Glenburn girl trying out for school baseball team

GLENBURN, Maine (WABI) - School baseball tryouts are in full swing all over Maine, but it’s the one in Glenburn that’s attracting plenty of attention.

“I was hoping the school would change their mind, but I wasn’t really positive they would. When I found out they did, I was really excited.”

Grace played softball at Glenburn last year but prefers pitching with baseball.

“I can throw a fastball and the change-up.”

She doesn’t agree that baseball and softball are inherently gender-specific sports.

“I think that no matter what your gender is, people have a lot of different hopes and dreams of what they want to do. I don’t think your gender should tell you that you’re not allowed to play a certain sport because you are born that way. If you’re a girl wanting to try out for a boys’ team, then you should have the chance to, and if you’re a boy you should be able to try out for a girls’ team.”

Grace says the coaching staff is giving her a fair chance, but not all of her potential teammates are on board with having a girl on the team. Grace says that’s not why she’s trying out.”

“It’s not that I would be the first girl - that’s not why I want to do it. I want to do it because I like the sport.

“I’m not 100% that I’m going to make the team, I just want to give it a shot to see if I could make the team.”

With tryouts fast approaching, Grace is looking forward to all that toeing the rubber for the Chargers represents.

“I’m going to be really, happy that I finally got my chance to be able to do what I want to do, and that I wasn’t told ‘no’ anymore, and that I can actually do what I want to do.”

Copyright 2022 WABI. All rights reserved.