Genevieve Beacom becomes first woman to pitch in the Australian Baseball League
By Wayne Sterling, CNN
History was made in Australia Friday as Genevieve Beacom became the first woman to pitch in the Australian Baseball League (ABL).
The 17-year-old left-hander took the mound in the sixth inning for the Melbourne Aces in the team’s Melbourne Challenge Series game against the Adelaide Giants. She pitched a scoreless inning without giving up a hit at Melbourne Ballpark.
After the game, Beacom said she did not want the Giants to score.
“When I got out there, I just wanted to shut down the runs,” Beacom said. “They had some momentum and my goal was to just stop the runs from scoring. So yeah, it was good.”
Beacom also had some advice for young girls who want to follow their dreams.
“If anyone tries to push you to do something you don’t want to do, push you to softball, or to play a sport that you ‘should’ be playing, don’t listen,” she said.
“Do what you want to do and just know that if you work hard enough you can definitely make it somewhere. It’s not impossible. You can see, it can be done.”
The manager of the Aces, Peter Moylan, a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher, tweeted: “Ive (sic) been lucky enough to witness so many cool things in baseball, this was one of my favorites.”
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Beacom first made history, ​according to the team, when she became the first woman to pitch in a VSBL Division 1 Firsts game.
She signed as a developmental player with the team for the 2022-23 season.
The Aces have won the last two ABL championships (the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons). The 2021-22 season has been canceled amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
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