Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
August 25, 2000, Washington Post

It had to happen sooner or later.

After years of girls breaking onto all-boy teams in baseball, football and even wrestling, boys are beginning to demand places on teams in all-girl sports.

This summer, five 16-year-old boys triggered an uproar at the Little League Softball World Series. The boys showed up with the Arizona team, in uniform. The Senior League Softball World Series has always been all girls, but these boys came to play and everybody had to let them. It's the law.

Still, some teams refused to play the coed team, charging that the bigger, stronger boys gave the Arizona team an unfair advantage. In fact, the Arizona team won the tournament by forfeit. An all-girl team from the Philippines refused to play the Arizona team in the final game even though they had beaten the coed team, 3-2, earlier in the tournament.

I don't think that the boys should have been allowed to play. Coed teams are fine when kids are younger, but high school boys unfairly change the game of softball. They are bigger and stronger than high school girls.

There is a simple solution to all this hubbub. Boys should have the chance to play softball on all-boy teams. Likewise, girls should have the chance to play on all-girl baseball teams.

The problem is that people keep thinking of softball as "girls baseball." As early as elementary school, we start getting boys to think baseball and girls to think softball.

Softball is not girls baseball. It is a whole separate sport.

Think of it: In softball, the ball is bigger. The dimensions of the field, the equipment, the uniforms and even some of the rules are different. It takes different strategies to win at softball.

I am not saying that softball is better or worse than baseball. Just different. Anyone who has seen a tournament-level fast-pitch softball game knows it is a tough and hard-nosed sport.

Check out the softball competition in the Olympics next month. U.S. pitcher Lisa Fernandez is as overpowering as Pedro Martinez on his best day.

So, let's open up softball to boys and get some all-girl baseball leagues.

In the end, more kids will be playing the sports they really want to play. And, after all, isn't that the point?