A bygone era of women’s fastpitch softball of in Eveleth - Hometown Focus | Northland news & stories (2024)

Nationally organized women’s softball began at least as early as 1933. The first national softball tournament where women participated was held in Chicago, as part of the 1933 World’s Fair – 24 teams participated: 16 men’s and eight women’s. – Fastpitch, The Untold History of Softball and the Women Who Made the Game by Erica Westly.

There were summer softball games for the young girls by the Eveleth recreation department in the early 1930s, but I could not find any leagues for older girls/ women, until there was an inter-city girls’ kittenball league in 1938 and 1939.

Kittenball was one of the earlier names for softball. For adults and older teenagers, it was fast pitch, to my understanding. Both years Eveleth had two teams that participated in the league with teams from Virginia, Gilbert, and Sparta. The games in Eveleth were held at the Monroe Park playground.

In 1938, the Eveleth teams were Adams Park and Girls Sodality. The Adams Park players were Ellen Masucci, Mary Masera, Theresa Stagliano, Mary Prebeg, Katherine Prebarich, Lucy Rebrovich, C. Leban, E. Mervich, and Marge Prebeg.

Players on the Girls Sodality team were Mae Semich, Anna Karakas, Anne Kvaternik, Mary Nemgar, Pauline Primozich, Mary Ivancic, Johanna Susnik, Rose Skubic, and Julia Modec. Girls Sodality was a Catholic church confraternity, typically for girls 14 to 21. Virginia also had a Girls Sodality team in the league.

“The Adams Girls defeated the Sodality Girls… Mae Semich of the Sodality team struck out nine and Ellen Masucci of Adams retired seven via the same route… Ellen Masucci had a home run in the third inning” – The Eveleth News, August 11, 1938.

In 1939 the Adams Park team changed their name to Hackey’s All-Stars. The team was named after their Adams Park recreation activities coordinator, Archie Hackey. His nephew, Lance Hackey, was my classmate and slow-pitch softball teammate in the 1970s.

From Archie’s obituary in 1980: “He was active in promoting slow-pitch softball for 15 years [in Eau Claire] and received the Outstanding Service Award from the Eveleth, Minn. Junior Chamber of Commerce in 1941 for his work with young people.” – Leader-Telegram, November 11, 1980. The players on Hackey’s All-Stars were E. Masucci, M. Masera, Ursula Mervich, Mary Markovich, M. Prebarich, Ann Markovich, Theresa Thomas, T. Stagliano, Sylvia Pouchnik, L. Prebonich, and M. Dudasek.

The other Eveleth team in 1939 again was an Eveleth Girls Sodality team, but I could not find a full list of players, except Pauline Primozich returned to play, and three of their new players were Loretta Cossalter, Mary O’Korn, and Anne Gerencher. Pauline and Loretta were respectively, the aunts of my classmates and slowpitch softball teammates, Tom Primozich and Denny Cossalter. Anne Gerencher was the aunt of my EHS classmate, Nancy Peinovich.

“In an exhibition game played at the Monroe playground, Hackey’s All-Stars knocked two homers… managing the four baggers were M. Prebarich and M. Dudasek of Hackey’s All-Stars and P. Primozich of the Sodality Girls. E. Masucci [pitcher] and M. Masera [catcher] were the batteries for Hackey’s All-Stars and L. Cossalter [pitcher] and M. O’Korn [catcher] for the Sodality Girls.” – The Eveleth News, August 3, 1939.

“In a game played at the Monroe playground the Sodality Girls’ kittenball team downed the Sparta girls by the decisive score of 25 – 7. L. Cossalter of the Sodality team knocked two homers.” – The Eveleth News, August 10, 1939. Loretta Cossalter (EHS class of 1942) was 15 in 1939 and in a league with much older girls.

Her nephew, Denny Cossalter, told me, “Growing up we were told that Dad (Clem) was a good athlete, but Loretta was the best athlete in the Cossalter family. She excelled at hockey also. She went on to play softball into her 40s while living in Bloomington.” In Loretta’s obituary in 2017 it stated, “She was a well-rounded athlete and was one of Eveleth’s first female hockey players.”

I was not able to find a women’s inter city softball league that Eveleth teams participated in for the years between 1940 and 1947, but I believe the younger girls still participated in playground softball. Circa 1948, Lewis “Gigi” Sabetti became Eveleth’s city and school recreation director. Besides organizing softball leagues for the young children, and a men’s commercial fast pitch softball league, he also was instrumental in restarting a women’s fast pitch softball league on the Range.

On June 17, 1948, it was reported in the Eveleth News Clarion that women’s softball on the Range was being revived after a period of years, with Eveleth having one team coached by Anne Gerencher. There were five teams in the league formed that year with teams representing Virginia, Hibbing, Eveleth, and Mountain Iron. On the Eveleth team were Rosemary Vidmar, Theresa Moroni, Pauline Schutte, Mrs. Mary Ritmanich, Marney Udovich, Pearl Lushene, Marion LoPresti, Betty Hauta, Roberta Moog, Anne Gerencher, Pauline Primozich, and Marie Shutte. Anne Gerencher was the team’s ace pitcher.

In 1949, the Range Women’s Softball League was formed with commercial sponsors. The eight-team league was founded by recreation directors Lewis Sabetti of Eveleth, Bree Cuppoletti of Virginia and Kenneth Saari of Mountain Iron. The 1948 Eveleth team with Anne Gerencher was now sponsored by Siegel’s Electric Appliance. A new team also representing Eveleth was Koritnik’s Red Caps. The Red Caps were sponsored by Frances Koritnik, the mother of my classmate and friend, Ed Bonach. Fran and her mother, Jennie, ran Koritnik’s Grocery at 1000 Shackleton Street across from Adams Park (Northside Park).

Siegel’s won the 1949 Range Women’s Softball championship by beating the Normandy team from Virginia and then a week later won the Eveleth city championship by defeating the Koritnik Red Caps in a best of three playoff series. The players on the 1949 Koritnik’s team were D. Markovich, M. Prebarich, L. Prebarich, Gruden, L. Hauta, F. Koritnik, M. Malkovich, B. McDonald, V. Malkovich, M. Masucci, M. Udovich, and G. Petrich. Several of them had previously played on the 1939 Hackey’s All-Stars (Adams Park) team.

In 1950, besides my classmate Ed Bonach having his mom as the team’s sponsor and captain again, there were three others on Koritnik’s Red Caps related to classmates of mine. The coach Al DelVecchio and player Tresa DelVecchio were the parents of my classmate, Cathy DelVecchio. Helen (Indihar) Spolarich was the mother of my classmate and slowpitch softball teammate, Jim Spolarich.

Koritnik’s was much improved in 1950, losing by a score of 15 to 14 to Northland Motors of Virginia in the Range women’s diamond ball championship game. After World War II, diamond ball became the more common name for kittenball and (fastpitch) softball on the Range.

Siegel’s won the league consolation game in 1950. Siegel’s also again won the Eveleth women’s city championship by defeating Koritnik’s by winning the first two games in the best two of three series. Siegel’s had the following starters: Theresa Moroni, Pauline Shutte, Theresa Thomas, Anne Gerencher, A. Shutte, Mary Ritmanich, Antoinette Negri, B. Orfald, and Mary Jean Ritmanich. All-star selections from the two Eveleth teams in 1950: Carol Licari (pitcher), Doreen Markovich (left field), and Theresa Hogan (right field) from Koritnik’s; and Theresa Moroni (first base) and A. Gerencher (short stop) from Siegel’s.

Lyle Nettell, an Eveleth junior high school math teacher in 1950 at the age of 43 (and also a teacher during my student years), had a regular sports editorial called “Sports Round-Up” in the Eveleth News Clarion until April 1953. Mr. Nettell played on men’s fast pitch teams in the 1930s and 1940s, being selected as an all-star outfielder a number of years.

On June 30, 1950, he wrote, “One feminine Eveleth sport fan who does a fine job in keeping girls interested in the soft ball game is Franny Koritnik. This year the Koritnik Red Caps will again field a team in the Range softball league. Miss Koritnik has gone to some expense each year to sponsor her Red Caps but the satisfaction she receives no doubt compensates her greatly, otherwise she wouldn’t continue her role.”

Mr. Nettell also wrote the following on July 27, 1950, “After hearing numerous reports that both the Siegel and Koritnik players were after our scalp for trying to engender bad feeling between the two lady softball aggregations, we donned a mask and witnessed the classic event as an anonymous spectator. Our only purpose in writing the way we did two weeks ago was to draw a crowd so that people could see for themselves what fine brand of ball these women can really play. Since there was a double file of cars strung all around Adams Park with many people in them and five hundred or more other spectators sitting and standing watching the battle, plus about a thousand dogs, our idea for fan-drawing was most successful.”

Koritnik’s disbanded after the 1950 season. Perhaps, it was because Ed’s parents were married in 1951 or it was simply due to the new residency requirement that was put in place, starting with the 1951 season. Ed said his mom had told him that the ladies from all over the Range were enticed to join by wanting to get the “bling” she provided (especially the leather jackets). But it also could have been that she was originally from Gilbert too. Her ace pitcher, Carol Licari, was from Biwabik, Theresa and Margie Hogan were from Gilbert, and Rose Majeski was from Virginia.

In 1951, the Siegel’s players were sponsored by Flom Motors, the only Eveleth team in the Range Women’s Softball League. Eveleth continued to only have one team represented, with Flom Motors being the sponsor in 1951, 1952, 1953, and 1954, and the team in 1955 sponsored by Joseph Bayuk’s Eveleth Dry Cleaners.

Player names on the 1951 team were Negri, Moroni, Thomas, Intihar, Gerencher, Skerjance, A. Shutte, M. Ritmanich, P. Shutte, Udovich and J. Ritmanich. Flom’s took third place in 1951 and second place in 1952 and 1953. The 1952 Flom’s team was managed by “Buck Bostrom.” All-star selections that year were M. Udovich (catcher), Anne Gerencher (pitcher), Theresa Moroni (first base), Theresa Thomas (third base), and Mary Ritmanich (outfield). Other players in 1952 were Mary Ann Intihar, Barbara Grahovak, Sis Negri, Marlene Kaner, and Susie Thomas.

In 1955 the top three hitters for the Eveleth Dry Cleaners team, and also all-star selections in the league, were Theresa Moroni, Susie Tomar, and Barb Grahovak. All three also played together on the Flom’s team in 1953 and 1954. Theresa Moroni, 21, was the league’s top slugger in 1955 with a batting average of 0.674. She had won the batting title for the fourth straight year.

The league had a total of eight teams each year from 1951 to 1955, with teams representing Aurora, Biwabik, Gilbert, Eveleth, Virginia, Mountain Iron, Chisholm, and Hibbing. Theresa Moroni was a 1951 EHS graduate and a classmate of Jim and John Mayasich, who were great fast pitch softball players in Eveleth’s men’s commercial league during this same era.

I could not find an Eveleth women’s team or a women’s softball league mentioned in the Eveleth newspaper during the 1956 season or later years, but I believe women’s softball continued in some fashion for a number of years. Jimmy Spolarich remembers his mom, Helen Spolarich, playing softball when he was growing up. He said he even umpired the bases at a few games when he was around 16 years old (1970). Gary Hultman was the regular ump for their league.

In her book Fastpitch, The Untold History of Softball and the Women Who Made the Game, Erica Westly stated, “fastpitch was the first team sport that women got to play seriously… For Bertha and other women who were serious about sports in the 1940s and 50s, competitive fastpitch teams were a lifeline. Hardly any high schools or colleges offered women’s sports programs.” Title IX in 1972 finally provided girls more opportunities to play organized team sports.

Jim Froemming graduated from Eveleth High School in 1972 and now lives in Eden Prairie.