She’s got game

It’s one of the cruelest insults a boy can get from his peers, one that can question his masculinity and his baseball talent all at the same time.

“You throw like a girl!”

This barb, however, is not heard in the Ocean View Little League Minor A division. Heck, it’s a compliment in these parts.

Many of the boys in the division can only dream of throwing as well as Emma Ziegler.

Yep, she’s a girl; the long, blond hair kind of gives it away. But Ziegler also plays catcher, infield and pitcher for the Red Wings, who currently lead the Minor division with a 7-1 record.

She bats second in the Red Wings’ order, one spot ahead of her younger brother, Zeke. Coach Tony Cianca wants teams to see Emma — also one of the speediest players in the league — as much as possible.

“We don’t look at her as a girl baseball player,” Cianca said. “She’s just a baseball player. She’s an asset to the team, and one of the better players on the team, to be honest with you. It’s great having her on the team. She hustles, [has a] great attitude.”

Emma turns 11 on Saturday, and most girls her age are playing softball. In OVLL, she’s one of 19 girls, but 13 of those are at the T-ball level. She’s the only girl at the Minor A level; one is at Minor B and Emma’s younger sister, Stella, is at Minor C.

“I never really wanted to play softball,” Emma said. “I don’t like the chanting and the uniforms they wear. My brother plays baseball and I always liked hanging out with him and playing in the yard. I thought it’d be fun to try it out.”

It was the same with roller hockey, which Emma plays — she’s a goalie — at Coast 2 Coast in Huntington Beach. Emma is also involved in Girl Scouts and she’s the student council president at Hope View Elementary.

She’s also faced some challenges. In a Red Wings game earlier this year, Zeke — the usual closer — was out sick. So Emma filled in, despite not having any experience in the role.

All she did was close out the game on just 12 pitches to preserve the win.

Last year, Emma faced another tough situation. She had to decide on whether to stay in Minor B with Zeke or move up to Minor A. She decided to move up and face the challenge.

Zeke said he was upset at first, but he knew he could play with his sister this year. They play well together, whether it’s in the lineup or on defense.

“If there’s two outs and Emma’s up, I’m saying to myself, ‘90% [chance] I’m going to get up,” Zeke said. “I know Emma’s going to get a hit or a walk. And then for some reason, every single inning she leads off, we always have a huge inning. She always gets on.

“I pitch, so Emma catches me sometimes. She gets down and blocks the balls if I throw them in the dirt on accident. I don’t have to worry about runs scoring because balls are getting past [the catcher].”

There are other advantages to Emma playing baseball for the Red Wings. She is coached by her dad, Erich, who is the league president this year. And her mom, Darby, said she likes it, too.

“With soccer, they have girls’ soccer and boys’ soccer, but Little League lets girls play,” Darby Ziegler said. “Going to middle school next year, her friends are boys. They’ll look after her, and there’s not that girl drama.”

Emma’s last year in OVLL will be next year, when she plans to play in Majors. After that, it’s up in the air. Even at a young age, she realizes the realities of a funny thing called puberty.

“I’d like to keep playing, but I know that when I get older it’ll be a lot harder,” she said. “The boys will be stronger, and it’ll just be a little harder, more competitive. I know that after I finish Little League, I’m going to [umpire]. I don’t really plan to keep playing all my life.”

But who knows? Harvey Schiller, the president of the International Baseball Federation, announced Monday that the plan is to include a women’s baseball component when the sport makes its bid to be reinstated for the 2016 Olympics.

“The main reason is the growth of the game,” Schiller told the Associated Press. “Obviously, we have a constituency which makes up women’s baseball, and they’re asking, ‘What about us?’ We want the world to know that we have women’s baseball.”

The world may have to wait, but Ocean View Little League definitely knows about Emma Ziegler.

Red Wings teammate Kelan Long even paid Emma the ultimate compliment.

“She’s actually better than a lot of boys in Minor A,” he said.

Long and Zeke Ziegler laughed at this thought for a moment, before they suddenly stopped.

“Well,” Zeke finally said, “you’re probably right.”

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or at matthew.szabo@latimes.com.