'Girls want to play': Hundreds turn up for new N.S. girls baseball league

Isabelle Robinson loves baseball, but until this weekend, the 12-year-old girl had never played with a team before.

That's because there wasn't one. But that's changed, thanks to Nova Scotia Girls Baseball, a new all-girls league.

"I watch Toronto Blue Jays all the time with my dad and when I heard about this program I fell in love with it," Robinson said.

She was one of 130 girls signed up for the new league, ranging from ages four to 12, which officially started its season on Saturday at Joan Lenihan Memorial Ballfield in Bedford, N.S.

Six-year-old Taylor Best was eager to start hitting the balls with her new bat.

"I've never played baseball, this is my first time. I played in my yard but I've never played it for real," she said.

Her dad, Shawn Best, heard about it from a coworker and decided it would be a great chance to introduce Taylor to baseball.

"She was very excited. Definite yes, she wanted to come try it out," he said.

"It means for her she can get out and have a good time with some other girls and get a good fundamental skill of the baseball game."

Dana Bookman is the founder of Canadian Women's Baseball Association, which includes Nova Scotia Girls Baseball.

Two years ago, she started a girls team in Toronto, after her six-year-old daughter wanted to play baseball just like her brother.

Bookman searched for a girls league in Toronto, but there wasn't one.

"It's important to have them playing in an all-girls league because they socialize differently when they're playing together than when they do with boys," she said.

"A lot of time boys play rougher, and the girls become intimidated or they don't want to try, they don't want to get embarrassed. They're in a safe space and they have an opportunity to play."

'Girls want to play'

What started with 40 girls in Toronto has grown to almost 1,000 girls in three provinces.

"I think our numbers today show that girls want to play," Bookman said.

"This gives them an opportunity to be together and enjoy the sport and the socializing and everything else that comes with being part of a team."

On Saturday, the girls broke into teams for skills and drills — everything from how to swing, how to run the bases and how to throw and catch.

For the rest of the season, Bookman says the teams will play games against each other, take part in more drills and end the season with a skills competition.

​"Hopefully after this first season, the word of mouth will spread and people will say how much fun they had during our season, and we will get a lot more girls playing ball," she said.

Whether it was their first time wearing a glove, or they were finally able to show off all that backyard practice, it was clear that the girls on Saturday were having fun.

Robinson said she's most excited about learning how to bat and is hoping to be "a first baseman."

Her friend, 12-year-old Olivia MacGillivray, said she was inspired by her mom, who used to play baseball.

"Girls should have a chance," she said.

Robinson added, with a cheeky smile, "Girls are always better than boys."