MIDDLETON | It’s a three-two count, and Sam Martin is on the mound. Bases loaded, two outs, and the opposing batter is threatening the Cubs’ paper-thin one-run lead.
Other 12-year-olds might find the pressure too much to bear. But this is what Sam lives for.
“I'm pitching and I'm trying to keep my team in the game,” she said. “I try to do my best. That's all you can do."
That’s right. She.
Sam, or Samantha, is the only girl playing in the Middleton Little League’s five-team major league baseball division.
And she’s not just another body on the bench, either. Sam is holding her own, pitching, playing first and second base and patrolling the center field.
"It's been fantastic,” said her coach Bob Dempsey. “She's a great player and really adds to the team. She fits in with the guys. She's just a teammate. When she pitches and strikes out the boys, it brings a smile to my face."
But has anything changed since Sam joined the team?
"I have to remember to say ladies and gentleman now,” Dempsey said with a smile.
For Sam, playing ball isn't a political statement or a way to ruffle feathers. She just flat out loves the game and wants to show everyone that a girl can compete just as hard as the boys can.
"I try to be one of the guys and they respect me for it," she said.
Sam’s parents, Julie and Kevin, could not be prouder of their daughter’s tenacity in the sport.
"She's very self-motivated,” Kevin Martin said. “We hardly ever have to get on her to study or anything. She's on top of her game, and we couldn't be prouder."
And others in the sports world are also impressed with Sam’s drive.
“Obviously, that takes a certain character,” said Pam Noakes, executive director of the National Association of Girls and Women in Sport, about Sam’s pursuit of baseball. “Most would be intimidated by that.”
But what about girls playing on the same teams as the boys?
Nita Lamborghini, assistant dean of college life at Northern Essex Community College, a position that oversees the school's athletic program, sees Sam's feat a positive one.
"In general, I think if they are of similar ability and strength, and there is no concern regarding potential injury, why not?” said Lamborghini, who holds a doctorate in sociology and taught a sociology of sport class at the college level. “If a woman can compete with men, why not?”
Sam has only been playing baseball for two years, but excels in other areas, too. She loves to sing and is a straight-A student in sixth grade at Our Lady of the Assumption in Lynnfield. Sam hopes to dedicate her life to drama after this season of baseball.
For now, however, her main focus is the sport she loves.
“My dad always took me out to play and I fell in love with it," Sam said.
She'll play any sport in her backyard, and her father said she's always up to date on the latest goings-on in everything from NASCAR to the NFL. Her daily life revolves around sports. Her mornings are filled with highlights and recaps on "Sportscenter." Her afternoons are busy with Cubs practices and games. And her school day is frequently interrupted by quizzes from her male classmates on sports statistics and history | tests she loves to ace.
"It's a lot of fun to let them know I'm just as good as them," Sam said. "It's fun to see the look on their face."
Off the field, Sam said her grandmother and her best friends Krista Merryman, Peyton Beatrice and Shannon Bushway encourage her.
"My grandmother inspires me the most,” she said. “She's always been there for me and supporting me with a big smile. And my best friends have been there making me laugh through everything. They've been there forever."
Sam’s mother, Julie, is particularly proud of her daughter’s strength and tried to bestow that on her at an early age.
"I chose Sam's name because it was both feminine and masculine and strong,” Julie Martin said. “I wanted her to have both qualities and to be self-sufficient, and to be able to do whatever she put her mind to. She is all about girl power, but just for equal playing time and to be heard."
And Sam thinks that her playing has proven just that.
"It's no different,” Sam said. “It's just about playing baseball, loving the game, and not caring what other people think. It's just playing."
Girls in Little League Baseball: A History
1939: Little League Baseball is founded.
1950: Kathryn Johnston tries out and makes a league in Corning, N.Y. using a nickname and tucking her hair under her baseball cap. She's the first girl to play Little League.
1951: After Johnston reveals that she is a girl, the team allows her to stay. But Little League makes a rule that girls are not permitted under any circumstances. After the ruling, if a girl is found to be playing Little League baseball, the national office would warn the league and threaten to revoke its local charter if the girl is not taken off the team.
1972: Title IX is signed by President Richard Nixon on July 23. It prohibits gender discrimination in education and thus, most youth sports.
1972: Maria Pepe plays in three Little League baseball games as a 12-year-old in Hoboken, N.J. The organization find out and she is barred from playing. But her story gets the attention of the National Organization for Women, who offers to represent Maria in a court case.
1974: The final ruling is made, allowing girls to try out for baseball. The same year, Little League also creates a softball program for girls only.
2003: Little League estimated that approximately 100,000 girls are participating in their baseball programs, out of more than 2 million total baseball participants.
Source: Little League Web site (www.littleleague.org)
Chicago Cub Samantha Martin, 12, of Middleton watches in anticipation as a teammate is up at bat during a game against the Chicago White Sox. The youngster is the only female on her Little League Major team.Heather Mancini/Staff Photo(Click for larger image)
