Diamondbacks, state represented at MLB girls baseball event in Florida

Ariana Molina quit playing baseball as a freshman at Chandler High School, despite having played since she was 5 years old. She got on the radar of Major League Baseball's girls' developmental program and continues to play the sport in hopes of keeping that door open for a career as a professional. Molina is also a softball player and plans to play in college, but wants to fit baseball into that. She was happy to change her focus to softball. "A part of me does miss it, but I love what I'm doing now," Molina said. Peyton Pence of Mesa has had a different experience. She's played baseball for 10 years, even at the club level, but when she reached middle school she was told she wouldn't be able to keep up with boys. Pence switched high schools to be able to play her sophomore and junior seasons at Mesa Eastmark. But she found the environment unwelcome in this her senior year, and stopped playing high school ball. "The guys on my team and the coaches were not very nice," Pence said. "It became something that wasn't too fun for me." But the two players keep their baseball dreams alive, as Molina and Pence were in Vero Beach, Florida, Nov. 6-7 where they were two of 32 of the top high school female baseball players at the annual Girls Baseball Breakthrough Series. The two-day development event provides participants with advanced on-and-off-field instruction and mentorship from current and former professional players and coaches, culminating in a showcase game played at historic Holman Stadium on the grounds of the Jackie Robinson Training Complex. The coaching staff included four current minor league coaches, four current and former members of the USA Baseball Women’s National Team and two former Major League Baseball players. "It's my favorite week of the year," Pence said. "I get to see all my friends and I get to play baseball with people who genuinely care about it. "It's really cool to get to meet other people that have that same mindset of we love baseball and we're going to do whatever it takes." The Arizona Diamondbacks were also represented in Florida. Two coaches in the organization, Ronnie Gajownik and Jeff Bajenaru, were part of the staff. Gajownik was a Rookie Arizona Complex League manager in 2026, and Bajenaru was this year's Triple-A Reno pitching coach. Gajownik was the manager at Hillsboro (High-A) in 2023, has played for the U.S. national team and has been instrumental in running spring training at Salt River Fields. "It is hard to be the only person with a ponytail," Gajownik said. "I've been in how many meetings where there's 40 coaches and 39 of them are male and I'm the only female. ... It's definitely frustrating, and I give kudos to the kids. They're learning a very hard lesson at a young age, but that lesson can take them very far wherever they do end up going."