An eight-year-old baseball prodigy from Innisfil is on her way to the windy city for a prestigious all-girls tournament.

Ava Silva first picked up a baseball bat as a toddler and was an immediate natural.

"She picked up a bat while her brother was practicing tee-ball. Seventeen-ounce bat and she just followed through with a perfect swing. I went 'wow!'," says dad Joey Silva.

Ava is the only girl on the Innisfil Cardinals team, and arguably one of the best players.

She and her dad are off to Chicago where Ava will play in North America's largest girl's tournament, the 'Baseball for All' development invitational in Rockford Illinois.

"I'm extremely proud," says her dad. "Father-daughter time!"

Ava says it'll be her dad's advice that she carries to the plate with her. "Just be yourself, and don't let anyone distract you. And do your best."