Teen phenom making a name in the Land Down Under

When Montserrat Sandoval found out she had made the Australian 18-and-under girls’ national baseball team, she almost choked — literally.
“I was eating when I found out, so I kind of choked a bit on some French fries,” Sandoval said in a telephone interview from Brisbane. “I was really excited because it’s pretty good to make a country’s national team.”
Especially when you’re only 14 years old. So it is for Sandoval, who lived in Hollister until her family took a sojourn to Australia in June 2010. Australia’s 18-and-under team will compete in the Phoenix World Cup from Feb. 14-17, 2014, in Hong Kong.
The tournament features squads from Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. Initially, the Sandoval family planned on staying in the Land Down Under for six weeks, the length of time the winter baseball camp Montserrat was participating in.
However, once Sandoval’s dad, Mike, got a job as a finance manager in Brisbane — coupled with the fact that administrators and coaches of prestigious baseball programs were starting to notice Montserrat’s enormous talents — it was kind of a no-brainer for the family to stay in Australia indefinitely.
Sandoval started to gain acclaim for her baseball and softball skills, and the offers to play both sports at a high level were too good to pass up. The 5-foot-2 eighth-grader made history after being the first girl selected to represent Queensland in the under-14 national baseball program.
The team consisted of 24 boys and Sandoval, who is used to playing with the guys. Sandoval played for two years in the youth baseball leagues in San Juan Bautista and one season in the Hollister Little League program.
“In the beginning, it was a bit weird being the only girl on a team,” she said. “But I’ve been playing with guys for a while now, and over time you get used to it. After a while, the boys just treat me like I’m one of them.”
Sandoval plays for two baseball clubs, and two softball clubs, while also keeping her tae kwon do skills sharp — she earned a first-degree black belt a couple of years ago. Although Sandoval loves softball and tae kwon do, baseball is her true passion.
“It’s something that I’ve always loved doing and found the most challenging,” said Sandoval, a pitcher-third baseman. “Right now I’m focusing a lot more on baseball than on softball.”
Sandoval said her fastball has been clocked at 75 mph, and she throws a change-up along with a cutter. In softball, Sandoval doesn’t pitch — she prefers the overhand variety — but plays shortstop and third base.
Sandoval has a unique connection with Australia. Her mom, Ana, was born in El Salvador but moved there when she was young, and has Australian citizenship. Mike is a Mexican-American, and most of his family still resides around Hollister.
“We didn’t come out here planning to stay and we didn’t come here planning to leave within a specific time frame,” Mike said. “Things were kind of open ended. But Montse is doing so well out here and has so many things on the table, that it’s really hard to say when we’re coming back. But I do plan on coming back to California.”
Montserrat, which is of Catalan origin and means jagged mountain — Mike named her after a region in Barcelona, Spain — has a goal of one day playing in the Japanese Professional Women’s Baseball League.
That’s why she’s taking Japanese as one of her foreign language classes at St. John’s Anglican, a private school that has awarded her a sports scholarship. Sandoval started playing baseball at age 6, and she credits her brief time at Barone’s Baseball training facility in Hollister for accelerating her learning curve.
“Daniel (Barone) taught me how to pitch with different arm angles and the basics of pitching,” Sandoval said. “I learned how to throw with more power and place the ball in spots I needed to.”
Sandoval, who has dual U.S.-Australian citizenship, would love to make the national team for an Olympics for either country. One thing is for certain: Sandoval knows what it will take to reach such a high level.
She trains five days a week, right after school, and plays games on Saturdays. Sandoval said she’s always been motivated by competition.
“I’m extremely competitive,” she said. “When I’m in a game or even at a practice, I want to strike out the person I’m pitching to or get a hit when I’m up at bat. Everything is about beating the other person.”