Soak up everything she can learn about the game and meet some new friends from other provinces.
That’s the focus of budding baseball player Devaro Chislett as she competes in her first Atlantic female baseball tournament.
The 12-year-old Kippens native will play with Nova Scotia 2 at the 2018 Baseball Atlantic 14U Girls Invitational being staged this weekend at the Caribou Complex and Edgar Hartery Memorial Field in St. John’s.
It’s been a busy summer on the baseball diamond for Devaro with the Atlantic tournament her fifth tournament of the year, which also included playing in a big female baseball tournament in Chicago with an American-based team.
This tournament is her first taste of competing against the best in the Atlantic provinces so that’s exciting enough, but what really has her pumped is the fact she will get to play against her 14-year-old sister Shilo, one of the province’s most promising female baseball players, who will suit up with the Corner Brook Barons — one of three Newfoundland and Labrador entries — as an overager.
“That’s going to be pretty fun,” Devaro said Thursday morning.
The two girls travelled across the island together to join their respective teams, but both girls admit they’re happy to be sharing the field together and they want to beat each other when they play against each other for the first time on Saturday.
“This is going to be the first time playing in a tournament with her so it’s going to be different, but cool. It’s going to be fun,” Shilo said of the great experience she expects with her sister competing on the same stage as her.
Devaro plays the game because it’s a lot of fun. She loves to field ground balls and make neat plays at shortstop and can throw a few innings if the pitching department needs help.
But, it’s not about winning or losing for this girl. She wants to win, but as long as she’s having fun she will live with whatever the scoreboard says.
Coming through with a nice defensive play or connecting for a timely hit are things she hopes she can do to help her team win, but she’s really more interested in gaining the experience that comes with playing against the best in her age group.
“I’ll be happy that I made new friends and learned a lot,” she said.
Shilo is thankful for another chance to play the game at the elite level, especially only weeks after suiting up for Team NL at the national 16U female baseball championship in Halifax.
It’s familiar territory for the older sister, but she’s equally excited about being in a competitive environment once again.
“It’s great to get another year for it because I had so much fun last year,” Shilo said. “I just can’t wait to be with the team and really get to know them because there are a lot of different girls that I didn’t play with before. I just can’t wait to try hard and do my best.”
