Breaking from the norm, the desire of all teenagers. This can be done through clothing, dyed hair, but most of all how a person acts in their life. By living by your own rules, you naturally gain independence. The independence to become your own person, to not be instructed by society but to choose what to do with your life. Lillian Martineau, who is a current senior at Lewis Mills, has taken this mentality to heart and it has helped her become a soon-to-be NCAA Division 1 softballer.
The American pastime. The one that consists of a thundering crack of a bat echoing over a roaring crowd, sand and dirt crunching under cleats, and a blistering sun. This is the game that Lillian has been playing for the majority of her life, about 12 years. Coming from an athletic family, she naturally started her career in T-Ball, going on to play in town leagues as she got older. Once her family moved from Bristol to Harwinton she began to play for the HYSA team. Yet she did not play on a softball team, instead due to the small number of participating child athletes she played baseball on a co-ed team.
A common symptom of childhood sports is burnout. Whether it be rooted in a general disdain of the game or as retaliation against forced participation, many child athletes end up quitting early on. Thankfully, Lillian’s admiration of the ballgame only grew as time went on and she committed herself to a life of peanuts and applejacks.
Middle school tends to be the time where girls go off to play on the softball team while the boys play baseball, their respective gender specific games. For Lillian this was not the case. When asked why she chose to play on the baseball team she simply said, “I think it’s just because it was what I was familiar with. I had played it throughout all Little League and so I didn’t have a desire to switch. And the fact that I just preferred it over softball at that time.”
Not only did she play on the boys’ baseball team in middle school at HarBur, but in high school as well. Athletic Director Jay Pelchar shared that during his time in the position, Lillian was the first person to attempt and succeed in playing on the opposite gender’s team for Lewis Mills that he knew of.
When asked about how she felt and was treated as the only girl on the team she stated, “I was definitely nervous about it but there wasn’t much surprise. I think because a lot of the kids knew me already from school.”
However, regarding the opposing teams and how they treated her, all she had to say was that “…there were some funny reactions.” This was a surprisingly calm 4-word response to what could have been a rant about everything and anything that was said about her. Not only did she not complain, but she showed resilience. If she let every dig get under her skin, she would not have been able to perform as well as she has, earning her a spot on a Division 1 team. With a “mental toughness” (as Lillian puts it), it becomes natural to be your own person and to develop a certain self-confidence. Of course, to be successful in life a solid support system is needed to keep a level head. For Lillian, her biggest supporters are her family, and her friend, Mills senior Jenny Hedden who once told this reporter that her “favorite part about Lillian was her selflessness.”
Going into her senior year Lillian made the switch from baseball to softball. In baseball she tended to play first base, while in softball she began to play at shortstop mostly. Other than minor changes to the game she adapted quickly to the sport. Her most recent achievement is her commitment to Georgia Institute of Technology as a D1 softballer. Georgia Tech scouted Lillian at just her second softball game of the summer last year. After seeing her play just one more time they gave her an offer that she accepted. A huge honor as out of all the high school softball players only around 1.6% go on to play D1, according to the NCSA. And a wise decision for Georgia Tech since, for just the summer and fall of last year, Lillian had a batting average of .603. In the future Lillian hopes to host her own sports analytics show on MLB Network. From shoutouts online, to packages with signed memorabilia from a baseball Hall of Famer, she has not only impacted the small towns of Burlington and Harwinton but has already started to make an impression well beyond in the national sports arena.
Throughout her journey there has been pushback, sure, but to pursue a dream with as many roadblocks as hers and still push through Lillian truly has an inspiring tale. Lillian is just one of the many people in our community who plan to lead by their own example. Hopefully, her story will continue to inspire others to walk in their own footsteps, and to play in a league of their own.
