Imagine you’re a 15-year-old pitcher and you’re facing Team USA in an international event. Sound impossible?
That was a reality this past summer for Dee Dee Hernandez, a lefty pitcher from Sylmar, California, who played on the Mexican Jr. National Team in the summer of 2017 and then played with the Mexican National Team in the World Cup of Softball in Irvine, California and also in the World Softball Baseball Championship (WSBC) in Japan.
Considered one of the pitchers in the 2021 class, Dee is a lefty power pitcher and hitter who most recently shined at the West Coast Elite Camp where she was ranked by scouts as one of the Top 12 Performers at the prestigious event. OnDeck founder Derek Allister said of Dee Dee after the event, “She will play at the highest level if she so chooses.”
Last year she played for the Panthers 14U team which had a great summer, taking first place at Team New Jersey and Champions Cup and finishing in the Top 10 at Colorado Sparkler (Power Pool) and tied for 17th at PGF Nationals.
This fall, the second-year 14’s from that squad moved up to the Panthers 18U Gold team and Dee Dee has stepped it up too, both in the circle and at the plate including hitting a grand slam in October at a Triple Crown event.
In February, playing for the Mexican Junior National Team she pitched against Team Japan for three innings and had six K’s and no runs allowed.
Here’s footage from that game…
Below, we take a closer look at this two-way standout who we’ll be hearing a lot more of in the years to come…
