Kelsey Severns may be the only girl in Sunnyvale Southern Little League, but teammates say she plays hardball.
By Katherine Petersen
Kevin Stichter of the Reds stepped into the batter's box to face the Rockies pitcher, right-hander Bradley McGee. On a 1-ball, 2-strike pitch, he hit a looping line drive toward right field.
Kelsey Severns, 10, saw the ball well off the bat, ran backward onto the outfield grass, then leaped into the air to make an over-the-shoulder catch. She got high-fives from several teammates.
"It was probably my best catch of the year," said Severns, who just completed her first year of playing in the majors with the boys in the Sunnyvale Southern Little League. She played at least six defensive outs and had one at bat in each game.
League President Mike Kelley said that in his eight years of involvement with the league, no other girls have played in the majors. He said Severns' teammates treat her like one of the boys.
"It's because of her attitude. She's just a die-hard baseball player. She's aggressive, determined and has good baseball skills," he said.
Rockies manager Jim Hayes had the option to draft Severns last year because her brother, Kyle, 12, was already a member of the team. Severns' parents debated whether to allow their daughter to step up to the majors. "She would have played almost every inning if she stayed in minors. We asked her and her brother how they felt, and they both said they wanted to play on the same team, so we let her do it," said Severns' mother, Sharon. They also felt there would be less chance of Severns being teased with her brother on the same team.
Severns will already be comfortable with her teammates for her next two years on the team, even with her brother leaving for Little League's next level.
Hayes felt it took a lot of courage for Severns to move up to majors. "At that time she was as good as any other player I could have drafted, and I think it was a good experience for her and a good deal for the Rockies," he said.
Severns may have been treated differently if she had tried to organize cheers in the dugout, Hayes speculated. "She stayed sort of in the background, but rooted the team on. The boys' dugouts are generally quieter than the girls', " he said.
Severns started with tee-ball five years ago, and chose to play hardball like her brother rather than softball with the girls.
"I think it was because I went to a lot of his games and he taught me a lot about baseball. It's cool. We get along pretty well. We're not perfect. We have arguments, but we like being on the same team," Severns said.
Severns' brother, who pitches and plays shortstop, said having his sister on the team is the same as having any other 10-year-old.
"You can hardly tell she's a girl. She just goes out there and does her thing. It doesn't bother me. She fits right in," he said.
Her brother taught Severns many of her baseball skills. "We'd go outside and play catch and I'd teach her how to throw and swing right. Sometimes we'd just have a small one-on-one game of baseball," he said. The two also practice hitting in the batting cage in their back yard. Severns prefers playing second base, although she sometimes plays the outfield. She said she gets lonely out in right field waiting for a ball to be hit to her or backing up bad throws.
"The ball's hit to you more often at second, and if I want to say something I can tell the first baseman," she said. Severns said she loves to turn double plays, but sometimes they can be hard to coordinate.
A tomboy at heart, Severns has no problem being the only girl on the team. She sits in the dugout spitting sunflower seeds with teammates during the games--if she can convince her mother to buy them.
"They treat me like they would anybody else. If they tease me, they're teasing other people too," she said.
Bobby Schneider, a Rockies first baseman, said he didn't even think it was a big deal having a girl on his baseball team.
"I didn't think much about her being a girl. I just treated her like she was any other teammate or friend," he said. He said Severns would always cheer on her teammates even if the team was losing a game.
This year, Schneider added, the team had bat people instead of bat boys.
The Rockies came in third this year, but Severns made the 9-10 All Stars. She has two more years to play in the majors before deciding if she'll keep playing with the boys or switch to softball. She doesn't relish the latter prospect.
"When you hit the ball, it's like hitting a rock. And I like to hang out with the boys," she said.
Manager Jim Hayes said he hardly noticed anything different about his team this year. Most of the coaches knew about Severns when she played in the minors, so her move up to the majors, while somewhat novel, was not a shock.
"It was pretty much the same as usual because nobody made a big deal of it," he said. "I treated her the same as any other player. She did all the same stuff the other players did, including warming up pitchers," he said.
Hayes thought that her brother's attitude also made it easier for Severns. He said things might have been different if Kyle resented his sister coming up, feeling she might take attention away from him in his big year.
"If other players had seen that reaction, they may have followed his leadership," he said.
Hayes said Kyle walked a fine line, not overprotecting his sister, but able to quietly tell her if she made a mistake.
For instance, when she made the catch in the game with the Reds, Severns should have thrown the ball back to first base to double off the runner and end the inning.
"Instead of yelling at her, Kyle walked over and explained that it was a good catch, but she could have made a great double play. He did it quietly without making a big issue of it," Hayes said.
Severns doesn't limit herself to baseball; she also participates in soccer and basketball.
Severns doesn't have her eye on Major League Baseball, although she might not turn down a spot on the Colorado Silver Bullets. For a career, Severns wants to teach children with disabilities.
"My next-door neighbor has a speech problem and I help her a lot. She can't understand things real well sometimes. I go and play with her if she's in a bad mood or she needs someone to play with," she said. "People say I'm very good with her."
Severns' mother said she doesn't know how long her daughter will stick with baseball or what she'll do next, but she'll support her all the way.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, July 3, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.