Ridgefield Local goes to MLB competition

Once again, Elizabeth Peery will compete for a top spot in the national Major League Baseball Pitch Hit & Run competition.

In 2019, Peery did well enough to finish third in the country in Cleveland after finishing first in the region that includes Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska.

This gave her the opportunity to take part in the MLB All-Star Game with her mother, also in Cleveland. She met professional baseball players, caught baseball during a home run derby, and attended a celebrity softball game.

The competition begins on-site with athletes of various ages at the Ridgefield Outdoor Recreation Complex, which was held in June.

Peery, now a student at Ridgefield High School, made the top three in the 13- and 14-year-old softball divisions, so she will travel to T-Mobile Park, where the Seattle Mariners play, for the team championships.

Players from across the Pacific Northwest will battle it out on September 12 for a chance to finish in the top three of their age group.

Those who finish first, second and third in each age group will receive a flat-rate travel allowance for the upcoming World Series.

Peery’s love for softball began at a young age.

When she was in third grade, Peery was playing baseball with the boys in her class when a staff member came over during recess and handed her a slip of paper with information about youth softball. The employee said: “You should definitely try that.”

Peery gave the note to her parents. Then she signed up and her love for sports grew tremendously.

But her journey with softball has also brought challenges.

Peery’s world was turned upside down during a softball tournament when she was 10 years old.

She got hit by a ball during one of the games, which wasn’t a big deal as she had been hit many times before, but later that night the same leg cramped over and over again.

The next day, Peery woke up and was unable to walk because of the severe pain in her leg that hit her. Her parents took her to the emergency room, where the doctor decided to have her blood tested as a precaution.

When the results came back, the doctor called to urge Peery to return to the hospital because her blood sugar was extremely high.

Her diagnosis came back as type 1 diabetes, a condition in which the pancreas makes little to no insulin.

Peery said adjusting to a brand new lifestyle is a struggle. Suddenly she had to count her carbohydrates, constantly check her blood sugar and inject insulin.

“It sure was a shock,” said her mother Katie Peery. “It was a time of mourning because I didn’t know what it would mean for her life.”

Five years later, it’s only part of her everyday life. Elizabeth now has an insulin pump and Dexcom, a blood sugar monitoring device that sends alarms to both her and her mother’s phones every five minutes.

Sometimes when Elizabeth’s blood sugar levels are low during softball games, she sits on the sidelines for an inning. But the setbacks haven’t stopped them from achieving their goals.

“Elizabeth’s diabetes never stopped her from doing what she wanted to do,” Katie said.

Elizabeth has college softball in her sights, her dream team is at the University of Washington or the University of California in Los Angeles.

To begin her high school career, Elizabeth made it to the college team as a freshman, finishing the season with a 14-2 record. She formed the first team for the overall league selection, which is chosen by the local coaches.

“It was exciting to play with all of my idols that I saw on the field in high school,” said Elizabeth.

She also participates in a tournament team based in Vancouver called Rampage Fastpitch Softball. The team travels to play games outside of the state, in places like California, Las Vegas, Utah, and Arizona.

Elizabeth throws and occasionally plays third and second base.

The Peery family has lived in the Ridgefield area since Elizabeth was born 15 years ago.

When she’s not on the court, she can play college volleyball, serve in student government, and hold a GPA of 4.0.

The competition that she will take part in in September has three parts: pitching, hitting and running.

The pitching portion tests the accuracy of a person’s stroke with a target from a distance of 35 feet. For the hitting part, the competitors hit soft balls from a hitting tee, which are measured for distance and accuracy. Finally, participants are measured by speed during a 120-foot sprint from a start line through third base to home plate.

In preparation, Elizabeth regularly practices teeing off, and her high school friends even come to spend hours working on hitting, throwing, and agility with her.

“The passion the game gives me drives me to try it every day,” said Elizabeth.