When London Studer was 11 years old, the central Ohio athlete had a big dream.
“To work harder, get stronger and become an MLB star,” she said in a 2017 interview with WOSU Public Media.
Now, that dream is a step closer to reality.
In late November, Studer was selected by New York as the 19th pick in the first round of the inaugural Women’s Professional Baseball League draft.
“When I was 11, I didn't know that this would even be possible or that there even were other girls out there,” Studer said.
“Now, playing with all of these girls that I've known for years, it’s just going to be that much more fun proving everybody wrong when they said we couldn't do it.”
From a plastic bat to a professional league
Studer started playing baseball with a plastic bat in her front yard when she was only a few years old.
For much of her life, she was the only girl on teams full of boys.
“People don't necessarily understand the difference between softball and baseball,” Studer said. “[They’d say], ‘If you're a girl, why don't you just go play softball?’ But they’re two different sports. That's one of the biggest obstacles I've faced my entire life.”
It took her until she was about 16 to discover she wasn’t the only woman with this preference.
“Eventually I figured out that there's other women in this country — so many women, hundreds of women all around this country and many other countries as well — that have wanted and pushed for the same thing that I do,” Studer said.
“And I told myself, ‘This is what I want to do. If there's other women that can do it, I can do it. And I want to be the best woman out there.’”
Competing professionally
The four-team Women’s Professional Baseball League will start play in August.
Two other Ohio women were also drafted: Olivia Bricker of Cincinnati and Micaela Minner of Akron.
Studer says she’s excited to play among a field of women who have been in her shoes.
“All of us have competed for the exact same position: to have a spot on a male team,” she said. “We all understand what it's like to go through adversity and to struggle with something like this and to have to just face all of this backlash and all of these people telling us that we can't do it. So it makes me feel very, very welcome to play with girls.”
She hopes the league’s inaugural season will pique interest in baseball and let little girls know that they too can take part in America’s pastime.
