THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 27, 1994 TAG: 9406270255
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940627 LENGTH: NORFOLK
Here he was, a former baseball player at Great Bridge High School, now a recreational softball player. And there was Deb Irving, former Great Bridge softball player, playing baseball.
{REST} There was one thing to do. Inspired, Stevens pulled aside Richard Spano, president of National Adult Baseball Association's local arm, and placed his request - put me on one of your teams.
Thus did baseball not only welcome about 30 female pioneers into the fold with the debut of the Tidewater League of the Women's National Adult Baseball Association, it reclaimed a lost male soul.
That's even more than Spano bargained for last April 15 when he met with maybe a dozen women interested in forming a, ummm, well ... yes - a league of their own!
Sure, it's cliched, but that's exactly what we have here - a place where females 18 and older can come to play baseball in what has been, for most, exclusively a softball world.
``I'm having the time of my life,'' said Kathleen Hotte, 26, and Sunday it was easy to see why. A lanky righthander, Hotte pitched all seven innings as the Mustangs beat the Ultras, 14-10, behind Fairlawn Recreation Center.
``I wish I had been playing all along,'' Hotte said. ``Here I am, 26 and finally getting the opportunity to play. Baseball's such a fantastic sport. I hope this catches on.''
The head-first slides into home, whoops of encouragement, doubles drilled into outfield gaps, inside-out rally caps and grimy, enthusiastic faces that painted the afternoon suggest baseball's latched on tight to what are, so far, the league's only two teams.
Another, a softball team from Virginia Beach, is set to make the switch in a couple weeks. And Spano hopes that, once word spreads through the media, enough players for at least one more team will jump in for the 12-game, Sunday-only season.
``It's going to fly,'' Spano said. ``It's been going slow, but it's going to fly.''
It got off the ground in style. As about 30 or 40 friends, family members and curiosity seekers gathered, every player was introduced wearing a commemorative T-shirt marking the first game.
The national anthem played and Sandra Picken, a long-time Hampton Roads youth baseball operative, threw out the first ball.
The Ultra's Brenda Gray threw the first pitch and Hotte, the first batter, ended the initial at-bat with a sharp single to rightfield.
It was the start of a rough four-walk, one hit-batter, five-run inning that left Gray in tears. But it also began the process of laying the foundation that the women hope only gets stronger.
``The precedent's set,'' said Beth Blount, who plays for the Ultras and manages them with her husband, Mike. ``This will continue, there's no question in my mind. It'll get bigger once people start talking about it.''
Spano did minimal preseason advertising, and he believes there are many women who will be eager to play once they learn the league is for everybody, not just elite athletes.
Blount herself almost let the opportunity pass. She said she figured the league would be too tough until she saw the age groups it was soliciting, 18 to 65.
``I said, well, I know I can hang with a 65-year old,'' said Blount, 35.
The caliber of play? Who could tell? Glorified youth league, perhaps, certainly nothing even close to any boy's high school ball anywhere. Especially in the final inning, when the winning Mustangs botched a succession of terribly easy infield plays that fueled a six-run Ultras comeback.
Nobody really thinks that's important, though, at least not right now, because there's no reference point. Few women have played baseball, so just establishing a presence is critical.
Besides, competing with men is the least of the league's goals.
``What we're trying to do is prove the viability of (women's baseball), at any level,'' Spano said. ``I don't think it'll ever be as big as men's baseball, but there's a nitch for it. There are women who want to be playing baseball and not softball.''
There are enough that Spano, also the eastern region director of National Adult Baseball, has opened leagues in Philadelphia, New York City, Atlanta, Tampa and New Orleans. Sunday, leagues also debuted in Raleigh and Greensboro.
And next weekend, during the NABA's men's Hall of Fame Tournament in Cooperstown, N.Y., two New York teams will play the first women's game at Doubleday Field.
``If there's one thing to attribute this interest to, it's Penny Marshall,'' Spano said.
Marshall directed the film ``A League of Their Own'' and nurtured the project for years.
The story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League that existed from 1942 to 1956 had to be told, Spano said, and it planted seeds for amateur women's leagues throughout the country.
In fact, Spano attended organizational meetings last spring, including the local one, with Lavonne ``Pepper'' Paire-Davis, the catcher in the All-American League and model for Geena Davis' character.
``I went to the meeting and told her I've never played baseball in my life,'' said the Mustangs' Rhonda Koenigsberg, 36. ``She said, `So' ''
So, Koenigsberg said, ``I'll learn.''
With few exceptions, they are learning and playing real baseball. No metal cleats or intentional collisions at bases are allowed, though the latter is a men's NABA rule, too.
Basepaths are 80 feet instead of 90 and the pitcher's rubber is 55 feet. Otherwise, the umpires, two per game, are from the regular local association, the bats are aluminum and the balls are white. Small and white.
``This was bound to happen sooner or later,'' said June Sonosky, a 50ish wisp who will manage and play for the league's third team when it comes on board next month.
``I'm just happy I've got two or three more years left to play.''
And at 20, Mustangs' third baseman Michele Wyatt, who had two hits and four RBIs, could have plenty of time to hone her power stroke. Wyatt looked out past rightfield and across Virginia Beach Boulevard as she loosened up for her final at-bat.
``Which ``O'' in Food Lion do you want me to hit?,'' she teased her teammates.
One game, and baseball has another cocky player. A woman.
Imagine that.
by CNB