Standing on the pitcher’s mound, junior Sophie Baker pauses and throws a careful overhand pitch that she has been working on for weeks.

Sophie, a pitcher and second baseman, plays baseball, not softaball, and will continue to do so despite questions and the traditional assumption that baseball is only for boys.

Sophie played with the Piedmont Baseball Foundation for eight years, from first to eighth grade, and continued to play baseball even when all of the girls playing baseball in her league stopped. Beginning in ninth grade, Sophie played baseball at the Groton School in Massachusetts from 2013 to 2015. She pitches and plays second base.

“I had a lot of friends that did drop out of my league [during elementary school] to play softball, and eventually all the girls dropped out and I was the only one,” Sophie said. “But I felt as if I was still good enough to play and because baseball is a completely different sport than softball, it would not be a good change.”

Massachusetts is the only state that forbids girls from playing baseball if there is a softball alternative at their school, mother Rosemary Baker said. Sophie was allowed to play baseball at Groton because there was no Groton softball team. She was believed to be the only girl in Massachusetts playing high school baseball with boys.

“I just love baseball so much, but pitching is probably the most fun thing, especially now that I have different pitches,” Baker said. “Practicing them and getting a really good curveball is such a good feeling. [Learning a new pitch] is  hard, but it’s so satisfying when you get there.”

Baseball and softball differ in the type of ball, spacing of the bases and in pitching. For Sophie, the difference in pitching is the most significant, as she is a pitcher. In softball, players pitch underhand, unlike baseball, and because the pitch is closer, the ball comes quicker.

“Although boys on her teams have always been supportive of her, she has experienced challenges from opposing teams, including wolf whistles and other comments while on the mound, intentional hitting when at bat and Facebook comments from opposing team players,” Rosemary said.

Recounting an experience with a member of an opposing team, Sophie reiterated her mother’s statements. During a game, a pitcher hit her with the ball three or four times, which resulted in a walk for Sophie. After, the player friended her on Facebook and posted, bragging, about how he had hit “this girl” four times. The comments on the post included asking if the opposing pitcher had gotten Sophie’s number.

“I guess he was just kind of scared that I would hit it and he’d be embarrassed,” Sophie said. “But, it shows how he is so weak to not even try to let me hit.”

Sophie had hoped to play baseball at Piedmont this spring, but due to sports transfer rules, she is not able to play in games this season, however she still wants the opportunity to practice with the team. 

“There has not been a girl tryout during my tenure, but we would welcome a female baseball player if she possessed the skills, attitude and work ethic that we look for in all Piedmont baseball players,” varsity baseball coach Eric Olson said.

Since varsity baseball assistant coach Pete LaChapelle started coaching, there has been one female varsity baseball player at PHS, Jillian Garber, Class of 2005, who was an outfielder her senior year. With three at bats total, Garber did not have much playing time, but she had a positive attitude and blended right in, LaChapelle siad.

“In other countries, baseball is much more of a big deal for girls, especially in Japan where there is a baseball academy for girls and in Australia [where] there are professional women’s leagues,” Baker said.” [These are things] the US doesn’t have but you think it should because the US is so progressive, but in this sense it’s really not.”

Last summer, Baker represented Team USA in Korea for an all-girls baseball tournament. She played teams from countries such as Japan, Australia and Korea. Women’s baseball is much more common and accepted in many Asian countries than in the United States, Rosemary said.

“[The tournament] was different that I expected because I haven’t played with girls since I was little and it was so similar to my usual experience,” Baker said. “It showed me that there are so many girls from other countries that are passionate about baseball, and I am not the only one, even if it seems like I am because I don’t play with other girls.”