As a female baseball player, I cause a lot of problems in people's minds when they find out. Many peoples' first reaction is to make sure I didn't misspeak and say, "Wait, not softball?" Because you know, I don't know what sport I play. Really, I understand your confusion; it is rare for a girl to play baseball.

On a college visit, I went to introduce myself to a coach. My dad only got to "Hi I'm Eric, this is my daughter Shannon and she's looking to play baseball in college," when the coach told us "Well then, you better look somewhere else because you don't belong here." It was my first experience with the fabled outright "No, girls can't play baseball and don't belong in the game of baseball," response. I have had teammates who refused to respect me as an athlete simply because I was a girl and "belonged" on the softball diamond rather than the baseball diamond. I would hear them complaining to our coaches about how I shouldn't be playing because I am a girl and that means that I can't be a better baseball player to put out on the field. One time, a teammate quit the team because he couldn't stand to be on the same team as a girl, let alone play behind her. For some reason, the people who tend to take the most offense from me playing baseball and not softball, are women. Moms speak up in the crowds of games saying that I should be playing softball, the girl's sport. Not baseball, which should be left to the boys. My high school's softball coach came to me in eighth grade telling me that there was a varsity spot open for me on the team if I wanted to switch to softball. My dad once had a Division I college coach come up to him asking if I would be open to open to switching to softball. Online, when an article comes out about female baseball players, many people are mad at us for, "Taking spots away from male players," which is incredibly wrong because, "Baseball is a man's sport and the boys should get a spot to play ahead of any woman."

Not all reactions are bad though, I find many people being supportive of me. Strangers have told my dad that they wished their daughters played baseball. In high school, my parents could hear the opposing team's parents talking about how awesome it was that I struck out their sons, or that they thought I was doing a great job working toward female equality. While the number of good comments outweigh the bad, the bad have much louder voices.

Many ask, "What, was softball not good enough for you?" No. It isn't about softball at all. Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean that I have to be confined to playing softball. Softball is a great sport, and I enjoy watching it. I just don't enjoy playing it as much as I enjoy playing baseball. I started out playing softball—I played through sixth grade. At that time, my teammates weren't into competing so much as doing their hair and makeup to look good for any boys who were at the game. But I wanted to compete and play. So at a softball practice there was a random baseball and I jokingly pitched it to my dad as I'd seen the MLB players do on TV, and I was good. My dad signed me up for a local baseball league, and I had the most fun I've ever had playing ball. At that time I knew that I wanted to continue playing baseball rather than softball.

I play baseball because I love the game. I don't play baseball for attention, and I don't play baseball as a person who is doing it to make a stand on gender equality. I play because I want to. I've had to prove myself time and time again in my baseball career. Yet through everything, here I am, trying out for college baseball.