Curvin McCabe Elementary School
466 Cottage Street, Pawtucket RI
(use Baxter Street gym entrance near the corner of Kenyon Avenue)

Registration from 9:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M.

Tryouts:
9:30 A.M. for Minor Division
11:00 A.M. for Junior Division

Players should come to tryouts with sneakers and a glove.
Helmets and bats will be provided.

March 18, 2012
By JOHN ODELL

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. – It was 1973, and change was in the air. The Equal Rights Amendment had recently been passed by Congress and was sent to the states. President Nixon had just signed Title IX. And in Pawtucket, R.I., the Darlington American Little League was being sued for refusing to let nine-year-old Alison “Pookie” Fortin play baseball.

The situation in Pawtucket was not unique: Little League Baseball had barred [...]]]>

All-girls hardball league began in 1973

March 18, 2012
By JOHN ODELL

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. – It was 1973, and change was in the air. The Equal Rights Amendment had recently been passed by Congress and was sent to the states. President Nixon had just signed Title IX. And in Pawtucket, R.I., the Darlington American Little League was being sued for refusing to let nine-year-old Alison “Pookie” Fortin play baseball.

The situation in Pawtucket was not unique: Little League Baseball had barred girls from its affiliates since the early 1950s, and backed up its decision by voiding the charters of leagues that allowed girls to play.

In Pawtucket, however, the parents got together to seek a solution other than going through the courts. Why not create a whole new baseball league, one that Pookie Fortin and every other girl who lived in the Pawtucket area could participate in?

Thus began the Pawtucket Slaterettes, an all-girl hardball league. Since 1974, the league has expanded to four divisions that accommodate about 200 girls per year, ages five through adult. The Slaterettes (named after Pawtucket’s Slater Mill, an early pioneer in the Industrial Revolution) are one of only a few girls baseball leagues in the country, and they are still going strong nearly 40 years later.

Why baseball and not softball? “Why not?” asks Deb Bettencourt, a longtime officer with the league. “They are different games. There is nothing wrong with softball, but there is nothing wrong with baseball, either. The girls in our league just like playing hardball.”

In addition, some girls play baseball with the Slaterettes, play softball with their high school or college, and then return to the Slaterettes to play or coach baseball again. “Sometimes they come back with their daughters,” Bettencourt continued “Once a Slaterette, always a Slaterette.”

Additional Daily Diamonds stories focus on: Effa Manley, the Colorado Silver Bullets, Hilda Chester, Edith Houghton, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, Amanda Clement, Julie Crouteau, Chelsea Baker, Toni Stone, Claire Smith, Eri Yoshida, Helene Britton, Suzyn Waldman, Corinne Hillman, the movie A League of Their Own, Dorothy Seymour Mills, Melissa Ludke, Eleanor Engle, Maria Pepe, Pam Postema, Janet MacFarlane, Sonia Sotomayor, Janet Marie Smith, Linda Alvarado, Margaret Gisolo, Helen Dauvray, Babe Didrickson Zaharias, Sr. Mary Assumpta, the Pawtucket Slaterettes and Brita Meng Outzen.

John Odell is the curator of history and research for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

Read Article: http://baseballhall.org/news/history/league-their-own-pawtucket.

Some of our photos…

Each day, players will attend instructional sessions on pitching, hitting, fielding, base running, [...]]]> Coaches that Inspire, Teach, & Mentor

Days are filled with game play, instructional sessions, and inspiring activities. Our coaching staff is made up primarily of women who have played baseball and know what it takes to continue playing baseball with the boys. In our inaugural year, ESPN filmed at the Academy. Participants have come from all over the world, including: Japan, Canada, and Indonesia.

The Program: More Than Just Baseball

Each day, players will attend instructional sessions on pitching, hitting, fielding, base running, catching, and more. Players will round out their baseball skills, by participating in umpire clinics. Players will be able to choose many of their classes based on the daily schedule offered. Classes are divided by skill level and age. Afternoons include game play.

Evening sessions are designed to inspire our players. Academy coaches will share their baseball challenges and triumphs with our players. Players will have a chance to ask and share with our instructors. In additional to the inspiring stories, the girls will participate in fun activities such as: Crazy Olympics, a bonfire, and an outing to a minor league game.

The Facility: Eat, Sleep, & Play Baseball

The Baseball For All Girl’s Academy is located at the Dan Duquette Sports Academy in Hinsdale, Massachusetts. The facility has 22 well-manicured acres of fields and athletic facilities, surrounded by 100 wooded acres. The facility is a state-of-the-art sports training facility modeled on those built for Major League teams. BFA Academy players will stay in wood cabins and eat at the on-site cafeteria. Basketball courts are available for use during free time. Supervised lakefront activities are also available (bring your bathing suit!).

Coaches Who Know Girls & Baseball

Role models are essential when following a dream. Leading by example, all of our women are currently playing or coaching baseball. Our male coaches have all worked with female athletes. We also have experienced female umpires umpiring our tournament games and leading our umpire instructional programs. Our instructors are dedicated to the growth of girls baseball around the world and have the experience to facilitate this growth. Our staff is driven by a passion and love for baseball and the desire to help kids follow their dreams.

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All Registration Events will be held at the Pawtucket Boys and Girls Club,
1 Moeller Place (off School Street), Pawtucket, RI.

Saturday, February 11th, 10am-2pm
Saturday, February 25th, 10am-2pm
Saturday, March 17th, 10am-2pm
Final Registration and Tryout for New Players (location TBA)
Saturday, March 31st, (time TBA)

If you are unable to attend one of the registration events.
Contact Sarah

Tee [...]]]>

…In recognizing Sarah Feeley, Dufresne noted that the Pawtucket Slaterettes is the first all-girls baseball league in the United States. It has become, [...]]]>

Pawtucket Prevention Coalition Director Diane Dufresne, far left, stands with Prevention Academy Award winners (from left) CSI Program Mentor Sean Garedo, Pawtucket Slaterettes Baseball League President Sarah Feeley, Jenks Jr. High/JMW School for the Performing and Visual Arts school nurse Linda Mendonca, Councilor-at-Large Larry Tetreault and State Representative Bob DaSilva, who’s also a Pawtucket Police Lieutenant.

…In recognizing Sarah Feeley, Dufresne noted that the Pawtucket Slaterettes is the first all-girls baseball league in the United States. It has become, she said, a national model for perpetuating the knowledge of baseball among girls and implanting the ideals of good sportsmanship, courage and respect for authority.

Dufresne said that Feeley played for the Slaterettes until the age of 18 and later joined an alumni team. She joined the Slaterettes board of directors in 2002 and became president in 2007, and continues to coach younger girls (ages 5 and up) in Little League baseball as well as in Pawtucket Youth Soccer. The Pawtucket Prevention Coalition, Dufresne said, chose Feeley for her “dedication to the youth of Pawtucket and the powerful role sports play in promoting positive behaviors in our youth.” ….

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When Jackie was sixteen years old, she played for a women’s team in Chattanooga, Tennessee. When she was seventeen, she attended a special baseball school in Atlanta, Georgia. As a result, Jackie attracted the attention of Joe Engel, the president and owner of the Chattanooga Lookouts. He offered her a contract to play for the entire 1931 season.

On March 28, 1931, Jackie signed the contract. At that moment, she became [...]]]> They were both struck out by a GIRL!

When Jackie was sixteen years old, she played for a women’s team in Chattanooga, Tennessee. When she was seventeen, she attended a special baseball school in Atlanta, Georgia. As a result, Jackie attracted the attention of Joe Engel, the president and owner of the Chattanooga Lookouts. He offered her a contract to play for the entire 1931 season.

On March 28, 1931, Jackie signed the contract. At that moment, she became an official member of the Chattanooga Lookouts, a Class AA minor league team. At the age of 17, Jackie Mitchell, became the first woman to sign a professional baseball contract. At six years old, she had claimed to have mastered the curve ball with a little help from her next door neighbor, Hall of Fame pitcher Dazzy Vance.

Meanwhile, the New York Yankees had finished spring training in Florida and were on their way to New York. As in previous years, they would stop in Chattanooga to play the Lookouts.

The game was scheduled for April 1. Unfortunately, it rained, and the game was cancelled. By Thursday, April 2, the rains had stopped. At 2:30 that afternoon, the game began.

But Jackie was not the starting pitcher. Mitchell had been signed primarily as a publicity stunt, but the sideshow started turning the tables in the first inning.

Earle Combs, the Yankees’ lead-off batter, clobbered a double. Lyn Lary was up next. He slapped a single up the middle, scoring Combs from second. Next to bat was Babe Ruth.

At that moment, Manager Niehoff headed to the mound. He pulled the starting pitcher and waved Jackie to the mound.

Jackie’s first pitch to the Babe sailed high for a ball. But her next three pitches were strikes. In fact, her final pitch dropped across the plate for a called third strike. Mitchell struck out Babe “Sultan of Swat” Ruth and Lou “The Iron Horse” Gehrig in back-to-back at-bats, with Gehrig’s coming on three whiffed swings. When the Babe was called for a third strike, he threw his bat on the ground in protest and began arguing with the umpire. After walking Tony Lazzeri, Mitchell was removed from the game. Her performance, though brief, would forever label her as “the girl who struck out Babe Ruth.”

The crowd of 4,000 went wild.

The next day, MLB commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis voided Mitchell’s contract, claiming that baseball was “too strenuous” for women. In 1952, commissioner Ford Frick banned women from joining major league teams, a ruling that would be reversed in 1992. Mitchell continued to pitch wherever she could.

You can learn more about their organization at www.cogbl.com !