TORONTO (AP) — Women’s baseball made history Monday at the Pan Am Games, the first time it’s been played in a large, multi-sport event.
There was no live television coverage at the debut, and perhaps only 200 fans saw the first pitch as American left hander Sarah Hudek threw a ball just off the plate to open the game against leadoff hitter Astrid Rodriguez of Venezuela.
“To be here, this is awesome. This is it,” said American player Malaika Underwood. “It doesn’t matter that we’re not on TV. I mean the fact we are out here is the point. When we look back at this, I think we’ll appreciate the magnitude.”
For the record, the United States defeated Venezuela 10-6 in a regulation seven innings.
The field and the distances are identical in the men’s and women’s games. The only difference is seven innings for the women, and nine for the men.
The Americans are represented by a firefighter, a nurse, two high-school students and a wide mix of players, most of whom grew up playing baseball. Some also played softball, but Underwood guessed about two-thirds played only baseball — on women’s teams, or men’s teams.
The United States has no professional league for women, although Japan and several other countries do.
“I just want to get women’s baseball more out there and open the doors for younger women knowing they don’t have to convert to softball if they don’t want to,” Hudek, adding the response is always the same when she says she plays baseball.
“They try to correct me. They say: ‘Oh, you mean softball’.”
She replies: “No, baseball. I hope one day we can get to where people don’t correct us.”
Hudek will be a freshman this year on the men’s team at Bossier Parish Community College in Louisiana.
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