A league of their own

Chelsea Baseball finally has a girls team

Nora Seligy runs to first base on a 3 ball, 2 strike hit with bases loaded in the bottom of the 2nd inning, while teammate Clara tries to run home, during the Chelsea Cardinals U-11 boys versus girls exhibition game on June 19. Stuart Benson photo

By Stuart Benson

For the parents watching Chelsea Baseball’s very first girls’ team, The Cardinals Bleus, face-off in an exhibition match against their under-11 boys' counterparts, the Cardinals Rouges, at Russell Martin baseball diamond in Chelsea on June 19, the decision for who to root for was a difficult one.

“I think at this point it’s about who will take the loss the hardest,” one parent told this reporter before the game on condition of anonymity as both their son and daughter were competing against each other. “It’s going to be a much longer weekend if the boys lose.”

A growing baseball association, Chelsea had around 45 players five years ago but has now seen those numbers increase to over 130. According to Bleus coach Catherine Robin, it had been a struggle to cultivate and maintain enough girls within the program for their own team — that is until recently. Now Chelsea finally has a girls' team that will be playing at home and across the region against other girls' teams.