The sport of fastball is big in the United States and for 15-year-old Brooke Gaudry, south of the border is exactly where her focus is when it comes to education and sport.
The Hunting Hills High school student has a love of fastball. It’s been her favourite for the past eight years.
“Most people are attracted to the common sports like basketball, volleyball,” she said about the game.
She plays some infield but her time in the spotlight is on the pitcher’s mound. It’s the reason she took up the sport.
“I like the pressure when I’m pitching. I think I do better when I’m under pressure and I just let the adrenalin just get me going.”
Locally, she suits up for the Red Deer Rage team, a member of the Girls Prairie fastball League. The Rage have been involved in provincial and national play over the years which gives Brooke plenty of experience.
But the more the better so she gets an even higher level of competition when she plays with the Alberta Athletics Elite squad 16U team. The organization is a three-fold operation focused on the development, exposure and recruitment of their players, giving them exposure to elite level coaching and play in Canada and the United States. In Alberta the season is very limited but down in the fastball crazy states she says they play 11 months out of the year.
“It’s different, that’s for sure, down in the states. Just the way they play, the way they talk, the intensity. It’s just completely different than here in Canada,” she said. “ The speed of the game is different, the way they pop the ball, it’s incredibly different.”
She made the team as a 14-year-old after her first tryout. Her goal is to keep playing at the highest level to attract interest from an American school and get herself set with a scholarship.
She has video of her pitching which schools have viewed, and the Alberta Elite team is headed to a big tournament in California which could attract more attention.
“There’s going to be about 300 schools there and I’ve been e-mailing a couple of them with my schedule, this is the time I’m playing, come check me out,” she said.
She has a variety of weapons on the mound starting with a fastball hitting above 60 mph, a natural drop ball, a change-up and her riser has been working for her. The drop-ball is her go-to pitch however.
“I’ve always been able to throw it. It’s a natural pitch to me so I don’t even really need to think about it. I just know I can do it.”
It’s not all about what she does on the diamond however. School work plays a role in getting noticed by those colleges and she sports a 3.5 GPA which should make a few recruiters take notice. It’s about the balance on and off the field
At this point of her young career, she appears be throwing strikes.
