

Maddy Freking became the 19th girl to play in the Little League World Series and just the sixth to pitch when she made her debut on Sunday afternoon and she certainly brought the heat.



Freking regularly plays second base, but the 12-year-old struck out one batter and allowed just one run in her single inning of work and she got some high praise from Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle, who was in attendance for the game.



" ... the last time I saw that much blonde hair throwing that hard, it was [Noah] Syndergaard."



—Pirates manager Clint Hurdle with respect for Maddy Freking 👏 pic.twitter.com/1MAE8MX2nc — ESPN (@espn) August 18, 2019



“Skills. And with no disrespect, but the last time I saw that much blonde hair throwing that hard, it was [New York Mets pitcher Noah] Syndergaard. That was bringing the heat! It’s been fun to watch her.



“It’s been kind of — I think I mentioned to you earlier — when I go in and out of the food room, we’ve seen their team play multiple times, and she’s always involved in some kind of action. So I’m sure everybody back where’s she’s from [is] proud of her, proud of the whole group.”

Hurdle was asked what he thought about Freking’s performance on the mound and the Pirates manager compared her to New York Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard, which is a pretty awesome compliment if you ask us.



(H/T Twitter/ESPN)