Program Opens Doors for Inner-City Girls

When pitcher Ta’Tyana McElroy of L.A. Washington High signs a letter of intent with Oregon State next week, Bob Dylan’s 1964 song, “The Times They Are a-Changin’ ” would be an appropriate musical accompaniment.

McElroy will become the first African American softball player at Oregon State and the first player from the softball component of Reviving Baseball in Innercities to earn a scholarship to a Pacific 10 Conference school.

“This is a breakthrough,” Crenshaw High Coach Frank Price said.

RBI was launched in 1989 by former major league scout John Young to reinvigorate baseball participation in South Central Los Angeles and other urban communities. Young’s goal was to use baseball to help youths overcome academic and social disadvantages. The program has spread to more than 160 cities.

Softball leagues were added in 1997, and they could end up having a greater impact in putting girls on the path to college.

“The girls are easier,” Young said. “The boys come in thinking they’re going to play in the big league, and until that June day when they’re not drafted, they’re not thinking of college.”

RBI has teamed with the Department of Recreation and Parks to run leagues for baseball and softball. There are more than 1,600 boys and girls participating from ages 8 to 18. Grants from Major League Baseball and the Amateur Athletic Foundation have provided funding.

Last year, RBI formed an 18-and-under gold softball team to travel around the country and compete in top summer tournaments. Playing for a club team has become virtually the only way to receive a softball scholarship because summer is when most scouting takes place.

The cost for a club player can be as high as $5,000 for travel expenses and fees. Thanks to donations from Dodger pitcher Kevin Brown, San Fernando Valley resident Liz Shapiro and others, RBI does not charge its players and requires only that its girls participate in a community service program.

The team is made up of African American and Latina players from some of the toughest neighborhoods in Los Angeles. There’s no denying what the team has meant for the girls’ future.

“For some of the girls, it’s kept them out of trouble,” McElroy said. “I know one girl who was always in trouble. It gives her something to look forward to.”

McElroy has been the team’s top pitcher. She had extra guidance to succeed. Her brother, Jim, was a wide receiver at UCLA from 1994 to ’97. Her father, Jim Sr., has been her coach at Washington and with RBI. She was talented enough to play for a more high-profile club team but stayed loyal to RBI.

“It is exciting, especially to see my friends come up and accomplish so much,” she said.

No one has benefited more from RBI than Kenora Posey, a junior infielder at Crenshaw who has 113 stolen bases in the last two seasons.

Young remembers Posey as an 11-year-old hanging out at a park in South Central Los Angeles. She was known for her speed and “beating up boys.”

She joined RBI and is considered the second-best player, next to McElroy. UCLA, the eight-time NCAA softball champion, sent a recruiting questionnaire to Posey, the first time the school has requested any information from one of Price’s players.

“This kid used to climb out of windows at home at night,” Price said. “She was clearly lacking something in her life.”

David Blakely, program director at 109th Street Park, is amazed at the changes Posey has made since joining the softball program.

“She was a piece of coal who turned into a diamond,” he said. “I see the maturity, ‘yes sir,’ ‘no sir,’ the use of the English language, not the slang.”

Said Posey: “If it wasn’t for RBI, I’d be in a very bad situation. It’s helped me get this far and I wouldn’t give it up for anything.”

For players to reach college, they need good grades and a qualifying SAT score. RBI pays for its players to enroll in an SAT preparation class and hires academic tutors, which is something Posey is relying on to improve her college chances.

RBI has sent softball players to Alabama State, Southern University and St. John’s, but McElroy’s arrival in the premier softball conference in America will be a turning point. College coaches know there are others ready to join her.

“I know for a fact that we are missing a tremendous group of athletes from the inner city, and I get excited knowing they are starting to get the exposure and opportunities they deserve,” UCLA softball Coach Sue Enquist said.

Jim McElroy Sr. said there’s still a challenge trying to convince girls to choose softball as their sport to focus on.

“You figure the average inner-city girl thinks softball is what you do at a family picnic,” he said.

“They don’t know how intense it is. They don’t understand about scholarships. They all think it’s for basketball and track and field.”

There’s no telling how many lives have been changed because of Young’s vision and dedication to reaching boys and girls in the inner cities of Southern California.

“John Young has been a hero,” Price said. “He can’t leap buildings in a single bound. He’s not bulletproof, but he’s saving lives.”

On Nov. 13, when McElroy makes it official and signs with Oregon State, she’ll be setting the standard for others to follow.

“It opens up doors for girls,” her father said.

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Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com