Ainsley Griner stood at bat.
While waiting for the next pitch, she heard the heckling from some of the players on the opposing team.
The reason for the heckling?
Griner is a girl, and not just any girl. She’s the first girl to play on the varsity baseball team for the Utah Military Academy-Camp Williams Marauders.
Griner’s younger brother Tate Griner, a sophomore, plays on the team, too. That’s how she found out the team was down a few players.
“So I came down here and I just put on my cleats, and I just started playing,” she said.
That one practice was enough for head coach Aaron Tilley.
“I wanted her on the team the first time I saw her throw a baseball,” he said.
After practice that day, Ainsley Griner called her mother, Sara Clark, to tell her she’d made the team.
“I got a call, and she’s like, ‘I’m No. 3,’” Clark said. “I was like, ‘You’re No. 3? ... You can play baseball?’”
Griner can do more than just “play baseball.” She’s become a key asset to the Marauders as a versatile athlete who can suit up at center field and first base while also pitching.
Trading softball for baseball
Ainsley Griner grew up playing softball on travel teams and, later on, her high school team in Kansas as a freshman until she suffered an injury.
This season marks her return to the diamond.
“I love baseball. I love softball. I love everything softball,” she said.
While her softball experience has definitely helped, she has had to adjust to a few differences between the two sports, such as the ball size, the pitches and now being allowed to lead off before the pitcher throws the ball.
But she’s taking those in stride.
“She’s just really optimistic and positive. She works really hard, and I’m happy for her that that’s what she wants to do,” Clark said.
In addition to softball, Griner played soccer and basketball growing up. She’s also a cheerleader and star volleyball player for the Marauders.
“She’s an excellent athlete,” Tilley said.
Right now, she’s balancing both baseball and volleyball — and her part-time job.
From 3:15-5 p.m. every day, she’s at volleyball practice before heading down to Lehi’s Veterans Ball Park for baseball practice.
Though baseball practice typically ends at 6 p.m., she stays an extra 30 minutes to an hour for extra practice.
Like another player
Though she’s faced some opposition from players on other teams, her teammates have been more than accepting.
“I’ve heard about some boys being upset, not on my team,” she said. “They all just treat me like another boy, like another player on the team.”
There were no administrative hoops Tilley had to jump through to get Griner on the team, but “even if there were, I would have done it,” he said.
Griner is one of two seniors on the Marauders’ squad this season.
“She brought an energy to the team that we didn’t have and a knowledge of the game, experience playing the game,” Tilley said.
For the head coach, it was a “no-brainer” to bring her onto the team.
“She’s so positive all the time and encouraging, coaching when she sees things,” he said.
Baseball’s for girls, too
Griner also brings discipline from her softball habits to the young team, like showing up to practice 30 minutes early, which she’s trying to pass on to her teammates.
As a senior, this will be her only season of high school baseball, and she’s planning to make the most of it.
“I’m really excited about making more friends and just team bonding, as well, but also learning different aspects to use that in different sports, in different lives,” she said.
In August, Major League Baseball saw its own gender barrier broken when Jen Pawol became the league’s first female umpire, as the Deseret News previously reported.
That’s a milestone that excites Griner.
“I was so happy about that. I was kind of scared for her because sometimes players can be really mean at umpires — me as well — when they make bad calls, but I’m so happy because maybe it can soften people’s hearts and just not view gender as that. They just view players on the field.”
