Gender barrier broken
On Sunday, August 11th,
Josette Pastore made history by becoming the
first female to play in an MLW game.
"We've had girls come to watch games before," said Commissioner
Shaun Breen, "but none of them ever wanted to
play. This is a big step forward for the league."
Josette went 3-for-10 on the day, with her biggest hit being a single off 2000 Cy Young
Award winner
Quentin Jensen. Her pitching was fair (1 IP,
2 R, 3 H, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 K) and her fielding looked great until the last play of the second
game when Quentin Jensen hit a deep fly ball to left-center field. Josette, the fielder,
missed the ball, but knocked it down and stepped on second base to get the force out to end
the game.
However, some onlookers thought Josette was beyond the home run line when she
touched the ball. Shaun Breen, who had the best angle said she was on the line, not over
it. An argument resulted and the game continued, however it went down in the scorebook as
an out.
Brian Glasser struck out anyway for the 3rd
out, so the play had no bearing on the outcome of the game.
The doubleheader did end on a sour note, but most players agreed that the afternoon was a
success.
Players did not hit on Josette as she brought her boyfriend
Chris Hutchings to the game.
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