These Maya women softballers defy machismo — from their mighty bats to their bare toes

Barefoot and draped in the colorful embroidery of traditional Maya huipil garb, 20-year-old Sitlali Yovana Poot Dzib steps up to the plate, wiggling her bat overhead as she faces the pitch. The field is uneven and littered with stones while searing 100-degree heat scorches the soles of her feet. Nevertheless, she swivels on her toes, digging into the dirt for grip and ignoring jeers from the away crowd, and sends the ball soaring.

Poot is the captain of Las Amazonas de Yaxunah, an indigenous, all-female softball team famous throughout Mexico. They have even been invited to play in the U.S. They have worked to overcome the machismo attitude that softball is a sport for men, spreading the message that women are just as capable.

The decision to play in embroidered dresses stemmed from a desire to pay homage to their Maya culture as well as to demonstrate that women