Her time in the sun as the first U.S. girl to play in the Little League World Series is long past, but Victoria Ruelas still loves mixing it up with the boys.
Known as Victoria Brucker when she helped a team from San Pedro's Eastview Little League reach youth baseball's ultimate destination in 1989, Ruelas never stopped competing or breaking down barriers.
Even as a 31-year-old mother of three, she still plays recreation-league soccer and flag football with her husband on otherwise all-male teams.
"There was always something about playing with guys that made it more fun," Ruelas said during an interview at her home near Wilmington Banning High, where she teaches biology. "If guys have a problem with you, they'll tell you straight out, whereas if girls have a problem, you'll hear it through the grapevine two days later; it's all chit-chat behind everybody's back.
"That wasn't me."
Ruelas was always more about action than affectation.
"She was always a go-getter, always wanted to be the best," said Joe DiLeva, a San Pedro insurance agent who was Ruelas' All-Star coach.
Ruelas was a competitive swimmer, good enough to reach the Junior Olympics, before she tried baseball at 9. Two years later, she made the All-Star team. As a 12-year-old, she made it again, batting cleanup and hitting 18 home runs -- nine during All-Star competition -- on the way to Williamsport, Pa.
Though Ruelas wasn't the first girl to play in the Little League World Series -- a Belgian was, in 1984 -- she was the first to get a hit and the first to pitch.
Her appearance in the tournament -- San Pedro lost in the U.S. championship game to a team from Trumbull, Conn., featuring future NHL star Chris Drury -- made her a media darling, even though she had only one hit in three games.
Later, Ruelas says, she was flown to New York to take part in events sponsored by Sports Illustrated and the Women's Sports Foundation. She appeared on a "That's Incredible"-type television show in Japan and in a Body by Jake commercial. In her hometown, she was honored with a plaque on the Sportswalk to the Waterfront, San Pedro's answer to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Meanwhile, her love of competition only grew.
At San Pedro High, she says she was asked to try out for the junior varsity baseball team but opted for softball instead "because I told myself I wanted to go to college and I was going to make that my goal."
