‘A GIRL ON THEIR TEAM’
Her fastball is A-level
The boys always know when Danika St. Louis has arrived for baseball practice.
She’s the one wearing the pink Mohawk helmet while riding on the back of her dad’s Triumph motorcycle.
St. Louis, 13, also happens to be the only girl participating in the 2017 Major Provincials — an elite level tournament — in Perth this week. St. Louis and her fellow South Ottawa Blues have a 2-1 record heading into Friday’s action. That loss, to Port Arthur, was South Ottawa’s first of the season, and ended a 19-game winning streak. They won two summer tournaments.
St. Louis is not just along for the ride. The other day she struck out eight batters with her notorious fastball, which she delivers with deadly accuracy from a high release point. Her curve is coming along.
The support St. Louis receives from her male teammates is unequivocal. A year ago, they would often rush to the front of the dugout and scream, “Girl Power!” when St. Louis got a hit. Now, they have become accustomed to her excellence, especially on the mound. (Parents still use the “girl power” chant.)
From out-of-town teams, the reaction is a little different. On a ball diamond, voices carry. And St. Louis hears them.
“They will say, ‘Oh my God, they have a girl on their team. She’s probably really bad,’” St. Louis said.
Needless to say, that motivates her to get them out. “A lot,” she said. Most of these players are 11 or 12. Some, like St. Louis, have turned 13. Her Blues coach, Mark Dalipaj, can’t say enough about St. Louis’s talent, and leadership.
“Danika kind of has 12 little brothers, because she’s a lot more mature than the boys,” Dalipaj said. “They’re kind of goofy, but they take care of her and she takes care of us.”
Dalipaj has coached St. Louis on four different South Ottawa teams, so he knows exactly what she brings to the team.
“Danika is a great pitcher,” he said. “She throws the ball hard and she is deceivingly fast because of her windup. It’s tough to pick up the ball. The ball comes from behind her ear, which mechanically isn’t ideal, but for her — she’s able to throw the ball really hard that way.”
There is no place St. Louis is more comfortable than on a ball field, unless it’s the volleyball court, where she competes in the colours of her school, FrancoCité. She plays almost every sport, except hockey.
“I’d rather be with guys than girls because they’re more competitive and aggressive, and rough,” St. Louis said. “I’ve been playing with and against guys since I was four. I had maybe one other girl on each team I was on, but that stopped in minors and majors.”
More challenging for St. Louis is being the only one wearing a dress to the provincial banquet, surrounded by a hundred or so boys. St. Louis admits she was “kind of nervous” about it, but quickly remembered she’s been the only girl in summer ball for most of the past eight years. No biggie.
Judging by the team banquet photo taken by Citizen shooter Tony Caldwell, St. Louis can go for the glam look when she has to.
“I don’t like dresses but I kind of had to get dressed up for that,” she said. “I’m not a girly-girl. I just like shopping and I guess, makeup. But I love every sport. I like being aggressive, rough, like most guys’ stuff.”
What St. Louis loves best is the full-on endorphin rush of competitive sport. Her dad (Stephan) and grandfather both played baseball and so she came by it naturally. Her younger sister, Summer, celebrated her eighth birthday Thursday and is already a coach-pitch all-star player.
“I think she likes baseball even more than I do,” St. Louis said.
Win or lose this weekend, Dalipaj will be understandably proud of his team’s effort and commitment — routinely having a full roster of 13 kids for every practice, which is not an easy feat in the summer.
“We’re scrappy,” Dalipaj said. “Very difficult outs. We have great at-bats. Defensively we’re strong, we’re deep in pitching.
“We have a bunch of overachievers. They’ve worked and worked and worked.”
The entire squad would love nothing better than to qualify for the nationals in Medicine Hat. For St. Louis, it would mean flying in an airplane for the first time.
The odds are long. If the Blues survive Friday’s game, they have to beat powerhouse Port Arthur, not once but twice, in this socalled double knockout tournament format.
That will require a high level of scrappiness.