8-year-old girl chooses baseball over softball at WRALL

WARNER ROBINS -- The Warner Robins American Little League called three times during registration to verify.

Yes, the 8-year-old wanted to play C-baseball, not softball.

Marissa Hancock has always played baseball, and though she looks all girl with her blonde hair and blue eyes, underneath is a tomboy.

“She doesn’t really want to play softball,” said her mother Brandi Hancock.

Part of the reason her daughter prefers baseball is her older brother, Heath Hancock.

Heath, 11, plays on the AAA Yankees, but started playing Little League when he was 5.

When he and his friends would practice in the backyard, they would let 3-year-old Marissa practice with them.

“He’s been really generous,” Brandi Hancock said of her son.

Marissa, a second-grader at Matt Arthur Elementary School, is already asking about the big leagues.

Not at WRALL, but Major League Baseball.

Her mother, at Marissa’s request, looked up MLB rules to see if there was something that prohibited women from playing.

Marissa’s favorite player is Chipper Jones of the Atlanta Braves, which also is her favorite team.

Though there aren’t any rules against women playing in the majors, Brandi Hancock told her daughter there were more opportunities in softball, such as scholarships and the Olympics.

“Me and my husband have decided not to push her either way,” Hancock said of the decision to play baseball or softball.

Right now, Marissa has been asked to play on a travel team.

And her fellow players stick up for her when other teams say something about having a girl on their team.

Brandi Hancock said the boys will say “just wait,” until Marissa proves herself to be a worthy member of the team.

Just because Marissa is a girl doesn’t mean she is “fluffy,” a word she and her mother use to describe non-competitive players.

When she is out on the field, her game face comes on, and it is all business.

“She’s our little all-star,” Brandi Hancock said.

This story was originally published April 18, 2012 at 12:00 AM with the headline "8-year-old girl chooses baseball over softball at WRALL."