Teenager Genevieve Beacom has made history as the first female pitcher for an Australian professional baseball team, debuting for the Melbourne Aces in the Melbourne Challenge Series over the weekend.
The 17-year-old, who signed for the Aces earlier this month as a development player, was brought into Saturday's match against Adelaide Giants for the sixth innings.
In her single innings on the mound, Beacom kept the Giants scoreless but it wasn't enough to prevent the Aces from falling to a 7-1 defeat in the second game of the three-match series.
"When I got out there I just wanted to shut down the runs. They had some momentum so the goal was just to stop the run-scoring," the left-hander said.
Beacom's historic evening continued a ground-breaking career that includes being the first woman to pitch in a Victorian Summer League division one game and representing Victoria and Australia at youth levels.
Beacom paid tribute to her family and coaches for supporting her ambition, including current Aces coach Pete Moylan as she pursues a dream of playing baseball at college level in the United States.
"If anyone tries to push you to do something you don't want to do, push you to softball or play sport that you 'should be playing', don't listen," Beacom said.
The 17-year-old encourages girls not to be put off from certain sports due to their gender. Source: MELBOURNE ACES
"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.
"It can be done."
The three-match Melbourne Challenge Series was organised after COVID forced the 2021-22 Australian Baseball League season to be cancelled in October.
