Longmontap boys of summer looked puzzled as a petite freshman carrying a bat and glove walked past the dugout.
Evie Mumm was out of place. Every time she’s joined a new baseball team, she’s had to prove she belongs. The fact is, Evie is a girl. And this has long been a boys’ game.
“Usually, I kind of have to work and prove myself for about a week,” the Longmont High School junior said. “And then they see how well I can ball, and itap good vibes from there.”
When Evie arrived at her first summer baseball workout for the Trojans as a freshman, her mom and dad couldn’t help but feel nervous. Evie, on the other hand, just wanted to play.
“My wife and I were so impressed with her guts,” her dad Erik said. “To walk on that field and pass the dugout with, you know, 17- and 18-year-old guys, almost men, sitting there wondering, ‘What the heck is going on?’”
Baseball has evolved over the centuries, but Evie remains an uncommon sight.
Her dad played at Nebraska in the late 1990s, but Evie didn’t discover baseball herself until about five years ago. She calls it serendipity. After missing the sign-up period for another softball season, her mom asked if she wanted to try baseball instead.
“Watching her out there, she just wants to be on the baseball field,” Erik said. “I mean, we’ve tried other sports. She’s a great volleyball player, for example, and we love the fact she still plays volleyball. But, you know, itap so obvious that baseball is her love.”
Less obvious, however, was whether the game would ever accept her.
There were growing pains, as expected. Erik reminded Evie that difficult times are just part of the game. “Everyone struggles,” he said.
Erik still remembers Evie going hitless through her first eight or nine games.
“Then, one game, it clicked,” he beamed. “I could tell by her body language in the batter’s box. I turned to my wife and said, ‘She’s going to get a hit here.’ And sure enough, she put one over the shortstop’s head. And from that point on, she was just a force to be reckoned with.”
There were still some on the diamond who’d rather not reckon with a girl.
Evie has been heckled and whispered about, and at times she can’t help wondering if there’s more bubbling beneath the surface.
While playing on the freshman team for Longmont two years ago, she said she was hit by a pitch “14 or 15 times” during the season — enough for her to believe it was intentional.
Asked why she thought she’d be getting hit on purpose, she answered without pause. “I don’t think they wanted to have to admit I got a hit off them.”
Other acts of sexism have been more explicit.
Liam Forsythe, Evie’s teammate over the past few seasons, has seen it firsthand.
“After games, I’ve seen a lot of umpires ask her why she’s not playing softball, which I think is dumb,” the rising senior said. “And then there’s some stuff guys on other teams say. Some will make jokes about getting her number and stuff like that.”
Evie bats left-handed, throws right-handed and is equally strong in the middle infield as she is behind the plate. Last season, she played at the junior varsity level for Longmont. Next spring, she and Liam are vying for spots on varsity.
“When I’m pitching, there’s nobody I’d rather have catching,” Liam said of Evie. “She’s just a fun teammate to be around, and she’s so encouraging and funny. After almost every practice and every game, a few of us go hang out or grab food together. She’s an amazing person, and I really enjoy playing alongside her.”
Tom Fobes, the Trojans’ head coach for the past 26 years, has also embraced Evie.
Initially, he said, he wasn’t sure how it would play out.
“I’ve never even had a girl try out,” Fobes said. “There was one year when there was a rumor a girl was going to come out for the program, but she never did.”
The longtime coach said the only girl he remembers playing varsity was in the summer of 1998, when he was an assistant. He couldn’t remember her name but said she pitched and was impressive.
That same summer, women took another step forward in the sport when Ila Borders became the first female to start and win a men’s professional baseball game. With the Duluth-Superior Dukes of the independent Northern League, she pitched six scoreless innings against Sioux Falls to earn the win. The lineup card is housed at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
Evie enters her junior year with a chance to become the first girl to play varsity baseball at her school. The jump could come as soon as this spring thanks to a new opening at second base — Evie’s primary position.
Evie’s dad, for one, likes her chances.
“She knows boys are bigger, they’re faster, they’re stronger,” he said. “But thatap part of the beauty of baseball. You know Jose Altuve (the second baseman of the Houston Astros)? He’s what — 5-(foot)-6? And he’s a major leaguer.” Altuve is also a nine-time MLB All-Star.
According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, more than 470,000 students play high school baseball nationwide. About 1,300 are girls — roughly 0.28% of all players.
Last week, for the first time in her baseball life, Evie wasn’t the only girl on the field. At Major League Baseball’s Girls Development Camp in Florida, she was one of 64 players from across the U.S. and Canada to attend an event led by Team USA women’s baseball players, coaches and alumnae. The camp is part of MLB’s initiative to bring more girls into the game.
Evie and Windsor’s Elena Sagebiel were the lone attendees from Colorado.
“This is my first time playing with all women,” Evie said. “My entire career, I’ve been playing with men. So, itap been really great out here. Itap really great competition.”
Itap a sight she likely won’t see again anytime soon. Though she’s proven time and again that she belongs, baseball remains dominated by boys.
For now, she has her own Field of Dreams.
“Itap an honor to be the first girl to play baseball at my high school, and it would be pretty cool to be able to be the first to play varsity for my school,” Evie said. “But I’m really just here to play ball and compete.”
