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HAMILTON — Like the old Nike commercial says, "Chicks dig the long ball," especially when they're the ones hitting them.

Just ask Heather Robinson.

The 12-year-old Robinson crushed a pair of home runs for the West Side All-Stars in a District 9 tournament game last week, and there's a good chance she'll lose a few more balls over the fence when the state tournament gets under way Saturday, July 19, in South Point.

"I've seen a lot of girls play with the boys before, but I've never seen one with the kind of power she has," West Side coach Josh Sams said. "She makes it tough on a lot of the boys, because none of them want to give up a home run to a girl."

But while Robinson, who also is one of West Side's top pitchers, makes life tough for the opposing boys, she makes things easy for her teammates as they try to get West Side back to the Little League World Series.

"I fit right in because I'm a tomboy," said Robinson, who has made the all-star team every year since she was 8. "I don't like all the pink and Polos and Hollister stuff. I like sporty clothes. But Josh still says I get a little more girly on him every day."

Still, it hasn't gotten to the point where she's checking her hair in a hand mirror between innings or exchanging phone numbers in the postgame handshake line.

But Sams knows a change is coming. And it breaks his heart.

"She absolutely loves baseball, but everyone keeps telling her she's going to have to switch to softball, and she doesn't want to," he said. "That's what bothers me and makes it so tough to see, because I can't imagine anyone ever telling me, 'You can't play baseball anymore.' "

Robinson said she tried softball last fall and didn't like it. "Too much singing," she said.

But she accepts the fact that while it's not her love, it is her future.

"I know I have to switch in high school if I want to get a scholarship to college," she said. "I'm gonna try one more year of select baseball, and then my freshman year I'll have to start playing softball."

Georgia Robinson, Heather's mom, hears those words and wonders if her daughter is really ready to give up the sport she fell in love with well before her second birthday.

"I can't say that she won't fight that battle," Georgia said. "If she had her choice, she would ride this all the way through. That's always been her dream.

"If she gets to ninth grade and she's able to compete with the boys still, I'm not sure that she won't."

Heather knows the decision looms, but she said she doesn't see much point in debating it now, not with plenty more baseballs to belt and boys to beat.

"I'm not worrying about looking into the future," Heather said. "Right now, I'm just focused on playing baseball."

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2193

or jmorrison@coxohio.com.