Young phenom showcasing softball skills for college coaches
Local softball player Lucy Tsosie-Hood took part of national showcase in northern Colorado with her traveling team, the Firecracker AZ squad.
WINDOW ROCK
When she was three years old, Alexis Lucy Tsosie-Hood played on her father’s little league baseball team.
Local softball player Lucy Tsosie-Hood took part of national showcase in northern Colorado with her traveling team, the Firecracker AZ squad.
While dressed in uniform, her dad, Gilbert Tsosie, said everyone assumed she was the “bat girl” on the team. But rather than retrieve bats and foul balls, Tsosie-Hood played outfield.
“She was so tiny at the plate,” her older sister Autumn Tsosie-Hood said. “She literally didn’t swing at anything. She waited until there was a strike and she would foul it off. At that early age she knew what to do so that was cool.”
By the time Lucy reached six-years-old, she was part of the winning Fort Defiance Mariner team that captured the Single A championship at the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Inter-Tribal Youth Baseball Tournament.
When it was time to transition to playing softball, her dad said Lucy was well versed in the game. Her knowledge and expertise of the game impressed coaches within the softball community. She was later picked up by an Albuquerque traveling team that played in some of the big tournaments in the Southwest region.
“She likes to play volleyball and basketball but softball is her passion,” Gilbert said of his daughter. “She’s basically been doing this since she was eight years old, playing with a traveling team.”
The incoming high school freshman took part in a showcase at the Triple Crown Sports Junior Sparkler tournament in northern Colorado this past week with her Firecracker AZ team, which is coached by Danny Padilla and Randy Kaye.
“I’m real grateful that I got selected to be part of their team,” said Lucy, who added that she is the only Native American on the Gilbert, Arizona-based team.
Autumn said playing at this tournament helps prospective student-athletes get their foot in the door at the collegiate level.
“If you want to play at the next level this is the tournament that you need to go to,” Autumn said. “The top teams in the country are going to be there. She is going to play against the top teams in the country and some of the top girls in the country.”
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