When WPBL player Brittany Apgar faced an unexpected hurdle on her path to the big leagues, she found that the internet—often a place of harsh words—had an entirely different play in mind.
The 22-year-old, born without her right hand, was drafted by the Los Angeles franchise after a gritty journey through 13 surgeries that gave her a longer limb and wrist joint. "It helps me hold the bat," she says. From playing in an all-boys Little League in North Carolina to college softball at Greensboro, Apgar has never let her limb difference slow her down. But during a spring training at-bat in March, the impact of an 80 mph pitch split her nub open.
"I just see the blood dripping out and I was like, 'Oh god, I can't tell anybody about this because I'm going to look like a liability,'" she recalls. "That's when I realized there's no way that I can play consistently 3-4 games a week if I split the nub in the first game."
With Opening Day on August 1 looming, Apgar reluctantly turned to social media for advice on bracing her right nub and avoiding further injury. The response to her Instagram post—where her bio cheekily reads "personality 10/10, hands 1/2"—was nothing short of overwhelming. Strangers from across the country rallied together in what she calls a "nationwide group project," dubbed #protectthenub.
"I was so scared of posting on social media because of how mean people can be, especially with disabled people. It's an easy running joke," she says. "So to be met with this level of just kindness from people is incredible and it's like healing a part of my heart, truly."
Apgar's journey to the WPBL began serendipitously, when she spotted a tryout announcement on someone's Instagram story a full year before the league formed. She applied via email and didn't think much of it—after all, she hadn't played baseball since age 15. But her resilience and grit caught the attention of scouts, and now she's on the cusp of making history.
As she prepares to step onto the diamond, Apgar is proving that the biggest plays often happen off the field—and that sometimes, the best teammates are the ones you've never met.