's because the idea comes from an oscar winning filmmaker. >> i always wonder why there couldn't be co-ed baseball. >> reporter: frances ford coppola tasked the team with finding the best female players in the world. he says it's far from a publicity stunt. >> it shouldn't be one woman. it should be four or five so they have co