When the email initially landed in her inbox, Nevaeh Fungalei’s stepmother Ashley, was convinced it was a scam.

The email was from Team Legacy Australia informing them Nevaeh had been selected to play in the Baseball for All National Girls Tournament – considered one of the largest girls’ baseball competitions in the United States.

“She didn’t actually believe it was real,” Ms Fungalei said of her 13-year-old stepdaughter.

“Because it came through as an email (Nevaeh) thought it was a scam or a mistake.”

Since then, Nevaeh, from East Hills, has been doing dead lifts at the gym, stocking up on protein and perfecting her swing in preparation.

Once reality set in, the excitement was impossible to contain.

Ms Fungalei remembered rushing to find her husband at the local barbershop to break the news mid-haircut.

“We were just so shocked and so thrilled,” the proud caretaker said.

“Every baseball player dreams of going to America to play baseball but it’s never something that you imagine happening at the age of 13.”

The BAF tournament is being held this July and will be the first time the little pocket rocket travels outside of Australia.

As a proud Indigenous and Tongan girl, Ms Fungalei said Nevaeh is navigating a sport where she rarely sees herself represented.

“There’s no Indigenous women that we know of in baseball really repping their Indigenous culture or Pacific Island culture,” she said.

“It’s about showing other young girls, especially girls who look like her, that they belong here too.”

To fund the gap between a dream and a plane ticket, Ms Fungalei launched a GoFundMe page two weeks ago.

Having now raised thousands of dollars, the keen baseball player is more motivated than ever to “make everyone proud”.

“We are not high-income earners, so we are all just trying to do what we can to get our girl there,” Ms Fungalei said.

“Just seeing the dedication and how hard she is working for it just makes me … feel like I did something right.”

Baseball is growing in popularity, with an estimated 33,000 Australians playing the traditionally American sport.

While children make up more than half of those participants, only 5,500 players are women or girls – making trailblazers like Nevaeh more important than ever.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help Nevaeh get to the US. You can donate here.