Star Girl Pitcher Has Little Leaguers Knuckling Under

My wife likes to tell this story about a high school female friend of hers who routinely beat the male swimmers at local meets and how the parents of the boys would complain to the girl's coach about letting her swim with the boys. The coach was unimpressed with the mothers' arguments, especially because their sons had just been beaten to the wall — by a girl.

I wonder if similar stories have been told in the past few years in houses in and around Plant City, Fla., about the feats of one Chelsea Baker, the only girl on the Brandon Farms Little League baseball team and indeed the only girl in the league.

Seems Chelsea can throw a knuckleball, which might provide a bit of explanation for her 12-0 record this year. In 60 innings, she struck out 127 batters. In the past two years, she has pitched two perfect games.

Yes, she can throw the knuckleball, which she learned from famed Major Leaguer Joe Niekro. But Chelsea has a hummer of a fastball, too. She can top 65 mph. That knuckleball comes in at about that speed as well.

What's a Little League batter to do?

Chelsea hasn't lost a sanctioned baseball game in four years on the mound. One of those perfect games was in an All-Star game.

The team finished this season with a record of 29-1. That one loss was in the sectional round of the Little League World Series, so Chelsea hit the all-star circuit herself, playing with a national all-girls dream team called the Sparks.

Seems Chelsea is also a bit handy with the bat. She's the owner of two grand slams.

The honors have been coming thick and fast recently. She's been the subject of a story on ESPN and in Sports Illustrated.

The Baseball Hall of Fame called not too long ago, wanting her jersey to hang in its rafters. Doesn't get much bigger than that.

Chelsea is also the holder of a 4.0 grade point average at her middle school.

Check out this video to see a wonderful feature on Chelsea, including some slow-motion shots of her picture-perfect pitch delivery.

And don't miss the bit where the boy who just struck out at the hands of a girl starts to cry. Remember, "there's no crying in baseball."