Illyanna Brizuela found her love for baseball when she was 4 years old. She tried soccer, but she kept picking up the ball and throwing it with her hands, said her father, Richard Brizuela.
In an attempt to find a sport his daughter likes, Brizuela brought Illyanna into baseball and she loved it. Everybody asks her why she doesn’t play softball instead; she always answers that what she likes is to play baseball.
“As long as you want to keep playing it, I got your back so we’ll see how far you can go,” Brizuela told his daughter.
Illyanna, 11, was the only girl playing in the District 12 Little League All-Star Tournament. She made the Cactus Little League All-Stars team, which includes players from 9-11 years old.
Illyanna showcases determination and bravery as she plays in a boy-dominated sport.
Dustin Schnabel, Cactus coach said Illyanna is a real model as a player. “Anytime that we have a task that we do, whether it’s any kind of drills, she’s always giving her 100%. She never has a bad attitude. She always has a positive attitude.”
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What separates Illyanna from other female baseball players of her age is her “competitiveness, she really wants to succeed,” Schnabel said.
Schnabel’s coaching philosophy is to coach both girls and boys in the same way.
“She puts in the work and she works just as hard as the rest of the boys. And she’s earned a spot on the team,” Schnabel said.
Illyanna’s dad told her that maybe when she gets into high school, she will want to be around other girls that like to play sports just like she does, maybe softball or another sport.
“She’s really insistent that she just wants to play baseball and I told her well, you know, I don’t know what the rules are,” Brizuela said.
Illyanna is a Dodgers fan. She went to a Dodgers game last Friday in Los Angeles with her father and sister.
Briuzela said his daughter is tall, powerful and fast, which he thinks helps her to play with boys.
“There’s no disparity between her and the boys because she’s physically capable to do all the things that the boys can do at this level,” Brizuela said.
Illyanna participated in the regular season that started in March. Cactus Little League All-Stars lost against Rincon Little League All-Stars in the District 12 Championship at the Tucson Field of Dreams on Tuesday and didn’t make it to the state tournament.
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