When it comes to Bridget Kelly and baseball, you might say it's in her DNA.
“When I was younger, my brother always used to play and I used to love going to watch his baseball games and also I've seen photos of my father and my grandfather playing and it really inspired me,” said Bridget Kelly, who first picked up a glove at four years old.
Kevin Kelly, her father and coach, doesn’t deny she got hooked on the game early.
“There was always a baseball game going on, either in the backyardwith her brother and friends around the neighbourhood, or even in the kitchen where they would be stealing bases and practicing stealing and sliding under the kitchen table,” he said.
Bridget currently plays at the Pee Wee AA level, which is competitive, but she has her sights set on the midget level, where her brother plays.
“She can hit and she can catch and she can pitch. She throws hard and she hits the ball far. She's a force on her team and that makes it really dangerous to play against her,” said her brother, David.
At a tournament in Massachusetts involving eight teams, Bridget was the only girl and held her own, hitting .300 during the tournament.
“When we play against other teams, they see us come up to bat -- the girls -- and they move in in the infield and we just smack it over their heads and then their mouths drop and it's really funny,” said Brdget with a laugh.
She's hoping her ability will one day inspire other girls to take to the diamond, but for now, she's making her family proud.
“Baseball is a game that teaches you the little things about life, about being resilient and how many times you can come to bat and fail and make an error and still come back and do it again,” said her dad.
