The Pyziks are creating a dynasty of sorts in local sports, with members of this exceptional, extended family making names for themselves on playing fields throughout the Baltimore area.

Jill Pyzik is a three-sport star at North Carroll, and she helped the Panthers' soccer team win the Class 3A West regional title last November. Her cousin, Maggie, pitched a no-hitter for John Carroll in March against St. Mary's.

Their cousin, Steve, who is going to Clemson this fall on a baseball scholarship, is one of only three Loyola players -- his uncle, Joe, is one of the others -- to hit a home run onto the roof of the school gymnasium behind the right-field fence.

There are five more Pyziks playing at varsity and JV levels and 11 younger brothers, sisters, and cousins in area middle elementary and even nursery schools.

"There's always Pyziks everywhere," joked Loyola soccer coach Don Kraft, who had Steve on the varsity squad and Kevin and Walter on the JV team. "It's a tremendous family."

And a confusing one, if you don't have a family tree in front of you. Six brothers head the family. They and their children are:

* Stosh Pyzik, 51, a mathematician with the U.S. Department of Defense at Fort Meade. He and his wife, Paula, have five children: Heather, 21, a senior at Washington College; Elizabeth, 18, a freshman at the University of Delaware; Maggie, 15, a high school sophomore; Alex, 13, an eighth-grader; and Tori, 9, a third-grader.

* Andy Pyzik, 48, a senior programmer with Zurich Insurance in Baltimore. He and his wife, Mary, have three children: Theresa, 16, a junior at Mercy High School; Andrew, 12, a sixth-grader; and John, 8, a third-grader.

* Zig Pyzik, 45, a project manager for VIPS, a data processing firm in Towson. He and his wife, Anna Marie, have five children: Abby, 17, a junior at Mercy; Walter, 15, a freshman at Loyola; Samantha, 14, a seventh-grader; Ziggy III, 8, a third-grader; and Scott, 6, a first-grader.

* Jake Pyzik, 45, director of finances for employee benefits for the state Department of Budget and Management in Baltimore. He and his wife, Jeanne, have three children: Laura, 19, a sophomore at St. Mary's College (Md.); Jill, 17, a high school junior; and Nicholas, 15, a freshman at North Carroll.

* Matt Pyzik, 43, senior vice president of Space Petroleum Co. in Ellicott City. He and his wife, Joanne, have four children: Steve, 17, a senior at Loyola; Kevin, 15, a sophomore at Loyola; Bradley, 14, a freshman at Loyola; and Lindsey, 10, a fourth-grader.

* Joe Pyzik, 36, chief of accounting for the developmental disabilities administration of the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in Baltimore. He and his wife, Joyce, have two children: Anastasia, 8, a third-grader;and Craig, 5.

The brothers also have a sister, Annette, a 41-year-old nun and math teacher at Trinity High School in Harrisburg, Pa.

Sports has always been a major influence in the Pyzik family. According to the brothers, their parents, Zigismund and Irene Pyzik -- who died in 1985 and 1990, respectively -- were exceptional athletes.

Zigismund -- or "Zig," as he was called -- liked to play basketball and was a member of a fast-pitch softball team for Westinghouse, where he was an electrical engineer.

Irene Pyzik had such a lively arm from playing softball as a girl that she once tossed an orange through the front window of their rowhouse in Canton.

Irene Pyzik's grandfather was two-time world middleweight boxing champion Stanislaus Kiecal, who was more popularly known as Stanley Ketchel.

"I really think it's something in the genes," Andy Pyzik said, half-seriously. "Dad was into math, we all went into accounting or some other math-related field. As well as a math gene, there's an athletic gene."

Sports became a bond for the seven siblings, who had only a black-and-white television, long before cable TV and video games.

"In the summertime, we would go over to Patterson Park and play baseball with everyone in the neighborhood," Jake Pyzik recalls. "Then we'd eat lunch, go back, play some stickball, eat dinner and go back and play again."

Added Joe: "Probably our first toy was a ball."

Of the siblings, Stosh, Annette, and Joe were the ones who played high school or collegiate sports. Stosh was a point guard on the Loyola College basketball team; Annette played softball and basketball for Catholic High School.

But Joe was the more celebrated athlete. At Loyola High, he was a point guard and captain of the basketball team. As an outfielder and captain of the baseball squad, he led the league in home runs for two consecutive years.

His most impressive feat was in the spring of 1979 when he launched a home run in the fifth inning against Calvert Hall.

The ball hit the top of the gym in right field -- about 400 feet from home plate -- and caromed over.

To this day, Joe Pyzik downplays the accomplishment.

"I probably didn't even think about it," he said. "I felt bad because we lost the game."

Loyola baseball coach Tim Nordbrook says Frank Velleggia Jr. and Joe Pyzik were the only Dons to ever hit the gym roof until earlier this spring, when Steve Pyzik, a pitcher and catcher, repeated the feat in the first inning of a scrimmage against Dulaney.

What made Steve's homer more remarkable was that he hit it as a right-handed batter, which requires more arm strength than a left-handed hitter.

"He crushed it," Nordbrook said. "I haven't seen too many kids at this level do that."

Said Steve Pyzik: "Afterwards, my dad said something about it to me. I feel proud."

Almost every coach who has a Pyzik on a team says the common denominator is their work ethic and team-first attitude.

For example, North Carroll soccer coach Jim MacDonald said Jill Pyzik is usually the first one to finish a 10-minute run around the Hampstead campus.

"She works hard every day," he said. "That's all you can ask of a kid."

John Carroll softball coach Neal Drexel has had three Pyzik sisters on his squad. Heather was a first baseman, Elizabeth a second baseman and Maggie a pitcher.

"All three are dedicated athletes," Drexel said. "I never had an ounce of trouble among them."

With so many Pyziks on so many teams, there have been times when cousins have met on opposite sides of the field, such as last fall when Jill's North Carroll soccer team played Abby's Mercy squad.

"I feel bad if I do something to her," Jill, who fills a halfback position, said of Abby, a fullback. "I don't want to touch her or anything."

When Abby, a second baseman, stepped up to the plate to face Maggie earlier this spring, both players were reprimanded by their coaches for smiling at each other and not focusing on the game.

"They told us to be serious," Maggie said.

One benefit is that uncles and aunts can watch more than one family member play.

"It's nice to see them compete," said Stosh Pyzik. "And if your own daughter loses, at least you have a relative who won."

But with eight Pyziks playing nearly every day, the parents are faced with the challenge of finding the time to attend games. Uncles and aunts help out by attending nieces' and nephews' games when their parents can't.

Joked Matt Pyzik: "We have nightly meetings on who's going where."

The coaches say they are amazed that at least one member of the family attends every game. And some are delighted to hear that more Pyziks are on the way.

"Ideally, if you got a team of them, you're in good shape," said John Carroll's Drexel. "They rarely miss practice, they always make the games and they're all very coachable. It's been a pleasure with all of them."

Some of the parents are still involved in athletics. Jake is a coach for several baseball and soccer youth teams in Carroll County, Zig is the commissioner of a girls travel basketball league in Carroll and Andy is a coordinator of adult and children's sports programs at Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Joe is a first baseman for a fast-pitch softball team in Leesport, Pa., that was ranked No. 10 in the world last year.

Although most of the teen-agers say their foremost priority is to help their team win, they acknowledge they also have a more personal goal.

"We're trying to see how many Pyziks we can get in one newspaper," said Bradley Pyzik.