It took eight years however Jen Pawol made the leap from the minors to a serious league recreation spring coaching contest as umpire on the Grapefruit League opener between the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals at CACTI Park of The Palm Seashores on Saturday in West Palm Seaside, Fla.
Pawol’s spring coaching debut marked the primary time since 2007 {that a} lady umpired a serious league spring coaching recreation, final finished by Ria Cortesio. With a ponytail popping out of her ballcap, Pawol was stationed at third base.
After the normal pre-game assembly with the umpires and managers at dwelling plate, the group posed for photos. Nationals supervisor Dave Martinez shook Pawol’s hand and chatted along with her briefly.
Jen Pawol is an umpire in tonight’s Astros-Nationals recreation. She started the sport because the third base ump.<br><br>She’s the primary lady to work an MLB <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/SpringTraining?src=hash&ref_src=twsrcpercent5Etfw”>#SpringTraining</a> recreation in 17 years. <a href=”https://t.co/qgmt4aQU8L”>pic.twitter.com/qgmt4aQU8L</a>
—@MLB
Eight years in the past, Pawol, a former New Jersey highschool softball star who performed at Hofstra, grew to become simply the seventh ladies to umpire a minor league baseball recreation.
Throughout the subsequent few weeks, Pawol, 47, will likely be based mostly in Palm Seaside County to work different spring coaching video games. No lady has ever been assigned to umpire an everyday season recreation within the majors.
Pam Postema, who labored within the Nineteen Seventies and Nineteen Eighties, grew to become the primary lady to umpire a spring coaching recreation.
Pawol’s solely play within the prime of the primary inning was signaling an infield-fly rule on a pop-up by Astros’ Jon Singleton.
Throughout pregame festivities, entertainer Travis Scott took half in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the sphere to commemorate the identify change of the power, previously referred to as The Ballpark of The Palm Seashores. Scott, who threw out the primary pitch, is proprietor of CACTI Laborious Seltzer.