The girls threw baseballs with their mothers as they prepared for the finals of Warren Park’s first all-girls baseball league on Sunday.
“I want girls to be able to play in the major leagues,” said Weezy Gansner of Edgewater.
The 9-year-old is the spitting image of her mother, Rachel Gansner, 43, who recalls her early dreams of being the first woman in the NBA before switching to softball in college and discovering women’s baseball after university.
“For me, it was easier to succeed at baseball because I could throw and hit the (baseball) much farther and faster (than a softball),” the mother of two said. She founded the all-female league to ensure Weezy and his peers had the opportunity to thrive in baseball from a young age.
“I’m generally passionate about changing some of the stereotypes we have about girls in all sports. Baseball and softball are a great place to start because it’s the only sport where the equivalent for girls is actually a different sport,” said Gansner, who is no stranger to prejudice. She coached her son Georgie’s, 11-year-old, Little League team to the state tournament this summer, despite skepticism about her qualifications.
The all-girls league she launched this fall in the West Ridge neighborhood park is designed to attract girls before they typically move from co-ed baseball leagues to softball around age 10. And the interest in the inaugural season was greater than Gansner’s. expected.
Twenty-three girls were divided into four teams: the Blue Sox, Comets, Peaches and Belles. They had weekly practices and played mock matches every Sunday, where Georgie was an enthusiastic and diligent presenter.
“I want to bring these young girls before they think there’s no place for them in baseball, to show them that they belong,” Gansner said, recalling that a girl asked her if she could practice throwing at the start of the season. season. The player said the coach of her mixed team only allowed the boys to throw during games.
This reaffirmed Gansner’s motivation to provide girls with a focused space to ask questions and develop their skills. She hopes they will have more confidence when they return to their mixed teams.
“I want to learn more and more. I just want to get better,” said Blue Sox player Maya SinhaRoy-Wright of West Rogers Park. The 8-year-old watched her older brother play baseball, so it made sense to her that she would play the same sport.
The new league is too small for a traditional tournament, so Sunday’s final event was a series of drills showcasing the batting, fielding and catching skills that all 23 baseball players have learned.
Regardless of the color of their jerseys, the girls cheered each other on. Ultimately, they are all part of the same small but mighty team that is creating a place for girls in baseball.
“You girls have accomplished something that has never been done in this town before,” Gansner said before each girl received a pin to commemorate them as pioneers.
This is just the beginning, Gansner told the Tribune. She has a vision of a larger all-girls league at Warren Park, with more teams and divisions for girls of all ages.
