The San Francisco Bay Sox were one of the original 5 teams of the inagural season of the Ladies League Baseball. They were scheduled to play their home games at the University of San Francisco's Benedetti Diamond.
On July 11, 1997, they held their first (and only) home game, where they lost 6-8 to the Los Angeles Legends. Less than 500 fans showed up for this first game, which was significantly less than at the other teams' inagural home games. Following this, the Bay Sox played two games against the Phoenix Peppers, losing the first 5-6 and the second 3-9.
And that was it for the Bay Sox. On July 16th 1997, it was reported that the Bay Sox season was cancelled, and players would be merged into other teams (many of which went to the Spitfires). The official justification was that there weren't enough players to support the two teams in the region, that they had "overestimated the talent pool." In the opening game, Brenda Wise injured her knee, resulting in torn knee ligaments. Both the Bay Sox and the Spitfires had started each with only 14 players on the roster, and it became evident that the plan to "play 18 games in 17 days" would not be possible. Most of the Bay Sox players were folded into the Spitfires, whose stadium was just an hour away.
