Girls and boys play tennis, soccer and basketball. They both run marathons. But when it comes to baseball, the conventional wisdom has been boys play baseball, girls play softball.
But softball is a distinct sport with different pitching — often underhanded with a windmill-style motion, different balls (softballs are larger), different sized fields, different equipment, even different rules of the game.
While you see the occasional girl playing Little League, nearly all of them who want to continue playing ball get channeled into softball, in part because that’s where scholarships are.
Still, the number of girls playing baseball remains tiny, they are determined to break the gender barrier. They include Gracie White, 15, of Marietta, plays baseball on her JV school team at Kell High School in Marietta. And in Cartersville, 15-year-old Sierrah Gani made her JV team at Cass High School, playing a variety of positions including catcher and second base. She keeps an eye out for younger girls who are playing baseball, encouraging them to keep working hard and to keep playing the game.
To read more about girls who are determined to keep playing the game of baseball, go to www.myajc.com/news/lifestyles/a-baseball-gender-barrier-not-if-these-girls-have-/nghb9/
