BFA Nationals the latest proof of progress for girls' baseball
For high school varsity athletes Maddie Tse and Bella Fong, a love (and skill) for baseball was apparent from a young age. Beginning their sporting careers in softball, both rockstar players transitioned over to their all-boys school baseball teams with the unwavering support of their families and quickly proved that they were more than worthy of being there.
Despite some initial trepidation over joining the male-dominated sport, Tse and Fong thrived and then found their way to girls’ baseball, both attending Major League Baseball’s Elite Development Invitational (EDI) as top female athletes. This week, they’re headed to the Baseball for All (BFA) Nationals -- Tse with the New York Wonders and Fong with Evolution Girls Baseball -- to compete in a tournament dedicated to building a supportive community around girls’ baseball.
In its eighth year, the BFA Nationals kicked off in Elizabethtown, Ky., on July 12 with over 500 players ages 6-18 hailing from 35 states and three countries. Founded by Justine Siegal, the non-profit organization creates opportunities for girls and women in baseball to compete, develop their skills and build connections with fellow athletes through a common thread -- the love of baseball.
“My goal is that your granddaughter gets to play baseball and she never knew that girls were once told they couldn’t,” Siegal said.
The BFA Nationals are tangible proof that progress is being made toward that goal. Siegal shared that one of her favorite parts of the tournament is seeing all of the girls together at the opening ceremony.
“The younger girls can see the older girls and know what’s possible, and the older girls are seeing graduates of the program now coaching,” Siegal said. “Seeing the full circle is beautiful and rewarding.”
Many girls starting out in baseball have to push past the widespread misconception that baseball is a man’s sport. Tse, a 17-year-old from Glenville, N.Y., was reluctant at a young age to join the all-boys youth baseball team when her mom encouraged her to make the transition from softball.
“My first year playing baseball, I absolutely loved it, but I was very hesitant at the beginning,” Tse said. “At first, I didn’t want to be different. I’m a girl, and we’re told we’re supposed to play softball. I didn’t know any other girl who played baseball.”
Luckily, with the support of her family and life-long coach, Tse was able to overcome her initial fears and commit to mastering the skills to stand out. She is a star player on her high school varsity and travel teams, and she’ll be representing the United States at the first-ever PONY Girls' Baseball World Series in Japan.
Fong, a 17-year-old San Francisco native, shared a similar worry about joining her Little League team. While she was raised around the sport of baseball, with a Little League coach dad and brothers who played, the experience of joining an all-boys team was intimidating.
“I was the only girl on the team, and I felt a little bit like an outsider,” Fong said.
She has led an impressive young career in baseball, becoming the first woman to pitch in a high school varsity baseball championship game in San Francisco history. She was also recently invited to play for the Women's National Team at the Asia Cup in the Philippines.
When Fong decided to join her high school baseball team, she felt confident and supported by her team.
“I’ve developed a close relationship with the guys on my team and they, along with my coaches, support and respect me as a player,” she said.
For both Tse and Fong, girls’ baseball and BFA provided a unique opportunity for them to join teams of like-minded players looking to compete and grow the game in a supportive setting. Tse’s involvement in girls’ baseball is recent, spawned from a 2022 MLB social media post encouraging young girls to apply for MLB-supported EDI.
She was accepted to the EDI, despite assuming it was a long shot, and attended for the first time in June 2022, when she was offered an opportunity to play with the all-girls’ baseball team the New York Wonders. From there, Tse attended the Maria Pepe tournament with the Wonders last fall, and will be joining them for the first time this year at the BFA Nationals.
“I’m really excited to see friends I haven’t seen in a few months, meet new people and come together to play the game of baseball that we all love,” Tse said. “Women’s Baseball is so supportive. It’s not that men don’t want to build each other up, but it’s more prominent in an all-girls team from my experience. We’re cheering each other on, even if we’re not on the same team.”
Fong was introduced to BFA in 2016 and has been competing in the Nationals ever since, first on the San Francisco Bay Sox, then on the East Bay Oaks, and now on Evolution Girls Baseball. She shared just as much of an appreciation for the opportunities girls’ baseball has given her.
“When I was in middle school, I wasn’t sure whether to go the softball or baseball route,” Fong said. “But joining an all-girls baseball team and going to baseball events inspired me to keep playing and reinforced the idea that I belonged in the sport.”
As girls’ baseball grows, with the commitment by MLB and the help of organizations like BFA, people across the world are seeing that baseball is a sport for everyone. And the hope for fans and players of the game is that this growth continues.
“I’d love to see more girls playing baseball, especially at the younger level,” Tse said. “This year there were a lot more young girls at EDI, and there are now five or six girls playing baseball in my hometown. It’s great to see that girls’ baseball is growing with each generation.”
BFA stemmed from Siegal’s personal journey feeling undermined as a woman in baseball, and a goal to build a better future for girls in the sport. Fortunately, she’s seen advancements toward this goal.
“There’s still a lot of work to do to ensure that girls get opportunities in baseball,” she said. “But I do think that progress is being made. The conversation is shifting from questions of whether girls should play baseball to how we can help girls’ baseball grow, and that’s helping us propel forward.”