Video of an eight-year-old Whitby baseball player laying out to make some extraordinary catches has gone viral.
Her performance is silencing her naysayers.
To say Ashlynn Jolicoeur loves baseball is an understatement. One of six kids in her family, she grew up around the diamond.
“Basically since I could walk,” said Jolicoeur, who plays second base for the Whitby Chiefs.
“She always wants to play in winter, summer, fall. Whatever it is, she’s practicing in the basement by herself or when I get home from work she wants to go to the diamond all the time,” said Dan Therien, Ashlynn’s father.
And she’s already making a name for herself, Smash-lynn, when she’s at bat. When she’s in the field, it’s Flash-lynn.
“She’s intense, she’s skilled, she’s knowledgeable, she’s passionate, she is the hardest working player I’ve coached,” said Andrew Haines, Ashlynn’s head coach.
“She’s 100 per cent hustle, laying out for balls and loving the game, having fun, that’s totally her,” said Therien.
That passion and hustle is on full display in a video that now has over 4.7 million views. It was taken earlier this year.
“I didn’t know I was going to make those catches, I just dove and I caught it,” said Jolicoeur.
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There are 70 girls of all levels registered with Whitby Minor Baseball Association. Ashlynn is the only girl on her Chiefs team and the only girl in her division.
The video posted by Baseball for All was in response to a comment a parent made to her that girls shouldn’t play the game.
“There’s no difference,” said Jolicoeur.
“She said, ‘after this happened, all I want to do is play baseball.’ How can you not love that? All she wants to do is go out there, do her best, 100 per cent all the time and have fun,” said Therien.
“We don’t look at her any differently, she brings it. There’s probably not a better second baseman in our division,” said Haines.
Ashlynn will showcase her skills next weekend south of the border in Rockford, Illinois at an all-girls tournament, Baseball for All US Nationals. She was picked up by a team out of San Francisco.
“I did this one tournament with girls, it was pretty cool,” said Jolicoeur.
“She’s going to be with different peers, girls in a lot of situations like Ashlynn,” said Therien.
If she keeps practicing and making plays like the multiple catches in the video, there’s no telling how far Ashlynn will go.