They’re pioneers in Cedar Rapids professional baseball history

CEDAR RAPIDS - The Cedar Rapids Kernels had a decent rooting section for their season-opening series over the weekend at Wisconsin.

There wasn’t a booster bus or anything that made the trip to Appleton. No player or coach lives there.

It’s a Milwaukee Brewers-dominated area, for sure. Not many fans of the Minnesota Twins around.

This was about Taylor Carpenter.

“I had quite the crowd,” Carpenter said with a smile. “They were screaming more for me than the players.”

Carpenter is from Clintonville, Wis., roughly 35 to 40 miles from where the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers play their home games. Family and friends, they all came out to support her.

Yes, her. Carpenter is the lead athletic trainer for the Kernels and is being assisted this season by Morgan Leichtenberger.

They are the first female on-field staff members in Cedar Rapids ballclub history. The Kernels have their home opener Tuesday night against the Beloit Sky Carp.

“It feels special,” Carpenter said. “You wish it would have happened sooner than this, but it’s always nice to be the first.”

“I think it’s cool to have two of us up here,” Leichtenberger said. “There’s not just one of us, but two of us kind of exploring it together. I’ve always been with another female at an affiliate, so it’s kind of cool that I can come up here and continue that, to be with Taylor.”

Carpenter is in her fourth season with the Twins, spending previous time with Double-A Wichita and Triple-A Saint Paul, where she was assistant trainer. Leichtenberger is in her third season with the organization, spending the previous two seasons with the Rookie-level Florida Complex League Twins and low-Class A Fort Myers.

Both are 28: Carpenter a Wisconsin-Oshkosh grad and Leichtenberger a Pennsylvania native who went to Penn State.

“I actually had no desire to ever work in pro sports,” Carpenter said. “When I got into this profession, I thought I would just work college. Then I got some exposure to the low-A level just through a temporary hire position in the summer of 2021. I loved the operation that the Twins had, and thankfully they had some positions come up that fall. I started in 2022 and have loved it ever since.”

“I always wanted to work in baseball, whether that was college or professional,” Leichtenberger said. “It was just something that sparked an interest for me when I was an undergrad. I went to grad school in Arizona, hoping to get with a team or find some sort of opportunity while I was working on my master’s degree. I ended up getting a seasonal position with the Dodgers after I got my master’s, so I was there for a year, and this kind of opened up with the Twins. And here we are.”

More and more women are finding opportunities in professional sports, including baseball. Carpenter and Leichtenberger are not the first female trainers in the Midwest League, just for Cedar Rapids.

Christina Whitlock was a coach two seasons ago for the MWL’s Peoria Chiefs. Rachel Balkovec became the first manager in affiliated baseball when she skippered low-Class A Tampa (New York Yankees) in 2022 and is now director of player personnel for the Miami Marlins.

Minor league teams are required to have female-only locker rooms at their stadiums, which the Kernels do at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

“It’s hard to describe to people what we go through sometimes. There are some facilities that don’t have a female (locker room) designated, and they’ll have to create a room,” Leichtenberger said. “I’ve been in a camper before. (The team was) like ‘Well, we have a facility.’ But it actually was somebody who pulled up their camper out back and put ‘Female Locker Room’ on the door.

“Or you share with the home staff, where they basically just ask the home staff ‘Hey, we’ve got two females coming, can you share with them?’ The home manager would never share with the visiting manager, but they’re just ‘Well, this will work, right?’ I’m like ‘Well, I don’t have a choice.’”

Both Carpenter and Leichtenberger say this has been a very good group of players and coaches to work with thus far. Leichtenberger already was familiar with many of the players as they went from Rookie ball to low-A to now high-A together.

Baseball clubhouses can be high-testosterone areas, but they have encountered zero issues that way. In fact, they both said most players feel free to come talk to them about non-baseball issues, not necessarily in a motherly sort of way but perhaps sisterly.

“The only thing I’ve maybe noticed is sometimes you don’t get the complete full respect from them, as when a male manager is talking to them,” Carpenter said. “We expect the same kind of response, and sometimes they think they can maybe get away with things a couple times more often with us, until you kind of put your foot down. Then they realize we’re not ones to mess with, either ... It’s being patient while also being firm. This is the way things are now, so you’d better adjust.”

“The majority of things aren’t outright malicious or with any sort of intent,” Leichtenberger said. “You know, you’re fighting against tradition sometimes.”

Like everyone else, the ultimate goal for the two women is to make it to the major leagues some day.

“I have no desire to go anywhere else right now,” Carpenter said. “I want to see how far I can continue to get in professional baseball.”

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