Debate Over Offer of Baseball Scholarship to a Woman

The men's baseball coach at Montreat College is getting grief (and some support) for offering a small athletic scholarship to a female pitcher, The Asheville Citizen-Times reported. Marti Sementelli, a pitcher from California, isn't talking and hasn't signed a letter of intent. But some athletes and alumni at Montreat have told the coach, Michael Bender, that they object. The coach told the newspaper: "I'm not trying to skirt away from this because I have given her this opportunity, and I knew that some of this would come with it. It's hard because I didn't really want to be known around Asheville for this; I kind of wanted to be known around Asheville for playing pretty good baseball.”