She Kept Choosing Baseball

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London Studer spent years hearing that softball would make more sense. Instead, she stayed with baseball long enough to see women’s professional baseball finally arrive.

Long before London Studer became a first-round pick in the Women’s Pro Baseball League Draft, baseball was already part of her everyday life in Gahanna, Ohio.

Some of her earliest memories of the game came with a plastic bat, whiffle balls and time spent learning alongside her family. Studer said her father helped introduce her to baseball in a way that never made the sport feel forced or pressured. What stayed with her most from those early years was simply how much she enjoyed being around the game.

“In my earlier moments, growing up and learning the game of baseball, I was often driven by my father to continue playing,” Studer said. “It was never a push to be better, it was always a mindset that if I wanted to continue playing, I wouldn’t be forced into the sport. I love the game for exactly what it is and my father is the one who showed me how beautiful the game of baseball really is.”

As she got older, Studer continued choosing baseball even while hearing questions about whether she would eventually switch to softball. For most of her baseball career, she played on boys teams and was often the only girl on the field. She said there were coaches, opposing players and fans who openly wondered how long she would stay with baseball.

“The journey throughout my life in baseball has not been the easiest, considering so many opposing factors,” Studer said. “There have been numerous coaches, players, fans, etc., that have told me I will eventually need to switch over or asked if that was in the cards for me. My response was always the same, ‘No.’”

Studer said things gradually started changing once more people around her began accepting that girls could continue playing baseball seriously and build their own place within the sport. She eventually became the first girl to make her high school baseball team while continuing to compete in travel ball and development events around the country.

Even then, she said she did not fully realize how many people around the sport were paying attention until later in her career.

“It wasn’t until I won MVP at the Elite Development Invitational that I finally knew there were more people watching me than what I had anticipated,” Studer said.

That experience, along with earning a spot on Team USA, helped change the way she viewed herself as a player.

“The experiences that I have had the privilege of going through, especially the ones that put me in the position I am in today, have provided me with an immense amount of confidence,” Studer said. “Making Team USA boosted my confidence even more, especially since I got to know a lot of new people and players on the team, some that are still very close friends of mine.”

For much of her childhood, baseball often felt isolating. As she got older and began attending national events, Studer started meeting other women from around the country and around the world who had spent years navigating many of the same experiences. Instead of feeling like one of the only girls trying to stay in baseball, she suddenly found herself surrounded by players who were building careers and communities around the sport together.

“When I was younger, I dreamt a lot of being a professional baseball player,” Studer said. “Not necessarily in the MLB, I just wanted to experience the same things as them in a more unique way, just like the WPBL.”

Now Studer is preparing for the inaugural WPBL season after being selected by New York with the 19th overall pick in the league’s first draft. For players who spent years continuing to play baseball without a professional league in place, the moment carries weight beyond a single season.

“For this upcoming season, I am most excited about being able to showcase my talent and proving to everyone that women belong in this sport whether anyone likes it or not,” Studer said. “Not only proving that girls belong on the field, but also being able to see all of my close friends throughout girls baseball going out and proving the exact same thing.”

One of the things Studer takes the most pride in is her field presence and ability to stay calm when situations start moving quickly around her. She described it as something built over years of repetition and observation rather than natural instinct alone.

“Having field presence is not something that necessarily ‘clicks,’” she said. “I think it’s more of a trained observer mindset.”

Studer said her work away from baseball actually helped her understand that part of her game more clearly. She compared field awareness to recognizing patterns in an old arcade game, where experience helps narrow down likely outcomes before they happen.

“A lot of what I do for work is observing and taking into consideration the aspects that are at play to handle the evolving situation,” Studer said. “Field presence, in my opinion, is something that takes years of training and a quick mind.”

Studer is currently working toward becoming a police officer, something she originally did not expect to pursue. She said the job and baseball overlap more than people might assume because both require awareness, quick decision-making and the ability to stay composed under pressure.

“A lot of what I do at work also goes into what I do on the field because I need to know how to make quick decisions and they need to be the right decisions,” Studer said.

At the same time, she said coaching remains part of her long-term goals too.

“My ultimate goal is to eventually become a coach,” Studer said. “Maybe in the WPBL, maybe for Team USA, or maybe just a high school.”

For now, though, her focus stays on the season ahead and the opportunity in front of her. After years of continuing to choose baseball while many people questioned whether girls belonged in the sport long term, Studer is getting ready to enter a professional league built for players like her. 

Photo Credit: WPBL (Facebook)