Claire Eccles

Biography

Claire Eccles’ baseball dream started when she was given a computer game called Backyard Baseball 2002 for her fifth birthday. She learned the rules of baseball through playing this game and fell in love with the sport. When she told her mother that someday she would make the major leagues, her response was “Girls don’t play in MLB, I’m sorry but you can’t.” Eccles immediately broke into tears because it is the one thing she could do every day for the rest of her life and not get tired of it. While a major league career may not be in her future, her baseball dream is far from over. She made the national team at age 16 and competed at the 2014 IBAF World Cup. In her first ever World Cup game she threw four shutout innings against Australia, giving up just three hits and one walk.

PERSONAL

Family: Parents Gordon Eccles and Melodie Tomiyama… Younger sister Katrine… Getting into the Sport: Started playing baseball at age 5… After her mother made her switch to softball when she was 14 because the boys she was playing against were getting too big, a friend told her about the opportunities for women’s baseball… She joined Team BC that summer and went to nationals where she heard about the national team program… Outside Interests: Graduated grade 12 at Elgin Park Secondary School in spring 2015…Enjoys playing softball, soccer, basketball, hanging out with friends, watching baseball… Works as a grocery clerk at Thrifty Foods… Odds and Ends: Favourite motto: “Be happy”… Looked up to Ichiro Suzuki because she is half-Japanese and Seattle was the closest MLB team… Always travels with gold dice she found during a softball tournament in Las Vegas and her bouncy ball… Nicknames: Cleccles, Clue, Clairebear, Ichiro…

NOTABLE INTERNATIONAL RESULTS

IBAF WCup: 2014 – 4^th