Melanie Gettins, Allyssa James and Rita Hokianga successfully pleaded their case to Hawke's Bay Softball - saying if they were allowed to join a men's premier team they'd have a better shot at making the 2020 Olympics.
Ms Hokianga says: "We just gotta be selfish now that we're thinking about the Olympics 2020, so we gotta do what we can to be the best."
Previous seasons the women had to travel to Wellington for games- but they wanted to improve their skills in a bigger and better competition, closer to home.
Ms Gettins says it's about looking at new opportunities and how they can push themselves.
"The men's game's faster, stronger, everything happens at a faster rate."
Softball is a limited contact sport, so there weren't as many obstacles if, say, the women wanted to join a men's rugby team.
But Mr Carter says there is still a certain health and safety aspect.
"That's why we limited it to the New Zealand representatives, it's not a case of saying we will throw everyone in there, it was a case of saying we are helping the New Zealand women's team and the New Zealand women's representatives get a better quality of opposition."
"It wasn't just women beating men or girls beating boys or anything like that, it was a good game of softball and the best team won."
It also helped lift the men's game, too.
Flaxmere Softball Club Player Coach Darryl Tamati says: "We've come a very, very long way."
And - they hope the initiative will help the women in their team get to Tokyo in 2020.
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