Justine Siegal Makes Major League Baseball History

    Justine Siegal has made history by becoming the first woman to pitch batting practice for a Major League Baseball team. Despite a case of nerves, the pony-tailed Siegal broke the gender¹ barrier with spring training pitching stints³ for the Cleveland Indians and Oakland Athletics⁴.
    Justine Siegal has dreamed of playing Major League Baseball since childhood. The 36-year-old Cleveland native grew up rooting for baseball's Cleveland Indians and says she started playing the game as a five-year-old.
    "I have been doing it my whole life and I just always loved the game and I wanted to keep playing.  When I was about 13, I was told it was time to go over to softball - that is what girls did.  But I decided⁵ to ignore(忽视,不理睬) that first coach and a line of many others, because I really loved baseball.  And I did not see any reason why I should quit," she said.
    Justine continued to play in community baseball leagues and eventually ended up on her high school squad⁶.  But she says it was sometimes a challenge to find coaches who would let her play.
    "I did play for my high school, so I had a good experience with my high school, but it was not always easy.  But when you love something you go after it," she said.
    Justine Siegal continued her involvement in the game known as "America’s Pastime(娱乐消遣)." After high school she played in a variety of men’s leagues.
    In 2007 she broke gender barriers as college baseball’s only female assistant coach when she started a four-year stint² with Springfield College in the northeast state of Massachusetts, pitching batting practice the past three years.  Then in 2009 Siegal made history as the first woman to coach first base in professional baseball when she joined an independent league team in Massachusetts, the Brockton Rox.
    Last November, Justine contacted all of Major League Baseball’s general managers to ask for the opportunity to pitch batting practice.  Two teams, the Cleveland Indians and Oakland Athletics said yes, and she recently made history again as the first woman to throw batting practice in a major league spring training camp.
    "So when I contacted the general managers, I said to them, 'this is a great opportunity to connect with your female fans and I am qualified⁷ to do this.  So let us do something special.'  And the Indians and the A’s kind of caught on to that dream and connected with me and, you know, that is what I have done," she said.
    But Siegal had to overcome a serious case of nerves as she walked out to the mound⁸ and picked up some baseballs.
    "I was super-nervous, and my biggest challenge was the ball sticking to my hand because it was so clammy.  So it was a lot of fun to live out my dream, but it was also kind of nerve-wracking," she said.
    Justine currently⁹ runs an organization called Baseball For All ( BaseballForAll.com ), with the purpose of providing girls and women the opportunity to get involved with the game of baseball.  They run a girls baseball camp, put on clinics and have programs for schools.  And if that were not enough to keep her busy, she is also a student, going for her Ph.D. in sport and exercise psychology¹⁰.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

2 stint   

v.节省，限制，停止；n.舍不得化，节约，限制；连续不断的一段时间从事某件事

参考例句：

• He lavished money on his children without stint.他在孩子们身上花钱毫不吝惜。
• We hope that you will not stint your criticism.我们希望您不吝指教。

3 stints   

n.定额工作( stint的名词复数 )；定量；限额；慷慨地做某事

参考例句：

• He stints himself in [of] sleep. 他节制睡眠。 来自辞典例句
• She never stints herself of money to buy books for her children. 她从不吝惜掏钱让子女们买书。 来自互联网

4 athletics   

n.运动，体育，田径运动

参考例句：

• When I was at school I was always hopeless at athletics.我上学的时候体育十分糟糕。
• Our team tied with theirs in athletics.在田径比赛中，我们队与他们队旗鼓相当。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

7 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

8 mound   

n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫

参考例句：

• The explorers climbed a mound to survey the land around them.勘探者爬上土丘去勘测周围的土地。
• The mound can be used as our screen.这个土丘可做我们的掩蔽物。

9 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。

10 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。