Zoë Pestana a devoted and proud Grade 9 learner of Curro Aurora, recently made history as the first female player to be selected for the South African elite training squad under the South African Baseball Union. Zoë, who started her ‘ball’ journey at the age of eight initially only played softball like her older sister Maddie, but soon her talent was noticed, and she started to attend the METS practices even though it was only for boys. She was determined to play baseball instead of softball and under the guidance of her coach John White she has grown from strength to strength making the all-boys provincial side every single year.

Finally in 2021 a female baseball side was started which she played for as well, while still, she continued to play for the boy’s side as well. By making the Gauteng softball side – it was a very busy time, but she managed everything in her stride including her impressive grades at school!

During April, the Gauteng U15 boys side made it to the finals of the tournament after a grueling 5 days of games playing against all the provincial sides. Zoë had the honour and privilege of being the starting pitcher in the final for Gauteng against Western Cape. The selections for the U15 Elite training squad were made at this tournament and she made the side which will train for several weeks where they will make their final cut for the SA side traveling to Mexico in August of this year. If you ask Zoë where she sees herself with baseball, she’s aiming for the MLB but is also happy to just continue with the game and the second family she has discovered within the baseball-softball fraternity!