In fall 2017, the first ever girls cricket team has been practicing at Rockledge Elementary School in Bowie, Maryland in preparation for the Maryland Youth Cricket Association (MYCA) tournament in spring 2018. The team is comprised of girls from elementary and middle schools and will be playing at the 11U level.
Some of the girls are new to cricket, but the others have been enjoying the game for years while playing for their elementary school in the BEST Cricket League or for their middle school in the WAMS Cricket League. The BEST and WAMS are the first elementary and middle school leagues in the USA and were started by the Bowie Boys and Girls Club (BBGC).
Urenna Acholonu is in her fourth year of cricket. She started playing cricket in third grade at Heather Hills Elementary School and will play for Benjamin Tasker Middle School in 2018 as well. In Spring 2017, Urenna played for the Bowie Bulldogs U11 coed team in the MYCA tournament and led her team victory against arch rival GKCC. Urenna was the MVP for that game for her 25 runs, good fielding and nice catch. Urenna was one of 4 girls on that team. Teammate Rosa Blanco from Hollywood Elementary School scored the most runs for the team. The other two girls Joanna Chen from Cora Rice Elementary School and Jenna Knight from Northview Elementary School were critical to the success of the 2017 U11 Bowie Bulldogs team 2.
In Spring 2017, Stephie Janey played for Whitehall Elementary School, which was the 2017 BEST Cricket League Champions. While learning cricket alongside the boys during the 2017 season at Whitehall, Stephie was reserved and sometimes uncertain on the field. However, that experience has transformed her into a wicked quick fast bowler and hard hitting batter for the girls’ team. Sana Sanwal from Burleigh Manor Middle School in Ellicott City is the only girl on the team who learned to play cricket at home first before joining the team. Sana can hit the ball well and can run fast between the wickets. Sana is also developing into a nice fast bowler. Leah Lykes learned to play cricket this summer with the BBGC. She is picking up the game very quickly and is one of the better players on the team. For the past 2 years, Andrea Vidal played cricket for Hollywood Elementary School in College Park. She has shown steady progress and her experience will be important for the team. In 2016, Nina Andrews played in the BEST Cricket League for Heather Hills. She skipped the 2017 season, which made her realize how much she missed the game. At practice on Saturday, Nina took a really nice catch. Nina is eager to also play for Glenn Dale Elementary School in 2018. Julianne Calloway was first introduced to cricket watching her brother play for Heather Hills in 2014. Now she can partake in the cricket fun. Julianne can hit the ball well.
Some of the girls from Middle Schools who will participate in the Under-11 category.
In 2015, Elizabeth Harris was drafted to play for Berwyn Heights Elementary School in their playoff match against Tulip Grove because the team was short of players. Since then Liz has continued playing and enjoys wicketkeeping. Even though Mary Lawley is now a fourth grader at Heather Hills, she already has two years of cricket experience for Heather Hills under her belt. In 2016, Cameron Salisbury was part of the CMIT North Academy team, which won the Silver Division Championship in the WAMS Cricket League. Her bowling is coming along quite nicely.
Megan Ehrenfried, Clare Foster, Taryn Parker, Azjure Muñoz, and Aurora Tobin were all new to cricket this fall. All five girls have really enjoyed the game and are getting better and better at every practice and keep surprising the coaches with good plays.
This Bowie Bulldogs Girls Travel Cricket will be making history in spring 2018 by being the first all-girl team to participate in any youth cricket tournament ever in the USA. The team will take a break over the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays. The girls will start back practicing in January and February at an indoor facility working on their batting and bowling. In March, they will play for their school team during the week and practice with the girls travel team on weekends. Then they will participate in the MYCA tournament in May and June.
If more girls are interested in playing travel cricket, the BBGC will form a second team to participate in the MYCA tournament. Further information can be obtained by sending an email to cricket@bbgc.com.
More photos can be found on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bowiecricket/media_set?set=a.1855978884732692.1073741842.100009617962241&type=3