Katie Brownell, we assume, doesn’t get many you-throw-like-a-girl catcalls from opposing dugouts.
Brownell, 11, pitching for her Dodgers Little League team in Oakland, N.Y., had the ultimate putdown for the boys on the opposing Yankees team in an 11-0 victory last Saturday: 18 batters up, 18 down — and all 18 via strikeouts. In fact, she didn’t even go to a three-ball count.
“As far back as I can remember, I don’t ever recall hearing of a perfect game,” Eric Klotzbach, president of the Oakland-Alabama Little League, told The Daily News of Batavia.
And her performance was no fluke, either. She threw five innings of one-hit ball — with 14 of the 15 outs strikeouts — in the season opener, and she’s hitting .714 after three games.
“She had older brothers, and we were always outside,” said her mother, Denise Bischoff, “so the minute she could pick up a ball, she was [playing].”
With rumblings that this thing could go Hollywood, Tatum O’Neal is reportedly warming up in the bullpen.
Update: Sideline Chatter’s Dwight Perry informs NewMexiKen that Miss Brownell plays in the Oakfield, N.Y., little league, not Oakland, and that she is the only girl in the league.
“You-throw-like-a-girl” wouldn’t be much of a catcall, as Katie IS a girl and therefore throws like one…..much better than any of the boys, by the way.