Grand Blanc eighth-grader earns starting spot on boys baseball team
GRAND BLANC -- Update 4:30 pm
We have received a lot of viewer feedback about Annie's story on our Facebook page. Please let us know what you think about her history-making season.
You may have to look closely, but if you do, you'll find it.
You'll find the reason why baseball games at Grand Blanc East Middle School are anything but ordinary...and it's because of something extraordinary one player has already done.
Nicknamed "Braids" on the lineup card, she is better known as Annie Walker - the first girl to ever make the baseball team in the history of the school.
"When I was younger, my dad (and I) would always go outside and play baseball," said Walker, the second baseman of the boys baseball team. "It was every day, even when I was, like, three years old. We were playing wiffleball in the backyard."
Honing her craft at the comforts of home was one thing, but Annie's most valuable experience was perhaps her adaptation into a sport dominated by boys.
"She's played Little League with them, she's played travel baseball with them. She's been on All-Star teams with them," said Annie's mother, Terri Lynn Walker. "So, as far as how the boys feel about her, they just feel like she's another player."
Curtis Granderson, though, is not just another player, and the chance to meet the former Detroit Tiger gave Annie's ambitions a huge boost.
"I got to talk to him and I asked him what he thought about girls baseball, and he said to always go for what you want," said Annie. "Always shoot for the stars."
And thus, Annie went ahead and tried out for the baseball team at Grand Blanc East Middle School. But head coach Mike Schunot was well aware that her quest could potentially leave him subject to criticism...no matter what the outcome was.
"My biggest issue was that I was afraid that people would say I would either cut her or keep her because of her gender," explained Schunot. "Lucky for me, that didn't play a factor. Her skill level was so high, that gender never became an issue at all. We are a very good team. We have 13 players on the team, and she is closer to the top than she is the bottom in skill level."
Augmenting Annie's skills are a calm demeanor and toughness which were both on display after she was drilled by a fastball in a recent game. She made that look easy, but it was a different story when she learned she had indeed made the baseball team.
"I was trying to keep it, like, oh I'm not surprised and everything. But inside, I was freaking out," said a smiling Annie. "I went into the car and me and my dad, we had high-fives all around with everybody."
Annie's story is obviously remarkable, and also a little ironic. For all the attention she's garnered, it has never been her ambition to stand out.
All she wants is to just be "one of the boys."
