A Team Sport Says Yes to Women

The third episode of this Uningrained season focuses on one of my favorite discoveries during the research and reporting process: the thriving world of ASA softball during the middle of the 20th century.

Early on, I read Erica Westly’s great book Fastpitch: The Untold Story of Softball and the Women Who Made the Game, which is a great read if you want to go deeper into softball history and the ASA.

Two other books covered similar ground. One is Bill Plummer’s The Game America Plays, published by the ASA in 2008 in honor of the organization’s 75th birthday. (The ASA became USA Softball a few years later.) Another is Mary Littlewood’s The Path To The Gold, published by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.

Shortly after finishing Fastpitch, I visited Lorene Ramsey at her home near Peoria, Illinois. While Lorene recounted the glory days of the Caterpillar Dieseletes, Sunnyland Lettes and Pekin-Lettes, the rest of the family visited the Caterpillar museum and loved it—including an exhibit focused on the Dieselettes and other Caterpillar-sponsored teams from the industrial league era. Sue Freeburg and John Stromberger from the Washington (Illinois) Historical Society were instrumental in arranging the interview and providing the vintage photo of Lorene that’s used in the episode’s cover image.

When you Google “Lorene Ramsey,” so many Halls of Fame pop up that it’s hard to know which one to click. USA Softball? The Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame? The National Junior College Athletic Association? Illinois State University? Illinois Central College? Lorene’s decorated coaching careers in softball and basketball spanned many decades, but it was fun to reminisce with her about her playing days.

My family was with me again for a group interview with Jeneane Lesko Descombes, Mary Moore, and Patti Pelton (an actress who appeared in A League Of Their Own). The Pleasant Prairie History Museum of Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, graciously let us set up in the middle of their exhibit hall for the interview.

I thought that might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet Jeneane, but our paths crossed again just a few weeks later at at the 2025 Baseball For All Nationals tournament near Reno, Nevada. This year’s tournament takes place in Rockford, Illinois, home of the AAGBPL’s (All-American Girls Professional Baseball League) Rockford Peaches.

The AAGPBL Players Association was also a huge help, both in terms of setting up the interview in Pleasant Prairie, and also with its fantastic website, which includes bios for every player—including Jeneane and Mary.

When Rachel Gansner and I interviewed John Kovach, we covered a lot of women’s baseball history, and I’ll be on the lookout for opportunities to include more of that conversation—including his investigation of the legend that Jackie Mitchell learned pitching at the knee of Dazzy Vance. Here’s John’s book about Jackie.

Linda Lensch is an unofficial softball historian as well as a pitching guru. Thanks to Ken Krause of the From the Coaches Mouth podcast for making that introduction.