1st female little league player happy for 2 little girls

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) - More than six decades after Kathryn "Tubby" Johnston Massar cut off her braids, tucked her hair under her cap and became the first girl to play Little League baseball, she's delighted to see two in this year's Little League World Series.

"It's truly amazing. I'm very happy to see girls playing," said Massar, 78, of Yuba City, California.

Canada's Emma March and Philadelphia's Mo'ne Davis will become the 17th and 18th girls to play in the tournament Friday when they take the field. It will be only the third time in the series' 68-year history that two girls are playing in the same series.

Massar is slated to throw out the first pitch at one of Monday's Little League World Series games.

She believes more girls will start to play in Little League and beyond, and that eventually there will be a woman in Major League Baseball.

Massar played in 1950, leading to a rule barring girls from playing. That rule was overturned in 1974.

The self-described "trailblazer" said she celebrates her role in history.

"It's something I'm proud of," she said. "Why not play baseball with the boys?"