LOS ANGELES — What do Jennifer Hudson and Clayton Kershaw have in common? Not much until Friday. But now each can say that they had the pleasure of meeting someone who, depending on who you ask, represents an enormous a part of the sport’s future.

Naomi Ryan (17) is the youngest player to ever play on the USA Baseball women’s team, which was founded in 2004, and is having her best week ever. But how she went from the national stage to the biggest stage of national entertainment is the form of experience that only comes with a bit of luck, quite a lot of ingenuity and quite a lot of support.

“I work for the Commonwealth of Virginia and we provide training on phishing emails and how to target them. They really know you,” Cornelia Ryan explained with fun from the Loge level at Dodger Stadium, where she and her daughter attended the first game of the World Series on Oct. 25. “So I receive this email and it’s from someone claiming to be J. Hud’s producer. They also want to contemplate Naomi for some MLB promotional materials. I feel to myself, “I’ve been scammed.” They warned me about this during the training I attended last week. “

But she didn’t quit, using the age-old axiom all of us tell ourselves to be sure that we do not make the most evident mistake in the world. “So I reply to the email and say, ‘Sure.’ Let’s see how far this can go, how far this deception will go. I won’t give them my bank card.”

Turns out it was all very real, and the next thing you recognize, you are on a plane to Los Angeles, responsibilities be damned. When Hudson—former American Idol star, Dreamgirls star, and EGOT winner—calls to assist your daughter pursue her dream, you take a risk.

So she sent an email.

“Sorry, work. I do know we’re sorting things out. I understand it sucks, but yes, I’m gone. I’ll be in Los Angeles. I sent the same email to her school: “Listen, I know she’s taking physics, but…” Cornelia Ryan described, still unable to imagine that something like this even happened.

When they arrived on set, a whirlwind of pleasure and mild confusion meant that although Naomi thought she was going to do something cool with J. Hud, neither she nor her mother had any idea what to anticipate or when.

Exactly as the show wanted it, with the big reveal.

“After the show, they told me we were doing something. So I thought, “Oh, we’ll just watch it.” And then they surprised me,” said Naomi Ryan, who was wearing a blue USA baseball jersey that day, different from the white one she wore on the show. “I couldn’t think at all. I thought to myself, “Oh my God.” What’s happening now? We were both shocked.”

“I used to be proud, but I used to be nervous. I say, “Please don’t let me fall.” That’s the only thing that involves my mind. And then the super sweet Jennifer Hudson. She said, “Hey, come on, give me a hug.” I say, ‘I hugged an EGOT’” Cornelia Ryan boasted with the form of pride sisters exude after they can share their stories and glories in protected spaces. “I’m one step away from Beyonce. No, but seriously, it was amazing.

Major League Baseball donated tickets to the show, and Ryan was chosen by MLB’s Baseball and Softball Development Department. She was named to the national team as a part of the MLB Develops girls baseball program. Competing in the Trailblazer Series, Elite Development Invitational and Breakthrough Series under this umbrella, she made the squad. Otherwise it would not have happened.

Her manager, Veronica Alvarez, loves the teen game. Ryan finished third in the lineup and earned first base in all tournaments at the 2024 Women’s Baseball World Cup in August, where he won silver. That does not imply Alvarez is not still interested by it.

“Naomi is an exceptional player, isn’t she? We have a lot of exceptional players throughout our team, full of really strong, resilient and athletic women who are kind of breaking down the resistance of women in baseball. But Naomi fit into it perfectly,” Alvarez said. “She is our youngest player in the national team. It’s amazing that physically and mentally she was in a position to jump right in and be on their level. It’s amazing that she represents all of us.

“I think our team is the best in the world. We just played in the World Cup and won silver. So technically the results weren’t the best in the world,” she continued. “The level of play that the women bring on a daily basis has been a step up from the U.S. Women’s National Team, which hasn’t won a medal since 2014. In 2016 and 2018 we had a World Cup where we didn’t win a medal. I became manager in 2019 and we revamped the program a bit.”

The overall state of girls’s baseball is difficult to find out. Most persons are still in some form or simply cannot grasp that it is not softball. The path that girls’s baseball has traveled is one which must be avoided and infrequently despised.

“It’s legit baseball, these are some of the best athletes I’ve ever been able to coach and ever see. It’s just phenomenal to watch. “I think if people saw this product, if people saw women playing at this level, they would understand and buy,” Alvarez explained. “This isn’t softball.”

A women’s baseball documentary airs Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on MLB Network. Coach Veronica, as Naomi calls her, is definitely in the movie.

“It showed our women’s national team and other national teams. But someone just wrote about it and someone in the comments said, “Women’s softball is the best.” And it’s like, ‘Oh my God,’” Alvarez said with a laugh. “It’s amazing for women that people can see the word baseball, see baseball, see women throwing overhand, and still associate it with the game of softball. And I have nothing against the game, we can just both exist. We both can coexist. Both are great sports, but this particular group of women, Naomi Ryan, wants to play baseball. I don’t want to play softball because they are two different sports. And it’s okay.”

One reason she doesn’t wish to play softball is obvious: she’s a rattling good baseball player. Do you recognize who told her that? Her highschool head coach. Yes, she plays with boys, like many others in her position. But at the Miller School in Albermarle, Virginia, the person running the program is not only any person. This is Billy Wagner.

Yes, this one. Billy the Kid. The one who, body-wise, looks like just one other guy walking down the street, but lasted 16 seasons in the major league as a pitcher. He is a seven-time All-Star, is one in every of only eight big league players to record 400 profession saves, and is on a LONG list of individuals related to Cooperstown (he is in the Houston Astros Hall of Fame). Yes, he’s a somewhat random name in the pantheon of people that have graced the league with their presence, but he’s the style of one who has seen the pinnacle and is used to overcoming greater obstacles.

As the story goes, after a comparatively tumultuous upbringing and breaking his right arm twice while playing football, he simply… began throwing left. And that led him to leading roles. So if anyone understands foresight, Wagner does.

“When I took over as a highschool coach, I coached against her brother. Anyway, he was going to Pitt and he was killing us all the time. He was so amazing. So I knew about the family. I didn’t learn about her,” Wagner noted. “I got a call asking if I would meet with her about coming to Miller. So she comes in and it’s really quiet. She’s sitting at the table and you’ve got our athletic director, me, her parents, and I’m just sitting there listening to the talk. And then I look at her and ask: what do you want from this? What is this end game for you? Because I don’t know what she’s looking for. She says, “I want to be the first female major league baseball player. I said, “Someone once told me it was possible, and I’m not going to be the person to say it is not.”

“When you concentrate on girls having fun, it is not typical. It throws 79 to 81 (mph), giving it 82 tops. Then he’s good with the curve ball. She knows keep a runner going.

Being the girl on the highschool baseball team is one thing. Honestly, it is not that rare anymore and it’s great. But being a member of the national team is different and impressive.

For Naomi, leadership has quite a bit to do with it.

“It’s easiest to train her in a team. Because I don’t have to worry about him worrying about home runs or getting out of Velo. She really competes in throwing strikes, pitches, getting on base and laying down a bunt – to do everything she can to win,” Wagner beamed on Friday. “It reflects quite a bit on our team because our team knows how I feel about doing the little things, and she or he is an actual example of what it’s wish to be that style of player.

“It wasn’t an enormous deal for our team because I feel quite a lot of our guys had heard of Naomi. And so it only took some time for them to go, “Oh, well, she could act.” And they selected her as the captain of our team. I mean, she’s the only returning captain now we have, and I’ve never had a captain, let alone a lady, captain in my sophomore yr.

As for meeting Kershaw, her favorite player, this time Naomi’s mom tried to sneak a curveball past her.

“We walked into the stadium and I thought, ‘Am I dating Clayton?’ And she said, “No, you recognize I might have told you.” We had many surprises; I would tell you. And I could tell she was lying because she was smiling so much,” Naomi Ryan said, recalling a few hours earlier that day. “We’re walking and then I see him behind the batting cage and I’m like… my friends wanted me to blog, so I’m taking a video of him. I thought, “Guys, I feel I’m going to fulfill Clayton Kershaw soon.” I soon met him, and thru my coach and his contacts, I used to be in a position to meet Clayton.

Wagner did the league a favor by making his player’s already incredible journey much more memorable.

“When I first met him, I told him my dream. I told him I desired to play in the MLB and he said he would give me the hat and a probability,” Naomi Ryan said of Wagner. “I think he kind of found a connection with me because he was also the underdog in some situations. It was something like, “I’ll help and discover a way for her to realize her goal.” I mean, he did it.

“No matter what, even once I was playing basketball, I used to be still calm, but I feel he (Wagner) really helped me gain more confidence on and off the court. I also get messages from parents on Instagram telling me how inspiring I’m to their daughter. This is a full circle moment for me since it wasn’t that way back that I used to be of their shoes.

As for the game, mom and daughter are Yankees fans, and pop and brother, who weren’t on the trip, are Mets fans. It was still iconic although their favorite team lost.

After Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman hit a ball deep to right field that sent Chavez Ravine right into a frenzy and took the lead in the series, she spoke plainly. “It was the best baseball game I’ve ever seen.”

Considering what the entire day had to supply, it is easy to see why.