PHILADELPHIA — Maritza Lopez-Gonzalez moved to Philadelphia when she was 13, after Hurricane Maria ravaged her native Puerto Rico. She knew no English.
That Lopez-Gonzalez, now 18, won a prestigious award from Major League Baseball last week — and is about to board a plane for Houston to watch the Phillies take on the Astros in the World Series as a guest of the league — is a little bit about luck. But it’s mostly about the kind of person Lopez-Gonzalez is: brave, kind, hardworking, smart, strong.
People at Kensington Health Sciences Academy, the public school where Lopez-Gonzalez is a senior, are happy, but not shocked.
Greg Isaacs, a KHSA social studies teacher and the school’s softball coach, said Lopez-Gonzalez stood out from the moment he met her, as a freshman trying out for the team. She was young, but gravitated toward the older students. She was a leader early on.
“Maritza is an all-around genuine person,” said Isaacs. “She’s devoted to everything she does, determined to just be awesome, and she is.”
When Colleen Grelis, who teaches English-language learners, first met Lopez-Gonzalez, the then-freshman spoke so quietly you could barely hear her. Lopez-Gonzalez was still mastering English, and dealing with the move from Puerto Rico and her grandmother’s cancer treatment.
“There was a lot of upheaval in her life at that time,” said Grelis. “But she just worked hard; she fought through it. She landed in North Philly — not the easiest place to be, but she just hunkered down. She focused on her studies and learning English and playing ball, and it’s just served her really well.”
Lopez-Gonzalez’s voice is a little louder now, but she remains modest.
Which position does she play? “All of them. Mostly third base,” said Lopez-Gonzalez, who plays softball year-round, for KHSA and for multiple Phillies Urban Youth Academy teams.
Monica Clark, coordinator of Youth Baseball and Softball Development for the Phillies, said she wanted Lopez-Gonzalez for the Phils’ programs the moment she saw her.
“She will never be the loudest anywhere she goes, but her game speaks for itself,” said Clark. “She is never afraid to dive, never afraid to get that extra work in for it.”
Phillies softball programs aim not to just encourage a love of baseball and softball, but to “get the girls to college,” Clark said. “It can help them get into college, and get money.”
Lopez-Gonzalez’s grades are stellar; she dreams of becoming a doctor. Until recently, she worked a part-time job to help offset expenses. And she’s the first to raise her hand for events with the Phillies, who provide travel opportunities to Philadelphia students at no cost, but ask their players to give back in some way, through volunteering on recycling teams at Citizens Bank Park.
“I could spend all day talking about how proud we are of Maritza,” Clark said. “She never makes excuses.”
Through the Phillies programs, Lopez-Gonzalez has traveled around the country, learning from elite coaches and impressing everyone she meets.
The $10,000 scholarship — the Jennie Finch Empowerment Award — personally awarded by softball legend Finch, was a surprise, awarded at a tournament in Florida earlier this month. It’s about more than who Lopez-Gonzalez is as a player, it’s about who she is as a person.
Finch put her arm around Lopez-Gonzalez after the announcement. She wiped tears from her eyes as Lopez-Gonzalez talked about what the scholarship meant to her, and who she wanted to acknowledge.
“Thank you for my mom for everything, and my dad,” Lopez-Gonzalez said. “He tried to do his best for us, and my grandma that is not here.”
Winning the award was a shock and an honor for Lopez-Gonzalez, she said.
“I was so happy,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting it.”
Paying for college worries her — she’s applying to Temple, Drexel, La Salle and Thomas Jefferson Universities, so the money is a godsend. But the icing on the cake is the trip to Houston to see the Phillies, whom she follows faithfully, take on the Astros in the World Series.
Her father, who still lives in Puerto Rico, will join Lopez-Gonzalez at the game.
Who does she think will win?
“The Phillies,” said Lopez-Gonzalez. “They’ve been playing so good.”
As for Lopez-Gonzalez’s cheering section back in Philadelphia, they’re pumped about their own hero.
“Maritza makes me smile,” said Isaacs. “When I look at her, and what she’s gone through, and how hard she works, she deserves every bit of it, and more.”
