Monroe sophomore Denver Bryant invited to national women’s baseball showcase

ALBANY — Denver Bryant is about to take her baseball skills to a national stage.

Bryant, 15, who made the GHSA All-Region 1-3A second team as a ninth-grader at Monroe last spring, is traveling to Washington for a week-long women’s baseball showcase that begins Monday.

USA Baseball invited 30 players, including the 20 who make up the women’s national team, to Washington for a development program that also includes the Canadian national team.

The event will take place at the Washington Nationals’ youth academy.

“This means the world for her,” Bryant’s mother, Valiere Brown-Howell, said en route to the event. “Denver just likes to play ball. She’s going to give it her all. She has the heart of a lion and has that baseball intellect.”

After workouts Monday and Tuesday, the American and Canadian teams will play seven games in the course of five days.

The event, billed as a week for player development and exhibition competition, gives Bryant the chance to play alongside the country’s top female baseball players.

The next round of national team player selections comes in 2018, ahead of the women’s baseball World Cup.

“She’s trailblazing and pioneering,” Brown-Howell said. “What she does next week will set her up for where she wants to be.”