For Little League World Series' Ella Bruning and family, baseball is just 'part of our DNA'
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Bryan Bruning’s favorite moment of the Little League World Series so far was his daughter’s smile as she stood on first base after earning her second hit in Texas’s opening round game against Washington.
Ella Bruning didn’t realize it in the moment, but that hit was historic, making her the third girl ever to earn multiple hits in a Baseball World Series game. She is the only girl competing in this year’s Series and the 20th girl in history. She also broke barriers at the regional tournament, becoming the first girl to pitch in the Southwest championship.
Bryan, who is an assistant coach for Texas, said the magnitude of his 12-year-old’s accomplishments have not sunk in for him yet.
“I don't think we really recognize it because we've been around her playing, and we recognize what a great ballplayer she is,” he told Paste BN Sports. “It's normal for us. Hopefully it’ll start being more normal for everybody else. I hate to say it, but hopefully, it'll start being not such a big deal.”
Baseball has always been a family affair for the Brunings. Ella wears No. 8, which was her mother’s high school softball number. Bryan said his grandfather was heavily involved in youth baseball and had a local Little League field named after him. His father and uncles all played the sport as well, so he said baseball is just “part of our DNA.”
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Ella got into baseball by watching her older brother Collin. She went to his practices and often tossed around balls in the outfield. The idea of Ella playing baseball became a family joke, until eventually they decided to make it a reality and register her for a team.
“When we were just sitting somewhere in the car, we were like what if we signed up, and then we did,” she told Paste BN Sports. “So I played and then I just kept going.”
Bryan coaches Ella and her younger brother Dillon, 11, on the first team from Abilene, Texas to ever qualify for the Baseball World Series. Dillon said he and Ella are very competitive with each other, sometimes to a fault, according to their dad.
“She’s just one of the guys,” Dillon said. “She has fun as we all do.”
Though Ella’s family and teammates have always seen her as an equal on the diamond, Bryan said he has seen other teams do a double take when his daughter assumes her usual position of catcher in her now-iconic pigtails. However, he said that once opponents see Ella compete, they almost never treat her any differently than the boys she plays with.
“That Midway kid sure ran you over at sectionals,” Bryan joked with his daughter. “Once the game starts, they recognize her skill level, and it's just baseball from that point.”
Ella is also a talented softball player, though she said she does not prefer one sport over the other — her favorite is whichever she is playing at that moment. She competes on a regional softball team in Texas and skipped an All-American tournament showcase to come to the Baseball World Series.
“When we figured out that 12U was starting and made All-Stars, we knew it was our biggest shot at going this far,” she said. “I dropped softball for the summer so I could do this, because this is once in a lifetime.”
At the Series, Ella has been a center of attention on the Texas team, particularly on social media. Bryan said he has been impressed with his daughter’s humility and maturity in handling her sudden celebrity status.
“It’s a good and bad thing at the same time,” Ella said. “It’s good because a lot of people are seeing how good I am when I do really well. But it doesn’t matter once you play the game. It doesn’t affect you, or it shouldn’t affect you.”
Even after her historic performance on Friday, Bruning was lightheartedly critical of herself. She told reporters that the two hits she earned were her first of the season and said she is “not the best hitter.”
Mo’ne Davis, who in 2014 became the first girl to win a game as a girl at the Little League World Series, also dealt with the national spotlight at a young age. Davis said the best advice she had for Ella in handling the attention is to be herself.
“People want to talk to you because of who you are, so stay true to yourself and make sure you acknowledge those people who have helped you along the way,” Davis said. “Everyone wants to learn about your story and how you made it to the point where you're at, so just be patient and be yourself and enjoy this ride.”
Ella was just five years old when Davis pitched her winning game, but she still knows and looks up to Davis. Dillon is “addicted” to the Little League World Series and watches videos of old tournaments on the TV in the Brunings’ living room. Ella said Davis immediately caught her eye when Dillon was watching the 2014 Series, and the pair will get the chance to meet up in Williamsport later in the week.
The kids also had the opportunity to meet MLB players from the Los Angeles Angels and Cleveland last night, including Dillon’s favorite player, Shohei Ohtani.
“It's cool because Abilene is a really small town in Texas, so I'm getting to come from there and meeting a lot of players we watch on TV, and us being on the same channel as they were, it's really cool,” Ella said.