A Diamond Is Girls’ Best Friend : Unusual Little League Team Brings Home Lessons

For the Pirates of Sherman Oaks Little League, Triple A Division, it was a rocky beginning. As visitors, they had first ups in Saturday’s game. But the Phillies’ Adam Zucker had his fastball working. Three up, three down. All strikeouts.

In the field the Pirates didn’t fare much better. Ten-year-old Alex Krug’s first pitch nailed the Phils’ leadoff man. Take your base. Then came a bad-hop grounder up the middle. The Pirate center fielder threw wildly to the infield. “Katie, throw it to your cutoff man!” yelled Pirate manager Rob Kahane. Then came more errors. “Catch the ball!” Kahane cried. Soon, the Pirates were down, 3-0.

When Brittany Douglass removed her catcher’s mask, you could see the tears streaming down. Alex Krug’s chin was quivering. Assistant coach Jamie Krug, Alex’s father, gave them a pep talk, signing off with a cinematic reference: “. . . And remember what Tom Hanks told Madonna? ‘There’s no crying in baseball. ‘ “

Alex’s reply was glum and correct. “It wasn’t Madonna.”

If any Little League team should know “A League of Their Own,” it’s this one. Like her catcher, Alex is a girl. So is every other member of the Pirates, believed to be the first all-girl team in the 56-year history of Little League Baseball.

Dennis Sullivan, a spokesman at Little League Baseball’s international headquarters in Williamsport, Pa., says it’s “impossible to confirm” whether the Pirates are the first team without boys. Little League, which now claims 2.9 million participants on 193,000 teams in 89 countries, “doesn’t keep records of race, creed or sex,” he explains. Sullivan adds, however, that nobody can remember a boy-less team like the Pirates.

The Pirates are, in some ways, one dad’s political statement. Kahane, a music producer, felt his Rachel, the Pirates’ pint-sized second baseman, didn’t get a fair shake the previous season. Boys of lesser or equal ability played more, and more challenging positions, Kahane said, while Rachel warmed the bench or played right field.

“I think girls at this age are as physically capable and competitive as the boys,” Kahane says. “Most men have a preconceived idea of what little girls should be.”

The idea took hold as Kahane followed the progress of the all-women’s team competing in the America’s Cup trials. On draft day, Kahane picked one girl after another in the league draft, including several who play on a championship American Youth Soccer Organization team.

“There was a lot of resistance,” Kahane recalled. “Other managers felt an all-girls team wouldn’t be competitive.” By the end of the draft, Kahane had a few boys on the team, but the trading period was coming. “In the end, the other managers helped me so I could have all girls on the team.”

Some parents, such as Brittany’s father, Dan Douglass, fully endorsed Kahane’s thinking. Douglass, who years before had coached Brittany’s older brothers in Little League, suggested a female team might have an advantage: “Sometimes boys play because they’re expected to. Girls play because they really want to.”

But there were misgivings as well. Kahane traded one girl because she didn’t want to play on the all-girl team. (Most teams in Sherman Oaks Little League feature at least one girl.) And many parents worried the Pirates might foster boys-versus-girls animosity. For them to be treated as just another worthy opponent, the Pirates would have to prove their ability on the field.

In a practice game, they outscored their opponents, 4-2, with a strong performance by pitcher Erin Fitchew. But during a practice Thursday, disaster struck.

Fred Mose, father of twins Katherine and Jessica, smacked a line drive and Erin never saw it coming. Her eye “puffed up like an air bag,” one parent recalled. She spent the next three nights in the hospital, but is expected back after another game.

With Erin, their ace, on the DL, the Pirates turned to Alex. Although shaky at the start, Alex notched two strikeouts to halt the Phillies rally.

Suddenly, the Pirates came to life, scoring six runs in the second as Meghan Addis delivered a key hit. But, as a committee of relief pitchers replaced Alex, the Phils came back with six of their own in the bottom of the inning. The Pirates then answered with three runs to knot the score at 9-9.

Before the game was over, there would be a little more crying. With two outs and the bases loaded, Jessica Alpert, a rangy first baseman, was so eager that she leaped and swung at a pitch over her head. Strike three. As she tearfully returned to the dugout, Coach Krug swung back into action.

“You know how many times Babe Ruth struck out?” he asked Jessica. “About a thousand times!”

That is, in fact, an understatement. The Babe struck out 1,330 times. Reggie Jackson is the all-time leader having fanned more than 2,200 times. In baseball, even great players have frequent and obvious failures. Little League parents edgily hope that such adversity builds character.

Dan Douglass thinks so. After the first inning left Brittany in tears, dad didn’t rush to comfort her. “My feeling was that she was tough enough to get through it and come back,” he said. “The coach did a good job. My job is to stay out of the way.”

As it turned out, the Pirates would lose their opener, 13-9. The girls, in post-game interviews, said they’d be tougher when Erin returns.

The Phillies manager, as if mimicking a major leaguer, declined to comment. His wife, Donna Chazen, spoke up. “I think it’s great to see them as competitive as they are,” she said. “But it really should be integrated. Girls have been trying to become a part of this, and now we’re segregating them again.” And she thought a small media presence made both teams nervous.

On the other side of the diamond, the Pirates’ parents insisted it’s a noble experiment, and educational too, perhaps especially for the dads. “Girls never listen to their fathers,” Jamie Krug explained.

So when Krug wants to give Alex advice, he relays the message through other dads. And Krug, in turn, relays their messages to their daughters.

The virtue of this approach was demonstrated early in the game. The Phillies had the bases loaded, creating a force play at every base. From the dugout, Rob Kahane anxiously called defensive instructions to daughter Rachel.

“Any base, Rachie! Any base!”

“I know!” the second baseman called back.

Like, duh.