Lisa Lovato was born and raised in Blue Island, Illinois along with her seven brothers and three sisters. She started playing organized softball as a shortstop for the Bandits when she was nine. She batted leadoff due to her speed and ability to get on base. In her second year of softball at age ten […]
Growing up on the north side of Cicero, Sharen’s interest in sports began at a young age as she was always playing basketball, softball, hockey, football, and swimming. When she was nine years old, she asked her parents if she could join the boys little league – her mother, Camille Olmstead, said, “no, if they
Renette McCurry got her first feel of sixteen-inch softball around the age of fourteen when she started playing at the Sears parking lot, and a neighborhood playground on Homan Avenue on the West side of Chicago. She played for her my girl scout group Girl Power under the leadership of Corrine Stubbs. She played fast
Lisa Pugh grew up at Cabrini Green, an inner city housing project on Chicago’s North Side. She was the seventh child of nine (one brother and eight sisters). When she was ten, she began playing baseball with the neighborhood boys. They called her a tomboy but they changed their tune when she struck out some
Babe Sanfilippo is the second of eight children. She grew up in Brighton Park on Chicago’s South Side. Growing up, Babe would gather her brothers and the neighborhood kids and go to the empty lot to play the game she loves. ”Many times we wouldn’t have enough people to play all positions. Right field would
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Renee Strasser started playing baseball at age nine in a boys Little League team in Alsip, Illinois. She was one of three girls allowed to play in the league. When Little League officials wouldn’t let them advance to the next level of competition, they joined Alsip Park District’s sixteen-inch softball for girls. At age eleven
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Growing up in Calumet Park made it very easy to be sports orientated. The town and schools were ahead of their time by offering several sports opportunities for girls. Attending Seven Holy Founders Grade School, Colleen competed in both softball and volleyball leagues. She graduated from Dwight D. Eisenhower High School in Blue Island
The fourth of five children, Betty Kollar grew up on the Northwestside of Chicago in the Hermosa neighborhood. There she played whiffle ball, league ball, and softball with the kids on the block. But for someone who was destined to become one of the top female softball players of her time, it was important that
When Cheryl was about nine years old, she and her sister Cathy, along with the neighborhood boys started playing baseball in the streets of Oak Lawn using the sewer covers as bases. When the Oak Lawn Park District decided to form a girl’s softball league, Cheryl and her sister Cathy joined and their mother Mary
The youngest of five children, born to Jim and Louise Walz, Mary was raised in the south side neighborhood of Bridgeport. Having two older brothers, Mary was exposed to the game of softball at a very early age; and since her family lived across the street from Healy School, the schoolyard became Mary’s baseball field.
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