BY RYAN O'CONNOR

She was 9 at the time.

Taking the pitching mound in relief, Hannah Paitchel glared in at the batter’s box. The player in the on-deck circle snickered and yelled to the hitter, “Hey, that’s a girl!”

The batter, in turn, seemed to loosen up a bit.

But after swinging at a third strike, he put his head down, eyes filled with tears, and retreated to the dugout.

The next batter, the youngster who noted the difference between Paitchel and the rest of the players on the field, fell to the same fate.

He too became choked up with emotion, ready to let his own tears loose, but when he reached the dugout, he and the victim before him looked at each other and broke out in a fit of laughter.

“They knew they met their match, so it was pretty funny for us to watch that all play out,” said Hannah’s father, Steve, a coach for the Salem fall-ball team, who noted the other players nicknamed her Johnny Damon, because of her long hair.

Two years later, trailing offensive powerhouse Goffstown, 6-1, in the winners bracket finale of the District 1 10- and 11-year-old Little League all-star tournament, Pelham manager Jay Sullivan went to his bullpen.

Few noticed he had just called in a girl.

Paitchel shut down the opposition’s potent offense, inducing three consecutive ground outs on four pitches.

Sullivan smirked when, following the game, he discussed using her to catch opponents off guard.

“A lot of guys don’t realize it’s a girl up there for awhile. She’s got that tomboy look to her, and it’s not until a couple pitches go by that they realize she’s a girl,” said Sullivan. “Then, of course, they think they can hit her better than one of the boys,
and they can’t. She just keeps mowing them down, week after week.”

In addition to overwhelming the competition at times, she also overwhelmed Sullivan to make the all-star squad, becoming the only female in this year’s tournament.

“I was very surprised when I first met her a couple years ago, and she was almost as good then as she is now,” he said. “She shows up every day, gives 100 percent and has proven to be one of my best players. That’s why she’s on the team.”

Paitchel was one of three 10-year-olds to play on the predominantly 11-year-old squad.

Though she played at least four or five innings a game, she said she was unsatisfied with her playing time.

“I feel really good about (making the team) and even though I didn’t get to play as much as I would have liked, I still had a lot of fun and got better,” said Paitchel.

“That’s her impression,” said her father. “She doesn’t like to sit on the bench.”

In fact, she was so determined to make an impact with her bat, as well as her arm, that she begged her father to take her to the batting cages every day during the month-long tournament.

After a slow start at the plate, Hannah was making constant contact by tournament’s end.

Aside from her ability on the diamond, her influence on Pelham’s chemistry during its third-place playoff run was undeniable, said Sullivan.

“She keeps things in perspective and lets everyone know there are no superstars in the game and it doesn’t matter if you’re a boy of a girl,” he said.

Baseball beginnings

According to Steve Paitchel, his daughter has maintained a keen interest in baseball since she could walk, watching it on television whenever possible and often playing with her two older brothers.

“She was always asking somebody to play catch with her growing up,” said the elder Paitchel. “At 4 or 5 years old she could catch just about anything you threw to her, so that put her ahead of most of the other kids her age.”

Though many young girls play tee-ball in Illinois, where she was born, most begin playing softball when the boys move up to coach-pitch baseball.

Not Hannah.

“We never even considered softball. I mean, we didn’t even know softball was available, so when she went to sign up for baseball they questioned us and asked if that’s what she really wanted,” said her father. “Hannah kind of laughed at the question and said, ‘No, I want to play baseball.’”

She began pitching as soon as the age level of Little League play allowed.

At 7 she pitched in her first game.

Paitchel said he moved his family from Illinois to Pelham more than two years ago and has been impressed by the willingness of local league officials to include a female.

“It’s much less competitive in Illinois than it is here in New Hampshire, but Pelham Little League has been very supportive of my daughter and we are very grateful for that,” he said. “They recognize her talent and really support her as just another player, not just a girl playing baseball.”

But that doesn’t mean Paitchel has a smooth road ahead if she hopes to continue playing the sport she loves.

Though she will complete her final two years of Little League eligibility, New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association restrictions may prevent her from playing baseball in high school because there is an equivalent sport.

“We haven’t determined what to do yet because we don’t know where she will be when she is 13, so we always said we would re-evaluate at that point,” said Hannah’s father. “Hopefully a rule won’t knock her off her path. If she continues to be as dominating on the pitching mound as she is now, I think it would just be wrong to make her stop.”

Paitchel said he has already talked with the athletics director at Pelham High School, Timothy Powers, who has expressed an openness to new ideas.

Also, Paitchel’s current pitching style won’t transfer to softball, which will likely force her to switch from her best position to another spot on the field in a sport that is similar but ultimately foreign.

Still, Paitchel, who also plays competitive basketball, maintains an A average in school and is a talented piano player, said she’s not worried about making the switch, though she’d rather avoid it.

“I’m going to try to play baseball as long as I can, and if I can’t then I’m going to switch to softball, which I think will be a lot easier,” she said. “Right now, I just like playing baseball with my friends.”