10-year-old softball player's letter to Tampa Mayor helps level playing field for girls across Tampa

TAMPA, Fla. - A 10-year-old softball player is helping to level the playing field for girls' sports across Tampa. 

Evangeline Iarossi was tired of having her practices canceled because of what she saw as an imbalance between girls and boys sports. Her Little League complex has multiple baseball fields but only one softball field. When baseball teams didn't like conditions on their fields, she said they'd frequently just move to the softball field. 

Her team would either be bumped to a T-ball field or practice would end up getting scrapped altogether while the boys teams used her field. 

Iarossi said the effect wasn't just disruptive, she noticed many of her teammates felt discouraged from continuing to play the sport. 

"A lot of girls are dropping out, because they don’t get the practice," said Iarossi. "When they don't get practice because they can't get on the fields, then they can't get to be as good, so they just quit because it's not as fun for them."

That didn't seem right to her. 

"Why do the girls get one field while the boys get four baseball fields?" Iarossi began asking.  

Eventually, she took that question to the Mayor of Tampa. 

"I said it's not the 1800s anymore, and girls would like to play sports too," Iarossi said with a cheeky smile. 

Her request was simple: Give girls and boys sports an equal shot. 

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, a former University of Tampa basketball star, agreed. Within a week the city's parks department reached out to Iarossi to discuss ideas. 

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Baseball fields have a grass infield and raised mound. Softball infields are entirely clay and flat. Iarossi explained while baseball teams can easily move onto a softball field to play, softball teams can't play on a baseball field. 

The solution they came up with was to create multi-use fields where both girls softball and boys baseball teams can play. 

In January, the first field conversion got underway at West Tampa's Little League complex. Thanks to a $40,000 grant from Disney, Tampa's parks department was able to not only convert the infield to clay, they were also able to add updated dugouts, fencing, and bullpens that aren't just baseball and softball friendly, but are also ADA compliant. 

"I hope that all girls get to play softball and that it’s just fair for all in sports," said Iarossi. 

Evangeline's mom, Brooke Iarossi, who also grew up playing softball and now coaches her team, said the idea to write to Mayor Castor was all her daughter's. She said she's proud of her daughter's confidence in bringing a fresh perspective to city leaders, and is thrilled by the response. 

"It really is really uplifting to see that there are other people who support this and want to make sure that all of our children get the same access to be able to play this wonderful game that we love," said Brooke. 

The West Tampa Little League multi-use field is the first of many the city plans to convert into a place where everyone, regardless of gender or ability, will get an equal chance at playing time.