Play Ball Like A Girl

My girls play Baseball.  Not Softball.  Hardball-smallball-underhand pitching-baseball.  They didn't much have a choice about it since they were born to a Papa who is a player, coach and super-fan of the game.  The first articles of clothing they all had placed on their bodies were emblazoned with the SF Giants logos and they all spent their first years falling asleep to the tune of "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" coming from their Giant's baby-mobile.  There were always baseballs of all different sizes and materials in our house for them to throw and what kid doesn't love whacking things with a bat?  So yes, maybe they weren't given much of choice about what sport they would play, but they definitely haven't gone into it kicking and screaming.

The immense amount of games the girls have been dragged to or forced to watch (which all have  included in-depth running commentary from their Papa about what the players were doing right or wrong) along with Papa's willingness to drop anything and everything to play ball with his girls, have left them with some pretty impressive baseball skills.  Chuli's got a throw that will leave your hand stinging and is not afraid to get as down and dirty as her fav player Buster Posey, and Justice can field like a champ and make some serious contact with the ball.
As they have gotten older and have been able to take their game outside our backyard and beyond their Papa's lessons, we have asked ourselves more than a few times if they should switch over to play softball. **Let me stop here to make something clear: in no way do I feel like softball is any less of a sport than baseball.  Softball players are dope, amazing and just as athletic, if not more, as any baseball player** We are aware that for a girl, the opportunities to play baseball on a pro, college or even a high school level are minimal at best and that if our girls do indeed have some talent with the bat and ball then putting it to use on a softball field would present an easier and more abundant road for them.
As softball players they would have access to more teams, possible scholarships and even a potential career.  Women's Softball is a Olympic sport while Women's Pro-Baseball is limited to a few years of playing in skirts and one famous Hollywood movie that taught us all that "there's no crying in baseball!"  As female baseball players their paths would be filled with dead ends, closed doors and a whole lot of ignorance.  At only 10 years old Justice came face-to-face with the misogyny of the sports world when she was introduced to the middle school baseball coach of her future school who when told that she was a ball player offered her the position of "scorekeeper" on his team.  If this type of narrow-mindedness exists in elementary aged sports when there is little-to-no physical differences between the boys & girls, I shudder to think about what type of discrimination my girls would face if they got into to playing more serious ball.

I can get myself worked up into a nice sized furry when I reflect on the fact that as parents of girls we have to spend so much time considering re-directing our daughters away from something that brings them so much joy because of our desire to keep our babies protected from hardships and hurt that may lie ahead of them. It is utterly ridiculous to think that anyone would place restrictions or limitations on the potential of my 6 year old child based solely on her lack of a Y chromosome.  Although it comes from a place of wanting to protect my girls from discrimination, ignorance and negativity, each time I consider making the switch over to softball simply because somehow society decided that girls can't play professional baseball, I feel horrible.  I want to instill the belief in my girls that they can do or be anything they can possibly imagine.
It was not so long ago that the thought that a girl could grow up to go to college, have a job, or even vote was considered crazy.  There were families and communities of some little girls in that time that told them yes when everyone else around them was saying no and helped clear the way for all future generations of little girls.  Someone always has to be the first.
After all, if we all pull our little girls out of baseball, how can we ever expect them to grow up with the skills to strike out all these boys and knock their balls out of the park?