March 24, 2007
Lowell Sun:
Oh Boy! That Girl Can Play

This article is reprinted with permission of the Lowell Sun. It ran on March 24, 2007.
Learn more about the Lowell Sun by clicking here.
By Barry Scanlon
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(Nashua) - Christal Fitzgerald isn't interested in making history -- even if she is.

She's just interested in being one of the guys -- even if she isn't.

Fitzgerald, a Daniel Webster College freshman via Sydney, Australia, is just the fourth woman to play baseball at a U.S. college (all at the Division 3 level) and the first international female player to drive in a run during a game.

"In the games, that's something that doesn't even cross my mind," said Fitzgerald, a pitcher/second baseman. "I refuse to let it enter my mind. Baseball is baseball. I just want to get treated like a ballplayer on a field. I don't go out there to be a role model. I play the sport because I love it.

"But I would like to kind of inspire young girls to excel in the game," she added. "There's girls playing high-school baseball. Hopefully they'll learn about this and be inspired and not feel so alone."

Fitzgerald joined the Eagles last fall. But it wasn't until a recent nine-game trip to Florida that the affable Fitzgerald earned the respect of her teammates.

During a game against Curry College, Daniel Webster, which hopes to begin its official spring season Tuesday, was trailing badly. Fitzgerald walked to the plate to pinch hit.

"(The pitcher) had the smirk under his glove," Daniel Webster head coach Jim Cardello said.

On the first pitch, Fitzgerald took a giant hack and fouled it off. She was a fraction away from ripping a line drive. The pitcher called the catcher out for a conference.

The next pitch, a 70-75 mph fastball, struck Fitzgerald in the back of her left shoulder.

"For a pitcher to be scared that a girl was going to hit him is funny to me," she said.

Still, the pitch stung, so she suppressed a grimace and ran down to first.

"Oh my God. It was shocking," said junior outfielder/pitcher Danny Haynes, a native of Downsville, N.Y. "She took it like it was nothing."

Pitches later, a teammate hit a ground ball to second. Curry never had a chance to turn the double play -- Fitzgerald took out the shortstop with a hard, clean slide.

"She made a great play and took out the shortstop. She knows what to do. I was really impressed with that," Haynes said. "It showed everyone that she knows how to play baseball and that nothing is going to get to her. I think she earned a lot of respect from everyone that day."

"That's the first time I noticed the guys included her off the field in Florida," Cardello said.

How does a female ballplayer from Australia wind up playing at a college in New Hampshire?

Fitzgerald played the previous two summers in the North American Women's Baseball League, the 2006 season in Nashua when the four-team league moved to the Gate City. Of the 60 or so players in the league, Fitzgerald is one of the top "six or seven" best talents, Cardello said.

The previous three women to play baseball at a U.S. college were all pitchers. Fitzgerald is also a pitcher, someone who can throw in the mid-70s with great accuracy. Cardello projects Fitzgerald as a reliever.

In Florida, during a game against Division 3 power St. Joseph's College of Maine, Fitzgerald pitched two scoreless innings before faltering in her third inning. Cardello said there was a "buzz" in the park when Fitzgerald toed the rubber.

"Is that a girl?" one fan asked.

Another yelled, "You go, girl!"

"I was really impressed by the reaction," Fitzgerald said.

She's also a backup second baseman who is working hard on her hitting, like Wednesday afternoon at the Nashua Baseball Academy when she took her rips next to her teammates.

During the Florida trip, she hammered a pitch up the middle for an RBI single.

"She was shaking when I gave her a high-five," Cardello said.

Cardello said the greatest compliment he can give Fitzgerald is that he considers her one of his players, not the only female player.

It wasn't always that way. Last fall, when Cardello gathered his returning players, he told them a female player would be joining the Eagles.

To say there was no standing ovation would be an understatement.

"It took a few moments to realize it was serious," Haynes said. "It's not something you hear about every day. But coach said, 'She can play the game.' He was right."

"Some guys were OK. Some guys thought it was a joke. Some guy were a little immature about it," Cardello said. "I was concerned with how she was going to fit in. You're going to get questioned. You're going to get ridiculed. You've got to have tough skin to take it. She's been phenomenal."

Due to Fitzgerald's work ethic and personality, incorporating her onto the team has been a "pretty seamless thing," Cardello said. "She made herself part of the team by always being there. She's just one of the 25 players on our team. She's fit in real well."

"I had heard stuff about how the other three girls hadn't been treated so well (by their teammates). The (Daniel Webster) guys are awesome," she said.

Fitzgerald plans to try out this year for the Australian National Women's Team and her ultimate goal is to work for the Australian Baseball Federation.

"I love a challenge," she said.