PALMETTO, Fla. — A pair of the Nesland triplets earned a spot on the 11U Palmetto Little League All-Star baseball team.
Sebastian, 10, is a three-time all-star pitcher, but it’s his triplet sister Hillary who has been a shining star.
“It was pretty hard, but I busted my butt to get here,” Hillary said.
The 10-year-old is shattering stereotypes.
“I started playing baseball because of my brother. I was kind of jealous of him that he got to go in games and stuff like that.”
She primarily plays catcher, and her brother pitches.
“She’s really dependable,” Sebastian said. “She always catches them.”
A pitcher-catcher connection is a special one, but the link is even stronger when it’s family.
“It’s real easy because, before the game, she tells me stuff like how to throw it,” Sebastian said. “She tells me to throw it right down the pipe.”
During the regular season, Hillary was awarded the ‘Toughest Overall Player Award’ for her grit.
“Hillary and Sebastian have been a blessing to our team this year,” coach Richard McCurley said. “Hillary, especially, has turned out to be an outstanding player, somebody nobody gave a chance to. She got out here and not only proved to herself that she can play baseball, even though her father asked her to play softball, she has a baseball spirit in here and she actually out-performed probably half of the kids out here.”
Hillary was one of the team's leaders in base hits and stolen bases, and as a pitcher, she led the team in strikeouts.
“I struck out this one boy, and all the people were going crazy,” Hillary said. “I was just happy I struck out a lot of people.”
She added that she wakes her brother at 5 a.m. to play catch. It’s that type of dedication she has to reach her ultimate goal.
“My big goal is to go to the MLB, being a girl in baseball,” she said.
“We’re real proud of Hillary,” McCurley said. “She stepped up and made a lot of boys feel bad.”
The 11U Palmetto All-Stars first game is June 14 at Lakewood Ranch.
