Sarasota to host All-American Women’s Baseball Classic

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - Sixty of the best women baseball players in the world will be in Sarasota Nov. 19-22 for the inaugural All-American Woman’s Baseball Classic Tournament at Ed Smith Stadium.

The tournament is being organized by the Legends of Woman’s Baseball in America, an affiliate of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which fielded women’s teams in the 1940s and ‘50s.

The event will include a free baseball clinic for girls ages 5-18, coached by former major league players and a championship female coaching team. Pro-level tournament competition will begin on Saturday, Nov. 19 between four teams, each wearing replica colors of jerseys worn by the 1943 All-American League.

Many of the players in the tournament are members of the Women’s Baseball World Cup. The event will showcase this generation’s major league-level talent while recognizing the women who paved the way before them, the league said in a news prelease.

The tournament will pay homage to the league’s history by using the names of the original four teams – Peaches, Blue Sox, Belles, and Comets.

Misdee Wrigley Miller, the granddaughter of Phillip K. Wrigley, founder of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, will throw out the first pitch of the championship game in his honor on Tuesday, Nov 22.

Sue Zipay, a player for the legendary Rockford Peaches and AGB’s founder and president, has made it her life’s mission to champion this sport for women. “We’re so excited to finally see this meaningful and exciting event come to fruition,” she said. “We have planned several days filled with great competition and family fun, and hope everyone will join us.”

For more information, go to https://americangirlsbaseball.org/. To reserve tickets, go to www.orioles.com/agb.”