*This article was originally published on the Delta-Optimist website on March 28. You can read the original article here.

By Mark Booth

Delta-Optimist

Marika Lyszczyk is a baseball trailblazer and she is far from done.

The Tsawwassen teen is poised to become the first female to play in the B.C. Premier Baseball League this coming season and the ultimate goal is to earn an opportunity to play for a men’s collegiate team south of the border.

The Grade 12 South Delta Secondary student has spent the last five years in the Whalley Chiefs organization after opting for baseball over softball when she was in Grade 8.

“It had just become too much,” recalled Lyszczyk of the juggling act. “I like to pitch and that’s where the two sports are just so different. I just enjoyed the baseball environment more and I happened to be better at it too.”

Along the way, Lyszczyk had been a fixture with the Team B.C. program that annually competes at the national age group championship. Last season she joined Team Canada Prospects and will be playing for them again at this summer’s 2019 Nationals. A good showing there could earn the catcher/pitcher a spot on the Canadian senior team that competes every two years at the Women’s World Cup of Baseball. Canada was third last year behind Japan and Chinese Taipei.

She got the unique opportunity to enhance her development by being one of eight Canadian players selected for the inaugural Major League Baseball GRIT. The week-long camp featured 60 U18 female players that got to play games at Globe Life Park — home of the Texas Rangers — and train at the Rangers Youth Academy located in Arlington.

“It was like a super unreal experience getting to work with those coaches and getting to play at Globe Life Park,” said Lyszczyk who found out weeks earlier she had been selected for the all-expenses paid camp. “Just getting to play in the same stadium as MLB players and being the first on the Globe Life field other than them.

“I definitely learned a lot of little things that helps push my game a little farther. Just getting to work with two national team catchers was amazing, plus I got to do a little bit of pitching as well.”

Lyszczyk batted .500 and her strong play at the camp resulted in her being one of three girls that will receive free promotion by a college recruiting company.

She has enrolled into Douglas College’s Therapeutic Recreation Program and will tryout out for the men’s baseball team if there is no opportunity in the US. The focus now is making the most of her final season with the Chiefs before re-joining Team Canada Prospects.

“A lot of people said I couldn’t do it and there have been some doubters along the way,” said Lyszczyk of her PBL breakthrough.

“It was tough in my first year where now I have been playing with many of my teammates for five years. They are like my brothers and know I am here to stay. It’s nice to pave the way for other girls.

“As far as pitching, a lot of guys show off where I’m just trying to get the job done. They are throwing as hard as they can where I am just trying to hit my spots. I go in there to throw strikes. I want them to hit the ball and let my teammates help me out. (Laughing) a lot try to swing out of their shoes.”

Lyszczyk admits her biggest challenge is trying to consistently hit the best 16-to-18-year-old male pitchers in the province. It’s a part of the game she continues to work on the most but it does help her offensive numbers when she switches over to women’s tournaments.

Lyszczyk isn’t ruling out turning her attention back to softball and following a development path that many female baseball players have, including UBC’s Claire Eccles who has pitched the past two seasons for the Victoria HarbourCats minor pro men’s team.

“I’m taking (baseball only) as far as I can go until someone tells me otherwise,” she smiled.