Thornwood sophomore Amira Hondras could have been like most girls who grow up playing baseball and then switch to softball when they get older.

But Hondras is all about breaking down barriers and showing she belongs in the sport she loves. So, she worked hard to earn a spot on the Thunderbirds’ varsity baseball roster.

“What motivates me to keep playing baseball is just the grit,” Hondras said. “It’s just going out there and giving your all on a high level of competition and knowing I can go out and compete.

“It means the world to me to show the younger generation of girls that you can come out here with 17 and 18-year-old boys, throw strikes and come right at them. And you can hit their pitches, too.”

It hasn’t taken Hondras long to prove that.

In her varsity debut, Hondras got the pitching start for Tuesday’s season opener against Eisenhower. She threw a complete game as Thornwood rolled to a 14-4 nonconference victory.

“That meant the world to me,” Hondras said. “Coming out for the first game of the season on varsity and competing, I was just trying to throw strikes and help the team win the game.”

First-year Thornwood coach Tyler Laux didn’t hesitate to give Hondras the ball for the opener.

“I was very impressed with how she did, but I was not surprised,” Laux said. “She did exactly what I knew she was capable of. I was comfortable putting her in that position.

“I knew it wasn’t too much for her.”

Hondras isn’t just a one-trick pony as a pitcher, either. When I went out to watch Thornwood play Friday at Marian Catholic, she was batting third and playing shortstop.

I hit third and played shortstop when I was an 11-year-old in Little League. That pretty much was my athletic peak, but I know the best player on the team generally gets those assignments.

“She is a baller,” Laux said. “Amira is the type of player I never have to call on to pick up the energy. I never have to tell her to compete or fight. She always brings it every game.”

Hondras’ teammates seem to have the same appreciation for her.

“I love these guys,” Hondras said. “I feel like they give me all the utmost respect. That’s all I ask for — just their respect and their confidence in me.”

I give the boys on Thornwood credit. It’s one thing to have a girl on your team, but when she’s the ace pitcher and the No. 3 hitter in the lineup? That could lead to same major jealousy.

That isn’t the case with the Thunderbirds, according to junior outfielder/pitcher Derrion Howard.

“She can play,” Howard said of Hondras. “Nothing changes because she can ball. She’s just another one of our teammates, and she’s a big aspect of our team.”

Hondras, who became the first girl to play in the Chicago White Sox Ace program when she was 12, is following in the footsteps of her older brother, Tre, who starred at Homewood-Flossmoor and is a junior playing at Marshall.

“Tre is my motivation every day,” Hondras said. “Since I came out of the womb, I was watching him grow up around the game. Seeing him put in the work day in and day out and to get to a higher level, it motivates me.”

Speaking of getting to a higher level, I asked Hondras if she would consider switching to softball in order to pursue a college career.

Instead, she has some role models who have shown her it’s possible for a female to stick with baseball.

According to Baseball For All, an organization which advocates for women in the sport, eight played college baseball in 2023. Olivia Pichardo became the first to do it at the Division I level, playing at Brown.

In 2022, Kelsie Whitmore became the first woman to play in an MLB-affiliated team in the minors when she took the field with the Staten Island FerryHawks of the Atlantic League.

“I think there’s a bright future for women in baseball,” Hondras said. “I commend all the women who are trying to get us to a higher level. It’s a goal for me to play college baseball.”

In that way, Hondras is trying to be the next role model for younger girls.

“That’s something I take pride in,” she said. “I do this for them, for the generation that’s coming up, just to let them know they have someone they can turn to and somebody they can look up to.”

I encourage any parent with a daughter interested in baseball to get out to South Holland and watch Hondras play this spring.

Because she’s definitely someone to look up to.