UNITED STATES – Unbeknownst to many, women have been involved in baseball and have a long history with the sport. Starting in 2026, a league of its own may be created to create more opportunities for women in sports.  

Softball is known as the ‘female version’ of baseball. The distance between bases is shorter, and the balls are larger, accommodating female anatomy. 

An NBC article describes that according to National Federation of State High School Association representatives, no state offers girls baseball.

Even though women’s baseball is not offered in high schools, 1,372 girls still play on a high school baseball team. 

According to an NBC article, creating six national women’s baseball teams would eventually lead to college and then high school, allowing baseball to be available to everyone. 

Brianna Lunney, Neshaminy’s previous JV assistant softball coach, has strong feelings about the subject. Lunney has been playing softball since she was seven and played all through middle and high school, and she received a full-ride scholarship to Drexel for softball. 

When softball was removed from the Olympics in 2012, Lunney was hurt and bothered by the decision. 

Women in sports have always been a topic of discussion. According to an article written on the website The Story Exchange, sports like wrestling and baseball have always had some sort of exclusion against women. 

“My dream was crushed and I wasn’t able to pursue something that I love,” Lunney described.

Morgan Leonhouser is on the Neshaminy High School softball team and is committed to The College of New Jersey, where she will continue her softball and academic career. Leonhouser has been playing sports for her entire life, including basketball. 

Leonhouser states that excluding women from sports is “strange and illogical.” 

NBC News describes that women’s baseball league can take off, but first, it just needs players. 

Leonhouser states, “The more people you bring into your sport, the more competitive and popular it gets. It feels like gatekeeping for no good reason.”

However, many question why softball can’t have a league. 

“Softball is the morphing of baseball for females,” Lunney says, “I can’t comprehend why it’s baseball and not softball.”

Women’s baseball can create many opportunities for women in sports, and can be a step in the right direction for feminism itself, but does it gain the possibility to put softball on the back burner?

“I think it’s a step in the right direction, but I don’t think it’s enough,” Lunney states.