Meet the All-Girls Baseball Team Shaking Up a West Seattle Little League
Meet the real-life Rockford Peaches.
-- These girls are knocking the boys straight out of the park.
The Rockford Peaches is the first all-girls baseball team in the history of the West Seattle Little League, which has been around since 1958. And though the WSLL has allowed girls to play with boys, it has never had a team of only girls.
The Peaches, ages 6 to 8, came together two months ago thanks to their head coach, Sean Eley, who has a daughter on the team.
Elyey told ABC News today he named the Peaches after a team of the same name in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), which existed from 1943 to 1954. The original Rockford Peaches also inspired the 1992 movie "A League of Their Own," starring Tom Hanks, Geena Davis and Madonna.
But unlike the Peaches of the 20th century, who only played against women, these younger Peaches play against the boys.
"All the boys at our school think they are better at baseball than us," team member Mariella Croghan told ABC Seattle affiliate KOMO-TV. "I kind of feel really good when we get it better because it proves them wrong, finally."
The Peaches are part of a WSLL division that doesn't keep score because its players are so young, Eley told ABC News. But if scores were kept, Eley said, his girls would be "at the top of the leaderboards."
"I personally think they're evenly just as good as the boys, and in some cases, better," Eley said. "They play hard, hit the ball hard and run fast. We've had numerous double plays so far this season, and even one triple play."
The coach added that he trains the Peaches "with the same drills and rigor" that he uses with the other teams he coaches that are predominantly made up of boys.
Eley is hopeful that some of the girls may be the first women to play professionally in Major Baseball League, he said.
"No one has broken that barrier yet, but who knows, we could have it broken very soon," Eley said. "I know baseball. I play it, I love it, and like I've said, ‘These girls are just as good as the boys, if not better.’"
Little League International is now trying to confirm whether the Peaches is an official team in the league, according to spokesman Brian McClintock.
It would be difficult to confirm that the Peaches are the first all-girls team in Little League history because officials don’t keep track of gender in their recorded demographics, McClintock told ABC News today, though adding, "They're certainly unique."