Blog: Field of Dreams
by Carolyn Herr, VP Channel Communities, The Channel Company
I have a teenage daughter – her name is Tabby and she'll turn 15 in mid-August. She has played baseball her entire life. No, not softball. Baseball. When she first started T-Ball, I believe there were 3 girls on the team. In those early years, most kids were picking dandelions in the outfield and building mini-sand castles in the infield dirt --- so being a boy or a girl had pretty much no bearing on the sport at all. As the years progressed, the girls peeled away, and Tabby was the last girl left standing.
She continued to get more and more serious about baseball. She played Little League till she aged out (age 12) and then joined Travel Teams, where again she was the only girl on the team --- most often the only girl in the league. She worked hard. You know Charlotte Whitton’s quote, “Whatever women do, they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good.” Well, Tabby has no idea who Charlotte Whitton was . . . but she knows the sentiment. She embodies the sentiment. She gets to practice 45 minutes early, she stays late. On her days off, she bikes to the field to practice solo. She goes to the gym constantly and has private pitching & hitting lessons. She keeps a baseball journal, documenting her every play in the field and her every at-bat. She’s watching baseball clips on YouTube with a zeal you could hardly fathom.
Years ago, she set a new goal for herself – to become the first girl to make our local high school’s baseball team. That high school team plays in Division I (for all you non-sports people, that means they are good. Very good. It’s a very competitive team, and lots of ‘good’ players get cut.)
The tryouts are next week and I thought about not writing this post until after we knew the outcome. Not writing a blog at all, unless she does, in fact, make the team. But then I realized how wrong that would be. It’s the Herculean effort she has put in for all these years that should be celebrated & recognized. It’s her perseverance. It’s her earning the respect of every coach and teammate – because she’s shown she is as good as the boys, and better than some. It’s her willingness to be the first. Her willingness to pave the way for the girls behind her who will have a similar dream.
We talked a lot at the dinner table when Olivia Pichardo became the first female athlete to be on a Division I college baseball roster (Brown University) in the fall of 2022. Her success added more fuel to Tabby’s fire. It was possible.
As we head into tryouts, I’m in awe of Tabby’s determination and passion. Whether she makes the team or not, she’s already a trailblazer. Her journey is a testament to what hard work and dedication can achieve, and I couldn’t be prouder. Here’s to all the girls chasing their dreams in fields where they are told they don’t belong. Keep pushing, keep believing, and keep proving them wrong. Because if anyone can do it, it's you, Tabby.