Gabrielle Augustine loves diamonds. Baseball diamonds, that is.

And because of that love of baseball diamonds, the 22-year-old had the opportunity to play baseball a few weeks ago in South Korea.Augustine has been playing organized baseball since she was a little girl living in Palmerton."I've been able to throw a baseball since I was 3 years old. Dad played his whole life and taught my sister, Stephanie, and I to play," she says.Typically, girls play softball. Augustine tried it. There was a season where she played both sports at the same time. Baseball won out.So she played for the Towamensing Little League and as she got older, moved up through the ranks of Towamensing Babe Ruth League. She was a role model for her younger sister, Stephanie, who followed in her footsteps."We became accustomed to being the only girls on our respective teams," Augustine says.The sisters weren't allowed to play for Palmerton Area High School because, "Well frankly, we were girls. According to PIAA rules, if a high school has an equivalent sport, the girl has to play that equivalent, softball being the girl's equivalent of baseball. It's not, but that is a completely different article/Op/Ed piece."New territoryWhen she became too old for Towamensing's leagues, she went on to play for two years in the Tri-County League, a men's league based in Allentown."To quote Tom Hanks' character in a 'League of Their Own,' a fabulous movie, 'Baseball gets inside of you.' There is something very magical, something remarkable about every aspect of the game, from the crack of a wooden bat hitting the ball or the solid thunk of the ball finding its mark in a catcher's mitt. And as a female pitcher, it is always very satisfying to strike the guys out," she says with a grin.Augustine and Stephanie are the daughters of Kathy and Raymond Augustine of Palmerton. They were home-schooled and Gabrielle graduated at the age of 16. She went on to graduate from Cedar Crest College in May 2012 with a bachelor of arts degree in anthropology, minor in writing, at the age of 20. She is working on her master's in science in anthropology at Mercyhurst University in Erie.This past summer, she got a job at the Erie County Historical Society as assistant collections manager. A co-worker gave her the contact information for the men's baseball Glenwood League."I ended up joining the league in the middle of the season and the first time I met the team that I played for the rest of the season, they had me pitch the last two innings of the game as essentially my tryout," she says. The other team did not score against her.The next day, the Erie Times-News reported in the scorebox section that she was the first female baseball player to play in the Glenwood League. The next day, the paper called her for an interview and photo shoot.Baseball in KoreaJustine Siegal, the founder for Baseball For All, saw the article and contacted Augustine on Facebook. She inquired if Augustine would like to play in her all-girls baseball tournament in Cooperstown, New York, at the end of July.It was an offer Gabrielle couldn't refuse."Both my sister and I played. Our team ended up being undefeated and winning the tournament," she says.Women's Baseball Association Korea, under the sponsorship of LG Electronics Inc., held its first International Women's Baseball Tournament in South Korea, the LG Cup, from Aug. 25 to 25. Baseball For All's team represented the United States."Thank goodness I already had my passport because almost three weeks after playing in Cooperstown, I was on my first international trip to go play baseball in Seoul, South Korea, in a brand-new complex built by LG Electronics."Augustine and her 17-year-old teammate, Maddie Ashton, who she was also chaperoning, left from the Cleveland International Airport on Aug. 19. They dropped their luggage at the Konjiam Ski Resort."It was a pretty awesome set up with a great view ... lots of mountains."From there they went to the LG Twins stadium."We had a tour of the stadium, met all the other women's teams participating in the tournament, which included two from South Korea, Japan, Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and India, while waiting to watch the LG Twins play, but the game was canceled due to rain."On their last day, they had the opportunity to visit several Korean markets and experience the Korean culture."Actually, we did have a lot of chances to try the Korean cuisine lots of rice and not really any cheese, which was interesting. The most interesting thing I tried was fried squid, suckers and all. It was a little chewy but the taste wasn't too bad. One night we went out as a team with the Australian team and had Korean pizza, which had quite a variety of interesting toppings ... including french fries."The teamThe USA All-Stars played four games in three days and placed seventh in the tournament."But it wasn't too bad considering our first game was the first time we had played together as a team whereas the other teams have been playing together for months, if not years."Ever since Little League, Augustine has been able to play any position on the field, except for catcher."It's hard to describe, but there's something about the sensation of digging your cleats into the dirt in front of the pitcher's mound, gripping a baseball as the catcher signals the pitch to me, and the thrill of being able to play America's pastime."Her dream is to one day work at the Field Museum in Chicago or at one of the Smithsonians in D.C."No matter where I end up with my career, I will definitely be looking up baseball leagues. And of course, I will continue to be a part of Baseball for All because I love seeing other girls play baseball."