{"id":26683,"date":"2020-06-04T18:34:28","date_gmt":"2020-06-04T22:34:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=26683"},"modified":"2020-06-04T18:34:34","modified_gmt":"2020-06-04T22:34:34","slug":"aurora-king-baseball-player-is-making-her-career-through-hardball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/aurora-king-baseball-player-is-making-her-career-through-hardball\/","title":{"rendered":"Aurora-King Baseball player is making her career through hardball"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Claire Johnson is one of a kind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only 16, she recently tuned into Instagram Live and was\npleasantly surprised to hear her name called out by Andre Lachance, Business\nand Sport Development Director and Women\u2019s National Team Manager with Baseball\nCanada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnson was selected for the 16U Baseball Canada\u2019s\nWomen\u2019s National Team Identified List as the only representative from Ontario.\nShe felt a shockwave course through her veins, another step on her way to reaching\nher ultimate dream. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m so humbled and honoured to be selected. It\u2019s almost\na dream come true. It\u2019s a step in the right direction. This is something I\u2019ve\nbeen working towards since I was really young. To know that I\u2019m almost there,\nit feels really great,\u201d Johnson said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnson is the youngest of three. Her older siblings Matt\nand Olivia previously played baseball growing up. Johnson herself was set up\nwith the perfect system to grow, having two siblings to learn from and derive\nmotivation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She has been with Aurora-King Baseball ever since her tee\nball years. Now, she has been with the Team Ontario U16 Women\u2019s provincial team\nfor the past two years and currently sits on the Aurora-King Baseball 15U Elite\nTeam as the only girl. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been like that for most of her life.  She\u2019s used to being the only girl on the\nroster and wants to bridge the gap between softball and baseball, women\u2019s\nbaseball and the men, and address societal gender opportunity conundrum in a\nsport where the difficulty is set to the highest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baseball is a traditional game. It has been arguably America\u2019s\npast-time since the mid 1800s. The first recorded game in 1846 in U.S. history\nsaw the New York Nine defeat the New York Knickerbockers 23-1. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preparation is strenuous and the technique is clinical, not\nto mention the sunflower seeds that constantly cover the dugout; nothing like a\nlittle culture and a mess to add to it all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For women, why is hardball unnoticed? In 1887, women\u2019s\nsoftball began for women as something more suitable, even though hardball was\nalways around for the men. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Natalie Weiner of SB Nation wrote in 2018, that USA\ninfielder Malaika Underwood was corrected by people when she told them she\nplayed hardball. In her report, women were being told to get off the field and\nbaseball in America is no place for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell that one to Mary Elizabeth Murphy, who is known as\n\u201cThe Queen of Baseball.\u201d She was the first woman to play professional baseball\nin 1922 with men. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But here, Johnson wants hardball to improve for women in\nCanada. It\u2019s up and coming now, and Johnson says organizations such as Canadian\nGirls Baseball are trying to grow the game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to do my best to prove others wrong, that\ngirls deserve the right to play baseball just as much as boys do and the that\u2019s\nthe high of my motivation. I\u2019m with them in just trying to grow the game and\nput baseball out there for girls and it\u2019s not just softball.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She has trained with former of Team Canada international\nAshley Stephenson and has been pegged by her as \u201clittle Jeter.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI really look up to her. She\u2019s such a great person. I\nused to look her and she used to help me out. I\u2019ve learned a lot from her,\u201d\nJohnson said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnson is a versatile baseball player. She has pitched,\ncatched and even hung out on first base. But recently, she has made the move to\nshortstop and hasn\u2019t looked back, earning her new nickname in the process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She is also a versatile athlete. At Sir William Mullock\nSecondary School in Newmarket, Johnson led the flag-football team as\nquarterback to the championship game. She made the AA midget hockey team with\nthe Central York Panthers. These sports, Johnson says, help her on the diamond.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverything has helped with my fielding, my soft hands\nand my footwork in hockey and that all comes back to baseball in the end.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnson is hoping to achieve a scholarship somewhere in\nthe USA. Although the outlets are limited, she says she will continue to strive\ntowards what she wants \u2013 and that is the national team for Canada. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carmen Spilteri-Johnson will help her daughter explore\nher playing options. Last year, the family travelled to Virginia with Ontario\u2019s\ntravelling team. Many of the opposing players were a part of the American\nnational team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her mom credits Team Ontario with inexpensive\nopportunities to provide all-year round practices and how they aid with all the\ngirls playing baseball in seeking their future endeavours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She is not your average 16-year-old. She puts others\nbefore herself and when her mom was diagnosed with cancer a few years back,\nJohnson and her siblings had to step it up in the house to help her father and\nher mother. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cClaire could not have been more mature and resilient and\nstepped up in the home. I\u2019m very lucky all three of my children are that way.\nI\u2019m very proud of her as a mom, having gone through that situation,\u201d Spilteri-Johnson\nexplained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnson also helps to coach the sport in the Aurora-King\nBaseball organization. Last year, she taught 13-year-old boys a surfeit of tips\nand tricks she has learned over the years. Years down the road, these boys can\nsay a girl instructed them on how to play; a staple as well within the\norganization to remember. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She is a role model to other younger girls with an\ninterest in the sport and one for her current teammates as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think my biggest focus is trying to be there for\nothers more than myself. I\u2019ll do whatever I can to drop whatever I have to help\nsomeone else,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnson continues to be academically driven. She loves\nschool and loves her friends. She is interested in gender equity, just like her\nolder sister Olivia. Both girls have written research papers in school, challenging\nthe gap between men and women in the sport. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now through quarantine, Johnson still practices baseball\ntechniques. Her father and her sister help her practice. The family will also\nallow her to take swings in the backyard and they will send a video of her\nswing to her coaches at the provincial team for feedback. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right now, the family is planning to reach out to\nBaseball Canada in a couple of months to receive further instructions. They\nexpect Johnson will be invited to join a prospects team next year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the time comes, Johnson will be ready for the next step in her journey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Robert Belardi<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Claire Johnson is one of a kind. Only 16, she recently tuned into Instagram Live and was pleasantly surprised to hear her name called out by Andre Lachance, Business and Sport Development Director and Women\u2019s National Team Manager with Baseball Canada. Johnson was selected for the 16U Baseball Canada\u2019s Women\u2019s National Team Identified List as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/2020-06-04-05.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6Wn","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-26 10:32:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}