Traub proves throwing like a girl isn’t so bad

Mackenzie Traub looks in to get the sign while pitching against the South Elgin Thunder during Wednesday's game at Lippold Park in Crystal Lake. (Travis Haughton photo)

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CRYSTAL LAKE – Being the dutiful big brother, 13-year-old Aaron Traub always has included his sister Mackenzie when it came to playing baseball.

When Aaron went to play with the boys, “Mackie” was welcome, and willing, to tag along.

“They’re really close,” said Jill Traub, their mother. “They always did stuff together.”

So it’s only natural that Mackie still plays with boys, even on a travel baseball team. She was on the mound Wednesday when the Lake in the Hills Eagles opened bracket play in the 11-year-old USSSA Open Summer National Championships.

Eagles coach John Shaw knew Monday afternoon that he wanted Traub, whom he calls “one of my aces,” on the mound for the first game in the championship bracket of the tournament, organized by the McHenry County Youth Sports Association. With her blonde hair in pigtail braids, Traub is like the Eagles’ version of Amanda Whurlitzer from the film “Bad News Bears,” which happens to be one of the Traub family’s favorite movies.

Traub didn’t have her best stuff and left in the second inning of a game the Eagles lost, 9-7, to the South Elgin Thunder. Yet she fired a two-hitter against the Thunder, 8-0, in their pool play Sunday which earned her the start Wednesday.

Traub had four walks Wednesday, a number uncharacteristically high for someone Shaw said normally has very good control.

“She was letting go of the ball a little too early,” Eagles catcher Anthony Bianchi said.

Still, Traub had a hit and a key RBI as the Eagles rallied from a 9-0 deficit to make it close.

The Eagles are a first-year travel team, composed of players in the Lake in the Hills Youth Athletic Association programs. Mackie has played organized baseball since she was 5 and pitched since she was 7.

“I started playing baseball because Aaron was playing, and I started liking baseball more and more,” said Traub, who usually hits No. 2 for the Eagles. “[Aaron] likes to help me out with hitting and fielding in the driveway.”

There are two other girls playing for teams in the 9- and 11-year-old tournaments. Crystal Lake American League’s team has center fielder Samantha McLean in the 11s, while Johnny Appleseed Baseball Club’s Jackie Garrett is playing in the 9s. Garrett also pitches.

Shaw calls Mackie Traub a “100 percent dedicated athlete.” He said she worked in the offseason on pitching at Pro Player Consultants in McHenry with Ken Raines and Rachaad Stewart. Traub, who will be a seventh-grader at Dundee Middle School, also is a talented swimmer and plans to compete at the Illinois Age Group State Championships Friday and Saturday at the University of Illinois-Chicago if the Eagles are eliminated from the tournament.

It’s clear that Traub’s ability makes her more than a novelty with her coaches and teammates.

“It’s kind of different,” Bianchi said. “Teams don’t usually have a girl on your team as a pitcher. We try to act the same around her as with everybody else.”