Girl Gets Help Moving Back Behind Plate

After receiving a female jock strap and cup via overnight mail, 12-year-old Melissa Raglin ended her weeklong exile to the outfield on Thursday night and took her position behind the plate.

Her baseball youth league had banned her from catching after she refused to put on the protective gear the boys have to wear. But Melissa donned her new equipment in time for Thursday night’s playoff game.

With Melissa behind the plate, the Dodgers beat the Mariners 7-6.

While she was happy to be in her favorite position, she wasn’t too hot on the new equipment.

“It’s not really comfortable, but it’s the most comfortable one I found,” she said. “But I don’t think about it.”

After the victory, Melissa repeated her promise to try and change the rule that forced her out of the catcher’s slot.

Melissa became the center of a national controversy after an umpire in the Boca Raton Youth League told her that to play catcher, she would have to wear a cup, a hard piece of plastic designed to protect the testicles.

She refused and was sent to play center field, touching off a flap strange enough to land the National Organization for Women and conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh on the same side, ridiculing the rules.

Rough debut

The St. Paul fans loved her, and after one promising inning, so did the opposing hitters.

Ila Borders, trying to become the first woman to pitch in a regular-season minor-league game, gave up five runs in two innings of relief and got the loss in the St. Paul Saints’ exhibition opener Thursday night.

The Saints were leading 6-4 when she entered in the seventh, and Borders struck out Jeff Jensen, the first hitter she faced.

She allowed only a walk in the seventh, but the Duluth-Superior Dukes scored five times in the eighth on four hits and two walks.