NC girls step up to the plate in special Little League baseball weekend
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Four North Carolina girls earned spots in the 2026 Maria Pepe Little League Legacy Series.
- The three-day girls-only tournament in Williamsport features 96 players ages 11 and 12.
- USA Baseball, Little League and Baseball for All have taken steps to grow girls' baseball.
When most baseball or softball players point to the beginning of their careers, they often describe the experience of tossing a ball with a parent, sibling or friend.
Joe Genovese remembers participating in the quintessential activity with his daughter, Alessia, during her younger years. A former baseball player from New York, he pitched to her in the family’s Wake Forest driveway from the time she could stand and catch a ball.
Alessia, 11, advanced to T-ball, the local recreation baseball and even joined the Raleigh Redbirds, a local boys travel team. She constantly wondered why she couldn’t play the sport with other girls.
“I said, ‘Well, one day you will,’” Joe Genovese said. “We always talked about that. Now it’s coming, and it’s here. I think we’re all proud. … Sometimes I have to pinch myself. It’s just so cool to see that and see her love the game.”
Alessia recently joined the Carolina Comets, an all-girls baseball organization in Huntersville, and became one of four North Carolina girls to earn a spot in the Maria Pepe Little League Legacy Baseball Series.
The three-day tournament from June 5-7 provides 96 girls, ages 11 and 12, an opportunity to compete in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, home of the Little League Baseball World Series.
Players from 30 states, Aruba, Brazil and Canada were selected. It is the third annual event, which honors Maria Pepe — who advocated for the inclusion of women and girls in baseball — and coincides with the first-ever Little League game played on June 6, 1939, and National Little League Week.
Alessia joins Eleanor Austin (Asheville), Zella Carter (Winston-Salem) and Madelyn Martin (Charlotte) in the North Carolina contingent. Their families plan on meeting in Williamsport and spending time together. Carter was unavailable for an interview.
“I’m excited to have the chance to play with girls and play hard,” Alessia said. “I always want to get better at either hitting or fielding, because there’s never a ‘best.’ You can always get better.”
‘It’s not just me’
Playing with boys is fine, but the girls often wish there were more.
Austin is one of two girls in her Little League division. Martin, 12, said there are “a few” girls on her team, while Alessia is the lone girl for the Redbirds.
Even when the boys are nice, Alessia said being the only girl can get lonely. She’s excited to be at the all-girls tournament.
“I want to be able to have someone to talk to or friends on the team,” she said. “Now that I’m playing with girls, it will definitely be way better and more fun.”
Martin and Austin, meanwhile, said the team feels different when there are more girls. The dugout is louder, the game is somewhat more relaxed and the camaraderie is stronger.
Austin, 12, participated in the Maria Pepe tournament last summer and experienced the girls-only series. There’s certainly still competition and the participants use the opportunity to improve, but Austin said the weekend provides more than athletic development.
The young catcher looks forward to seeing her friends from last summer and making new ones. She wants to help young players the same way other girls did for her. In addition to the games, players stay in the dorms at the Little League complex and participate in various bonding activities.
“It was nice, because I saw that it’s not just me,” Austin said. “There’s a bunch of girls playing, and we’re there to support each other. … Everyone’s there growing. We’re all one big team, but we still want to beat each other.”
Parents of all three girls expressed pride in their daughters.
Rebecca Martin is thrilled with Madelyn’s confidence, on the field, at the plate and in the dugout. Kirstin Austin admires Eleanor’s courage to play with boys and participate in the 2025 Maria Pepe tournament. Joe and Melissa Genovese feel lucky to see Alessia’s dedication to reach this point.
The families plan on traveling with their children and hope to see them embrace the weekend.
“My biggest thing is to let her soak in the experience; that they get to go play on the Little League fields,” Rebecca Martin said. “Very few kids, boys or girls, get the opportunity to actually go to Williamsport and play on those fields, and I just feel like this is a big moment.”
Growing the girls game
The Maria Pepe series and girls participation is not a fluke or a one-off. USA Baseball, Little League and Baseball for All have taken steps to grow the sport among girls and women, while baseball viewership is up.
Women have their own professional baseball league for the first time in 70 years, as well. Four teams in New York, Los Angeles, Boston and San Francisco will play in late summer, hosting a regular season, playoffs and all-star game.
Martin, who plays softball and baseball, is excited to see the growth of baseball among girls, too. She says it’s “really great” and wants to see more opportunities. Having opportunities in softball is great, having them in baseball, too, is even better.
“I think it’s important for that to happen, so more feel confident to play,” Martin said, “and so we have more teams and more players.”
Until girls baseball is popular everywhere, however, the trio encouraged others to try baseball anyway. It could be a life-changing decision, and they’re here to support anyone who wants to join North Carolina’s up-and-coming sorority of girls baseball.
There’s no limit to their success, and, frankly, who cares what anyone else thinks?
“It can be hard at first because you think all the boys might be better than you, or they might make fun of you for playing on the team,” Alessia said. “If you just ignore them and just keep playing, it’s way better than listening to what they say.”
This story was originally published May 13, 2026 at 5:15 AM with the headline "NC girls step up to the plate in special Little League baseball weekend."
