My name is Andrea Neal and I started playing baseball at High Park in 1989 when I was only five years old. I fell in love with the game of baseball at an early age and a big part of my childhood was spent playing for the High Park Baseball Association. I played three summers of T-Ball and in 1992, when I was eight, I tried out and made the High Park 8-year-old Rep Team. We played that year in Ancaster for the “World T-Ball Championship,” and our team brought home the coveted “Gold” Jackets. If you are around my age or older, you know what that jacket was and how special it was.
High Park always had competitive teams that were the product of great coaches and volunteers. When I was eight I would dream of playing in the Little League World Series, but I knew I had to get better as a player because as one of only a handful of girls I knew we would have to stand out in order to make the team. When I was nine I fell in love with catching – as a catcher you get to control the game and are a pivotal part of your team’s success. At the age of ten I was drafted to the Majors by “Fast Eddie” Stewart’s team and I played for the Cubs. I was lucky enough that High Park started to really accept girls into their program and focus more on us to allow us the same opportunities as the boys had.
I had fun representing High Park Baseball on numerous Rep Teams and some of my best childhood memories were formed traveling fr0m tournament to tournament playing baseball. I lived at the park even when I wasn’t playing, I would hang with players from other teams and we would play baseball any chance we could. The bond that was created among all of us over a game is still close to me today.
In 1996, when I was twelve, the dream I had to play in the Little League World Series was the year it became reality. The coaches ran try outs and I made the team! I was the team’s starting catcher, a position that I made into my own. Not many people know this, but that was the first year two girls EVER made the team. My teammate Angie Knobleriter also made the team as the starting second baseman. How cool is that?!
As a team we dominated every game we played and our dreams of playing in Williamsport was getting closer and closer. It’s really what every ball player strives for when playing Little League. We were undefeated in the District playdowns, undefeated in the Ontario championships, and then we were on our way to Prince George, BC for the Canadian nationals. That was the coolest week of my life. Another first for Little League Canada was there were two other girls that were representing their province that year—four girls in one Canadian Championship. High Park had a great tournament and we were undefeated heading into the Championship game. We fought a long hard game, but unfortunately for us we came up short. It would have been so cool to represent Canada in Williamsport, but it wasn’t meant to be.
After this heartbreaking loss we headed home to finish out our season.
I played my last year at High Park on the Minor Peewee Rep team when I was 13, then I moved onto women’s baseball, which was actually thriving in the GTA, Ontario and worldwide.
The High Park area was a hot spot for female baseball players and there were enough quality ball players to field 10 teams throughout the years. Did you know that some of the mothers you see at the park everyday used to play at High Park? I think that shows so much about an organization that mothers are now signing their children up to play in a league that they once used to play in.
Over the past couple years I have been coaching Little League, most recently with the White Sox. I love the game of baseball and I love giving back to an organization where I spent my summers from age five through to 13. High Park Baseball has always supported girls and for that I will be forever grateful. Go, High Park, Go!
