Girl, 11, uses big-league stuff to strike out 19 boys

One coach calls her the Michael Jordan of Syracuse's Southside American Little League, but Nadia Diaz has better baseball chops than His Airness. The 11-year-old girl struck out 19 boys while pitching her team, the Pirates, to the league championship in a 1-0 victory. That's one over the maximum number of outs in a six-inning game, but Diaz's catcher couldn't handle strike three to one batter, who reached base safely. The seventh-grader has a 60 mph fastball and an assortment of other pitches — and the respect of every boy in the league. Said Jed Boyle from a rival team, "If someone tells you that you throw like a girl at Southside, we take it as a compliment."