Playing women’s sports can and does compare with mens sports but one area of difference is not just the ability, but rather the dedication and drive shown by the individual who wants to make her mark in the world of women’s baseball.

One such individual is 20-year old Claire Eccles who was born in 1997 and is a left handed pitcher who has three remarkable pitching styles including a knuckleball.

She competed in the 2014 and 2016 Women’s Baseball World Cups as well as the 2015 Pan American Games but it was her appearance at the Pan American games that seemed to escalate her career to the Victoria Harbourcats.

She played for the Women’s National Baseball team and has played on the Victoria HarbourCats of the West Coast League, becoming the first ever women to play in the league and attends UBC and is a member of the UBC Women’s Baseball Team

One year after making her debut in the West Coast League as well as one of the first female collegiate league baseball players, life has changed for her, but she is the same person

Many will say that she is a household name within Canadian baseball after she captured international attention even managing to get her very own bobblehead giveaway day.

If you ask her the prominance hasn’t changed her, but rather kept her rather humble mentioning “I think I get recognized more often. People know I’m the girl who pitched in the WCL.”

She continued “Honestly, I don’t think that much has changed. It’s just been a really good experience, but it’s still pretty normal for me.”

She was called into action and appeared in eight games mostly coming out of the bullpen and while it’s normal for her it still seems unbelievable for her to be playing collegiate baseball.

“I had just never heard of opportunities for women before. I never really expected this opportunity to come about. Thing after thing kept coming up, so I realized I was actually going to go through with it.”

It’s normal for more of a change at the turnstiles for the HarbourCats and Managing Partner Jim Swanson mentions “The reaction to Claire has been incredible and there’s a totally different atmosphere when she enters the game. The place erupts and then it goes dead silent in between pitches until she throws the ball across the plate.”

Since her debut in the West Coast League, many from the immediate baseball community have been very positive and many understand it’s a step in the right direction for women like Eccles to have the courage to play baseball at this level.

Swanson notes that most fans and opponents are quite welcoming of this movement, but Eccles and the team experienced a few cases of criticism.

In a league that has consisted of all-male baseball players, the HarbourCats made concessions so as to help Eccles feel at home.

Swanson explains the concessions were fairly minor and easy to implement in order to welcome Eccles into the club and make her feel comfortable.

He (Swanson) mentions “We had a lot of questions early on about ‘how are you going to handle the dressing room, but we have a separate room for her and these are things we obviously thought about before we made the announcement.”

Given the change in today’s world regarding sport it was only a matter of time for this to happen and it’s fair to mention that she (Eccles) went out on a limb by agreeing to sign with the HarbourCats as the very first woman to play in the WCL.

One might think that the HarbourCats wanted to make history by the signing but clearly this was never intended as a marketing ploy or a gimmick for the team.

She returns for a second year and it seems like a perfect fit for her and she mentions “I think my teammates treat me as though I’m just another teammate. I’ve had players from other teams say it’s really cool. I’ve had a pretty positive experience and gotten compliments from players on other teams.”

Growing up she played “Backyard Baseball” as a youngster and her enjoyment of that game spurred her interest in baseball. Her parents didn’t push her to pursue extra-curricular activities, instead, the left-handed knuckleballer took it upon herself to ask her family to try baseball.

“I think when I first signed up for it, I realized there were no girls playing and I told my mom I wanted to make the MLB. I just kept playing because I enjoyed it.”

Growing up in BC allowed her to watch Ichiro Suzuki who was her favourite player, and with her growing up half-Japanese herself, Eccles felt a personal connection to the Japanese player.

She mentions “I was a huge Ichiro fan. Growing up in Vancouver, just a few hours away from Mariners games and with me being half-Japanese I also think it’s pretty special that I’m born on the 25th of October and he’s born on the 22nd.’”

Her time spent with the HarbourCats spanned two short seasons and she left her mark on women’s baseball by breaking down the barrier and she hopes others will continue for women in sports.

Sportswave wishes her all the best in her career.