Naperville teen pitching for spot on national women's baseball team
For many 16-year-old girls, their greatest thrills come from chasing boys through malls, texting the masses and arguing about who is the cutest vampire.
Then there's Naperville's Brooke Meyer. Her greatest thrills come from getting boys to chase her 0-2 curve ball, down and away.
Next week, though, she turns her attention to the ladies as she attempts to become the youngest of 18 women from across the country to make the 2010 USA Baseball Women's National Team.
The team has invited 32 women, ages 16-37, to trials held Monday through Thursday at the USA Baseball's training complex in Cary, N.C. The 18 who make the cut will compete in the women's baseball World Cup in Venezuela, from Aug. 12-22.
Before seeing an ad for the first level of tryouts, held June 3-4 in Lombard, Brooke didn't know other women played at a higher level than what she's doing now. She's the only girl on the Wheatland Ducks 15U boys travel baseball team. She thought her baseball days were numbered.
"This is all very cool because it's such a last-minute thing, but I'm so glad I went and tried out," she said. "It was eye-opener to see these other girls pitching hard and throwing hard and being competitive like how I play with the boys."
Brooke wants to make the team as a pitcher.
"I'm the youngest girl to get this far but this isn't far enough. I'm going out to grab one of the top pitching spots because that's my ultimate passion," she said. "I love messing with the guys when they stroll to the plate and think they're gonna get a hit off me."
Ducks coach Darrin Bacon has coached Brooke for six years and had her as a pitcher on his team for the last four.
"Brooke is a terrific player and an even better teammate so I have no doubt she'll do great this weekend," he said. "I'm not overly familiar with the competition she'll be facing there but I truly would be surprised if she's not in their rotation by time it's over."
Most recently, Brooke was clocked at 73 mph but she admits to putting some finesse on the ball.
"I'll give you a first pitch fastball, high and outside so you can see it. Next I'll hit you with a change-up that will make you look foolish if I place it just right," she says. "Now you're 0-2 and you don't want to be struck out by a girl so you're swinging away at my curve in the dirt. And I just struck you out."
If that strategy works for her in North Carolina this weekend, she'll stay there until Aug. 11 when the team leaves for Venezuela to compete for the cup. If everything goes as planned, she'll arrive back home in Naperville on the 23rd, just in time to start her junior year at Neuqua Valley High School. If it doesn't she'll be home on Friday.
"I'm really anxious but I know if this doesn't work out this year, I'm only 16 and will have more opportunities," Brooke said. "But I'm heading there with a positive attitude and my eye on a spot in the rotation."
She knows that's odd talk coming from a 16-year-old girl but she's grown up with baseball, watching her 18-year-old brother Zack play Little League and in high school at Neuqua Valley, where they were also teammates on the hockey team.
"I went to all his games and watched him practice with our dad. When my dad corrected Zack's errors, I made a note and learned the correct way," she said. "I love the game and am thankful for my dad and brother being there to push me to get better."
But the baseball diamond isn't the only place she's being pushed. Brooke also is the starting goalie at Neuqua Valley and has long dreamed of competing for a medal in the 2014 Olympics as a hockey player. Her new outlet, though, seems to have sent her on a detour.
"The World cup is every two years, and I can easily be part of a great thing as this program grows," Brooke said of the baseball program. "I never thought I'd have the chance to win a gold medal in baseball so I focused on hockey because that was more realistic. Now it looks like I may get my baseball medal first. That's nuts."