Without a little arm-twisting from Mom, Katie Bishop wouldn’t be competing in the national semifinals of the Pitch, Hit and Run contest Sunday, July 1, at Safeco Field.

Kara Bishop had to shoo her daughter out the door to get Katie to participate in the first step of the competition, the local event in April in Oak Harbor.

“I didn’t really want to go,” Katie Bishop said, “but my mom convinced me it would be fun and good practice.

“I really didn’t expect to win.”

Once there, Bishop defeated a group of five girls, finishing first overall after taking first in pitching and running and second in hitting.

Her overall score of 978 in the girls 13-14 division earned her a spot in the sectional competition in Shoreline last month.

At sectional, she also won as she upped her mark to 1,008. That win put her in the semifinals Sunday, where she will compete after the Mariners’ game with Kansas City. She will face Madison Williams of Anchorage and Skyler Teixeira of Portland for the opportunity to go to the finals at the Major League Baseball All-Star game July 17 in Washington, D.C.

Semifinals will be held in every Major League park, and the best scores from all those competitions will be compared and the top three will receive an invitation to the finals.

Bishop, 14, admits she is “a little nervous” about Sunday’s competition and hopes she puts in a strong performance.

Her goal is to “beat the points I scored last time” and, maybe, meet a few Mariners, especially her favorite, Jean Segura.

Bishop, daughter of Mike and Kara Bishop, will enter Oak Harbor High School as a freshman in the fall and plans to play volleyball and basketball as well as softball for the Wildcats.

Bishop is also a member of the North Whidbey Junior Little League all-star softball team that begins state tournament play Saturday, June 30. She will miss Sunday’s state game to compete in the Pitch, Hit and Run contest.

“I play plenty of games, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Bishop said.

And, yes, Mom does know best.