Nearly 650 Girls Will See Women Run The Field

WINDSOR, CT — Thirty-five women umpires will call every game at a youth softball tournament in Windsor this weekend, giving nearly 650 girls a chance to see women leading the sport beyond the players' dugout.

The Women Rule the Field tournament takes place Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 10-11, at Fastpitch Nation Park, 1001 Day Hill Road. Admission is free, and spectators should bring their own chairs.

Organizers describe it as the nation's first softball tournament with an entirely female umpire crew, umpire-in-chief and tournament director.

According to a media advisory from the Connecticut Convention & Sports Bureau, 47 teams will play 114 games across the park's 12 fields. Teams are coming from Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont and Rhode Island to compete in the 10U, 12U, 14U and 16U divisions.

The first games each day are scheduled to start at 8 a.m., with the final games starting at 3:30 p.m.

The umpire crew includes 15 NCAA umpires and women from seven states and Canada. Jennifer Wolcott, of Thomaston, will serve as umpire-in-chief. Jessie Griffin, of Farmington, the park's assistant general manager, will direct the tournament, according to the advisory.

“We are especially proud to host this special event, bringing in dynamic women umpires from across the Northeast to officiate,” Griffin said in the advisory. “Twenty women regularly umpire at Fastpitch Nation Park, and 16 of them will be working this weekend.”

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Jen Lane, head softball coach at Wesleyan University in Middletown, said seeing women in those jobs can help young players envision their own future in the game.

“When girls see women on the field in these roles, it helps them understand that those opportunities are there for them, too,” Lane said in the advisory.

Mollie Watson, softball director at Rip City USA in Seabrook, New Hampshire, will coach a 10U team at the tournament. She said the event shows players the impact women can have in softball.

“This tournament is not about tearing male representatives down, but it builds women up and shows young girls what they too can one day become,” Watson said in the advisory.

The weekend is also expected to bring business to nearby hotels. Fastpitch Nation says players, families and officials will use more than 500 overnight rooms at 10 hotels in Windsor, Windsor Locks, East Hartford and Enfield.

Griffin's father, David Rocha, founded Fastpitch Nation in 2008, initially holding tournaments on rented Hartford-area fields. He opened the Windsor park in April 2019 and remains the company's president and general manager, according to the advisory.

Additional information is available on the tournament's event page.

For more Northern Connecticut news, follow Patch editor Jay Kenney.