Bailey Brown Steps Up For Southampton's Varsity Baseball Team

Spring break turned out to be a big break for Bailey Brown.

The 14-year-old got the call up to the Southampton varsity baseball team over the holiday week, when head coach Zach Epley was short on bodies and needed some pitching depth, after several of his players went on vacation with their families. It’s rare but certainly not unheard of to see an eighth-grader step onto the mound in a varsity game. When that player is a girl, and she proceeds to strike out three batters without giving up an earned run in 2 and two-thirds innings of work, people start to pay attention.

Bailey’s varsity debut in what was a 12-0 loss at Babylon on April 18 marked the start of what could be a special playing career at the high school level, but her arrival on that stage is, in some ways, not surprising. For most of her life, Bailey has been putting in the work that led her to that head-turning moment. She started playing Little League baseball when she was just 5 years old, starting with tee-ball. Being the only girl on the team has been Bailey’s experience from the start, and it doesn’t seem to faze her, a reality she says might have to do with the fact that she has two older brothers who also played the game.

“I always thought it was fine,” the soft-spoken teen said, with a shrug and smile in an interview earlier this week. “I was used to it.”

In addition to playing on Little League teams, Bailey would tag along when her brothers — Seamus, 20, and Mick, 18 — went to baseball practices. Being around the sport regularly fostered a love for the game in Bailey, and as the years went by, her commitment to baseball deepened. Bailey started playing on a travel baseball team when she was 10 years old, and in recent years, has been taking pitching lessons with Southampton graduate Chris Pike, who led the Mariners to back-to-back Long Island championships before going on to play collegiate baseball.

Bailey said she wasn’t initially interested in pitching, but eventually gave it a try and decided she liked it. She’s honed her skills in the position enough that she’s capable of striking out boys four or five years older than her.

Bailey has been splitting her time between the JV and the varsity this season. Over the spring break, she appeared in four games, letting up a total of five runs while facing 38 batters, with eight strikeouts. She was also 1 for 4 hitting, with a single and an RBI.

Epley said he’d been aware of Bailey for a few years and didn’t hesitate to take her to the varsity level over the break, upon the suggestion of JV coach Johnny Navan.

“She has a live arm and is a very good kid,” he said. “She’s always hustling and working hard.”

Bailey’s relative inexperience at the high school level, and the fact that she’s a girl, didn’t matter, Epley added.

“Varsity had a few kids that chose to go on spring break instead of staying home and playing the games this week,” he explained. “Our mentality is we want hard-working, dedicated players. It doesn’t matter what age. With the kids leaving, we go with the next person up.”

Epley said that Bailey’s “jaw dropped in shock” when he called her in to pitch late in the April 18 loss to Babylon, but he said he was impressed by how quickly she overcame the nerves and got the job done.

“It was very cool to see an eighth-grade girl strike out three 11th and 12th grade men,” he said. “She earned a shot to pitch and proved she could do it.”

Bailey admitted she was nervous in her varsity debut, knowing the attention that would be on her for obvious reasons. Her mentality when she took the mound was simple: “I was just trying to think about doing what I always do, and just stay focused on the game,” she said.

Even making the JV team required overcoming a daunting challenge — Bailey not only had to try out but had to take a physical fitness test that included running a mile under a specific time threshold and doing a minimum number of pushups and situps, under the eye of a three-person committee. She said she was nervous about passing that test too, but rose to that challenge.

Her parents, Lara and Barry Brown, said it’s been exciting and also nerve wracking, at times, watching their daughter play, but they’re proud of what she’s accomplished.

“This past week we weren’t sure if she could compete at that level, or if she would let the nerves and anxiety overcome her, but none of that happened,” Barry Brown said, adding that after the debut against Babylon, she played in a game against an even stronger Shoreham/Wading River team, which is when she had her first varsity hit.

The many days spent taking pitching lessons and also going down to the baseball field with her father for extra hours honing her skills is now paying off, and Bailey is receiving attention from all kinds of people — from the parents of players on opposing teams, to younger girls who are looking at her as a role model.

“Parents of players on other teams will come over and I’ll hear them say, ‘there’s that girl pitcher, let’s stay and watch for a while,’” Barry Brown said.

Bailey acknowledged the attention from younger girls who are looking up to her and admiring her, but is humble about it. She’s sure to attract even more attention in the weeks and years to come. That’s not a problem for Epley, who said he knows exactly what he’s looking for in a varsity player, and that age and gender aren’t an important part of the equation.

“We are looking for varsity players who have three things: ability, dedication, and work ethic,” he said. “Bailey has all three. It doesn’t matter if she is a guy or girl or that she isn’t even in high school yet.”

Epley said he anticipates Bailey staying with the varsity primarily for the rest of the season, but added she might still see some time at the JV level, to occasionally play third base and get in some extra at-bats. He said she’s fitting in well with the varsity, and that the players are treating her “like one of them.”

“They’re a good group and mesh well together,” he said. “Bailey fits right in.”

Of course, it would be disingenuous to say she doesn’t stand out as well. On the mound, she’s like a young female version of the MLB pitcher Noah Syndergaard, the tall, long-haired hurler for the Los Angeles Angels. Like Syndergaard, Bailey prefers to leave her hair loose, un-ponytailed, underneath her ball cap, which creates a signature look. It left an impression on some of the youngest spectators, including Epley’s 7-year-old daughter, who came to a game when Bailey pitched and shared her thoughts about the experience with her father after the game. Seeing it through the eyes of his daughter, Hailey, has given Epley even more perspective about how meaningful Bailey’s presence on the field has been so far.

“She knew that there was a girl on the team and all my daughter wanted to do was meet Bailey,” he said. “You realize that Bailey is a real role model to any younger girls. She is showing my daughters that you can play and be whatever you want to be in life.

“We were driving home in silence from the game,” Epley continued. “And my daughter just says to me, ‘You know Bailey, she has a good throw and long, pretty hair.’ It showed me that my daughter left the game thinking about Bailey. It’s inspiring.”