Daniela Leal
Daniela Cecilia Leal Aguilar (Dani)
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 5' 5", Weight 141 lb.
- Born January 8, 1989 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal Mexico
Biographical Information[edit]
Daniela Leal played for the Mexican women's national team.
She was a third-team All-American and first-team All-Big 12 Conference pick at Baylor, finishing 6th in the school's career home run list; she also made the Pratt Community College Hall of Fame in softball and played for the Mexican softball national team. She remained at Baylor as a coach. [1] Switching to baseball, she was on the first Mexican team in a Women's Baseball World Cup. At age 35/36, she was the oldest player on their team in the 2023-2024 Women's Baseball World Cup, six months older than Maricela Aguillera. Starting at first base and hitting cleanup in their debut against Canada, she struck out and flew out against Raine Padgham and whiffed against Alli Schroder. Dropped to 7th in the order the next game, she got her first hit, a double off Australia's Abbey Kelly. She hit .231/.444/.385 with five runs in five games in the 2023 portion, handling 29 chances error-free. She tied for 10th in the pool in runs, tied for 4th with two doubles (even with Wing-Hin Ng, Padgham and Naomi Ryan), led in putouts (two ahead of Denae Benites) and tied for the fielding lead with teammate Marcela Diaz. [2]
Mexico advanced to the 2024 portion. In that round, she played first, second, DH and pitcher. She scored their only run in their loss to Team USA. In her mound appearance, she started against Taiwan's Chiao-Yun Huang and allowed nine hits, two walks and two runs (both earned) in 3 1/3 IP before Narda Andrade took over and got the win. She struck out two - Shih-Yun Lee and Yu-Hsuan Chen. She batted .267/.421/.400 in the final round and again fielding perfectly (in 26 chances). She also went 3-for-3 in steal attempts. In the Bronze Medal Game, she was 0 for 4 in a loss to Canada, but it was a strong 4th-place finish in the 12-team field for the newcomers. In the final phase, she tied for 6th in walks (3), tied for 5th in doubles (2, even with Madison Willan, Akari Hoshikawa, Zoe Hicks and Misaki Namai), tied for 3rd in steals (with Alizée Gélinas and Iori Miura), tied Willan for third in fielding percentage (Yuki Kawabata and Nanako Hanabusa were at 1.000 in more chances), was 5th with 22 putouts (between Gélinas and Yakary Molina) and tied for the lead in double plays turned (Yohelis Colina, Gélinas, Ashton Lansdell, Ryan and Mia Valcke also had 3). [3]
That winter, she was named the new director of the Mexican Softball League. [4]
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