Southampton Baseball Player Bailey Brown Is One of Nation's Best

Bailey Brown has quickly solidified herself as one of the best girls baseball players in the nation.

What started with a summer Major League Baseball Elite Development Invitational has snowballed into the Southampton senior being named one of the top 32 high school girls at the MLB Breakthrough Series last month. The right-handed pitcher was also one of 40 female baseball players to take part in the 2025 Women’s National Team Development Program, which helps staff evaluate players for future national team programming as USA Baseball prepares for another World Cup run in 2026.

“I was really honored to be selected,” Brown said. “I didn’t think I’d make it, to be honest, so I was shocked when I did.”

This is coming from someone Southampton High School head baseball coach Zach Epley said exudes confidence.

“She expects to get outs,” Epley said. “She has this competitive fire, and that confidence has really grown over the last four years.”

Being a part of baseball teams at a young age has done that for her. Brown has played four local youth teams and travel leagues, so Epley, also a Southampton native, heard about Brown’s abilities as a child. He called her up to the varsity level when she was in eighth grade.

“I was overly impressed,” he said of watching her pitch then, adding his daughter Hailey, who was 5 at the time, thought it was “the coolest thing she’d ever seen.”

“Bailey showed she could compete with boys that were 18 years old at that time,” the coach said.

So, when she was one of 64 girls selected to take part in the Elite Development Invitational at the Kansas City MLB Urban Youth Academy in Missouri June 21-26, the now 17-year-old was excited to show what she could do.

“When I take the mound I’m locked in,” Brown said. “It’s really important that the coaches see you want to be there and you’re trying your hardest.”

A month later, she took part in USA Baseball’s All-American Women’s Baseball Classic at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in North Carolina. From August 1-3, athletes selected to one of four teams named after All-American Girls Professional Baseball League teams like the Rockford Peaches and Racine Belles — featured in the blockbuster film “A League of Their Own” — competed tournament style with the opportunity to be evaluated for future USA Baseball Women’s National Team programming.

Brown was a starter for the Belles, and struck out six of the nine batters she faced, which were all outs. The Belles’ pitching duo of Brown and Mia Kruspe combined for a shutout, keeping the Kenosha Comets off the board in a dominant 8-0 victory that ended after 4.5 innings due to rain.

“Bailey crushed it,” her father, Barry, said. “She has this confidence that never wavers. Even against the best women in the country she doesn’t flinch. It’s amazing. She’s only 17 years old and some of these women have been on the team for 17 years.”

“I think that only helps with the confidence,” Brown said of collecting those Ks. “Once you get one, it’s like dominoes. It keeps me wanting more.”

Her performance led her to be one of 40 invited to the 2025 Women’s National Team Development Program October 15-19 at the National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina. The group of high school, college and even national team members were divided into two teams, Stars and Stripes, to compete against one another.

Brown was a member of Stars, which was managed by Billy Wagner. Nicknamed “Billy the Kid,” Wagner, recently enshrined into MLB’s Hall of Fame in upstate Cooperstown, is a former left-handed pitcher who played 16 seasons in the MLB for the Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves from 1995 to 2010. Mike Kinkade, a 2000 Olympic gold medalist and former MLB left fielder and first baseman for the New York Mets, Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers between 1998 and 2003, managed the Stripes.

“I didn’t get to manage Bailey Brown, but she pitched great against us and she goes in there throwing strikes,” Kinkade said. “It’s nerve-racking, but she showed what she’s got.”

Meggie Meidlinger, who met Brown several years ago through the MLB development programming, competed against Brown as a right-handed pitcher for the Stripes, but also coached her during the recent MLB Breakthrough Series November 6-9 at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex in Vero Beach, Florida.

Meidlinger is a USA Baseball Women’s National Team member, eight-time alumna and recent Women’s Professional Baseball League draftee selected 15th overall by Los Angeles. The 37-year-old and oldest member of the current national team said she’s enjoyed watching Brown grow her game.

“For Bailey, it’s been so clear and evident that she’s put in the work,” Meidlinger said. “She’s always had pure and great talents from an early age — I feel like she's always been one of those elite baseball players; she’s always had a phenomenal skill set — but to get to see what she’s blossomed into has been really cool.”

Brown’s tools in her arsenal, including a fastball, curveball, changeup and two-seam fastball, help her stand out.

“I like my changeup, but if my curveball is feeling better that day, I'll lean on that,” Brown said.

Meidlinger has worked with the Southampton native on her pitches and spot location.

“You can see she’s really honing her craft,” the Virginia native said. “She can spot and locate her fastball, and she can throw her breaking ball ahead and behind in counts. Those are all traits we look for and need.”

The Breakthrough Series program focuses on developing players on and off the field by providing instruction, competitive play, video coverage, seminars and mentorship — all while exposing players to U.S. National Team scouts and collegiate recruiters. Participants also had the opportunity to hear from and interact with some of the highest-ranking and most-experienced women in baseball, including Jeneane Descombes Lesko, a former left-handed pitcher who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1953 through 1954, and Maybelle Blair, a right-handed pitcher who joined the league with the Peoria Redwings its 1948 season. New York Mets minor league hitting coach Rachel Folden, who was the first female coach in Chicago Cubs history, and Arizona Diamondbacks Complex Manager and Team USA Baseball Pan Am Gold medalist Ronnie Gajownik were also mentors.

“I got to train with some of the best coaches ever and there was a great group of girls, so I felt a little more relaxed,” Brown said of being one of 32 high school girls there despite the star-studded coaching roster. “At the national team events there’s a lot of experienced players that know so much more than I do, but it’s definitely helped my game improve. It was really great for my development.”

Meidlinger said she, too, has seen growth not just in Brown’s pitching abilities, but in her presence.

“When she steps foot on the mound now you can see she’s ready to go,” Meidlinger said. “She’s got this grit and tenacity. And someone like Bailey takes something away from every event that she’s at. She’s grown and applied things she’s learned from each series to the next one. It’s all come together. It’s really incredible.”

The player and coach also called Brown an “elite teammate.”

“Bailey is an awesome baseball player and an even better person,” Meidlinger said. “Anyone would be lucky to have her. The type of players we’re looking for are ones who have the skill set to compete at the highest level, are team players and can compete with ferocity on a world stage while representing your country well. Bailey has all those characteristics. It fits right into what we’re looking for on a USA national team.”

Epley said when Brown first joined the team, she was just happy to be a part of the team and throw strikes. He said he’s noticed a definite shift.

“When I first put her in the game she was bright-eyed, like,’ Coach, you’re putting me in?’ Where now she goes in and I think she gets angry at herself when she doesn’t make the perfect pitch,” Epley said. “And she’s got the respect of everybody out there, too. Her competitiveness and her skill set have developed more and more.”

In just a few short months, Epley has seen Brown’s velocity increase, too. The senior typically hurls her fastball around 80 mph, and while she wasn’t able to play for Southampton during most of Town of Brookhaven fall league between the MLB Breakthrough Series and playing for the Mariners girls volleyball team, she pitched the last game of the season against Mt. Sinai and left Epley stunned.

“You could notice the extra zip on the ball. It was very impressive,” the coach said. “She’s developed as a pitcher to be able to hit her spots and know how to pitch in certain counts. She doesn’t walk anybody. She throws strikes. She’s got a great curveball. And it’s the second and third pitches she has command over that really make hitters look silly.”

Brown’s father said it’s been an emotional experience watching his daughter play with and against the best women in the country.

“She can compete with anyone,” he said. “When she wants something, she goes for it. She’s getting evaluated at all times at all of these different events to get on the world team, and I’m so proud of what she’s accomplished. It’s exciting. This all happened so fast, but she works hard for it.”

That time and effort is something Epley said isn’t spoken about enough.

“She’s always out there catching and throwing,” the coach said. “If she had a bad game, she’ll be out on the field the next day. She puts in the work. She’s in the gym. She’s pitching in the cages. She’s earned everything that’s come to her. It’s well-deserved. She’s a great kid who’s going to do great things. I’m hoping we get a chance to see her play on that national stage.”

Meidlinger said the future remains bright for Brown, who is also a part of a travel softball team, and committed to play for Pace University’s softball program in 2027.

“She’s someone you want to have on your team,” Meidlinger said. “She has this confidence and authority. She knows her skill set. She has command over her pitches, her breaking pitches and her strike zone. Bailey not only plays well, but represents women well in the sport. All of the characteristics she embodies will 100 percent carry her into the future not just as a baseball player, but as a person. All of those traits will take her far in whatever she wants to do.”