While, invariably, the Little League World Series almost routinely, each year, generates a heartwarming, or tear-inducing, story, and this year is no different.
Except that history, perhaps a bit dubiously, was made;
Game-Winning Hit by 13-Year-Old Girl Could Be a First
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — Katie Reyes hit a two-run single in the top of the sixth to help Vancouver, British Columbia, rally for a wild 14-13 victory Tuesday over Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany, in the Little League World Series.
The Little League president, Stephen Keener, and other longtime tournament officials said they could not recall a girl having the winning hit before in a World Series game.
“I was excited. I was shaking,” Reyes, 13, said about going to the plate for her big hit. She finished with three hits and three runs batted in.
Playing first, Reyes also caught the last out. She joined her happy teammates jumping on the mound after Canada won its last game of the series. Both teams had already been eliminated entering Tuesday.
WOW!
All this time, decades, and it's only the first time a girl has gotten a winning hit?
Does that have to do with girls not being into playing Little League, or nitwit coaches across the land, holding on to yesteryear, believing girls don't belong in baseball?
ESPN, which posts a video of it, has more;
Fifteen girls have played in the series since 1984, when Victoria Roche of Brussels, Belgium, became the first female to play in South Williamsport.
Reyes wasn't the only girl playing at the series this year -- Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, had 13-year-old Bryn Stonehouse playing first base, too.
The only other time there were two girls in the series in the same year was 2004
Well, anyway ...
Hats Off to Katie Reyes!
Go Girl Go!
Bonus Link
Here's a good background piece, from the Toronto Globe and Mail, on Katie Reyes;
Canadian 'girl that delivers' takes on the World Series
(Cross Posted at The Garlic)
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