Julie Croteau was born in
Prince William County, Virginia, on December 4, 1970, to Nancy and Ray Croteau, both lawyers. Growing up, Croteau played
tee-ball and
Little League Baseball, and as she got older she played in the
Babe Ruth League and in Major League baseball (a youth league). Croteau watched her first baseball game at
Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. She attended
Osbourn Park High School in
Manassas, Virginia, where she tried out for the junior varsity and varsity baseball teams; she made the junior varsity team as a bench player during her ninth-grade year, but never made the varsity team. The court ruled that she had "received a fair tryout and that the decision to cut her was made in good faith and for reasons unrelated to gender". Mike Zitz, manager of the semi-professional Fredericksburg Giants baseball team of the Virginia Baseball League, invited her to try out for the team. At
St. Mary's College of Maryland, she made the men's baseball team as a freshman
walk on. on six attempts. woman to play in a
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) college baseball game. Cameras from
NBC and
Cable News Network attended the game. and
sexism from teammates and the athletic department. She finished her collegiate career batting .171 over 76
at bats. and continued her career by coaching men's NCAA baseball at
Western New England University (Division III) as an assistant in 1993 from 1995 to 1996. There, she batted .078, with four
hits and two
runs batted in over 51 at bats. On defense, Croteau had a
fielding percentage of .989 with two errors and a team-high 174
putouts. She had thirteen
walks compared to nine
strikeouts, one of only two players on the team with more walks than strikeouts, When she played for Colorado, Croteau stood at and weighed . becoming the first women to play in a
Major League Baseball-sanctioned league. ==Personal life==