Ava Crane, AAA, Athletics
Ava Crane is 10 years old and is a 4th grader at DeLaveaga Elementary School in the Spanish immersion program.
Ava is very athletic and loves baseball and basketball. She played in the Aptos Basketball league in the fall and has played baseball in Aptos Little League for four years. “She is an all-around great player both infielder and outfielder,” says her coach, Jo-Ann Panzardi, who has been the only female coach in Aptos Little League.
Her playing positions are catcher, pitcher, and second base, but Ava says, “My favorite position is catcher because I love catching the ball.” And, she also said “I’m glad to have been on Jo-Ann’s team for the last three years.”
Kaleigh Nava, AAA, Rays
Kaleigh is 9 years old, is a 4th grader at Valencia, and performs well academically.
She was on the All-star team last year for Watsonville. This year she moved to Aptos with her mom and changed baseball leagues.
Kaleigh is very competitive, loves sports, and also plays on a competitive soccer team.
Her coach, Tom Smith, says, “She pitches and catches, as well as playing any other defensive positions. Kaleigh will also be in her sister’s wedding this year and she is a well rounded young lady.”
Jo-Ann Panzardi, who submitted this story writes:
“I’m very excited to see that girls are included in little league. When I was 6 years old and wanted to play ball, I was very upset that the boys next door could start playing little league and I was not allowed to play.”
“I had to wait another 4 years before I would be able to play softball — which was the only sport available to girls in my neighborhood — which started at age 10. I also remember being a basketball cheerleader because that was closest I could get to being on the basketball court as basketball at my school was only for boys.”
“We’ve come a long way from the 70’s. It’s very exciting to me to watch both Ava and Kaleigh being able to play the sports that they love so much.”