All-girls baseball team from Lexington making history
LEXINGTON, KY (WTVQ)- Most families at Shilito Park on a summer night have a son playing baseball.
But, if you listen and look closely then you’ll find something different. Girls, like Hannah Jones, are playing on teams made up of boys.
“It feels pretty good knowing that it’s not just boys who can play baseball,” said 13-year-old Jones, who has been playing baseball since she was four-years-old. “It’s kind of scary because I don’t know if the boys will like me, but it’s good because I make new friends.”
Jones isn’t the first girl to play baseball on a boys Little League team.
There have been quite a few including Mo’ne Davis, who is now a pitcher for Hampton University’s softball team. She made waves in the media for being one of two girls who played in the 2014 Little League World Series.
Jones, like Davis, is not alone in her endeavors to play baseball amongst the boys. A handful of other girls from across Central Kentucky do the same.
Now, they have their own all-girls baseball team called the Bluegrass Banshees.
“It really means a lot because it’s a once in a lifetime thing. It might never happen again,” said Madeline “Mad Dog” Duggins, Jones’ teammate with the Banshees.
On July 12, the team will make history as the first all-girls baseball team from Kentucky to compete in the Baseball For All Nationals in Elizabethtown. That tournament is the largest all-girls baseball competition in the nation.
The players only met each other a few weeks ago, but they’ve formed a tight-knit group.
“We first met and we bonded really well. We acted like we had known each other for years,” said Jones.
Coach Beth Yenser, a former softball player, says that the team is excited to make history.
“They are the first team in Central Kentucky. They get to represent Kentucky. I don’t know if that has sunk in with them or even me,” said Coach Yenser.
Just showing up would be a statement for the Banshees, but the players don’t plan on going home early.
“I think we’ll do really well and win the whole thing,” said Duggins.
You can learn more about the Bluegrass Banshees here and the Baseball For All tournament here.
