GIRL UNINTERRUPTED LITTLE LEAGUE SENSATION SEMENTELLI SET TO PLAY BASEBALL IN HIGH SCHOOL.

Byline: LINDSEY CZARNECKI

Special to the Daily News

Every step along the way, Marti Sementelli has proved her critics wrong.

When they said she couldn't pitch successfully against the boys at Sherman Oaks-Encino Little League, she struck out more than 600 batters in six seasons.

When they questioned whether she could hit and field against the fellas, she played her position so cleanly and hit so well she was elected to numerous All-Star teams.

Now, as the 14-year-old phenom closes out her Little League career, she realizes her greatest challenge lies ahead.

It's one so big and so daunting it will make her recent achievements seem like, well, little league stuff.

Next year, Sementelli graduates to high school baseball. Everyone says she should ditch the sport and focus on softball. That's what girls are supposed to do when they get to that level.

But as Sementelli has shown time and again, she's no ordinary girl.

Softball will have to wait, maybe forever. Sementelli is going to stick with baseball.

"I feel like I can do it," she said. "I went to check it out. Me and my dad have been going (to games) and I feel like I can strike these guys out. I feel like I'll fit in."

Skeptics are warned to doubt her at their own risk. Sementelli is 9-0 pitching in the 13- to 15-year-old division at Sherman Oaks-Encino LL, helping to clinch a league title with a seven-inning 77-pitch performance. Her control was impeccable -- she didn't allow a walk -- while working from the standard 60-foot mound.

"I think she's more accurate than me, I have to work on that," marveled fellow teammate Walker Moses. "And she has way more pitches than me, she has like seven or six, and she's really consistent."

The question now is, can she keep it up when she gets to high school?

"I think she can definitely have success in high school playing baseball," said Rogg Collins, Sementelli's coach. "I think that because of the male vs. female anatomy the boys just get bigger and stronger, and when it comes to pitching it wouldn't surprise me if she was an effective varsity pitcher at some point. I think that her chances of moving beyond that are tough because she's not going to be able to throw an 80-mile- per-hour fastball that college coaches would be looking for."

And therein lies the rub. Sementelli might be risking a potential college softball scholarship to pursue her baseball dreams. That might not be biggest concern right now, but in one or two years she certainly will face that reality.

It was the decision Amanda Peek faced a few years ago when she chose baseball rather than softball at Crescenta Valley High. Peek had enjoyed a dominating youth baseball career, and in her mind the success would continue when she got to high school.

Peek insisted she had no intention of giving up baseball for softball, and even played two baseball seasons with the Falcons. However, just before her junior year she switched gears and took up softball.

Looking back, Peek said her decision had nothing to do with the resistance she encountered or puberty or the jump in competition. In fact, she still maintains she was good enough to play high school baseball.

However, she also knew softball offered a college scholarship, and that became the ultimate deciding factor.

Peek eventually earned a scholarship to Cal State Northridge, where she is a sophomore catcher. Peek, who hit 13 home runs this year for the Matadors, feels for Sementelli, and the emotional tug she is experiencing.

"When you're a freshman in high school or a sophomore in high school, you're not really thinking about college as much as you do your junior year," Peek said. "And as I was going into my junior year I thought 'You know, this is what I need to do."'

Sementelli hasn't selected a high school yet, although she likes the program at Burbank. Her father Gary says he will move the family from North Hollywood if necessary so his daughter can attend any school she choses.

Gary gets a huge assist in Marti's career, throwing with her every day and getting a letter from the California Interscholastic Federation, assuring that Marti can continue to pitch and play with the boys in high school.

"I found that private and public schools at least have to allow girls to give it a try, that was the easy part," Gary said. "Every year will be different, but I feel pretty confident. I've had a lot of people come up to me, umpires and coaches, saying she's almost crazy if she doesn't keep it going."

Marti is regularly asked why she doesn't switch to softball, but much like Peek, it isn't even open to discussion.

"It's just not my sport, it's a totally different thing," Marti said. "Some people think it's the same sport but it's totally different, the bats, the ball, there's so many things. People say it's the same thing, then you try switching. It's like switching from ping pong to tennis, it's the same idea but way different."

To further complicate matters, Sementelli is primarily a pitcher, meaning any future decision to switch to softball will be much tougher. The differences between pitching a baseball and pitching a softball are vast -- one is done overhand, the other underhand. Whereas baseball pitches move downward, softballs move upward. Sementelli would have to learn an entirely new craft on the fly, and at this point she's not willing to even think about it. Besides, she just likes baseball more than softball.

"If they're good enough they should play," Newbury Park High baseball coach Scott Drootin said of Sementelli and other girls who want to play baseball. "I would be excited about the idea ... I'm excited to see her play wherever she plays."

Sementelli looks forward to the challenge, and has a warning for any guys who think they'll get the best of her just because she's a girl.

"Get a bat up there and go see," she said.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Marti Sementelli, 14, a star in Sherman Oaks-Encino Little League, says she will play baseball in high school.

(2) Marti Sementelli, left, is confident about playing baseball instead of softball in high school. "I feel like I can do it," she said.

Gene Blevins/Daily News