She plays with the boys
There’s no girls baseball league in Niagara for Tara Taylor
She was three years old, the day her older sister learned to ride a bike without training wheels. And she wanted to learn, too. Tara Taylor, now 15, did not feel at all disadvantaged by her age, two years younger than her bigger sister.
She has always been unstoppable, said her aunt, Amy Taylor. Propelled forward, by a force from within.
On that day, her attitude was simple: “She’s doing it. I’m doing it.” And she did. “She was riding her bike from then on,” said Amy.
Tara was born determined. She was a preemie, three or four weeks early and under five pounds. She was born with a cleft lip and palate, and was fed with a special bottle.
“Doctors were concerned she wouldn’t get enough to eat and gain weight, but she did,” said Amy.
Her aunt took custody of Tara and her three siblings when she was just a baby. Both her parents have since died.
Perseverance, is a skill she acquired early in life. When she was about five, she’d stand on the curb in front of their home in Niagara Falls, and watch the neighbourhood kids play street hockey.
“Eventually, they’d invite her to play,” said Amy.
When she played soccer, at an age when the entire team usually surrounds and follows the ball en masse, she was the kid outside of the pack, kicking the ball to the opponent’s net.
“She was on that ball,” said Amy. “She definitely stands out.”
Tara has always seemed to understand strategy. When she started playing softball, she’d be on second base, faking runs to third. She knew enough to turn back if she thought she could be tagged, but usually made a dash for third the moment the ball was in the air, heading to second.
“She already had that sensibility,” said her aunt.
Perhaps, all of this explains why she plays baseball with the boys.
Girls typically gravitate to softball, set apart from baseball by larger balls and windmill style pitching. Tara isn’t a fan.
She is both a pitcher and back catcher. She throws overhand. Strong, and fast.
In Niagara, there is no baseball league for girls.
Last summer, she was on a bantam house league team. Of the 65 players her age in the Falls, two were female, said Bill Matson, coach and registrar with the Greater Niagara Baseball Association. They played teams across Niagara, and he recalls only one other girl, from a Port Colborne team.
Tara, a Grade 10 student at Westlane Secondary School in the Falls, also played on the all-stars
Online
For more photos, visit niagarafallsreview.ca team, a group of the best players pulled from the five Niagara Falls house league teams. They played in tournaments across Ontario. She won three of six MVP awards.
This summer, a year older, she will advance to Midget, and could be playing against boys who are as old as 18, he said. She’s not intimidated. She likes being on the mound. “You control the game,” said Tara. “I like seeing how many boys I can strike out. It’s fun to see how hard I can throw.”
Added her aunt: “She’s a control freak. Oh, yeah.”
She’s also earned a spot on the boys midget all-star team, as one of three alternate players. She’s hoping to try out for two provincial girls baseball teams. And she recently returned from a girls baseball training session in Cuba, recommended to her by her all-stars coach, Niagara Falls Falcons 16 U head coach, Geoff Allen.
“Once I saw her capabilities, I just thought there’s got to be something out there for her,” he said.
“The biggest thing is her work ethic. She’s very driven.
“She’s extremely coachable. She asks questions. She shows up and puts in 100 per cent.
“It doesn’t faze her that she’s one girl amongst 15 teenage boys. “It doesn’t faze her one bit.” As an alternate, she is one of the top 16 players of the 28 who tried out, and will play during tournaments if another pitcher is injured or tired, he said.
“She’s right in the conversation,” he said.
“I didn’t AP (alternate player) her because I wanted a good story about a girl on the team,” he said.
“I AP’d her because she earned every minute of it.
“She’s exactly where she is for the exactly the right reasons.”
Tara figures her strength comes from the years she was a competitive gymnast, training some 20 hours every week. She competed