UCLA-bound shortstop takes attention from famous last name in stride.
The last name is the same. The greatness is there. Only the game is different.
Video: UCLA softball commit Maya BradySee Tom Brady's niece tearing it up on the diamond.
The niece of arguably the greatest NFL quarterback of all time is hitting a team-best .549 with 10 home runs, 28 RBI, 32 runs scored, 39 hits and only four strikeouts for the 21-4-1 Lions.
Her on-base percentage is .648 and has a 1.070 slugging percentage. In addition, she's got a team-leading 10 stolen bases.
"I'm very proud of the last name I have," Maya Brady told MaxPreps. "He's my biggest role model. I couldn't ask for a better uncle, father
figure; just a better person to look up to. He's the pinnacle of success
and what a great winner looks like."
And if having the Patriots quarterback for an uncle isn't winning the genetic lottery, consider Maya's mother, Maureen, was once a dominant collegiate All-American pitcher at Fresno State and all-time California great on the diamond.
"I think Maya is already the most athletic person of the family," Tom Brady told
the Boston Globe recently. "She's just a great athlete, so competitive. And she's been on such winning teams and she's such a great teammate. It's so impressive."
The nation's No. 4 recruit,
according to SoftballAmerica.com, is headed to UCLA next season, but doesn't
pitch like her mother. Instead, Maya Brady holds things down at
shortstop for Oaks Christian as it prepares for a CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoff game today against 18-8 Camarillo.
She showed that Brady grit last week in a 7-6 loss to Marmonte League rival Westlake, clubbing a two-run home run in the top of the sixth to pull the Lions within two runs and give them life late in the game.
"If she was a boy, she'd be a 6-star athlete," Oaks Christian coach Peter Ackerman said. "She's my coach on the field. ... Maya sets the bar. She comes along once in a coach's lifetime."
Over her four-year Oaks Christian career, Brady hit for a .461 average with 23 home runs, 143 runs scored and a 1.317 OPS. All while fielding at a .938 clip.
She said the extra attention from her famous surname adds a little pressure, but also fuels her success.
"I mean with a lot of media coverage I get it I get a lot of pressure,
but I think it all kind of makes the experience worthwhile," she said. "He (Tom Brady) came out of the shadows and impressed everybody. But I'm looking to
do it with whatever situation I get. Whether I come out of the shadows
or whether I'm on the front cover of the newspaper, I'm looking to win,
no matter what ... and to be as successful or more successful than him,
if
that's possible."
And when she heads to Westwood next year, she hopes her uncle can find some time to head to California and see her play.
"He's pretty busy with my cousins and his beautiful wife and all his
responsibilities back in Boston," Maya Brady said. "Hopefully, when I become a Bruin, he'll become a Bruin fan and come
watch me."
