ATLEE, Va. — One of the most unique moments Major League Baseball has created in the past few years is holding a regular season game at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.
The only fans allowed in are the players from around the world and their families, getting up close and personal with some of the biggest stars in the game.
Now softball will have that opportunity as well, and a former Atlee standout will be right in the middle of it.
Peyton St. George was the pitcher for the Raiders’ run of three straight state championships between 2015 and 2017.
She went on to Duke where she helped launch the Blue Devils program from NCAA newcomer to ACC champions and three straight NCAA tournament appearances.
“We were told that we might not reap the benefits or the fruit of the trees your planting,” St. George said of her early years at Duke. “But you flash forward five years down the road, and there’s plenty of fruit! It was crazy that, in that short amount of time, the discipline and culture that we had as such a young team, it was no surprise that we became such a competitive program.”
St. George was approached in her senior year about playing with Athletes Unlimited, which has created a five-week professional softball season each year based in Rosemont, Illinois.
But she chose to spend her bonus year due to COVID earning her Masters in Markets and Management at Duke.
The opportunity came again a year later as St. George was looking for a job and presumably getting on with her professional life.
“There’s a lot to balance when your collegiate career is ending and you’re having a bit of an identity crisis,” St. George said with a laugh. “But if you get drafted to play in a professional league, why wouldn’t you do that?”
“Just knowing that some of the great players in the league were interested in putting my name in a draft was really nice. “
St. George recently moved to Charlotte to take a position with Teamworks, which manages technology systems for college athletics.
Since she works remotely a majority of the time, it’s easier for her to log in from Illinois during the week and then practice at night and play on the weekends.
Her teammates call her “The Corporate Girl” and her co-workers can be seen in the stands cheering her on.
This week, they will watch her play at the Little League Softball World Series in Greenville, NC where, for the first time, professional players will compete in front of the girls that will someday either play with them or play in their place.
It’s an opportunity and situation that St. George couldn’t have imagined when she was young.
“I think this is such a huge deal,” St. George said. “There’s going to be a lot of young girls who look up to us, but it’s crazy that I’m playing with girls that I still look up to. It shows that we are a physical, living example of players that can make softball their job. Showing them that if you truly believe something and you’re passionate about it, anything is possible.”
“If someone told me when I was young ‘You’re going to play softball at Duke’ I wouldn’t have believed them” St. George continued. “If they said ‘You’re going to be a professional softball player’ I would have thought they were crazy! I think it’s so cool that we get to get in front of that crowd. Any opportunity to interact with the younger generation of softball players, it could change their entire lives.”
The Athletes Unlimited teams will play a doubleheader Wednesday, August 9 starting at 4:30 p.m.
Both games will be televised live on ESPN2.
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