Nearly two decades separate some of the most experienced players on USA Baseball’s Women’s National Team from its youngest participants. One generation helped build a pathway for women in the sport, while the next grew up with opportunities that barely existed when their predecessors first put on a Team USA uniform. Sharing the same dugout, these athletes represent how far women’s baseball has come and the future they are building together.
For veterans like Meggie Meidlinger and Alex Hugo, that progress is evident in the increased opportunities available throughout the sport. For younger players such as Naomi Ryan and newcomers Bailey Brown and Jordan Andreas, it can be seen in the pathway that now exists from youth baseball to the Women’s National Team.
The growth of women’s baseball is not only reflected in larger events, deeper talent pools, or more opportunities to compete. It is reflected in something much more personal: a young player no longer having to wonder if she belongs in the game.
Meidlinger has had a front-row seat to that growth. A nine-time Women’s National Team alum, she first joined Team USA in 2006 and has watched the game evolve over the last 20 years.
“I’ve only seen the talent pool grow deeper and deeper, and our team has only gotten stronger and stronger,” Meidlinger said. “It’s incredible to see the growth not only of the USA Women’s National Team, but the growth of women’s baseball.”
Meidlinger earned the honor of USA Baseball’s 2025 Sportswoman of the Year and is a 2006 World Cup gold medalist. A nine-time member of the Women’s National Team, she owns a 2-0 record with a 2.76 ERA, 24 strikeouts, and no home runs allowed in 32.2 career innings pitched.
Throughout her career, Meidlinger has given back to the sport that has given her so much. Through programs like Baseball at Heart, she has traveled to Uganda several times to help teach girls the fundamentals of baseball and expand opportunities for the game internationally.
That desire to grow the game extends far beyond the field. For many veterans, building women’s baseball has meant creating the opportunities they wished existed for them.
Hugo, a five-time Women’s National Team alum and two-time USA Baseball Sportswoman of the Year, has seen those opportunities expand firsthand.
“There’s a new league starting, there’s a lot of competitive international play, there’s a lot more tournaments, and you’re seeing a lot more girls in baseball,” Hugo said.
Over the years, that difference has become clear. When the Women’s National Team first began, the program hosted open tryouts where 40 women were then invited to Training Camp. Now, with the continued growth of girls and women playing baseball and increased visibility throughout the sport, the talent pool has reached a point where the team can handpick invites to Training Camp.
The change represents more than an increase in participation, it represents a shift in what young girls believe is possible.
While veterans have witnessed the sport’s growth firsthand, younger players are experiencing the benefits of those developments.
Andreas, one of six first-time members of the 2026 Women’s National Team, remembers feeling isolated while growing up playing baseball in Las Vegas.
“Growing up, I thought I was the only girl playing baseball and at least the only girl in Vegas,” she said.
For many women in sports, that experience is familiar: navigating the challenges of being one of the few in their sport and the difference it makes to find others who understand.
Andreas discovered that sense of community when she met four-time Women’s National Team alum Denae Benites, who was playing high school baseball in Las Vegas and introduced her to the Women’s National Team program.
“That’s how I found out about the national team,” Andreas said.
“I started in girls baseball at MLB Develops events, and that’s where I met some of the players that are here,” she continued. “They’ve coached me throughout the years and now getting to play with them as teammates is just really cool.”
For Brown, discovering women’s baseball entirely changed her perspective on what was possible.
“I actually did not have any role models in the sport growing up because I wasn’t aware women’s baseball was a thing until a couple years ago,” Brown said. “When I learned about this, it was really life-changing.”
Opportunities for girls in baseball continue to expand through a variety of development events offered by USA Baseball and Major League Baseball. The GRIT Girls Baseball Identification Tour, Trailblazer Series, Elite Developmental Invitational, and Breakthrough Series are just some of the programs that provide female athletes with opportunities for skill development, competition, mentorship, and exposure at every stage of their baseball journey.
As opportunities have expanded, so have the connections between generations of players.
Athletes who once looked up to national team veterans are now sharing a dugout with them. The women who helped pave the way are now teammates with the players who will continue carrying the game forward.
Andreas remembers first meeting Meidlinger years ago at a development event. Both Meidlinger and Hugo have been consistent presences at USA Baseball and MLB’s Breakthrough and Trailblazer Series, coaching younger girls through the game.
“She was actually my coach at my first girls baseball event through MLB Develops, the Trailblazer Series,” Andreas said of Meidlinger. “I’ve known her for a while now, and I look up to her a lot as a pitcher. I look up to Hugo and Anna Kimbrell as well, not only as veterans but as people and how they carry themselves.”
Ryan, a two-time Women’s National Team alum, echoed that sentiment.
“She’s always made an impact on me,” Ryan said of Meidlinger.
That impact extends beyond baseball. It comes from seeing someone who once stood where you stand now, someone who understands the challenges, the doubts, and the moments when you had to prove you belonged.
For many of these women, baseball was a place where they were often the only girl on the team. They learned how to compete alongside teammates who did not share that perspective, but there is something unique about stepping into a dugout where everyone understands the experience of having to fight to belong.
That shared experience has created a bond within the Women’s National Team, a sisterhood built not only through baseball, but through the challenges they overcame to stay in the game.
Ten-year-old Grace Eckstein, daughter of eight-time national team coach Rick Eckstein, spent the week at Training Camp as a bat girl after helping in the same role at the Women’s National Team Development Program in 2025. She watched and learned from the players whose path she hopes to one day follow.
“It’s very important to see a clear pathway,” Brown said. “We even have Grace here who is super young. I think that’s really inspiring for all the little girls to see that it is possible to keep playing baseball.”
As the sport continues to grow, both veterans and newcomers remain optimistic about its future.
“I think just seeing how many girls are so excited about playing, but also are working year-round to get better at their craft is pretty awesome,” Ryan said.
For Meidlinger, who has spent more than two decades with the program, the future reflects years of progress and investment in the sport.
“The future is bright for women’s baseball,” Meidlinger said. “The talent pool just keeps getting bigger and bigger and more elevated.”
And for Hugo, the growth she has witnessed is only the beginning.
“What I’m seeing is very promising,” Hugo said. “Hopefully when I leave it, that turnover is going to get better and better.”
The growth of women’s baseball can be measured in more opportunities, larger development events, and a deeper talent pool. But, it can also be measured in something much simpler.
It can be seen in a young player sharing a dugout with the women she once looked up to. It can be seen in a veteran coaching the next generation at a development event, only to become her teammate years later. And it can be seen in girls like Grace Eckstein, watching from the sidelines and imagining themselves on the field one day.
For players like Meidlinger and Hugo, the progress is a reminder of how far the game has come. For Ryan, Brown, Andreas, and the next generation of athletes, it is proof that a future in baseball exists.
Nearly 20 years separate some of the women wearing U-S-A across their chest this summer, but they are connected by the same goal: leaving the game better than they found it.
The women who came before them know what it feels like to search for a place in the game. Now, they are helping create a future where the next generation knows they belong, not just in baseball, but at its highest levels.
