Noticing a dramatic drop off in the number of girls who play baseball as they get older, Portola Valley resident Cal Thomas said he decided to create an all-girls softball league to keep them playing.

The new league, which kicked off its first season on March 12, is part of Alpine Little League, which serves Menlo Park and the surrounding area. There are 145 girls enrolled in the new league, forming 11 teams of girls ages 7 to 12, and about 30 coaches.

Thomas' younger daughter played on the only all-girls team called the Thunder Sisters in the Alpine league last summer.

"At the end of the year the girls said they all wanted to play again," he said. Parents began meeting in October 2021 to quickly form a girls league. "Logistically to get it going, it was a lot of paperwork. ... It was not the traditional run up in practices and exposure that kids would generally get. The No. 1 goal and priority (for the league) is for fun and engagement."

Girls' participation in baseball is nearly on par with boys during the tee-ball season for ages 5 to 6, but dramatically drops off by the time girls reach AA baseball (ages 6-11) and plummets to nearly zero in the majors division (ages 9-12), league organizers said.

Girls were more likely to have never played sports (43.1% girls vs. 34.5% boys) and less likely to be currently playing sports (36.4% girls vs 45.6% boys), according to a 2020 U.S. study by the Women's Sports Foundation.

Kristi Cannon, a mother of three Alpine league players and a former Santa Clara University softball pitcher, said Menlo-Atherton High School's head girls softball coach told her only half of the girls on their team had ever played softball before trying out at the Atherton school.

"It's pretty shocking and eye-opening to see we don't have a lot of softball opportunities for girls," said Cannon, one of the lead coaches in Alpine's girls league.

Thomas' daughter Catherine, 12, is in the league and said she's excited she no longer has to drive all the way to Palo Alto to play softball. She enjoys playing the catcher position and getting to spend time with her friends.

Softball is in her blood. Back in the day, Catherine's great-grandfather created an all girls league in San Bernardino so her great grandmother, Carol, could play.

"It shows sometimes we haven't come as far as we need to," Thomas said.

Kristen Cahill, a parent volunteer with the league, said baseball teaches kids to work through adversity as a team, which is a valuable skill for girls to have access to.

"You hear baseball is a sport of failure; you get a hit 30% (or less) of the time," she said. Cannon noted playing sports teaches girls how to work through things that are hard and work on a team.

League teams are playing games at Las Lomitas Elementary School in Atherton, Nealon Park in Menlo Park, Oak Knoll School in Menlo Park and at the Portola Valley Town Center. Girls on the four teams in the older division will play 18 games, while girls in the seven teams in the younger division will play 15.

It costs $175 to play in the younger division and $200 to play in the older division and some scholarships are available.

The season runs through May 21.