Photo: Bénédicte Desrus/Al Jazeera
Their unique playing style and quest to combat machismo have made Las Amazonas de Yaxunah, an Indigenous women's softball team in the Yucatán region, sensations in Mexico whose games often attract hundreds of fans. When the government launched a fitness program in the region in 2019 to combat high rates of diabetes, women turned down aerobics to found their own softball team -- 26 players, ranging in age from 13 to 62 - who play barefoot and in a traditional Mayan huipil tunic. They have inspired the state government to create a "League of Change" softball tournament, and 120 women's teams from across the region competed in the inaugural tournament. In September, when Las Amazonas played an exhibition game against the Falcons at Chase Field, a Major League Baseball stadium in Phoenix, Arizona, they won 22-3 and were invited back to throw the first pitch for the home team Arizona Diamondbacks
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