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The Local Woman's Guide The NAWBL: A League of Our Own Friday, September 28, 2007 The NAWBL: A League of Our OwnMariah Brunelle of Bellingham has been playing baseball with the boys since she was five years old. She is one of a handful of girls who play alongside the boys in the Bellingham Youth Baseball (BYB) Inc. league. Mariah (pictured right) was picked by the coaches for the travel team from age 6 to 12. She and her BYB teammates have won two championships, when she was ten and thirteen. When Mariah was in eighth grade, her mother, Michelle, began asking whether or not Mariah could play baseball at the high school. Throughout that year, there was quite a bit of back and forth between Michelle and BHS athletic director Dennis Baker, but eventually he said, "Tell her she can try out." But by now Mariah had gotten the message and she felt uncomfortable about trying out for the team. "I felt like they didn’t really want me to try out, that they were letting me just because they had to. I didn’t feel accepted. And even if they let me on the team, it didn’t mean I’d ever get to play." So Mariah tried out for and made the BHS girls varsity softball team; she played shortstop. "Softball is a different game, as much as people say it isn’t," she said. "I used to make fun of softball, saying it wasn’t really a sport, until this year when I played. I gained respect for the game and I realized I shouldn’t have said that." She still plays middle-infield and pitches for the BYB league, where she says she’s treated “just like any other player on the team.” Meanwhile, Michelle had been searching the internet for other alternatives for Mariah and discovered the North American Women’s Baseball League (NAWBL). The director of the four-team Nashua, NH-based league is Robin Wallace. "She [Wallace] was such a big help," Mariah said. "She didn’t have it easy in high school either. She had to go to a private school just to play baseball." In fact, Wallace was the first female athlete to play varsity high school baseball in her hometown of Mobile, Alabama. In 2004, Wallace was a member of the USA Baseball Women’s National Team, who took home the Gold in the first Women’s World Cup of Baseball, held in Edmonton, Alberta,Canada. In addition to be-ing the league director, she continues to play in the New England Division of the NAWBL. In short, Wallace knew just what Mariah had been going through, and by sharing her own experiences, she gave Mariah encouragement; when Brunelle was ready to give up her dream of playing baseball, Wallace encouraged her to try out for the NAWBL. Most of the women are in their mid-20s. The oldest player is 42; at 15, if she made it, Mariah would be the second youngest player in the league (the youngest is 13). Mariah ended up a second-round draft pick, playing for the Seahawks. In June, after playing in the league for about a month, Mariah was chosen for the All-Star team. At the beginning of July, they travelled to Detroit for the five-game series, which, unfortunately, they lost to the New England Red Sox. "If you really love a sport, why should you give it up just because other people think you can’t or shouldn’t play?" Brunelle said. “The NAWBL is about giving women a place to play baseball, no matter how old you are.” According to Brunelle, her NAWBL coaches, who have coached men and women alike, have said “Women put more heart into the game. It means more to them.” As far as travelling to Nashua, New Hampshire, for practices and games is concerned, Mariah’s mother says it’s no worse than other destinations she’s had to transport her children to for sports. In fact, one league member, Christal "Freddy" Fitzgerald, travelled from Australia to play in the league. Freddy also happens to be the only female on the Daniel Webster College baseball team. According to Ken Belbin, Daniel Webster’s sports information director, Fitzgerald, 22, is the first female collegiate baseball player in New England history, and just the fifth on NCAA records nationally.1 Obviously, these women are serious baseball players. As for other girls in the area who would like to play baseball, Michelle has shared all of the information she has about the NAWBL with them. "I told the girls’ mothers, 'You just have to be a little more creative, that’s all. Do some research - don’t let them give up on their dreams.'" Mariah encourages anyone who is interested in playing in the NAWBL to attend a couple of games. (They also play in Lynn.) "Check it out and you can see that it’s a real league, not some knock-off. It’s really fun - and it’s free to get in." For herself, she plans to play with the league for a long time to come, and hopes to attend a college where she can play baseball while she studies Physical Education. (ummh, Daniel Webster, perhaps?) According to the NAWBL website, for over 150 years women have attempted to become a permanent part of America’s favorite national pastime as players, announcers, and even umpires, but are continuously faced with overwhelming obstacles of discrimination that have kept their attempts short-lived. "The history of women in baseball has been sporadic, but women continue to battle to gain their rightful place in the sport they love. Every professional women’s sport has had the opportunity to flourish except women’s baseball… Girls and women should be offered the same athletic opportunities as men because participation in athletics instills competitive drive, courage, discipline, and initiative, in addition to the benefits of physical fitness." The goal of the NAWBL is to have the finest female baseball players competing in the highest quality environment that they can provide for them. Based on the experiences of this teen-age girl, the NAWBL is truly living up to its motto "Hardball for all." Keep slugging, Mariah. written by Pamela Johnson |