Here Is Something Nice

My dear friend Jessica Luther wrote this amazing article, "A Team of Their Own," about Girls Travel Baseball (GTB), and it is heartbreaking in many ways, because misogyny exists in the world, but it also just a lovely story about girls doing something they love — even if it necessitates navigating misogyny.

There are so many beautiful moments of female connection in the piece, and so many moments of female ferocity. I strongly encourage you to read the whole thing, but here is a short excerpt:

Aubrey Evans is sitting in the lobby of GTB's hotel on the morning of the first day of the tournament. Her socks are pulled up to her knees, she's wearing a Dirtbags baseball T-shirt, and on the brim of her GTB baseball hat sits a pair of sunglasses. Behind her, some teammates are playing catch.

She knows she's there to be quizzed about baseball. She sounds like she's answered all these questions before; she probably has. Nearly every member of GTB has had a profile published in their local paper and a few have done radio spots or TV hits. Reporters pop up every so often to ask them about being one of a few girls who play the nation's pastime. Maybe that is why Evans is gruff but patient, not quite bored but not far from it.

Her mood changes, though, when she talks about what it's like to be on an all-girls team that plays teams full of boys. A sly smile crawls across her face, a corner of her mouth kicking up, as she says: "Everyone looks at us weird, and they're like, 'Oh, a bunch of girls. We can beat them.' Then once they see us actually beating them, they start to get scared." She loves that feeling, when the boys realize their level of competition. "Feels great," she says. "Because they're all crying when we strike them out or tag them out. [They] throw their helmets and everything."

"They're so emotional," Grace DeVinney adds. The girls laugh.

Perfection.