One-Handed Pitcher, 11, Doesn't Let Disability Slow Her Down

Brittany Apgar, 11, hopes to play with the boys through high school.

Eleven surgeries in her 11 years of life haven't slowed down Brittany Apgar or her impressive pitching skills.

Apgar was born without her right hand. The seventh grader from Greensboro, North Carolina, is a ballplayer in Greensboro’s Parks and Recreation “Bronco Divison,” NBC affiliate KSNV reported.

"When I first get on the field, I can feel everybody watching me. It gives me like a nervous [feeling], and then once I start throwing, they'll start realizing that I'm here to just play. Not play around," Apgar said.

She has been playing the game since age 2 and looks up to retired star pitcher Jim Abbott as her hero. Abbott was also born without a right hand, and Apgar hopes to meet him one day.

She also goes to bat using a special prosthesis, but her real love is pitching. Apgar hopes to play ball alongside the boys through high school.

"It was a goal to get people to accept me for who I am and to know that they won't take me for anybody different," she said.

Apgar's doctors hope the next few operations will give her joints in her right hand so that one day she will be able to move her fingers.

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