Abbotsford’s Raine Padgham has been impressing people within the baseball world for years, but she managed to stun those in attendance at last week’s Baseball B.C. High Performance Camp in Surrey.
Padgham, a 15-year-old student at Abbotsford Senior Secondary School, shocked onlookers by tossing a fastball recorded at a staggering 83 miles per hours.
That would be the fastest baseball pitch ever thrown by a female and likely the fastest by a girl her age.
Let's GO 🔥
B.C.'s Raine Padgham just threw possibly the fastest pitch by a female player, and certainly the fastest ever by a 15-year-old, clocking 134 km/h 🤯
Don't you EVER try to tell us girls can't throw 😤 #thegist pic.twitter.com/cFOhZSE9VC
— The GIST Canada (@thegistnewsca) September 8, 2020
The Guinness World Record for fastest pitch by a female was 69 mph by Lauren Boden of California back in 2013. At the recent 2018 Women’s Baseball World Cup, Australian National Team starting pitcher Brittany Hepburn registered the fastest pitch of the tournament at 76.4 mph.
Several other women pitchers have reportedly hit speeds in the 80s, but not one as young as Padgham.
Logan Wedgewood, one of the coaches at the camp, tweeted out his amazement at the feat.
“Today I witnessed a 15-year-old girl top out at 83 mph off the mound,” he said. “So if you’re one of those essentialist people that are going to try and tell girls they can’t play sports, don’t. It’s a tired and ignorant narrative that has been detrimental to female player development. Let’s be better.”
Today I witnessed a 15 year old girl top out at 83 mph off the mound.
So if ur one of those essentialist people that are gonna try to tell girls they can’t play sports, don’t.
It’s a tired and ignorant narrative that has been detrimental to female player dev.
Let’s be better.— Coach Wedge (@LogiBerra) September 3, 2020
The pink-haired phenom first made headlines back in 2017 when she became the first player to ever play on a girls and boys team at the Western Canadian Baseball Championships. She went on to make the Team B.C. U13 Selects boys provincial team in 2018 and also received an invitation to train with the Team Canada women’s baseball team in 2019 at the age of 13.
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Last year also saw Padgham receive an invite the 2019 Girls Baseball Breakthrough Series in Florida. That camp was for girls aged 14 to 18, and is hosted by MLB and USA Baseball.
In 2019 she became the first-ever girl to be named to the Fraser Valley Cardinals bantam team, and is also hoping to secure a spot on the Abbotsford Cardinals junior team this fall.
For more on Padgham, visit rainepadgham.weebly.com.
