Basketball, football and baseball were once regarded as men’s sports, but with the rise of the WNBA and a number of women’s professional football leagues popping up all over the country, that is changing. Softball, which has been regarded as the women’s alternative to baseball, is also falling to the wayside as more and more women are deciding it’s time to play hardball. Last year the Southern California Women’s Baseball League (SCWBL) launched their first season in San Diego with three teams playing, and the league is back this year and expected to grow.

“Women’s baseball is growing, not only here in San Diego, but across the United States,” Chris Hill, a member of the SCWBL, told the Gay & Lesbian Times. “Not only do we have leagues that are growing all over the United States, we also have tournaments and this year for the very first time, USA Baseball is fielding a women’s team that will play games in a couple of international competitions, including one in Canada.”

Women’s baseball is played with the same rules as traditional baseball and on a regulation baseball field with 90-foot bases (60 feet in softball), with the exception that the women only play seven-inning games. When the league formed last year, three teams took part in the full season, which ran from June to August and included an exhibition game with the Canadian women’s baseball team. This year the league is looking to expand it’s season by adding a fourth team.

“We would like to expand; what we are doing right now is we are looking to expand in two ways,” Hill says. “One is in terms of the number of players and secondly, we’re expanding with teams in the Los Angeles and Orange County area as well. Our goal would be to expand to four teams this time around, and of course more if we could get more players, but that would be our goal.”

The SCWBL is currently holding player selection workouts for the upcoming 2004 season with their final workout scheduled for Saturday, June 5, at 9:00 a.m. The workout is open to anyone interested in participating in the league or giving hardball a try and will be held at Hourglass Field number 6 in Mira Mesa. There is no obligation and no prior baseball experience is necessary.

“We hate to use the word ‘tryout’ because that sort of implies that you may or may not make a team,” Hill said about the upcoming workout and player selection date. “In essence, we would like anybody who’s interested in playing; we would like to give them an opportunity to play. When you come to one of the workouts that gets you into the system so that you can be put on to a team when the teams are selected. That’s why we try to avoid the word ‘tryout’, but we would like to get everybody out there so we can see where they are in terms of their level of experience and make sure all of the teams have pitchers, catchers, infielders and outfielders.”

The Southern California Women’s Baseball League will begin play for their summer season on June 19. For more information, visit this article at www.gaylesbiantimes.com for a link to the SCWBL website.