Written by Alex Nott (Year 12)
As someone who plays in a competitive, dominant, and oftentimes physical sport; it's no surprise to me that this sport is male dominated. I play for both a successful club, and a successful league, which has given me the opportunities to succeed in the sport that I love. Baseball has always been a huge part of my life, starting out playing T-Ball as a child, gradually moving to school softball in primary, and then suddenly stopping in high school, as a softball team was not available. My two year hiatus from the sport was long and boring, and I yearned to be out on the diamond. Softball, contrary to popular belief, is very different to baseball in a lot of ways; the diamond is smaller, the ball is bigger, the positioning of players is different, and rules are shifted and swapped. Therefore it is no surprise that when I joined the Bass Hill Mustangs Baseball Association… I sucked. The boys who played in the team saw me as an outcast, someone who wasn’t “one of the guys” and so I hated it there and did everything in my power to not go to training or to play.
The next season rolled around and things had changed. Instead of having the usual 12 players, we only had 9, the bare minimum needed to field a team. And in two short weeks, the entire club had folded because of this. Suddenly the entire league and club I played for didn’t exist and I was thrown into a completely new league and new club, somewhere where I didn’t know anyone, and all I had was my bat and my mitt, and all the skills I had practised and polished in the off season. I met the Catherine Field Mets Baseball Mudcats Junior League team, 13 tall, intimidating boys who all played representative baseball together. However, this didn’t stop them from including me in everything they did. Every training I always had a throwing partner no matter how many people turned up, and in the first game of the season I controlled the infield at shortstop, arguably the best position in the game. It was at the Mets Christmas party that I was offered a position on a womens representative team, playing for the league that had changed my entire approach to the game.
The next season came along and I had outgrown my junior league days and was moved up to the Under 16s Senior League. And the team I had grown to love had changed slightly. Because of the amount of SL players the Mets had (30 to be exact) we had 15 players on a team, therefore having more than the previous season, and training was combined with the two teams. At first I was terrified. Not only was I training with the best of the best that the league had to offer, my 5 man coaching staff for both teams had all coached at a National level, far higher than I have ever played. However, the boys I had grown to view as brothers, yelled at the others who threw to me softly because I was a girl, who didn’t bat as hard when I was in the infield, or who refused to play or even come to training. The boys who grew to be the greatest influence on the person and player I am today, who have allowed me to grow as a player and as a person by treating me as their equal, and not seeing me as a burden or weak because of my gender, but instead pushed me harder to achieve my full potential. With this team I not only went on to win championships with them, but I’ve made lifelong friends, watching each other grow and play at higher levels, while still maintaining the inside jokes from when we were 13 and life was simpler.
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