11-year-old East Bay girl heading to Little League Legacy Baseball Series in Pennsylvania

HAYWARD, Calif. (KGO) -- It's a dream to play in the Little League Legacy Baseball Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. And one 11-year-old girl from the East Bay will be boarding a plane to play ball in the series this weekend.

We had a chance to meet her on her journey to baseball stardom.

Allena Darby has a reputation as a slugger, as she'll tell you herself.

"I'm mainly known for hitting a bunch of homeruns," Darby said.

Darby happily shares what it feels like to her: "The bat feels light and time just slows down when I'm about to touch home plate."

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A bit of hometown baseball magic is materializing in Hayward.

Darby's dad is also the team coach. He sent in a video of her playing ball, and she was selected to play in the Maria Pepe Legacy Series. Pepe is a hero to Darby, who opened the door for girls to play little league alongside the boys -- and she'll get to meet her.

"It means I actually meet Maria Pepe, the first girl to set foot on a baseball field and actually play the game. She's the one who made it possible for me to play right now," Darby said.

"1971 is not very long ago that girls couldn't play little league. So, Opening Day, when we announced it, and the kids are all lined up here on the field, and they all went crazy about her getting the opportunity," said Mr. Eden Little League President Chris Staley. "It's a little league dream, right? To get to Williamsport"

"It's all about the games. They get to play on both the fields. There's 96 girls, and they're broken into eight teams of 12 apiece," said Keith Darby, Allena's dad and coach.

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So, Darby is practicing her heart out for a sport she fell in love with three years ago when she was eight years old.

"So, during the game, you feel really competitive. But, right after, you give high fives and you feel like best friends...I love that about baseball," she said.

Comradery is what she expects to love about the series too.

"I'm going to be telling you all about the dormitories and what it's was like, because I'm going to be staying up all night with all the girls," Darby said.

And then hitting the homeruns she's famous for. Her fans will be cheering her on this weekend.