Ila Borders's Early Years
It's a hot
afternoon as a girl of about ten is sitting in the stands of an LA Dodgers game
with her father. The pitcher winds up for his pitch. The ball leaves his hand
headed straight for the batter. In no time at all the bat comes around and makes
contact with the small ball and it’s outa there, a home run. The little girl
looks at her father and says "wow, I want to do that." This is where
Ila Borders discovered her love of baseball; she knew from that day that she
wanted to pitch in the Major Leagues.
Ila Borders was born
on February 18, 1975 and grew up in La Mirada, California in a
baseball family. Her father, Phil Borders, had pitched in the Minor Leagues and
recognized his daughter's talent early in her life. From an early age he taught
her the basics of pitching and started her on a regimen of conditioning to
strengthen muscles in her shoulders, wrists (Charland), and he continued to be
her mentor throughout her career in baseball (Moring).
Ila's baseball career started
when she was ten years old and she signed-up to play Little League. Even before
she started playing baseball Borders faced discrimination for being female.
She and her mom went to sign up for the Little League team. The coordinators
realized she was the only girl in line. They came up to her and her mom, they
explained that the line was really long and that they could perhaps come back
the next day when there were less people and sign up then. What they did not
know was that the next day was no longer a sign-up day. Borders and her mom
came back the next day to find no sign-up booths. Borders’s name was put on a
waiting list. After several weeks the family still had not heard anything so
Phil Borders took his daughter down to the practice field and convinced the
coaches to give Borders a chance. He told them to just watch her play for ten
minutes and if they did not like her he and his daughter would leave and not
bother the coaches again. Ila played so well the coaches decided to add her to the
roster (Borders). Ila Borders was only 10 years old when she started pitching
on her Little League team.
Being the only girl on all-male
teams always came with challenges and these challenges would follow Borders
throughout her career. They started in Little League: she was teased for playing
a “boy’s game” and several times pitchers would throw the ball straight at her
head. Her first ever at bat they succeeded in hitting her in the head (Moring).
None of this stopped her from playing, she was even chosen for the All-Star
team all three years she played Little League (Edelson). This would be a common
cycle in her life. She would be ridiculed by her teammates, her coaches, the
media and fans at first. Somehow she always managed to win them over to her
side. After they had the opportunity to see her play they would realize that
she was good and could help any team she was on win.
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