MLB Grit Invitational held in North Texas to showcase high school girls playing baseball
ARLINGTON, Texas - The weather caused a rain delay Saturday morning in Arlington for the first-ever MLB Grit Invitational designed specifically for high school girls who play baseball.
But skies cleared up and the games went on, and it turned out to be a perfect day for some baseball.
It was also the perfect day for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for more than 60 young women selected from across North America to play with and learn from the best of the best.
The inaugural MLB Grit baseball tournament was a joint project of Major League Baseball and USA Baseball.
On Saturday, they played at the Texas Rangers MLB Youth Academy in west Dallas.
Ximena Zamarron was one of three local girls who got to take part.
She's been playing baseball since she was 4 years old, and dreams of making it big time.
"I hope to get scouted and maybe in my future, I can play college baseball,” Zamarron said. “Maybe one day to make it in the MLB."
Events like this can help make that happen.
"This really opens their eyes,” said Juan Garciga, director of the Texas Rangers MLB Youth Academy. “For a lot of them, it's the first time they've ever played on a team with all girls, that's baseball."
They're preparing these young women for the collegiate recruiting process.
Some of the nation’s top female baseball figures served as team coaches.
"Really focusing on the development of the players, and they've broken off into different positions so that they could really get some specified information from the coaches. So, we'll be evaluating them along the way," said Alex Oglesby, former member of USA Baseball Women’s National Team.
There were even some players who flew in all the way from Canada for the experience.
"I’ve already learned so much about my catching today or yesterday,” said Marika Lyszczyk. “It was just the little things that I improve on that made my game a lot better."
"Really amazing to just see how other people view the game, and for them to give me that knowledge, [it’s] really great," Ellie MaCaulay added.
The invitational kicked off Friday with players competing in two games at Globe Life Park in Arlington.
It was a dream come true for Alicia Gonzalez, who grew up watching the Rangers.
"I'd always like to imagine I was in an actual game playing, and [Friday], I actually got the opportunity to play there. It was, it was amazing," Gonzalez said.
When it comes to baseball, these girls say they can keep up with the boys.
Which is what this event is all about.
“It's not just in baseball, it's just in life,” Oglesby added. “There shouldn't be boundaries just because of your gender. So in this case, baseball, we want to provide with other opportunities to continue playing. And that's really the only thing that's been holding back, the opportunity to do so."