Meet the all-girls baseball team that just wants to play ball

SEATTLE — Head on over to Bar-S park in West Seattle on a summer night, and you’ll be greeted with a familiar scene: There are fans in the stands, fresh chalk lines on the ground and the sound of an aluminum bat clanging when it hits a baseball.

(Picture via Mallory Cwik)

Little League season has started, and nearly every ballpark in the country plays host to this scene every weekend. Bar-S is mostly the same. As you approach the park, you’ll notice players warming up and playing catch. After that, the coach gathers them together to run pre-game drills. Players catch the ball at first base, and take batting practice to get ready for the game.

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It’s all pretty standard except for one small thing: The team you’re watching is called the Rockford Peaches, and it’s all girls. The Peaches, yes, just like in “A League of Their Own.” Only these girls are playing against the boys.

The concept of women in baseball isn’t necessarily a new development, as girls have been allowed to play Little League for years. But the significance of women within the game has become a much bigger focus in recent years.

Mo’Ne Davis’ dominant performance in the 2014 Little League World Series was just the start. Since then, ESPN hired Jessica Mendoza as a full-time analyst on Sunday Night Baseball, and the Oakland Athletics made Justine Siegal the first female coach in Major League Baseball.

In West Seattle, that torch is currently being carried by the Rockford Peaches. Named after the famous team from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, the Peaches are the first-ever all-girls, coach-pitch team in the history of the league. The team, made up of 6- to-8-year-old girls, routinely takes on the other, mostly all-boy, teams in the league.

(Picture via Mallory Cwik) The idea to bring the girls together on one team came from head coach Sean Eley. Eley has coached his son’s team in the past, but his daughter, Stella, also shared his passion for baseball.

“Stella is 7 and she loves baseball,” Eley said. “So we just thought it would be fun to do an all-girls team.”

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Many of the parents on the team had girls who played tee-ball the previous year. Each tee-ball team was made up of predominantly boys, with one or two girls sprinkled in each roster. Eley reached out to some of the parents around the league who had daughters, like Erik Moe, and proposed the idea of an all-girls team the following season. Moe’s daughter, Sophia, is a member of the Peaches. In the offseason, she plays on all-boys football team. She’s the quarterback.

“[Eley] could see the potential in some of the girls and just kind of rallied them together and that’s how we got here,” Moe says.

The Peaches weren’t put together for novelty. The team is serious about learning the game. And showing it on the field. Last week, the Peaches opened the game with four straight hits.

“They really are into it,” Moe says. “They aren’t joking around with it. It’s kind of cool.”

Of course, at that age, the game should also be fun. Eley is constantly rewarding players with bubblegum after big plays, almost to the point of bribery. In the field, there’s a constant “Let’s Go Peaches” chant. Before they bat, that changes to “One, two, three: Hit!” After a hard-fought game, there’s nothing better than enjoying a juice box and some gummy peaches with your teammates.

(Picture via Mallory Cwik) There’s also the presentation of the weekly MVP trophy. The trophy is awarded to a standout player each week. That player gets to take the trophy, which is topped by a large golden mitt, home with her until the next game.

This particular week, it went to Elle Chapman. Elle made Peaches history becoming the first player on the team to catch a ball on the fly, and double-up a runner on base.

The girls seem to enjoy themselves, whether they are cheering each other on after big hits or asking Coach Sean if they performed well enough to snag a piece of gum. The parents, like Eley and Moe, are just glad their daughters can take part in a game they loved growing up.

“There isn’t a place for all-girls [teams] in baseball,” Moe says. “They push them to softball. So, it’s really neat that they brought this together and let them play real baseball.”

Eley, who has played baseball his entire life, is grateful that he gets to share in the endeavor with his daughter.

“I get to be a part of it, and I get to be with my daughter,” he says. “It’s not just a boys’ sports.”

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Mo’Ne Davis’ contributions in the Little League World Series are not lost on Stella and the Eley family. Eley’s son read Davis’ book “Remember My Name: My Story from First Pitch to Game Changer,” and it’s now prominently displayed in the family’s house.

(Picture via Mallory Cwik) “It’s on the coffee table at home right now and it’s kind of inspirational,” he says. “She’s an amazing athlete and if I can bring that to some girls, put a little more info out there …” he pauses to consider the weight of those words. “It’s just for fun.”

At that age, that’s exactly what the game should be. As Eley explains the goal of the league is to teach the girls the fundamentals of the game, he’s interrupted by Stella, who would like him to have her post-game juice box. These are the demands that come with coaching 6- to 8-year-olds.

While receiving a juice box is a nice perk, there are far more rewarding experiences to being the coach of the Peaches.

“The coolest thing to me with baseball and with sports and coaching,” Eley says. “I had this little kid come up to me, and a lot of them will do it now, but this one little kid came up to me after a game and said ‘Thanks, coach.’ It just resonated with me, like, their appreciation, it’s so cool.”

Next year will bring on new challenges for Eley and the Peaches. The girls will have reached an age where each player in the league is subjected to a draft, which could make it tough for Eley to retain all of his players. He’s not entirely sure how he’s going to handle that just yet.

(Picture via Mallory Cwik) As a possible last hurrah, Eley is considering entering the team into a more competitive local coach-pitch tournament.

“If I could take the girls down there and be successful, I would be over the moon,” he says. “That would be so unbelievable.”

[Previously: Cubs make dream weekend come true for young Chicago ballplayers]

For now, everyone is enjoying the Peaches while they can. Even though the team may not exist in the same capacity next season, the girls will be able to continue playing the game.

No one will question or bat an eye on that development. The rise of Mendoza and Siegal within the game have helped in that regard. And Davis’ legendary performance in the Little League World Series should make her a role model among the girls if she’s not already.

At the moment, those advancements aren’t on the minds of the young girls on the Rockford Peaches. They’re not thinking about the significance of their team’s existence or wondering whether this is the new normal.

They are just kids playing a game, content to cheer loudly, have fun and get as much bubble gum as they can.

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