She was the only girl on national champion baseball team. It launched her to softball stardom
The 11-, 12-, and 13-year-old boys who filled the roster for Team Panama didn’t know what to think on the first day of practice in 2013. The boys on the South Florida baseball powerhouse knew they were going to be one of the best teams in the country, so why did their coach think they needed the help of some girl?
Players were confused. Parents urged Tommy Guerra not to put a girl on the team. Some got up and left practice. Kaylee Rodriguez just took her swings and her ground balls, and ran her sprints.
Usually, she won. Guerra didn’t fold. Eventually, even the most disgruntled parents and players decided there was nothing they could do but give the 11-year old girl a shot. If she couldn’t cut it playing for one of the best teams in the country, she couldn’t cut it.
She could. In her very first game, Rodriguez crushed a line-drive home run over the center-field fence.
“Some of them were excited,” Guerra said. “Some of them worried about she’s for real, she’s going to stay on the team.”
A few months later, she pulled off virtually the same feat playing softball at Doral Academy. She was in sixth grade and trying to carve out a place for herself on Doral’s varsity team when they went on the road for a preseason game against Pembroke Pines Charter. Rodriguez, a natural righty still learning to be a switch-hitter, turned on a pitch from the left side of the plate and fired a line-drive homer. One of the most successful high school careers in South Florida history was underway.
Rodriguez spent three years with the Firebirds, earning first-team all-county honors from the Miami Herald in eighth grade. She then transferred to Gulliver Prep and was a first-team all-county pick three more times before she transferred back to Doral for her senior year.
Her final season, however, lasted only 10 games. She batted .639 with seven home runs and 19 RBI. Now she’s off to play for the Michigan Wolverines, who have been to the NCAA tournament in 25 straight seasons.
“She has done everything she can do at this level,” coach Willie Viruet said.
The only thing missing was a state title. Last season, the Firebirds reached the Class 7A semifinals before falling two wins short of their first state championship. The addition of Rodriguez was supposed to be the sort of infusion which could put Doral over the edge, but the COVID-19 pandemic led to the season being canceled in April. Rodriguez was left with one glaring, frustrating hole on her still-unimpeachable resume.
Better at baseball?
At first, it was nothing more than a half joke. One of Rodriguez’s younger brothers played baseball with one of Guerra’s sons. Rodriguez would often tag along to practice, maybe take some swings in the batting cage or field some ground balls at shortstop.
Guerra, who also coached this Panama team, toyed with the idea of inviting Rodriguez to play with the team in her age group. Eventually, it became more than just a far-fetched idea tucked away somewhere in his brain.
He finally worked up the courage to ask Rodriguez’s father. “Do you mind if she comes out to one of my practices?” Guerra asked. Haniel Rodriguez asked his daughter what she thought. “Yeah, I’ll try it out,” she said.
At her first practice, she made a stir. While parents complained and players grumbled, Guerra marveled. If he asked the team to run five laps, Rodriguez would run seven. When he lined his players up for a drill, Rodriguez was always at the front of the line. She spent those three years trying to get stronger so she could keep up with the boys in all aspects.
“It was all about proving that I belong and that I can play, so that kind of made me bring out the side of me to fight, to be there,” Rodriguez said. “I worked harder than ever in my life because I have all the odds against me, so I feel like that taught me a lot and made me grow as a player itself.”
While Rodriguez was playing baseball, Panama won multiple national tournaments, including the prestigious Elite 32 World Series. One year, Panama got through the entire summer without losing a game. About five of Rodriguez’s teammates, Guerra said, are now playing in the minor leagues, including pitcher Daniel Espino, who was a first-round pick by the Cleveland Indians in the 2019 MLB draft.
Aside from a ponytail jutting out of the back of her cap, Rodriguez never looked out of place at the plate or while fielding at shortstop.
“To be honest,” her father said, “I guess she found the sport easier because the ball travels more.”
By then, softball had become the centerpiece of life for Rodriguez. When she was a toddler, Rodriguez watched her father play in adult leagues. When Rodriguez was 5, her father took her to her first softball practice at a park near their home.
He dragged her there in tears. She went home with a smile on her face.
“The next day, she said, ‘Oh, Dad, let’s go practice,’” her father said. “Softball and her have been inseparable since that day.”
She was a natural. Rodriguez was always one of the fastest kids her age — faster even than most of the boys, her father said — and it let her succeed right away. Her father even let her play the outfield against grown men in some of his games.
Rodriguez never lacked ways to push herself, whether it was playing against older competition or practicing with younger brother Keanu Rodriguez, a freshman for the Firebirds who is already orally committed to play baseball for the Miami Hurricanes.
“You could see that she had the mind to go all the way,” Guerra said. “From that early age, I could definitely see that she would have a future.”
An abrupt ending
As Doral rode the bus up to Plantation American Heritage in March, the Firebirds grumbled about disrespect. American Heritage had scheduled Doral for its senior night, which the Firebirds took as an affront.
Were the Patriots so confident they could honor their seniors with a win?
After the pregame festivities unfolded, one of the best games of the abbreviated seasons followed. In Viruet’s opinion, it was also one of the best individual performances he had ever seen.
Rodriguez homered twice in the win, once in the fifth to help the Firebirds get to extra innings, then again in the eighth to send Doral home with a one-run win.
“Let me tell you something about putting on a show: She hit two bombs from the left side that are still going,” Viruet said. “Defensively she was covering so much ground that I thought that only the shortstop was on that left side.
“If she could’ve pitched, she probably would’ve thrown a no-hitter, too.”
Exactly a week later, Rodriguez’s final season effectively ended. Seven days after the Firebirds’ statement win in Broward County, the NBA postponed its season, which triggered a rash of suspensions and cancellations. In the next 24 hours, the NHL, MLB and MLS all postponed their seasons indefinitely, and the NCAA canceled spring sports. High schools across Florida moved to online classes and halted spring sports indefinitely. In April, the Florida High School Athletic Association finally officially axed the spring season. Athletes across the state, even those as accomplished as Rodriguez, were left scrambling, searching for closure impossible to find. Even with a preposterously long list of individual accolades behind her and a thrilling future at Michigan ahead of her, Rodriguez never got a senior night of her own or a final chance at winning a state title.
Last month, Doral decided to surprise her and the Firebirds’ two other seniors. Nicole Gutierrez and Madeleine Peraza gathered at Rodriguez’s home one afternoon, and eventually they heard honking in the street. A procession of cars, filled with Doral parents and teammates, was parading past with signs and posters to honor the three seniors.
“I know that state championship this year was a big thing, like she wanted it, but I don’t think it defines her,” Viruet said. “She contributed to the game and she helped South Florida. Watching her, everyone was like, Look, we need to step up. This is what a D-I athlete looks like. This is what we need to strive for.”
Other notables
▪ American Heritage catcher Kelly Torres, who will play for the Duke Blue Devils next year, finished as a state champion or runner-up every season since she was in eighth grade.
▪ Coral Springs Charter, led by seniors Cassidy Crump and Kiara Meikle, won five straight state titles entering this season and finished the year at No. 10 in Florida, according to the MaxPreps.com rankings.
▪ Cooper City, which reached in the Class 8A semifinals last year, finished the season as the No. 2 team in the state. Infielder Brenna Lokeinsky, a first-team all-county selection by the Herald in 2019, was one of three seniors on the team.
▪ Pembroke Pines finished the season as the No. 28 team in the state, led by Ariana Carreno and three other seniors.
▪ Megan Diaz, a Miami-Dade County Player of the Year, had Westminster Christian in the top 50 in the state with the help of fellow seniors Susana Perez and Melissa Leon. The Warriors lost in the Class 4A championship last year.
▪ Mekayla Frazier, who will play for the Elon Phoenix next year, and fellow senior Elizabeth Gabriele had Gulliver Prep in the top 40 in the state when the season halted.
▪ Coral Gables, which reached the Class 9A semifinals in 2019, was off to another good start this year, led by seniors Angelina Bonilla and Sydney Pell, both of whom earned all-county honors last season.
▪ Southridge senior JayLia Bivens, a first-team all-county selection in 2019, was batting .696 with 15 RBIs, three doubles and two home runs in eight games before the season ended.
▪ Colonial Christian senior Morgan Wells was 6-1 with a .070 ERA in seven appearances. A first-team all-county selection as a pitcher last year, Wells was also batting .542 with five doubles and a triple in eight games before the 2020 season ended.
▪ Stoneman Douglas senior Jordan Ratner was a first-team all-county selection in 2019. She was batting .240 with two doubles, a triple and a homer when the 2020 season abruptly ended.
