Connect with us

Sports

Eastern Women’s Baseball Conference offers ageless field fun

‘Anyone who feels the camaraderie of a team will fit in here’

Published

on

Eastern Women’s Baseball Conference, gay news, Washington Blade

Players in the Eastern Women’s Baseball Conference represent an unusually diverse range of ages and backgrounds. (Photo courtesy EWBC)

Just two weeks ago, Major League Baseball sent out a tweet saying, “Baseball is for everyone,” in response to a young girl who worried the sport was only for boys.

According to the nonprofit, Baseball for All, roughly 100,000 girls play youth baseball each year, but only about 1,000 play high school baseball. Most girls end up switching over to slow pitch and fast pitch softball.

Locally, the Eastern Women’s Baseball Conference has been providing opportunities for women and girls to play baseball for about 20 years. The league features four teams — Montgomery County BarnCats, Baltimore Blues, Virginia Flames and Virginia Fury. Their season runs May to August and they also field a travel team, D.C. Thunder, for tournament play.

Most of the players range in age from 25-40 years-old. There are no age restrictions though, so the actual age span is 13-73.

“There is a lot of recruiting involved to maintain the four teams that will play 12 games,” says Jackie Greco, league president. “This league is a unique situation with such a wide array of ages coached by the same coaches. Anyone who wants to feel the camaraderie of a team will fit in here.”

Greco offers a sampling of the players who have found their place in the league.

One woman was a lifelong Baltimore Orioles fan, never played sports and joined at age 60. Two years later she has found her happy place out on the field and just attended her first Orioles Dream Week.

Another woman grew up playing softball and looked up to her brother who had a successful baseball career. She always wanted to play baseball and finally fulfilled that by joining Eastern Women’s Baseball Conference

“It’s true that our players come from anywhere and everywhere to start in the league,” Greco says. “We want everyone to give baseball a try.”

Greco is in her fourth season with the league. She had played slow pitch softball in St Louis four days a week before moving to the area. She began umpiring locally in high school softball and was recruited to the league.

“I went to a practice, threw one ball and was hooked from the start. I was missing that competitive flair,” Greco says. “Once I joined the tournament team and saw there were other lesbians, I knew it was totally OK for me to be myself.”

The league has its share of LGBT players, but they don’t market it that way in an effort to draw anyone in that might want to play the sport.

The players will begin their preseason training soon and can often be found at batting cages in the area until the weather lets up. On Memorial Day weekend, they will host six to 10 travel teams at the Diamond Classic in Purcellville, Va.

They also travel to other tournaments including a stop in Rockford, Ill., in the revamped Rockford Peaches stadium which is now home to the Rockford Starfires. One of their other stops is in historic Dodgertown in Vero Beach.

“A lot of people assume they aren’t athletic enough to play baseball, but it is a slower game,” Greco says. “By playing, you not only learn about the sport, but also about yourself.”

Advertisement
FUND LGBTQ JOURNALISM
SIGN UP FOR E-BLAST

Sports

Brittney Griner to return to WNBA

Russia released Phoenix Mercury star in December in prisoner swap

Published

on

Brittney Griner upon her release from Russian custody on Dec. 8, 2022. She has signed a one-year contract with the WNBA. (Screen capture via Russian State Media)

For the first time since 2021, Brittney Griner will be back on the hardwood for the Phoenix Mercury when the WNBA season kicks off in May. But it won’t be at home. Her first game is on the road, facing the Los Angeles Sparks. 

Griner, who regained her freedom in December 2022 in a prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, signed a one year contract on Saturday worth $165,100, according to ESPN

The 32-year-old missed the entire 2022 season following her arrest in Moscow one year ago. Russian authorities said she broke their law by packing vape canisters with cabbabis oil in her luggage. In August, Griner was sentenced to nine years in a penal colony for drug smuggling, and that sentence was upheld upon appeal in October

“Following a sham trial and the unjust sentencing of Brittney Griner, Moscow is transferring her from a prison in Moscow to a remote penal colony,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken back in November. “It is another injustice layered on her ongoing unjust and wrongful detention.” 

After months of negotiations and protests led by her wife, Cherelle, and advocacy groups including the National LGBTQ Task Force, the WNBA star was exchanged in the United Arab Emirates for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. He had served 10 years of a 25-year sentence for conspiring to sell weapons to a terrorist group. Russia balked at the Biden administration’s request to secure the release of businessman and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who is still serving a 16-year prison sentence in Russia for spying.

As ESPN reported, Griner will be playing her 10th season since first being drafted by the Mercury in 2013. Her last year on the court was one of the best of her career, in which she averaged 20.5 points, 1.9 blocks, 2.7 assists, and career-highs with 9.5 rebounds per game, 2.4 offensive rebounds and a .846 free throw percentage.

The Mercury open their 2023 season against the Sparks at the Crypto.com Arena on May 19. The team’s first home game is May 21 when Phoenix hosts the Chicago Sky.

Continue Reading

Sports

New York Rangers forgo Pride jerseys and stick tape for team Pride night

NYC Pride organizers responded to omission

Published

on

Out Broadway star and actor Michael James Scott prepares to sing the National Anthem at the opening of the NY Rangers Pride Night 2023. (Photo Credit: The New York Rangers/NHL)

New York LGBTQ Rangers fans were disappointed after the National Hockey League team forwent wearing the team’s special warm-up jerseys and using Pride stick tape during the team’s 7th annual Pride Night Friday.

The Rangers had promoted Friday night’s Madison Square Garden home game against Vegas Golden Knights, saying players “will be showing their support by donning pride-themed warm-up jerseys and tape in solidarity with those who continue to advocate for inclusivity.”  But ultimately the team wore their “Liberty Head” jerseys in warmups instead.

After the game, a 4-1 win over the Vegas Golden Knights, the Rangers released a statement: “Our organization respects the LGBTQ+ community and we are proud to bring attention to important local community organizations as part of another great Pride Night. In keeping with our organization’s core values, we support everyone’s individual right to respectfully express their beliefs.”

In an emailed statement to the Washington Blade Sunday Dan Dimant, media director for NYC Pride | Heritage of Pride, Inc. said:

“In recent years, numerous National Hockey League (NHL) franchises including the New York Rangers have introduced a series of ‘Pride Nights’ to engage the LGBTQ+ community. NYC Pride has been honored to take part in these celebrations, including as recently as last night at Madison Square Garden.

NYC Pride was not made aware in advance of our participation in last night’s ceremonial puck drop that Pride jerseys and rainbow tape would not be worn as advertised. We understand and appreciate that this has been a major disappointment to the LGBTQ+ community in New York and beyond. We are communicating these concerns with NY Rangers and NHL leadership as we continue to discuss the ways these organizations can work toward inclusion.

NYC Pride has a duty to both support our partners and hold them accountable. We are committed to continuing our relationships with the NY Rangers and the NHL and maintaining substantive dialogue with them about meaningful allyship with the LGBTQ+ community.”

ESPN reported that the team’s annual Pride Night was celebrated throughout the game in other ways. Fans were given a pride-themed fanny pack as a giveaway. The exterior and interior lights at Madison Square Garden were illuminated in rainbow colors. The Rangers also made a charitable donation to the Ali Forney Center on Pride Night, the largest agency dedicated to LGBTQ homeless youths in the country.

ESPN noted that Andre Thomas, co-chair of NYC Pride and Heritage of Pride, participated in the ceremonial puck drop.
(Photo Credit: The New York Rangers/NHL)

The Rangers’ Pride Night was held 10 days after Ivan Provorov, the alternate captain for the National Hockey League’s Philadelphia Flyers, opted out of participating in the team’s Pride Night charity event before the game Tuesday, claiming a religious exemption based on his Russian Orthodox faith.

Provorov, 26, was the only member of the Flyers to not take part in the pre-game exercise on the ice. A video tweeted by the team’s official account shows the rest of the players wore special Pride Night-themed black jerseys with the traditional Flyers logo on the front and rainbow-colored names and numbers on the back; many of the players practiced using hockey sticks wrapped in rainbow-colored tape known as Pride tape. Both the sticks and the jerseys were auctioned off after the game with the Anaheim Ducks, to raise money for local LGBTQ charities. 

The defenseman, who was born in Russia, told reporters after their victory, “I respect everybody and respect everybody’s choices,” adding that he declined to take part in the warmup “to stay true to myself and my religion.” 

After Provorov opted out of participating in the Flyer’s Pride Night charity event the NHL put out a statement that said players can decide which team and league initiatives to support.

“Hockey is for Everyone is the umbrella initiative under which the league encourages Clubs to celebrate the diversity that exists in their respective markets, and to work to achieve more welcoming and inclusive environments for all fans,” the league said. “Clubs decide whom to celebrate, when and how — with League counsel and support. Players are free to decide which initiatives to support, and we continue to encourage their voices and perspectives on social and cultural issues.”

Continue Reading

Sports

Out NFL star Carl Nassib is dating former Olympian Soren Dahl

The National Football League’s first out gay player confirmed his relationship with Olympic swimmer Søren Dahl on Instagram

Published

on

Søren Dahl and Carl Nassib via Nassib/Instagram

After months of internet speculation and Instagram snaps, it’s official: Carl Nassib and Søren Dahl are a couple. Last weekend, the NFL player posted an Instagram story featuring a photograph of himself with his arm around the Danish swimmer.

Dahl, who competed in the 2016 Summer Games in Rio, is seen wearing a Buccaneers jersey with Nassib’s number 94, and the linebacker has his arm around Dahl’s waist. 

Although there have been a series of snapshots since last summer featuring Nassib and Dahl together on the beach, in a club, and at the gym, this is the first one in which Nassib wrote something to clarify they are dating: “Kicking off 2023 with my man and a trip to the playoffs,” he captioned the photo. Until now, Nassib has been extremely private about his personal life.

Queerty noted Dahl also posted a few pictures on Instagram on Jan. 2, including that same photo, with the caption, “Always Big Boy Season.” From the background and location, it appears this was taken outside Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., home of the Bucs. 

This will be the second playoff season for Nassib, the first active NFL player to come out as gay. He made the playoffs with the Las Vegas Raiders last year, and this year he’s with Tom Brady and the Bucs. Their postseason game date and opponent will be announced in just days, but first they’ll take on the Atlanta Falcons this Sunday, already having clinched the No. 4 seed and the NFC South title. 

Dahl swam for Denmark in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay in 2016’s Olympic Games. Prior to that, he competed for North Carolina State and was a two-time NCAA champion swimmer, winning titles in the 4×100 free and 4×200 free relays. Sometime around 2018, he moved to Fort Worth, Texas, to pursue his master’s degree in Strategic Communication at Texas Christian University. After graduating in 2020, Dahl moved to New York City. 

In 2021, he shared the story with followers of his TikTok account of how a former swimming coach called him the “F-word” and told him he’d “never become a good swimmer” if he were to come out as gay. The video then shows Dahl sporting a big smile and photos from his time swimming at the Olympics. 

@kingkoper0 Get on my level fckrrr🖕🏼 #olympics #gayathlete #representation #homophobic #sports #gay ♬ Touch It Clean – Remix – Dj Raulito

Although they dedicated themselves to different sports and were born in different countries, Nassib and Dahl are the same age, 29, celebrating birthdays just months apart. 

Ever since coming out, Nassib has stepped up to help LGBTQ+ youth by raising money for The Trevor Project, for two years now: He’s matched all donations to the organization up to $100,000. The group operates a crisis lifeline and provides resources to young people struggling with coming out, and also supports important research into the lack of affirming situations across race, identity and age groups.

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Advertisement

Sign Up for Weekly E-Blast

Follow Us @washblade

Advertisement

Popular