At St. Mary's College in Maryland, there's a special player on the baseball team.

The player stands at 5-ft., 8-in., 130 pounds and plays a mean first base. But what separates this player from the rest is that this first baseman is a woman.

Today, when St. Mary's faces Spring Garden College, Julie Croteau will become the first women to play in an NCAA baseball game.

"There's no reason why baseball can't be co-ed," Croteau says. "It's not that women aren't interested in baseball. It's just not having a chance."

"I think it's awesome," Croteau adds. "I happy that I'm the one doing it. But I didn't expect to be the one. Going through the ranks, I had to fight every step of the way."

Croteau, who started playing Little league Baseball when she was six years old, experienced a lot of problems in her Virginia high school.

"I had a really hard time on the JV team," Croteau says. "The coach didn't tell me that I made the team until asking me if I would play softball."

Croteau also encountered many sexist actions by the opposing teams. She says that pitchers intentionally hit her or walked the batter in front of her so that they could pitch to her.

"It's a non-verbal slap in the face," Croteau says.

The best revenge is success.

Through all of the distracting circumstances, Croteau managed to maintain a batting average above .300.

"It's fun when I get a double or a big hit against [the pitcher]," Croteau says.

During her junior year, Croteau got cut from the team. She admits that she wasn't good enough at the time. And despite improving her game and receiving support from her teammates, Croteau continued to have problems with the head coach.

"I was good enough, but I was a girl," Croteau says.

She filed a sex discrimination suit against the high school during her senior year but lost.