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SPORTS
Editor: Chris Deak sports@dailywildcat.com (520) 621-7579
Telling the stories of female game changers BY CHRISTOPHER DEAK @ChrisDeakDW
PEARL DIXON/THE DAILY WILDCAT
ARIZONA WILDCATS PITCHER DANIELLE O’Toole throws a pitch against No. 21 Baylor at Hillenbrand Stadium on Feb. 10.
Women’s athletics: A league of role models BY SYRENA TRACY @syrena_tracy
Women’s leadership and advancement continues to grow in the male-dominated sports industry as women continue to play key roles as athletes, coaches and management. At the UA, there are currently 11 women sports, all inspired by former women sports figures and inspiring future women in the athletics program. The Arizona softball program has a rich history of winning, and the program has produced countless female role models. The current team knows their place as role models for young women all over Tucson, and they continue to follow in the footsteps of the women who have come before them. Senior pitcher Danielle O’Toole continues to work hard and appreciates the many
inspiring women that have given her the opportunity to play softball. O’Toole mentioned growing up watching players like Arizona’s Jennie Finch and UCLA’s GiOnna DiSalvatore. There was another name that the senior mentioned she looks up to, ESPN’s Jessica Mendoza. Mendoza recently began commentating Major League Baseball games for ESPN and unfortunately received a fair amount of backlash for it. “Honestly, I would say Jessica Mendoza is the biggest influence for women in sports,” O’Toole said. “When she said she was doing baseball everybody was like ‘what are you talking about?’ It’s like, do you know who she is? She’s a freakin’ Olympian. Of course she’s going to be good at that.” Arizona sophomore pitcher Taylor McQuillin has seen the role women play in
sports and how it has changed dramatically by giving women the opportunities they didn’t have 40-50 years ago. “Women usually had the stereotypical role of ‘I’m the caregiver at home, I don’t work.’ Now in the world today you can see women evolving,” McQuillin said. “It’s huge because today softball and all of the other women’s sports are growing and being shown on television. I can go on ESPN and I can see any softball game that I want to. Even a few years back, it wasn’t even like that.” Reflecting on the people who have influenced women in sports, O’Toole and McQuillin are now taking on that role of influencing other girls. When asked for a picture or an autograph on a ball, O’Toole and McQuillin realize that
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Throughout the history of sports, women have struggled to solidify themselves amongst men. Women role models in sports were scarce in the past, but Molly Schiot has set out to make sure the pioneers of women’s sports get the recognition they deserve. Schiot grew up in a small town near New Hampshire and she was always an active competitor on the ice. “I grew up in New England, so I played ice hockey,” Schiot said. “I was just good. I was a good athlete.” Schiot played numerous sports throughout her high school career and was always a captain on her team. But by the time she got to college, Schiot was burnt out on sports, mainly because it was hard to see a future in sports as a woman. “I didn’t really think it was possible for me to play sports,” Schiot said. “I just assumed everything was for guys.” Schiot didn’t lose her passion for sports; she simply found another way to stay in the game. She was directing music videos in Los Angeles when the ESPN series “30 for 30” first came out. Schiot was blown away with the production and ended up working on the staff of “30 for 30: The Two Escobars.” She has also produced a “30 for 30” short titled “Our Tough Guy.” As much as Schiot liked the “30 for 30” series, she noticed a major discrepancy. “I was like ‘gosh, there’s 160 ‘30 for 30s that have been made today, and there’s only four about women.’ For me, I thought it was a no-brainer to pitch stories about women.” Pitch stories she did. Schiot pitched story after story to ESPN producers about women in sports, but all of her proposals were shot down. Schiot decided to take matters in to her own hands. She started the Instagram account “@ TheUnsungHeroines”; the account would become the impetus for her book “Game Changers: The Unsung Heroines of Sports History.”
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