Historic outing for Seymour

Mt. Seymour stopped just short of the peak in the Little League provincials, but the club still grabbed a piece of history as pitcher Taylor Knight became the first girl ever to win a game in the B.C. finals.

The team of 9-10-year-old all-stars finished third at Oak Bay in Victoria after pounding eventual winner Whalley 15-1 in round robin play. Coach Warren Wightman believes Whalley, perennial favourites along with White Rock, has never before taken such a whipping in provincial play, which may signal Mt. Seymour’s arrival as a provincial powerhouse.

“I feel very proud of the kids, they played fantastic,” Wightman said.

There was some debate whether Seymour player Taylor Knight, the only girl at the provincials, was the first female ever to pitch a game at this tournament, which has graduated the likes of B.C.-bred Major League stars Justin Morneau, Ryan Dempster, Rich Harden and Jason Bay.

Tournament director Justin Longo said he’s aware of one girl who may have pitched a few years ago, but he can’t point to a record.

“Taylor pitched phenomenally, I was really impressed with her out there,” Longo said.

“I’m going to go out on a limb,” Wightman said. “I don’t think (another) girl has pitched (at provincial finals) and won.”

Knight got the call to hurl a crucial game against Oak Bay, getting the win in a 26-2 drubbing, which positioned Seymour at 3-2 in round robin play, tied with four other teams. She threw 44 strikes and 30 balls with four strikeouts, scattering five hits for two runs in three full innings work.

Seymour then beat Hastings 13-7 in a playoff to get into the final round, topped Esquimalt 17-2 to advance against Little Mountain, but lost 12-6 to finish third.

Knight, who has been playing ball with her Dad and brother since she was three, dreams of playing in the big leagues, for the Oakland Athletics.

She’s aware that she’s a rarity in Little League play, and hopes more girls will follow.

“I guess it’s pretty cool that I might be a trendsetter for other girls,” Taylor said after her win against Oak Bay.

She said her fellow Seymour all-star team members just “think of me like another one of the boys.”

It hasn’t always been like that though. When she entered Little League play a few years ago, she got razzed by the other team when she took the mound.

“They were saying ‘It’s a girl, it’s a girl — she’s gonna suck,’” Knight recalled. “I won MVP of my team that year so I didn’t hear any (razzing) after that.”

Taylor’s father Bob Knight said he first recognized his daughter could play with the boys when she tagged along with his son to practice in a park about eight years ago. Taylor kept trying to do what her older brother was doing.

“I was just trying to keep her out of the way by giving her some (drills) to work on,” Bob said. “But she’d be able to do them right away.”

That coachability, not the fact that she’s a girl, is what makes Taylor stand out, Wightman said.

“She’s a good student of the game, her technique is fantastic.”

Wightman credited the team’s other Taylor, ace hurler Taylor Wright, for leading from the mound.

“He won a couple of games for us decisively,” Wightman said. “Kids had difficulty catching up to his speed.”

Team manager Tanya Wright said her son Taylor has been training year-round with four other teammates at UBC, and already has his sights set on grabbing a baseball scholarship to NCAA powerhouse UCLA, and hopefully advancing to the Majors.

“This sport has been his passion for years.”